ScribblePress App

I want to tell you about my new favorite app for the iPad2...ScribblePress. It's basically an app where students can create a story and illustrate it. After creating it on the iPad, they can share it to the ScribblePress gallery online, email a link to their story, and share it to iBooks on the iPad2 they are using.

Students can create an original book or start from a template where they fill in the blanks in a story already created.  Once they fill in all the blanks, they then illustrate their story. Another neat feature is there is clipart they can use, lots of different marker colors and tip sizes, stamps, and they can even use the iPad2 camera to take a picture and include it in their book.

When I first downloaded the app, I was disappointed because students needed an email address to create an account. I contacted the company and shared with them that I work with 1st-3rd graders who didn't have email accounts. I mentioned sites like Kerpoof that allow teachers to set up an account and then create student user names and passwords so students can login without an email. The people at ScribblePress are amazing! Within a few days, they contacted me about helping Beta test their new groups feature. I was able to create an account and set up multiple classes. I created a student user name and password for each student.

I have used this with 1st and 3rd grade classes. They have all loved it and seeing the excitement on their faces to hear their book will be published on the bookshelf of the ScribblePress site is wonderful!

After the students finished their books, we emailed the link to the teacher and the teacher then forwarded it to the students' parents. When the parents click the link, they have the choice to read in browser or download it for iPad/iPhone, Nookcolor, or Literati/Kobo. Parents can also share on Facebook, Twitter, and email the link to others.

Here are links to a
1st grade class bookshelf (books made using a template),
3rd grade class bookshelf (books made using a template), and
3rd grade class bookshelf (books made from original stories).

I also think this would be a great way to "show the learning" at the end of a unit...students create a book sharing what they know (for example) about the Solar System.

If your students blog, copy the link and paste it into their blog post to share it with their followers.

One minor thing to note: if you are going to share the books to iBooks, I recommend only putting 3 sentences on each page to prevent text from being cut off the bottom of the page in iBooks. This isn't a problem if you are only reading the books online.

Give it a try...all of our teachers that have used it have LOVED this app!

Cool Photo App! GroupShot

I received an email today about GroupShot. It's in the app store for $.99-not a bad price, so I thought I'd share it on my blog with you. I usually try to blog about free apps and software, but thought less than $1.00 was worth mentioning! (Please note it is $.99 for a limited time, then will be $1.99).

Here is the description from their website:
"GroupShot solves a common problem faced in group photos, a person isn't facing the camera or has an expression that doesn't fit the rest of the photo. Usually we take several shots with the hope that one will be perfect. With GroupShot people can pick and choose the best photo of them and integrate it seamlessly into a new, high quality, original pixel level photo."

When you watch the video on their site, I think you will like what you see.
Basically, if you can't get everyone looking at the camera at the same time and take multiple shots, it will allow you to replace people's faces using their face from the photo that is best of them.
Watch the video...check it out...I just purchased it and it's so neat!

Symbaloo

Our classrooms all have laptop carts and I've been looking for a way to organize sites our students use on a regular basis. Through the power of twitter, I found Symbaloo.  Symbaloo is a simple start page that allows you to organize and access favorite sites on one page. It has a great look for kids (as well as adults). Symbaloo allows you to create various webmixes, so I created one for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades as well as a subject area for the main subjects. Our school uses Google Apps, so using Google Sites, I create a home page for each grade level. I made that page include the webmix with more general sites (our school homepage, AR, IXL, etc.) I then created a Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies, Keyboarding, and Just for Fun site for each grade level. Click here to see our 2nd grade example.
Symbaloo is very user friendly. You can increase or decrease the size of your webmix. You can personalize the icons for each individual square. You can add or delete sites on your webmix any time. You can also embed it in another site, email the link to anyone, keep it private, or share with the world. 
I have shared this with our teachers and they are excited about how easy it will be for their students to access web sites. We also plan on sharing the google site for each grade level with parents so they can make it their homepage on home computers.
Symbaloo is free, but there are paid accounts as well.  Check it out! I think you will be pleased.

