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By Leslie Dent, October 17, 2011 11:36 am

This year I am teaching grade 5 and we are still enjoying the iPads and Ipods. It is incredible how independent these 9 and 10 year olds are with them. I thought grade 2 was impressive!

We have been using the iPads a lot for publishing our writing during Daily 5. Book Creator is an app I discovered recently and we like it a lot. The main difference between this publishing app and Storykit is that when a student is done with their story in Book Creator it can be exported as an iBook and is available for students to read on all our devices. Or, it can be sent by email. In Storykit there wasn’t much to do with it once it was complete.

The students that have used it so far have emailed me photos from home that I have synced onto the iPads for them to insert into their story. Alternatively, photos could be staged by the students, taken with the iPad and then inserted into the story.

The only option Book Creator is missing in my mind is the option to draw illustrations right in the app. This was a feature of Storykit that the children really liked last year. I think I will explore the idea of a doodle app to fill this void! Stay tuned!

A student created video of how to use this app is posted on my class blog.

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By Leslie Dent, July 6, 2011 6:20 pm

As I continue to wrap up things from grade 2, I thought I would post our Phosters that were created by students at school. This is another easy to use app that the children used independently after one demo. Select a template, add your image, change the text and presto, a phoster!

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By Leslie Dent, June 16, 2011 12:31 pm

We explore many ways to publish our writing in grade 2. A few students are working with Storykit, an app available at the app store. They write and edit  their story in their writers notebook and then move to an iPad to publish it. Text is typed in and then illustrations can be drawn write in the app or a photo can be used. Once the story is complete, it is shared online and can be emailed. My students are highly motivated to publish their writing using Storykit.

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By Leslie Dent, June 10, 2011 2:39 pm

This weeks app of the week on iTunes is WordFoto. I heard of it through a fellow educator on Twitter just last week! One of our classmates is moving to B.C. today so I just tried it out and made a “we will miss you” WordFoto for her.

To create your WordFoto you simply pick a photo from your library or take a photo, choose the words you want to apply and presto! A very cool mash-up of words and an image. There are even different styles to pick from. It took a matter of minutes!

Here is another sample using one of our butterflies just before it was released into the real world.

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By Leslie Dent, June 10, 2011 12:01 pm

We took advantage of the mobility of our iClassroom and took our learning outside. We had caterpillars in our classroom and wanted to do some refelcting about what we had learned so far about caterpillars and what we were still wondering about.

First, the children wrote in their writer’s notebooks using a T-chart. When their thoughts were clear they video recorded their “knows” and “wonders” using the iPods and iPads. Each iPod and iPad comes with a still and video camera and records HD video.

Once all the recordings were synced to each device, students (grade 2) were able to use the iMovie app to put the clips together into a movie!

Note: all photos have been taken and processed with my iPhone using the instagram app.

-Leslie Dent Scarcello

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By Leslie Dent, June 9, 2011 12:53 pm

Thanks to the Manitoba Association of Multiage Educators (MAME), my students will be participating in an iPods and iPads in the Classroom Project. These tools will be incorporated into our daily learning activities and will help create information and communication technology (ICT) rich learning and teaching opportunities. I will be blogging about our learning experiences with the iPods and iPads here and the students and myself will also blog about our experiences on our classroom blog at www.missdentsclass.blogspot.com.

In a classroom with devices such as iPods and iPads, contemporary methods of learning can be optimized. Through the use of these devices and some apps, students can be supported to:

• Use video clips, audio clips, and photos for gathering info
• Take video and photos; create slideshows using iPhoto and edit video using iMovie
• Record readings using Voicememo to track progress; engage in collaborative story telling, and record audiobooks for others to listen to
• Create original music
• Listen to and/or read ebooks, audiobooks, and Tumblebooks to go with the Belkin Rockstar
• Create books from scratch using Storybooks
• Brainstorm webs, mind maps, idea cards and organize, manage and summarize information.
• Use Puppetpals to write, create, publish puppet shows
• Illustrate stories with drawing pads
• Use the calculator
• Use Math board to practice math facts
• Gather data and statistical analysis using Polldaddy
• Use the Notepad for reflection, self-assessment, brainstorming, and publishing

Please stay tuned to the MAME blog as well as  www.missdentsclass.blogspot.com to read updates on what we’ve learned and experienced. Posts related to this project will be tagged iClassroom, click iClassroom in the tag cloud to see our posts.

- Leslie Dent Scarcello