US Government

 We are wrapping up our unit about the US government. Pairs of students created pictures and definitions for 6 words related to the unit from a list of 10 words. Apps used for this assignment included Popplet, Educreations and Strip Design. Prior to publishing, each pair shared their work with another pair for critical friend editing.

In addition, students explained different relationships between countries. Relationships we discussed include trade, arts and entertainment, military force, diplomacy, and treaties. Students illustrated and wrote about a specific example of each. Most pairs chose My Story or Haiku Deck for this assignment.

Stop Motion

We have finally, finally done some stop motion animation. I must confess I've had the Koma Koma app on my iPads since last May and never had students use it. I was finally spurred into action after attending the EdTech Summit San Diego conference. At the conference I went to a workshop about My Create, another stop motion animation app.

I allowed my students time to explore both apps. Then they chose the app they preferred and worked together in groups of 3-4 to build something meaningful with a set of Lego.

All the groups chose My Create. In general they thought both apps were easy to use but they thought My Create had a few extra options not available in Koma Koma. They suggested that Koma Koma would be a good app for K and 1st grade.

Trading Cards US monuments

We are beginning a study of US monuments as part of our social studies curriculum. After reading articles in Actively Learn, paper books, and books in the Epic! app about different US monuments, pairs of students each chose 1 monument. They completed a Trading Card about that monument. Based on what was included in most of the readings, I told students to skip the "event" and "effect" boxes because I felt that would have been difficult for students to complete without further research.

Review of adjectives and quotations

Prior to our February break students used the My Playhome or My Playhome Stores app to create a scene. They had to add 2 characters to the scene to create dialogue. Their dialogue had to demonstrate 2 types of sentences (command, telling, question, exclamation) and correctly show quotation marks. In addition students had to label at least 4 objects with adjectives.

What We've Been Up to in February

I did not introduce many new iPad activities this February compared to last year and we've been on February break.

My students have been doing several activities that are part of a weekly 2nd grade routine.

Practicing leveled math fact tests in the Timed Test app. I LOVE how much faster it is to see data compared to grading paper tests.

Solving 100 chart riddles using the 100 Chart app. Again, it is easier for correcting and when students have errors it is much less frustrating for the to correct compared to erasing on paper. Use different "markers" for each riddle clue as a quicker way of assessing and fixing any mistakes. For example, if a student marks all the numbers for clue #3 in blue and they have some errors, but clue #1 (red) and #2 (green) are all correct it makes it easier to give a hint about where to focus re-thinking.

Summarizing articles and making connections using an app of choice. Students tend to select Pages, My Story, Tellagami, or Chatterpix Kids for these assignments. I ask for the main idea, 3 supporting details, and a connection and they choose whether to type or speak their responses.

App Flow of Freckle Juice

One of my students presented an example of iPad use in 2nd grade to our parent community yesterday morning.  Her presentation included each activity we did at the end of each chapter while reading Freckle Juice by Judy Blume.  The activities were put into My Story to create a whole project plus an Educreations video.