Weebly just got WAY better!!

 For the last four years I have used Weebly  for my classwebsite.  However, the content of my website was very teacher directed and I wanted my 4th graders to have more voice! Now, thanks to the new Weebly app they can. I put the free app on the class itouches and now they can post pictures, videos and comments directly to our class blog. So yesterday, after their literature circle chat time, they posted their responses about the book onto the blog including pictures. Other chidren then responded to the blog. All this was done through the new Weebly app. You can also upload the new blog to twitter directly from the itouch. Putting the children in charge of the blog is all very exciting.

Early Birds App

This is my favourite so far! It is all about multiples and perfect for G3 and G4. Each student can have their own login name so they can see their individual progress. This is definitely the best thing ever as a teacher with only 5 i-touches! I set the automatic timer for 5 minutes on the interactive white board so it buzzes when their time is up and they pass it on to someone else on the list on their i-touch.

It is so motivating. If they choose the wrong multiple there is a time penalty. If they succeed they get an egglet! These egglets are a lot of fun and very motivating to collect.


LOVE this app!

DOOORS - Problem Solving App

DOOORS is a great little app promoting problem solving skills. I was a little skeptical that my 9 year olds would be able to fathom out what to do but of course they loved it and raced through the initial levels. Fun, highly motivating and a great little game for your early finishers or five minute filler. Just wish it had more levels. DOOORS (yes with three Os) is currently a free download, added bonus!

QR Codes

I love QR Codes - they're quick and fun to create and they really motivated the kids to write. We had designed t-shirts for our favourite book characters and then wrote advertisements for the t-shirts on a QR code creator. Then we printed out our QR codes and put them on display with the t-shirts. I uploaded a QR code reader onto the i-touches. Love having i-touches in the classroom right now!! The students have had a lot of fun scanning others QR Codes to see their friend's sales pitch! We could also use them to ask math questions. For example, how much more is so and so's t-shirt compared to yours? The display created a lot of interest from parents and teachers alike. FUN!

Apps -StoryKit

Looking for good apps for primary school children can be really challenging. We have 5 i-touches in our class and am always on the lookout for apps I can use with my students. One recent find is called StoryKit. This is a fabulous free app!! It allows students to add photos, text and voice or sounds to pages to make a digital book. You can then share the book by email. It is so simple to use and the children are so motivated to create! I used it for student led conferences and the students had to create a day in their school life. Recommend StoryKit for all ages.

Introducing the Book

Just saw this video and had to post it! New technologies have always had their challenges. 

(There is an English version out there but I think the Norwegian version just adds to the whole thing!)

VoiceThread

I know voicethread has been around a while and I signed up a few years ago however I have only just got around to trying one with my students.
I first thought they could use it to discuss the book we were reading. It didn't work as it was taking forever to get through all my kids. So, a rethink and I tried it to reinforce their personal key fact about their topic and thus generate a lot of key facts in one place. It worked! It didn't take long to upload a photo of each child.... you can do them all in one go. Putting no names on theVoice thread makes it safer. Then as their photo came on the screen they said their fact into the mic. I didn't like that after the last slide it went straight to a page where they could click on facebook links etc... To get round this I put in three slides of nothing before the last page so "hiding" that last slide, well sort of!

You can check out our final result on my class website www.msmosfootprints.com