I did it!
I did it!
I have been thinking a lot this year about how we differentiate for students in our classrooms. I have seen some fantastic examples and some not so fantastic examples. I think this video sums up the question I would encourage teachers to ask themselves...
Have I set this up so that EVERY student can be successful
or have a put the prize just out of their reach?
Hello! Today I just want to share some of the ways that we having been using iPads during literacy time in my classroom.
Along with all the fun activities that we do to build our literacy skills, students are expected to find a creative way to show that they understand the code they have been working on. We have a choice board for this...
Stop Motion Encoding
We used iMotion to record the spelling of words.
Chatterpix
Easily one of our favourite apps!
Along with all the fun activities that we do to build our literacy skills, students are expected to find a creative way to show that they understand the code they have been working on. We have a choice board for this...
Here are some examples of my students rocking this task!
Stop Motion Encoding
We used iMotion to record the spelling of words.
Word Clouds of some words from our decodable book.
Flashcards
Our favourite flashcards app allows students to create a set of flashcards and then play a variety of games with these cards. Here are a few screenshots.
Chatterpix
Easily one of our favourite apps!
Sock Puppets
Who doesn't love hearing a puppet spell their words!
Answering questions, explaining your thinking, responding to text, using graphic organizers… What alternatives can we give students who have difficulty writing down their ideas?
There are so many apps that students can use to share their knowledge and understanding. Just when I think I have a good list I hear about something new. I give my students choice boards (see below) and they are able to choose which app to use to share what they know.
If you would like pdf copies the links are below.
I have challenged my students to answer a single question with as many apps as possible. This worked very well and gave students the chance to talk about which app worked best for which type of question.
Below are examples of answers to my question...
Which 3D shapes roll, stack and/or slide?
Here is a video the students made using Chatterpix.
For this example they used Skitch.
This example uses Popplet.
This example uses Pic Collage.
Here is another question I asked.
What time is it if both hands are close to but not on the 5?
We used iMovie.
We used Chatterpix.
We used Explain Everything.
This example uses ThingLink.
As I am writing this and re-watching these examples I notice once again how deeply I am able to see the level of understanding that each student has. I can tell who understands the properties of shapes or the concept of time very easily. The students were so proud that they got to choose the app for representation and show what they knew. It makes me question whether I would have seen this if I had asked them to simply write about it.
I love this quote by Jeanne Halderson.
Be open, encourage choices, allow students to guide their own learning and watch what happens!
Today I challenged my students to tell me about their favourite movie. They found a picture in Safari with Siri's help and took it into Book Creator. When they were finished they exported their book as a movie and blogged it to show their moms and dads. Here are some of the journals.
Great job guys!
Independent reading time is a tough time of the day when you are a non-reader or emergent reader. 20-30 minutes each day where you are expected to "read" a book without making any noise or causing any distractions can easily become a frustrating time for these students. The becomes especially pronounced as students get older and picture books turn into chapter books and it becomes harder to look like everyone else while still looking at books that are of interest and at ability level.
The iPad can be a great tool at these times. So many ebooks and audiobooks are available that all the student needs is a set of headphones and they can listen to or watch videos of books to their hearts content.
The iPad can be a great tool at these times. So many ebooks and audiobooks are available that all the student needs is a set of headphones and they can listen to or watch videos of books to their hearts content.
These apps are free to the iPad and give the opportunity to purchase books to be added to your personal library. The books that you purchase are your forever and can be accessed on a variety of devices with your login and password. The prices are a little lower than buying an actual paper copy of the book and just think, no ripped pages or lost books. If the book doesn't already have the audio option you can always use the built in text to speech capabilities of the iPad.
Check out this site for news on free kindle books for kids.
You can create your own books in Book Creator and publish them to iBooks. Kids love to read about themselves or topics of interest.
These are apps for the iPad. All of them are free but most include costs for downloading books. Epic is totally free, as is My Backpack. With others you are entitled to a free book every so often.