iPods in the Classroom

Our school has a new iPod Touch cart for classes to use this year.  After setting the iPods up and putting apps in folders to help make it easier for students (PK-6th) to use, I rolled them out and used them with a 3rd grade class last week. It was a very exciting day...not only for our students, but for me. I really had a geek moment when they were ready for use!
Many of our teachers have attended Project Zero at Harvard. One technique they learned there is for students to create a "Headline" about various topics they are studying in class.  So, with that in mind, I came up with the first lesson. We are an all boys' school, so this lesson went right along with boys! The boys used the Create a Martian app to design the martians that were taking over the earth. They had 3 minutes to make their martian perfect! Once everyone had a martian, we took a snapshot of it by holding down the power button and the home button of the iPod, which basically takes a screen shot of the iPod screen. Then, the boys went to the Photos app and found their picture. They emailed it to their teacher (I have all teachers set up in the contacts app). The teacher printed it from her laptop to a color printer and the boys then created a headline about martians taking over the earth.
Not a bad lesson for their first introduction to the iPods. They boys worked great and really loved the chance to be creative with the martian and headline.
One thing I thought was really interesting is that with the first 7 classes I have used the iPods with, only one or two from each class had NEVER used an iPod or iPhone.  WOW!  

FlockDraw

FlockDraw is a collaboration drawing tool.  Basically, you create a flockdraw site, share it with others, and you can all draw at the same time.  It's quick and easy...to get started, simply click the Start Drawing button. Enter your name under Flockdraw, click Join, and you are on the page.  To share it with others, simply copy and paste the website address and send it to friends.  Teachers, you can post the link on your webpage to make it easy for students to access.
The tools are on the right hand side...basic drawing tools...not too difficult to figure out. There is also a text tool to add text.
These can also be embedded into your blog or another site (see below).
Note:  I am having some trouble figuring out how to get it to save for others to draw on it after you have closed it out.  If you figure that out, I'd love to know.  In the meantime, as long as you don't close the window, seems like it is ok.

If you have used this with students, please leave a comment to share with those reading (and me, too!)

Here is a sample I quickly made.  Please feel free to add to it so you (and others) can see what it does.

Jeopardy Labs

This is a great resource to easily create a Jeopardy game for your students (or let your students create the game for your class!) JeopardyLabs allows you to create a customized jeopardy template without PowerPoint. The games you make can be played online from anywhere in the world. Building your own jeopardy template is very easy. Just use the simple editor to get your game up and running.  There is also a feature to browse jeopardy templates created by others.
Students will love reviewing material by playing Jeopardy!

Wallwisher

Wallwisher is an online sticky note site. A "wall" is basically a web page where people post messages on sticky notes. Their website gives ideas for using Wallwisher such as personal note taking, to do lists, feedback collection, anything that may need input from a lot of people (debate, etc) and more!  Your wall can be private or public. The sticky note has a limit of 160 characters.
We have several teachers who have used this with their students at our school.  @dchristenbury is our Bible teacher at PDS. Her 2nd grade students have been learning about the Trinity.  They started by reading the book 3 in 1 A Picture of God by Joanne Marxhausen.  Mrs. Christenbury put a request on twitter for people to put their favorite name for Jesus on Wall wisher.  We got answers from all over the country.  Next, they looked up names for Jesus found in the Bible and put their favorites on a Wallwisher.  You can see it here.  They are using these descriptions to write cinquains (five line poems).
Also, Ms. Millar's 3rd grade class has used Wallwisher for peer review of book reports.  While a student was giving his book report, students went to a wall created just for that student and created a sticky note with suggestions or comments about his book report.  The student giving the report could then go read the sticky notes on his Wallwisher site and use the comments to improve for his next oral presentation or book report. The students LOVED doing this and reviewing each other's presentations.
We have also used it at a faculty meeting at our school where groups shared an idea or 2 on a given topic.  This was also a great way to introduce it to our teachers!
Wallwisher has lots of possibilities for use with students.  If you have used it, I would love you to leave a comment and share your ideas!

