Maths stories- Shadow Puppet

Maths stories

This week I have introduced a new app to the students:  Shadow Puppet http://get-puppet.co/ is a great app that uses the skill taking photos with the camera and bringing them to life through the recording of voices.

There are lots of different ways Shadow puppet can be used.  I chose to use it by solving maths problems.  This can be done at a range of levels, adjusting for each abilities.

It was very pleasing to see the teachers using this app the next day, reinforcing their learning or putting their own spin on it to use it for another subject they are learning about.

Below are photos of  students preparing their story.

Credit from TPT(c)2014ThinkAppyThoughts&Tunstall’sTeachingTidbits

Drawing Pad: Reading Response

Reading Response:  Prediction                       It could have been worse  By A.H Benjamin        

Another day teaching Room 8 gave me a chance to use the Drawing Pad app again.  They did such a great job with their book covers about Edwin the Otter (see previous post) that I knew they would be very capable to do something else.

I began by showing the children the front cover of the book, from here they wrote in their books what they thought the book was going to be about. 



 We began to read the story and I stopped on the page where there was a fox.  They were then left to discuss what they thought would happen next.

They all wrote a sentence and then using drawing pad illustrated their own page for the book.

It was definitely a challenge for everyone, especially trying to draw a fox!  I was very impressed with the ability of the children and the final outcomes were very good.

We are still working on fine tuning the final products to make sure the overall display has the best layout but this is all learning and the more they do the better they results they will get.

Check out the awesome work below:
Using Drawing pad:  Students drew their pictures, added backgrounds and clip art.  Added text to write a sentence for the page to match their illustration.  This was done in one block (1 1/2 hours)

Reinforcing Learning

iPad in the classroom

Well I'm back after 6 weeks away on holiday in London!
 It was so great to come back and walk into a classroom of Year 2/3s to find them working away independently on their iPads.  The thing I love about this class is that after I have taught them a skill or new app on the iPad they continue to practice it on their own or with their teacher to reinforce what they have learnt or extend their learning by putting their own spin on it.  I can definitely see a difference when I work in all the classes throughout the school: like anything, when a student has been exposed to something, then has had extra time spent on it - the results are very telling.   I am blown away by the skill and ability of these young students and it is great when I get to spend a whole day with them instead of my normal 1 1/2 hour block.

Here are some photos of the students, voluntary working on the iPad before school.  You can see they are using the following apps:
1.  Puppet Pals
2.  Drawing Pad
3.  Chatterpix