These sites allow students to read stories online. Bookflix and TumbleBooks require a membership but the others are free.
storylineonline.net
tumblebooks.com
Copying and pasting the youtube address into safeshare.tv provides you with an ad free version that you can have students view without worry.
These sites allow students to read stories online. Bookflix and TumbleBooks require a membership but the others are free.
storylineonline.net
tumblebooks.com
Or...
Make a video of yourself or the student reading a book.
Have the class act out a favourite story and use iMovie to make it into a video that can be played at reading time.
Think about using apps like Puppet Pals, Toontastic, iMotion, Sock Puppets, Book Creator, etc. to turn a story into a creation that can be watched again and again.
CDs from your listening center can be imported to iTunes and synced to the music app on your iPad. Students can follow along with the actual book just like at a traditional learning centre.
Do a youtube search of your favourite book. Chances are there might be a video of it being read aloud.
Copying and pasting the youtube address into safeshare.tv provides you with an ad free version that you can have students view without worry.
I have made QR codes to match the youtube addresses for these books. Students need only scan the QR code to access the reading of the book.
teacherspayteachers.com has lots of sets of QR coded stories for sale but really this procedure just takes minutes so give it a try before you buy.
Don’t forget the iPad’s built in capability for reading an highlighted text. Click below for a link to instructions for setting up text to speech on your iPad.
Most classrooms I visit have a time when students are asked to write. Sometimes it is a free writing time, sometimes it is a writing exercise based on a genre, sometimes it is journal writing. Often the students I work with have difficulty accessing these activities because of difficulties with fine motor skills, spelling or related literacy skills. This, however, does not mean that they don't have ideas to share and stories to tell. My favourite apps to recommend to help students at these sorts of times are Book Creator, Explain Everything and Clicker.
All three of these apps are easy to learn and simple to use. They allow for the sharing of ideas and knowledge to come first.
All three of these apps are easy to learn and simple to use. They allow for the sharing of ideas and knowledge to come first.
Book Creator
Book creator is exactly what is sounds like...an app for creating books. But it is SO more! Students can add pictures, video, drawings, typing and sound to pages. The books can be exported as iBooks, PDFs or videos making them available on any iPad, iPod or iPhone.
You can add multiple pictures, text boxes and sound buttons to each page which makes it an excellent app for students who have difficulty reading instructions or writing the answers.
Here are some ideas to try with Book Creator.- have students take a picture of a drawing they did and record themselves talking about it
- have students draw a picture and record themselves talking about it
- have students take pictures of something that interests them and have them record themselves talking about them
- record a video of the student doing something and then record them talking about it
- create a fill in the blanks journal entry. book creator will allow students to fill in those blanks with text, drawing or sound buttons.
This student used Book Creator to do their journal orally.
Explain Everything
Explain Everything is a screen casting app that opens up many possibilities for students. The tools within the app allow you to insert pictures, video, web materials, etc. Students can then draw, type, record their voices to show their thinking about the material. Finished files can be exported as photos, PDFs, videos or saved as files to be viewed in the app at another time.
A tutorial for Explain Everything can be found here.
You might want to...
- have students take a picture of a drawing they did and record themselves talking about it
- have students draw a picture and record themselves talking about it
- have students take pictures of something that interests them and have them record themselves talking about it
- record a video of the student doing something and then record them talking about it
Here is an example of a student using Explain Everything to reflect on a video of themselves at a piano recital.
Clicker
Clicker has four apps that I would recommend checking out. Each does something a little different and some are more suited to students with specific skill sets.
Clicker Connect
This app allows you to create word banks and pictures that students can use to build sentences.
Word Banks can contain words or pictures. Students can have access to both banks while writing.
Clicker Docs allows you to create word banks without a sentence structure to support writing in other curriculum areas.
When you download the app you are able to register for free to The Learning Grids online sharing database and take advantage of grids that other people have already made.
Follow these links to see videos about the 4 Clicker apps.
