iPad Apps

Each month my technology trainings run a little differently and I have loved having the flexibility to teach and model best practices for teachers. At the beginning of January I downloaded a ton of new apps and I wanted to share them all but wasn't sure quite how! I knew some would be really beneficial to particular grade levels or specialists while others would benefit everyone. My sessions are elementary 1-5 one week and middle school 6-8 the following week. Specialists pick to attend either training. Since the staff had to take a division-wide survey first and everyone would be finishing at different times this model worked perfectly!

First I created an App chart with the icon, description and notes section. Click the picture or highlighted words App Chart to gain full access to my app list! 

Then I created a 5 minute screencast using Jing and Reflections on the MacBook and my iPad to show how to download the new apps. I talked about a few that I thought would benefit everyone in the video. They could be looking at their iPad and using their notes and look at the App Shoot-Out chart as I was talking and showing them on my iPad.

After the video they explored whatever apps they wanted on their own using their App Shoot-Out sheet and my recommendations from the video, asked questions and posted on Todays Meet! Here are a few screen shots of the conversation.

This Flipped Classroom model is working brilliant on the teachers and most of them have probably never even heard the of the phrase Flipped Classroom. They wouldn't know what it meant but they are so engaged, many commented how much they are learning, how well they like learning like this, etc. Eventually I will break it to them that I have been modeling the flipped classroom but for now I am loving how trainings are going. People are no longer complaining about coming to tech sessions or watching the clock as someone stands in the front of the room and talks at them. Now the bell rings for bus duty and people are glued to what they are doing.

So where is the QR Code tip? Don't worry I didn't forget it! Just link your TodaysMeet to a QR Code. Students/teachers can have direct access to your TodaysMeet without following a link or typing a URL. Follow this QR Code to my TodaysMeet. If you don't have your device handy just click the QR Code to follow the link :)!

Try it out and see how easy TodaysMeet is... answer these questions...

SpeakPipe with QR Code

I blogged about SpeakPipe awhile back but wanted to bring it up again! At the beginning of the year I was using it as a "Help Hotline" for teachers to request help or suggest ideas. I have it linked to a QR Code outside of my door as well as a Google Form. I also have both linked to our IT page for teacher access only. I also have had it on my school pages. The kids LOVE leaving voice messages for me and I really enjoy listening to them! Most of them are sweet and aren't really technology questions or comments just that I am the best teacher in the whole world haha! Now I decided I should add it to my blog!

Speakpipe is still in beta so it is free for now :)! Essentially it allows users to send a voice mail straight to your inbox! You might notice the new Send Voicemail tab on the right hand side of my blog. Go ahead, press it I know you are dying to try it out so go ahead and send me a message! I love getting voice messages just as much as I love reading your comments! Tell me about how you are using QR Codes, what technologies you are using in your classroom, what is your favorite Web 2.0 tool or app, what the weather is like where you live, tell me anything :)! Then go check out Speak Pipe and add it to YOUR blog! You can also create a link to your own SpeakPipe page if you don't want to have the button on the side. I love this cool Web 2.0 tool.

Sticking with this weeks theme of QR Codes! I have created a QR Code also linked directly to my SpeakPipe page if you want to send me a message that way! How awesome would this be for parents? You can add a setting that requires users to leave their name and/or email address! 

QR Code Tutorials

As promised this week I am sticking to all QR Codes blog posts in anticipation of our FETC presentation SCANAPALOOZA! I realized that MOST of my blog followers would not be attending FETC so it is OK to offer sneak peeks ;)! Enjoy these two quick tutorials of how to create QR Codes!

Making QR Codes with QR Stuff  

 Making QR Codes with QR Code Maker

QR Codes at Porter

Happy Thursday! I cannot believe how quickly FETC has snuck up on us and I cannot wait to leave for the sunshine state on Sunday morning! I know most of my blog followers will not be attending FETC so here is a sneak peek of the video that we will be sharing as part of our presentation! This is also the video linked to our amazing QR Code shirts! How cute are they?! Since most of the pictures/videos were taken with the iPad (both vertical and horizontal shots) it isn't the best quality video and it was my first shot at iMovie but it is a good representation of all that is happening at our school with QR Codes!

QR Codes are MORE than Self Checking Answer Keys

I am really looking forward to FETC and presenting SCANAPALOOZA: QR Codes in the Elementary Classroom and helping educators realize that QR Codes are more than just self checking answer keys! They have amazing potential and power and I hope to really drive this concept home at FETC with our higher level thinking centers. Now don't get me wrong I think QR Codes as a self checking tool is an awesome use or linking to a website is wonderful but there is just SO MUCH MORE they can do!  How have you used QR Codes in YOUR classroom?

QR Codes

Leading up to FETC this week's blog theme is going to be QR Codes since I will be presenting SCNAPALOOZA: QR Codes in the Elementary Classroom! 

Have you sent home something with a QR Code on it before really explaining them to parents? I know I am definitely guilty of this. Sure they have seen them around but most parents probably don't know anything about them or how to use them! While I would hope that the student could explain they are kind of an abstract concept for a 6 year old so I created this visual to help parents out. I will be posting this on my Computer Lab page and linking it to our February newsletter since they are ALL over and being used in many classrooms at my school! 

Feel free to download this freebie by clicking the screenshot! 

Web 2.0 Tool for Font Finding

I am a font hoarder! I LOVE downloading new fonts and dafont.com is one of my top hits. I don't even know how many I have. There are a few favorites I always go to (cinnamon cake, {skinny} jeans, Architect's Daughter, A Year Without Rain, smile monster) but when I am looking for something new it takes me forever to scroll through the entire list and then if I decide that the one I selected wasn't quite what I was looking for and I have to start the search again this can take a lot of time. 

