Technology Tuesday: QR Code Orientation

Rather than stand in front of my 4th graders and show a Power Point while I bore them to tears about the different parts of the library and procedures whey must follow, I decide to have them to a QR code Scavenger Hunt for their Orientation.  I made a list of 22 places in our library I wanted them to know about... the check out desk, the biography section, the smartboard, the iPad cart, etc.  Then I made a list of 22 questions like "How many shark books do we have in our library?", "How many books can you check out at a time?", "What kind of books are in the 398.2s?".  Then using the website QR Stuff, I made a QR code with the answer to each of the questions.  Once I made the QR code, I opened an Excel document and pasted the QR code into a cell and the answer in the cell below the code.  For the actual recording sheet for the students, each number 1-22 had a "location" and a "question".  The location was where they needed to go to find the code and the question they needed to answer by scanning the code at that location.  For example: #1 Location: Magazines   Question:  How many shark books are in our library?  The code that was taped to the magazine shelf had the QR code with the answer "62" which is the number of shark books that we have.  I partnered the kids up and had each partner group start at a different number so they would not get traffic jammed - although they still did.  I also asked them to move away from the code to write the answer(since the answer was on the iPad) once they scanned it so other groups could get to the code.  All in all, it was a noisy, engaging, informative lesson where the students were actively reminded of places in our library, procedures and interesting facts and not one of them fell asleep.

Technology Tuesday: QR Code Match

(Tuesdays are going to be my “Technology Tuesdays”.  I will be posting some kind of technology lesson, idea, app, etc)

In Texas, we have a Bluebonnet Reading List for students in grades 3-6.  Every year in August I stand in front of classes and show my powerpoint and booktalk the books over and over again.  This year I decided to do something different.  After seeing Digital Goonies present about QR codes at TCEA last year.  I made a Bluebonnet QR code activity for the students.  I made 20 QR codes that had positive messages on them, “Great!”, “You got it!”, “That’s right!”.  Then above the codes I put the titles of the books and below the code I put a short abstract or summary.   I cut the codes in half and put each set in baggies.  Each group of kids had an iPad and a baggie with the codes.  They had to read the abstract and decide which title it went with, match up the two halves and scan to see if they were right.  (I did show a PowerPoint of the covers beforehand just to give the kids a visual).  The kids (and teachers) LOVED it!!  Some of the kids even said, “Mrs. Romine, we are inferencing!.  I feel like the kids got so much more out of it, even if they only got through 5, than if I had stood up and book-talked for 25 minutes.  Score One for Mrs. Romine!