Smilebox: Interactive Gift Cards

A student in my class is moving to Japan this week for four years. We are a very tight knit class, so we spent some time saying goodbye today. I created this Smilebox card for CJ using pictures from the school year that were on my computer and a video that I took on my phone. It was super easy! Smilebox is a program that you have to download... but you won't regret it! It makes thank you cards, collages, slideshows.... all kinds of things! There is even a Smilebox app for iPhones. Some of it is free (I only use the free part), or you can pay a yearly subscription.

Here's the Smilebox I made for CJ today...

This slideshow generated with Smilebox

iPads & Prezi: A Wonderful Combination!

This week my class has been working on identifying character traits. Yesterday, we read the story The Popcorn Dragon, and we stopped to identify the character traits of Dexter the Dragon, the main character of the story.

To show my students what I would be wanting them to do with their own literature, I modeled a character trait graphic organizer with my iPad. I used Reflector to connect to my laptop through Air Play so that the students could see what I was doing. I had previously created the Prezi on my laptop because there are a lot more formatting options when you are using the web version instead of the iPad version. Here is a picture of the blank Prezi I created:

The students assisted and watched as I filled in my Prezi according to the directions on the screen. They were so engaged and seriously watched my every move!

So today, I reviewed and sent them off on their own! My students all have their own iPads, with the Prezi app downloaded, so I had them launch that app first. Then, I realized that they would not have my template to work with. Ahhhh! I figured out that I would have to give them my username and password and create multiple copies of the same Prezi. It was kind of a pain, but it worked in the end. I love how Prezi will give you the option to "save a copy." After saving all of the copies, I went through and labeled each one with a student's name.

So after a little patience on their part, and panic on mine... they were able to sign in and find the Prezi with their name on it to work on. Mind you, this does require some front loading... I had to make sure that the students knew that they were not to go on someone else's creation!

Here are some pictures of the kids working away....

Here is a finished product:

I love using technology like this in my room! They were all working so hard and I was just getting to be the facilitator. Beautiful!

I love to help others with ed tech tools! Leave me a comment below and I will be glad to help you figure things out! :)

I'm Back!

It's been quite a while (almost a year) since my last post... I kind of lost my fire, and got buried in teacher details... but I'm back! It's probably due to my most recent adventure. 

The last week in January was like my Christmas... that's right, I was at FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference). I sat there, constantly getting my mind blown by the amazing ways I can use technology in my classroom. I am so very lucky this year... my students all have their own personal iPad 3's that their parents purchased for them. Crazy right?! I have been the laptop teacher for the past 4 years, and this year we decided to switch it up. I had no idea the implications of this great idea. I just thought it would make my class even cooler... Little did I know that I would basically be reinventing the wheel that I already had rolling pretty well. So with that said, FETC gave me a ton of easy ways that I can get my students working productively on their iPads.

A website that I have started using is infuselearning.com. It is amazing! Think of surveymonkey, but much easier to use. I can easily ask my students to write out how they would complete a math word problem.  I would just have them draw on their iPads using the infuselearning webpage, and turn in their drawings to me. I will get instantaneous feedback that I can post for the entire class!

Another app that I really loved was learning about Remind101. This app will allow me to text reminders to my students on their iPads without them getting my personal cell phone number. I could also use this with my students' parents!

The last app/ website that I really loved was Aurasma. I learned about this while I was at FETC 2012, but I could never really figure out how to utilize it in the classroom. This year it finally clicked! So what this app does is it will take any picture and make it "come to life" by presenting a moving picture on your phone. It sounds crazy, but click on the video below and see how it works! I've decided that I will use book covers that can be scanned. Then the person with the phone will see my student telling a summary of the book. Pretty sweet, huh?!