Toontastic is fantastic!!

We decided to add a little more fun to our creative writing by creating some comics. I have been sharing a variety of comics. We now have a comic collection in the classroom that consists of books, newspapers, and some online versions. We have talked about what types of things you find in comics like speech and thought bubbles. Each of my students decided on a setting and some characters, a problem and a solution. I printed off a few different strip designs and they were off. Talk about students engaged and on-task!

The second step involved animating the comics using Toontastic. Students used their comic to create an animated 'movie' version. Toontastic directs students to create a scene and characters, then think of a problem and solution. It takes students step-by-step through this process.

While the program is very easy, students still seem to need a lot of support. I have no specific concerns or things to make other teachers aware of. Like most technology, it really just takes time to become familiar with the program.

There is a great online teacher/parent guide that comes with this app (available online). The cartoon can be uploaded to a ToonTube account and viewed online.

Complaint = I can't save it and export it anywhere :( I want to save it to students' Evernote accounts but there is no option to do that...? I am going to do some online research on this one. Does anyone have any suggestions???? It looks like cartoons can only be uploaded to an online viewing platform.

Labeling and Doodle Buddy

Writing comes in so many forms. Today, my students practiced labeling. I began by showing them a few suggestions on how to use the iPad by projecting its image via my classroom projector and VGA adapter. I showed students how to use the camera app to take a self-shot. They learned how to turn the camera around and where the actual lens is located.

Once they had a photo, I showed them how to open it up in Doodle Buddy to use it as the background for labeling. Students then identified the parts of their body in French. Once complete, I took a screen shot and saved it then emailed the photo to their Evernote account (e-portofolio) by writing the child's name in the subject line (i.e. @John). All the finished photos are now saved in the student's Evernote personal notebook.

Evernote and 'saving' work: ePortfolios

As I am very new to the use of iPads in the classroom, I was struggling with a way to 'save' (in the traditional sense) the work students are creating. I only have 6 iPads for my class of 23 students AND we share the devices with three other classes in the school. I was concerned that some of the more intermediate students might delete projects or that primary students would delete work unintentionally.

I knew Evernote was the answer I was just not sure exactly how it worked. After reading many blogs, googling it, and watching youtube videos I figured it out (it's really quite simple!).

I created 'notebooks' for all the students in my class. Evernote provides you with a unique email address to send all documents to. These documents are then accessible from any device, anywhere, anytime. It also synches automatically in all places.

Now, when we finish something we email it directly to my Evernote account with that student's name in the subject line i.e. @Peter. If email is not possible, we take a screenshot and then email it or send it as a video link. I was also able to email their stories they created using the MyStory app a few weeks ago.

This is the start of my ePortfolios. I am trying to use the iPad to gather data on the students as they work. I take screenshots of their work. I have even started to put little assessment notes on the pictures. I created separate notebooks for assessment and for the portfolios I plan to share with parents (ones that don't contain my evaluation and assessment comments). I really like the idea of moving to a more paperless classroom; however, I need more iPads :)

A few issues:
I started recording my students' reading aloud with the video while doing a running record. I found that the video is too long to send to Evernote. Does anyone know of an app to use or another way to do it?
With my free education account I am only able to email 50 documents a day and I seem to hit that number a lot lately. I guess it's time to spend more $$.

I know there are infinite more possibilities with this app and I am slowly exploring them all. Feel free to share any ideas.

100 days at school and Doodle Buddy

If you are a primary teacher, you are aware of how important 100 day is. I wanted to try and think of something different to do with my students to celebrate the day. I decided to use a centers approach to math today. The iPads were one of those centers.

Students used the Doodle Buddy app to create a representation of 100 things. They used the stamps to stamp 10 different examples of 10 things to make 100 total. At the end of class, we shared their projects using the VGA dongle and my projector.

Below are some examples.

Faces iMake and descriptive writing

I love this app! It is very funny and really gets the right brain working. Students worked alone to create a funny face. Then, they saved their pictures to the photos on the ipad. I downloaded the photos to my computer and then printed them out.  We are learning to write descriptive sentences in French using sentence frames (i.e. Voici __________. Il a___________. Il est __________.)

I printed their 'face' and they used it to write. The results were very impressive and lot's of fun to share. I love a lesson that involves laughter and imagination, and a lot of student engagement :)

What do you think? Have you used this app in your classroom?

Here are a few finished sentences and the whole class display. I also created a class book for students to read a share.

Sock puppets and oral language

It is Carnaval time in Quebec so we decided to celebrate by creating sock puppet conversations about it using the Sock Puppets app. Students were placed in groups of 3 with one iPad per group. Students selected their character, background and some props. Then they decided on a conversation about the things that happen during this important cultural festival. The audio records for 30 seconds. Once they were complete, we saved them and then shared them. I am looking to purchase a 'dongle' (Apple VGA Adapter) so that I can just hook the iPad to my projector to make sharing easier. The students thought the shows were hilarious!

This is a video of one of the sock puppet presentations.

More classroom friendly apps

After more research and networking with other teachers, I have found a few more apps that I would like to recommend....

list #2

Mini TFO (l’office des telecomm…)
	free	Thoughts a great app that was created by a television show (?) in Quebec it includes games and questions similar to the television show excellent oral French
Ace kids math HD lite	free	English app almost no language on the page only numbers
Kids find and learn	free	downloads based on the language of the iPad so please change it to French for this
Our story (iPhone app) by the Open University	free	a great app for taking pictures and then creating a story
Devine qui vient jouer	free	also created by the television show in Quebec? lot’s of neat games with some very good oral French

My story-story creator for kids	$1.99	Love this app! An excellent way for students to draw pictures, add words and even record the oral
Numerate-count, add and subtract	$0.99	English app but students can turn the sound off and it demonstrates adding and subtracting in a simple form
Stella and Sam story pack	$6.99	Very cute but there is not print it is simply a movie
	$1.99	Cute but simple vocabulary
La souris qui voulait manger un chat	$0.99	French book