End of the Year with iPads, a Bunch of New Activities

We are winding down the school year and this was our last full week. Since assessments are done we worked on a mystery unit, end of year memories, and some fun critical thinking/problem solving apps.

As we did last year, students read several short mystery chapter books and picture books. They completed comprehension activities and graphic organizers. Then they used the Superhero Yourself app or Skitch app to create a disguise for themselves. Using the Klikaklu app I created a mystery scavenger hunt around the classroom and I incorporated some different math and ELA topics as well, such as “find a shape with 6 sides” and “where is the poster with words that describe verbs”.

PBS Cyberchase Shape Quest is a fantastic app and they played Patch the Path. The students loved working together to build the path. They liked rotating shapes and shrinking and expanding the pieces.

I don’t play video games, a whole set of experiences that are foreign to be, but I wanted my students to experiment with Pixel Press Floors. My son, who is much more knowledge about Mario and other video games in general, came in one afternoon and walked the students through the tutorial provided within the app. The students then had time in pairs to create their own Floors games, with my son providing troubleshooting help. They were able to test their game to make sure it was workable, some had time to create 1 floor while other groups created 2 floors. Once everyone had a workable game they swapped iPads and played the game. From there they created an additional floor for the game they had just played.

Finally, this week students used the WeMap app to create a map of the 5 senses related to summer. It was a great way to review description, categories, senses, and get ready for the break!