Technology Tues: Kinder Shadow Puppets

My kinder classes have each been researching a different animal in class and this year, instead of doing a different research project in the library, we decided to use their notes from the class to make videos in Shadow Puppet on the iPads.

I am not really sure why this app is called Shadow Puppet because there are no shadows and no puppets involved.  It is a video creating app using slides.  I have used 30 Hands with kinder before but wanted to try this because text can be written on the slides and there is a web image search within the app.  

We did this lesson over 4-5 thirty minute sessions.  In the first session, we made title slides in PicCollage.  I had chosen 4 pictures of each animal and loaded them onto the camera rolls of the iPads. We opened PicCollage, chose one of the pictures, added the name of the animal in a text box and then the student's name in another text box.  The student liked being able to change the color and the font of the writing in PicCollage.  Then they saved the picture to the camera roll. 

The next 3-4 sessions were for making the slides with the information they had been researching in class: what do they eat, look like, do and where do they live?  Each time I gave the student back the same iPad they originally had since all the work was saved on that iPad.  Each time we started by reviewing their class notes for one of the questions.  Then we opened Shadow Puppet, searched for a picture that matched our topic, wrote a sentence on the slide and then saved.  

The final session was for recording.  The teacher and I each called students one-by one to record their videos.  I think they turned out super cute.  

     

One thing that I did not like was the way the text broke in between words.  For example, in all the videos where we typed "penguins" the "s" is on the next line instead of making the word smaller so that it fit.  That might be something that is easily fixed but I have not figured it out yet.

All in all this was a fun project to do with the kinder kids.  

Friday "Wrap Up"

This week we celebrated Dr. Seuss Week with a bunch of activities throughout the week.  We had a Dr. Seuss photo booth set up in the library for kids, teachers and classes to take pictures when they were here for checkout.

We also had a "Dress like a Dr. Seuss Character" day.  It always amazes me at how creative some parents are because I do not have that talent.  I just love seeing how the kids come to school.  

One of our dress up days was "Twin Day".  I love that the teachers even get involved in this one.  

We also had a "Dr. Seuss Read Around the School". Teachers picked Dr. Seuss books to read and the student traveled to 3 different books with their reading buddies.  This is a clip from our PE and Science teachers really getting into the spirit of I Wish That I Had Duck Feet.










And this weeks wrap show up the March Sister Style Color Crush 

Friday "Wrap Up"

I have been spending my non-teaching hours this week looking at new furniture for the library.  As part of my transformation plan, I asked kids what they wanted to have in the library and they said "comfy chairs to sit in".  Right now I have hard wood chairs.

I have been looking at some fun furniture that I hope to decide on in the next few weeks.

In the library this week...

- 3rd grade makerspace

- 4 Second Grade note-taking lessons

- 6 First Grade President notetaking and then record in Puppetpals

- 5 Kinder Research lessons 

- I met with my director 2x about furniture

And my nails this week are one of my favorite retired pairs. Boysenberry and Stitched Away. It's true what they say about not missing something until it's gone. So wish I had more sheets of these 2. 

And if last's weeks Jam news wasn't big enough. Jamberry has announced that they will soon be bringing Jamberry to the UK. So if you or anyone you know lives in the UK and wants to be one of the first consultants there, let me know! 

Technology Tuesday: #DLDayRap Challenge

I am a big Jimmy Fallon fan so when I saw this tweet in my feed I had to click on it.

Kasey Bell  has some great ideas about how Jimmy Fallon uses games to engage his guest and audiences and that similarly, we could engage our students.  

In honor of Digital Learning Day  tomorrow, she has thrown out the #DLDayRap challenge -tweet out a rap of your Digital Day Learning with the #DLDayRap.  Kasey tweeted out this one...

Inspired by the Grammys, I decided to take a crack at it.

It was better, but when I put it in Twitter it was of course way more than 140 characters, so I had to delete a whole line.  I tried again...

I got creative with emojis and abbreviations.  And then one more.  

Yes, I cheated on this one.  I screenshotted it and put it in as a photo because I just couldn't get it down to 150 characters.  

This was a fun way to think about a topic and it is definitely difficult to taper down raps to 150 characters, especially when you also have to leave room for the hashtag. I think I am going to add this challenge to my makerspace this week and see what the students can come up with.  

Feel free to take Kasey up on the challenge and post your own #DLDayRap to Twitter.   

Friday "Wrap Up"

This week Jamberry made a HUGE announcement!  I am talking about the mother of all announcements.  They have partnered with Disney to bring us...

The Disney Collection by Jamberry

Oh, yea!  You heard right!  21 new wraps all things Minnie and Princess!  Check these out!

 

Awesome, right!!  And check them out on hands...

See the whole collection here 

Technology Tuesday: Virtual Valentines

Here's a fun connecting opportunity that I saw on Twitter this year and sent to my teachers.

This group pairs up classes to exchange virtual valentines across the miles and learn something on the way.  

Here is a blog post from one of my 5th grade teachers that participated in the program.  

Mrs. Foreman's Virtual Valentines

Friday "Wrap Up"

Kinder kids are so funny.  I read the book Early Bird by Tony Euly to kinder this week.  It is a cute story about a bird that gets up early and goes on a journey to the garden to get the early worm.  It has good position word usage like over, under, across and through.  While I was reading to the first class of kinder students I asked them what the opposite of early was.  The first student I called on said, "You know, like early in the morning."  I said, "That is what early means, but what is the opposite?".  The next student I called on said, "Like before breakfast."  I again said yes and that the opposite of early was late.  

The next kinder class I had decided to start with "What does early mean?" and about 4 of them shouted out "Late!"

This week in the library...

- four days of makerspace 

- 4 Second Grade Augmented Reality + Writing Lessons

- 6 First Grade Inch by Inch  Measurement Lessons

- 5 kinder story times

- 1 Teacher Makerspace Faculty Meeting

And I am still wearing my wraps from last week, but here is a picture of the St. Patrick's Day wraps 

Shamrockin, Bit O' Luck, and Over the Rainbow