PhotoPeach

PhotoPeach is a free slide show program that is easy to use. Just upload your photos (30 maximum with the free account), choose music from their selections (or use your own with premium account or choose no music), then it makes a slide show for you set to the music. It can be embedded in a blog or shared in other ways as well. This is a great way to feature a program, field trip, or just share pictures of your students with parents. Here is a sample of a PhotoPeach I created to showcase pictures from our school's Student Faculty Basketball Game.
Student Faculty Basketball Game 2010 on PhotoPeach

Fotobabble

I saw Fotobabble on twitter from @teryl_magee and @kditzler  so I thought I would check it out.  The account is FREE and it's very user friendly.  So, what is Fotobabble?  According to their site, "its the easiest way to add voice to photos. Its free - just upload a photo, record your voice and share!" Audio recordings can be up to 60 seconds.
Fotobabble could be used in your classroom to share information about field trips, projects, reflections about learning, and much more (see list below from their site with ideas)! The final picture with recording can be embedded on your blog (like above). Easy, free, and great classroom tool! If you think of other uses, feel free to leave a comment!
Q. What can I use Fotobabble for?
A. Anything you can think of. Here are just a few examples:

• Home-made greeting cards
• Talking postcards from your travels
• Review products, songs, movies, TV shows, anything!
• Citizen journalism: Reporting from the scene of something newsworthy
• Provide commentary on a photo found on the web
• Promote your brand, products or services (OR SCHOOL!)
• Narrate the story behind a special photo
• Adding a visual element to your poetry, drawing or music

Blabberize

@bethdiaz 's 2nd grade class created a VoiceThread about Tennessee. She wanted to make the state of Tennessee talk as the beginning of her VoiceThread. This was a very easy task thanks to Blabberize. Basically, Blabberize is an online tool that you can use to make any image appear like it is talking. You record a voice and set the place on the image where you want the mouth to move. You can embed it into a blog or wiki. @msmithpds helped me by using Screencast to save the video of the state talking.  Blabberize is another FREE tool. Blabberize now lets you convert your blabbers to video; however, it's only free for a short time while they test it, so get your blabbers as mpeg today!
Below is the final product of making the state of Tennessee talk.

Tux Paint

If you like Kidpix, you need to try Tux Paint, an open source drawing software program for kids. It's a FREE download for Mac or PC. It has a very easy to use interface that includes sound effects that kids love. If your school is watching every penny (like most schools), this is a great drawing program for students of any age. One feature that I think is better than Kidpix is the stamps.  They are much more realistic and enlarge much easier and less pixelated. I encourage you to download this and let your students have some fun, then assign them a project or specific drawing to create and see what happens...you may just be surprised!
By the way, they also have free math and typing programs available for download.

Kerpoof!!!

I just finished teaching a group of 1st and 2nd graders in an after school enrichment class on Kerpoof!  The boys LOVED this class! The excitement was evident from the moment the program was introduced.  If you haven't used Kerpoof, it's very user friendly.  They offer teacher accounts which allows you to create student accounts so students can save their work. Teachers create student user names (no emails needed!) and passwords, so it's very user friendly! You can also have multiple classes set up.  Here is the teacher link to request a teacher account.  You have to create a basic Kerpoof account first. Students can also log in to the site from home. Kerpoof offers various types of options such as drawing, pictures, story, and a movie. The drawings, pictures, and stories can be saved as jpegs with a simple click of an icon, which makes it easy to include on a blog or wiki. Oh yeah, did I mention it's FREE!  Gotta love that!!! Below is a picture my 8 year old son in 2nd grade created.  He loves the program.