Weekly Tech-y News

 

Click the image above to view larger. 

Weekly Tech-y News November 8th-12th

 

Click the image to view larger.

Weeky Tech-y News March 30th-April 3rd

Click the image to view larger!

Weekly Tech-y News April 9-13th

Click the image to download a PDF.

Draw & Tell Fun

The FREE app Draw & Tell is an absolute favorite for letting students tell stories and explain things they know in a fun, engaging and creative way. Students are able to use stickers, drawing, voice and even add their own photo as a background. I love the moveable stickers for telling math stories or making characters move. The images or videos easily save to Seesaw to share with others. Check out some of these fun creations from Mrs. Parisien's first graders, who just learned Draw & Tell today!

Rainbow Numbers

I spotted these on Mrs. Bishop's Seesaw learning journals and they're awesome! She used the rainbow math writing to 10 concept, but had her students use the FREE app Draw & Tell to draw their rainbows and numbers. By uploading to Seesaw, they could also record their voices to demonstrate their understanding of counting. Awesome job, @BishopKinders! You can also click the link HERE to download a rainbow math freebie from A Cupcake for the Teacher.

This is super cool! Duck Duck Moose + Khan Academy = FREE Apps!

I am so excited about this news ... one of my favorite app developers, Duck Duck Moose, has now partnered with KhanAcademy and their amazing apps are FREE!  Whoop!  Whoop!  Here are some of my absolute FAVES!

Math Stories Using Draw & Tell App

I have posted about the app Draw & Tell before, and wanted to share a couple of projects from Orchard Elementary today.  Draw & Tell is a great app that allows kids to draw, use stickers and record their voices to tell stories.  I really like using this app to tell math stories.  There is also a Princess Fairytale Maker app and a Superhero Comic Maker app that you can get in bundle with Draw & Tell for $2.99.  It's fun to have all of these apps to allow your students choice in the stickers and backgrounds they use for their storytelling.

  

Happy Groundhog Day!

Wahoo!  Phil predicts an early spring!  A couple of Groundhog Day ideas we have been using in classrooms:

• Use Chatterpix Kids to have students take a picture of a groundhog art project they've done (or have them draw a groundhog using an app like Doodle Buddy and save it to the iPad camera roll).  Then have them make the image "talk" to share their Groundhog Day predictions or facts they've learned about groundhogs.
• Use the backchannel Today's Meet to have students make their Groundhog Day predictions.  I set up a room, then make a QR code for students to scan and easily enter the room from their iPads.
• Use any drawing app to have students draw a Groundhog Day picture (emphasizing an understanding of cloudy sky = no shadow and sunny sky = shadow), then post to Seesaw and have students write and tell about their picture.
• The app Draw & Tell ($1.99) has stickers - there isn't a groundhog, but there is a beaver.  I pretend this is a groundhog and have my students make math story problems using the "groundhog" sticker.  They can draw equations and record their voices, then export the videos to Seesaw!

Groundhog Day Ideas

This might be weird, but I always loved celebrating February's "unsung" holiday - Groundhog Day - with my kindergartners.  I could take or leave Valentine's Day, but Groundhog Day is the best!  We did a ton of fun activities surrounding Groundhog Day, but one of my favorites was using this exciting occasion to practice predicting (and graphing) with my students.

Since lately I am absolutely obsessed with the ChatterPix Kids app (it's free, it's fun, it's easy!), we'll be using it in some classrooms next Monday and Tuesday to document student predictions.  We'll first use the Today's Meet backchannel (I posted about this before, CLICK HERE to read my earlier post with some more details about using it) to record our predictions.  Then, the students can either take a photo of a Groundhog Day art project they've already made, or use a drawing app on the iPad (like Draw & Tell or Doodle Buddy) to draw an Groundhog Day picture and upload to the ChatterPix Kid app.  They'll then make the groundhog "talk" to announce their predictions.

These videos will be saved to the iPad camera rolls, then uploaded to Seesaw learning journals to share with others.  I can't wait to try it!  I will post some examples next week.

What are your Groundhog Day plans?  If you have a fun activity you like to do, post it in the comments!