Love this Symbaloo board! Free e-books, magazines, audio books, and literacy websites in one convenient, visually appealing site.
November 4, 2013
March 12, 2013
SloMo Science
It is always exciting when I find an educational use for an
app that doesn't fall under the “education” category. SloPro is marketed toward coaches and
athletes, but when our fourth grade students were learning about their bones
and muscles, it was the perfect app for them!
Here’s how we went about what came to be known as the “Science
SloMo Project.”
1. Each student selected a motion such as jumping rope, eating an apple, throwing a basketball, etc.
2. Teachers used the in-app camera to video the students doing their motions. The app recorded the video in slow motion.
3. At the same time, the children began to write down the narrations that described what their bones and muscles were doing as they performed their motions.
4. The teachers emailed the videos to the students' iPads and they saved to their photo roll.
5. They watched their slow motion videos and revised their narrations.
6. The children imported the videos to iMovie, selected one slow-motion clip at a time, and muted the sound of the action clips so background noise would not be audible.
7. They then recorded the appropriate narrations for each clip and added scrolling captions.
8. After posting the completed videos to their blogs, the students were able to watch slow-motion videos of everyday activities while listening to their classmates explain the movements of each bone and muscle as the activity was being performed. They loved it!
1. Each student selected a motion such as jumping rope, eating an apple, throwing a basketball, etc.
2. Teachers used the in-app camera to video the students doing their motions. The app recorded the video in slow motion.
3. At the same time, the children began to write down the narrations that described what their bones and muscles were doing as they performed their motions.
4. The teachers emailed the videos to the students' iPads and they saved to their photo roll.
5. They watched their slow motion videos and revised their narrations.
6. The children imported the videos to iMovie, selected one slow-motion clip at a time, and muted the sound of the action clips so background noise would not be audible.
7. They then recorded the appropriate narrations for each clip and added scrolling captions.
8. After posting the completed videos to their blogs, the students were able to watch slow-motion videos of everyday activities while listening to their classmates explain the movements of each bone and muscle as the activity was being performed. They loved it!
Options: You
can have the students video each other, but that would require purchasing many
more copies of the app. For a more complex version of this project, you may want to use Coach's Eye and have the students
annotate the movie before importing it to iMovie. If I did the project again, I
might try using Explain Everything instead of iMovie, which would not have the
option of selecting frames, but would allow the students to annotate the videos as they
record. Too bad Explain Everything tends
to crash…
Teaching About Fractions?
Here are some apps that could be really useful during a unit on fractions. I love the fact that although they are free, they aren't buggy, give appropriate feedback, and are easy to use. As someone who has spent endless hours cutting, laminating, and attaching magnets to hundreds and hundreds of tiny fraction slices, my favorite is definitely the first app on the list!
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/virtual-manipulatives!/id471341079?mt=8 (Free) Virtual fraction manipulatives that go up to 1/12. Offers block and circle models, labeled or unlabeled pieces, decimal/percent labeling options, pieces that layer nicely over each other and snap to each other. Students can also draw, erase, and take a picture of their work. Way easier to work with than paper or plastic pieces…especially when working with eights, tenths, etc.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geoboard-by-math-learning/id519896952?mt=8 (Free) Digital version of the classic geoboard…Great in conjunction with problems that involve shapes that are fractional parts of other shapes
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oh-no-fractions!-curious-hat/id593418681?mt=8 (Free) Compare fractions and use a visual block model to check
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tiny-fractions/id570161866?mt=8 (Free) 3 units that teach about estimating, ordering, and comparing fractions. It models the concepts, gives feedback, and tracks progress…good for a group that has a variety of levels and need to get to the skills at different paces…
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/chicken-coop-fractions-game/id484561886?mt=8 (Free) Really challenging…Estimate the spot on the number line (which is labeled as decimals) where the fraction should land
- https://itunes.apple.com/app/everyday-mathematics-equivalent/id417016316?mt=8 (Sometimes Free) This is a virtual card game that has the students match cards with equivalent fractions. The cards are labeled and shaded…
- https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/basic-fraction/id460652734?mt=8 (Free) Covers a wide range of fraction concepts, includes feedback and review games.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math-zoom/id451793073?mt=8 (2.99) Decimal placement on number line, students need to zoom in and out to see more/less detail.
- https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math/id392489333?mt=8 (1.99) Helps students visualize placement of fractions on a number line, fun movement aspect great for kinesthetic learners.
January 31, 2013
The No Email Emailing Solution
I'm an optimist. I believe that one day, there will be a flawless system for sharing all kinds of files across devices. I will not need to use Dropbox for large files, iCloud for files created on Apple apps, Google Drive for documents, and email for when all else fails (or I want students to avoid navigating yet another app.) Until that flawless system is invented, what do I do when I have shared iPads and students without email accounts? Hence... the no email emailing solution:
- Create one email address for the grade or class. Ex. sharedipads@yourschool.org
- In the email account settings, specify that outgoing mail may only be sent to sharedipads@yourschool.org
- Specify that incoming email may only come from sharedipads@yourschool.org, and from your email address
- Install the shared email account on the iPads
- If you need to share a file with the entire class, email it with the subject line "whole class"
- If you need to share a file with one student, email it with that student's name as the subject line
Have any other easy file sharing solutions? Please share!
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