1st 7 2nd Graders Freyer-Type Model of Character Trait Words Using Popplet

As an end to our Project Cornerstone/anti-bully school program I asked pairs or groups of 3 students to choose a word from a list we brainstormed. All the words were positive character trait words (helpful, kind, honest, upstander, etc) that were discussed as part of the program during the year. In the middle Popple students wrote the character trait word. In 4 bubbles around it they wrote a synonym, an antonym, used the word in a sentence, and drew a picture showing the word in action.

1st & 2nd Graders Kind Words About Each Other Using Popplet

Down to our last 1 hour 40 minutes with iPads I decided students should write a few words to each other, expressing the positive character traits they see in each other. Originally I was thinking students would take a picture of themselves and then their peers would write positive character trait words around the photo in Skitch. However, as I was about to launch this activity I realized we only had 3 iPads with cameras...24 students...23 comments on each photo...not going to happen in the time remaining. Great idea for next year, though!

Instead each student created a Popplet with their name in the center. Peers stopped at each Popplet (9 iPads so each iPad had 2 or 3 Popplets to comment on) and added a Popple. They wrote a positive character trait word or a phrase about something their peer likes or is known for. Again, I think more planning and brainstorming of character trait words would have yielded more variety in the Popples (also less enthusiasm for the showing of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs that was about to happen), but hopefully it is a nice keepsake from the year.

Father's Day StoryBuddy by 2nd Graders

2nd grade students completed a 3 page StoryBuddy or 3 box Strip Design about their dads as a Father's Day gift. We had to turn in iPads, so we had to get this project completed ahead of time. On each page they drew a picture and completed a sentence stem. The sentence stems were "My dad is great at..." "My dad is special because..." and "I like to _____ with my dad."

1st & 2nd Graders Reflect on Our Environment Unit

We spent a week learning about taking care of the environment--water and energy conservation, reduce, reuse, recycle, etc. At the end of the unit pairs of students showed what they learned about 1 topic that they felt was most important.  Popular apps for demonstrating learning were Educreations, StoryBuddy (see sample), DrawingPad and StripDesign, 30 Hands, Sonic Pics, and Skitch.

1st Grade Heavier/Lighter with StoryBuddy

First grade students are learning about objects that are heavier/lighter than each other. After weighing various classroom objects using balance scales, they showed me their understanding on the iPad. Using StoryBuddy they drew a picture and then wrote a sentence explaining which object is heavier and how they knew.

2nd Graders Review Their Favorite Apps

Only 2 more days with iPads, I'm not sure how will we survive the other !  Each student chose their favorite app on the classroom iPads, took a screenshot of if being used, and gave an audio review. The review followed our Step Up to Writing expository format--topic, 3 yellow detail sentences, 3 red explain more sentences, and  a conclusion.

The videos turned out to be rather long, and I'm not sure I'm going to successfully get them off the iPads before the end of the year. However, here's a list of those that students chose to highlight (there were some duplicates).

Nancy Drew's Shadow Ranch
GeoWalk
Daisy the Dinosaur
Green Up
Pocket Zoo
eSpark
Educreations
Skitch
Hopscotch
Ask3

2nd Grade Mystery Disguises

The reading theme this week was mysteries. After reading several mysteries and doing some paper and pencil activities, students took a photo of themselves with the iPad camera. Using either Doodle Buddy or Stitch they created a disguise for themselves--hats, hair, mustaches, silly clothes, etc.

No samples shown due to privacy issues.