Giving Twitter a Try...

Today my second grade students tweeted their very first tweet...and they LOVED it! After creating one account for our entire class to use, students couldn't wait to give it a try. We have been working hard in the recent weeks at reading non-fiction texts and identifying things we learn and the evidence that supports it. Today we read a non-fiction text from our Storytown books entitled "The Bees" and listened carefully for facts that were interesting to us. We chose to read a few pages together and then stop to tweet something that we had learned using the hashtag #beefacts. At the end of this non-fiction piece, we had accumulated over 30 tweets all identifying facts about bees! Students love this new way to share what they know!

Popplet for Vocabulary

Today we used the app "Popplet" to interact with our robust vocabulary words. It is a fun and easy way for students to make connections to their words by using them in sentences as well as creating pictures. It is also a great activity for students to begin learning how to make webs and diagrams. After we created the Popplet, we opened it up in the app "Educreations". Students were then able to record over their Popplet and explain their word and the associations they made. From there, we embedded the video we created onto our blogs! Here is one student's example!

Virtual Book Trailers!

This month we have been talking a lot about book recommendations and how to review what we have read. Coupled with the fact that students LOVE "shopping" for books for their book boxes, we thought we would use our iPads for a project that would help us practice making good book recommendations as well as help our classmates who are looking for new books to read. In the first part of our project, we picked our favorite book and wrote down information like the author and illustrator, genre, why we like the book, and finally, to whom we would recommend the book. Next, we used the app "Splice" to create a virtual book trailer. This is a very user-friendly app and the kids got the hang of it quickly! Splice allows you to add both videos and pictures in a slideshow format and even add music, too! After the students created their virtual trailer using Splice, I was able to export it to YouTube. (Our class has an account we use for projects like this!) Lastly, we created a QR code using the website "qrhacker.com". Basically, you visit the QR generator website, copy the URL from the YouTube video, and qrhacker.com generates a special QR code that, when scanned, will bring you directly to the YouTube video. Once the QR code was generated, I printed it off. Students were then able to tape their special QR code to the back of the book they had done their review on. So, when students are looking for a new book to read, they take their iPad to our classroom library, use the QR code scanner app to scan the code, and they can see a virtual book review of that book within seconds.

Today's Meet for Silent Discussions

How we use our iPads and the student-friendly chat site, "Today's Meet" to help us learn!

Today's Meet Silent Discussions from Jessica Melcher on Vimeo.

iPad Pass...

This week students are studying adjectives and the typical lesson involving holding up an object and having students give a corresponding describing word had students losing focus quickly! Our lesson today centered around adjectives to describe people. Students were divided into 2 small groups and were asked to sit in a circle with their iPads. Using Skitch, students took a picture of themselves to use as their background. Next students passed their iPads clockwise around the circle. Each time they got another iPad, they had to write 1-2 adjectives describing the person whose picture they were looking at. At the end, when students got their iPads back, not only had they explored new and exciting adjectives, but they also had a picture with lots of feel good words! What a great way to start the day!

Voyage Predictions with Skitch

We were fortunate enough this year to be a part of an iBoat launch! At the beginning of the year, students got to see the boat and even voted on its name. (Mini Maine)! Today, we watched the launch video which took place off the coast of South Carolina. We will be tracking the iBoat throughout its voyage and today, we made some predictions about where iBoat would land! For this activity, we used one of our favorite apps, Skitch. We were able to take a snapshot of a map and then students used the app to predict iBoat's voyage!

FotoFlo to Study NF Texts!

In literacy, we have been working hard to compare and contrast the genres of fiction and non-fiction. Part of our lesson was being able to identify non-fiction based on their text features. Students spent the week reading multiple non-fiction texts and working to recognize different text features like headings, bold print, captions, and so on. In this activity, students worked in small groups surrounded by various non-fiction texts from our classroom. They worked together to go on a "scavenger hunt" for different text features. As students found the text features on their list, they used the app FotoFlo to take pictures of each. At the end of the activity, students had a slideshow in FotoFlo of 7-10 text features. Next, they were able to record their voices over each slide. For example, "This is an example of a caption. A caption is a text feature that gives us more information about a photograph!". Students had so much fun with this activity and the result was a deep understanding of the characteristics of non-fiction text!

Retelling using iTalk

Today students used their iPads to work on retelling! This is a skill on which students are frequently assessed (the DRA comes to mind!) but this activity also encouraged students to utilize what they know about story elements such as plot, setting, and character. Students were asked to read a leveled book throughout the week and then use the app iTalk to record their summary of the story. iTalk is an easy to use app which second graders can use independently with ease. After their recording, they were asked to meet with a peer who read the same story. Students listened to one another's recordings and offered feedback regarding appropriate sequencing, detail, and connections. The videos below show students at different steps of the process!

This year, we are fortunate enough to have 1:1 iPads in our classroom! We are now in our second trimester (5th month of implementation) and we have found so many ways to incorporate them into our daily curriculum. When one thinks of iPads in a classroom, it may be typical for their first thought to be, 'an electronic babysitter' or, 'they work on apps all day'. In reality, these 1:1 iPads are so much more. This blog will focus on how we utilize the iPads in our second-grade classroom every day. Posts will detail "creation apps" or applications that enhance the curriculum by improving student engagement and motivation. They're more than just 'apps'-they're tools that allow students to engage in authentic learning experiences as well as prepare them to become successful learners in the 21st Century. It's time to change our way of thinking, our way of doing. After all, as John Dewey said, "If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we are robbing them of tomorrow."