Does this sound familiar? 

Well I have a solution for you... wordmarkit! Wordmarkit is a Web 2.0 tool that allows you to test out a word or phrase and loads ALL of the fonts on your computer for preview! This makes finding a new font so much easier and much faster!!! 

FETC

January has really flown by and I cannot believe that FETC (Florida Education Technology Conference) is just around the corner! I have finally crossed Finish FETC Presentation off of my To-Do List. Now that the prep work is done I am getting excited for the trip and really looking forward to presenting SCANAPALOOZA: QR Codes in the Elementary Classroom with two colleagues, the school librarian and a 5th grade teacher! If you are attending FETC we would love to have you at our session on Thursday @ 12:00! Join us on edmodo with group code CS8267! If you are attending FETC we will be the crew from VA with hot pink shirts that have large QR Codes on them so look for us! I just need to finish packing and next Sunday I am on my way to sunny Florida for what promises to be an amazing conference! There are so many amazing sessions that I am having a hard time deciding which ones to attending. My FETC Schedule on the app looks a little crazy because I haven't made my final picks yet. I feel like it is Fantasy Football! I will be posting our presentation on my blog after the conference if you cannot make it to FETC this year! 

5th Grade Technology Centers

Technology centers have really taken off with the 5th graders! Now that we are in our fourth rotation of centers the students know the routine and the room runs itself which is something that I love to see happen. Students are so engaged during these centers that you can hear a pin drop in the room and transitions are seamless. The social studies curriculum of US regions is an awesome springboard for our centers. Each center was introduced as a whole class lesson before we completed it in the center rotation. 

Center #1 QR Codes/Google Earth

We began the year introducing the QR Code Landmark/Google Earth scavenger hunt! Each region has important landmarks that they are responsible for learning and they have so much fun doing this activity. Rather than memorizing landmarks and cities this allows them to use different smarts and actually see a picture of the landmark (picture smart), visit the landmark on Google Earth (body smart) and refer to the curriculum (word smart). This is a great review of absolute (latitude and longitude) and relative location. Below you can see one side of the Southeast Region. 

Center #2 Clicker Quiz 

First I created the Clicker Quiz based on the curriculum but then it hit me that the students should do it so now they use Google Drive to access a class document on one screen and the 5th grade social studies curriculum on another screen to create questions with a buddy! This not only cut my work in half but also gave the students ownership of their test. They were really excited to see each others questions and the document that they created was used as a study guide although not all of the questions were on the quiz what a great way to review!

Center # 3 iPad - Discovery Education US Geography App

This app is not free but it has been worth every penny! Students plug in their ear buds and can watch several short video clips about a particular region while answering questions!

Center #4 QR Code Creation

Students created QR Codes for a huge map ( from the Dollar Tree that they colored) which is now hanging in the hallway and makes an awesome year-long bulletin board! Since this was their first QR Code we kept it simple with text. Each student selected a state and created a QR Code with the state, capital, abbreviation and region. A parent volunteer put the map together and attached all 50 QR Codes! We will continue to make QR Codes for the map and add pictures, videos and eventually podcasts or commercials for each state, etc. ! Since the states are a little smaller than I thought when I had the brilliant idea of adding different QR Codes throughout the year we decided to center the map on a bulletin board and then add strings (like with the postcard project) for additional QR Codes!

The 5th graders were so excited to see this hanging in the hall it actually caused a bit of a traffic jam in the hallway as they stopped to check out each state and see if their QR Code made it to the map (78 students and only 50 states).  As other grade levels are working on geography I am hoping that they will be able to use our map and scan the QR Codes to learn more about each state!

Technology Centers

Technology centers seem to be one of the most brilliant ideas I've ever had although I'm sure I'm not the first person to have this ingenious idea! 2nd and 5th grade seem to be my rockstar grade levels with consistency and awesome collaboration taking place!

2nd graders worked on weather centers last week and teachers walked away with FOUR science grades which as a former classroom teacher is awesome!

Center #1- Students worked in pairs to scan QR Codes with new academic vocabulary words and seasonal pictures. For 3 questions had to determine the word, 3 questions what a plant or animal was doing in the picture (hibernation, migration, dormancy) and 3 questions were identifying the season based on a picture of a tree.

Center #2 - Students went to PebbleGo and researched Extreme Weather (Blizzard, Hurricanes, Drought, Thunder and Lightning, Tornados) and record 8-10 key words. Then they created word clouds using ABCYa. Here is one example!

Center #3- Students accessed 4 graphs on the iPad in Adobe Reader (created in Word and saved as PDF) and answered 10 questions on Google Forms! If you have not used Google Forms yet they are amazing and you don't have to grade a stack of papers which is a huge bonus! The ONLY complaint I have after using them with 2nd graders is that if they bump the back button or refresh the page they loose all of their answers and have to start over. This was our first time using Google Forms in 2nd grade and it worked so great besides that little glitch and a few friends had to redo their forms! Although this was a science grade center it could also be taken as a math grade getting us up to 5 grades!

Center #4- Students watched a Brainpop video about Climate and then completed this Clicker Quiz. They love watching Brainpop videos but most of the quiz was interpreting weather maps which also integrated social studies and math. Since this could be considered a social studies map interpretation this could get us up to 6 grades! WOW- two one hour sessions and six grades which students were highly engaged! Gotta love it!

Have you tried technology centers? Share your experience! New to technology centers? I suggest starting small at first just like you would when introducing literacy centers! Introduce one center and complete it as a whole class, move on to introduce a second the same way and then do two centers, etc. We have gotten up to four centers and it is really working perfectly!