Groups of Objects on the iPads

We have been working on the Common Core State Standard 1.NBT.A.1 - Count to 120, starting at any number less than 120.  In this range, read and write numerals and represent a number of objects with a written numeral.  I decided to have the students create and count their own groups of objects between 1-120 on the iPads.  I let the students pick different manipulatives to use for this project such as blocks, links, counters, buttons, etc from my math manipulatives in the classroom.  The students counted out four different groups of objects and took a photo of their groups with the iPad camera.  Some of my students chose to use the Popplet app and some of them choose to use the Pic Collage app to showcase their different groups.  Here are some of their finished products.

Equality of Equations on the iPads

We have been working on equality of equations in math, CCSS 1.OA.D.7 - understand the meaning of the equal sign, and determine if equations involving addition and subtraction are true or false.  I created a QR code task card activity for my students to use in practicing this skill.  My students love everything about QR codes. I had the early finishers create their own equations for everyone else to solve for equality on the iPads.  Here are some of the student created equations.

 

 We used the Doodle Buddy app to create our equations and saved them to the camera roll.  They submitted their finished products to me in the Showbie App.

A few students decided to use the PicCollage app to create their equations.

Then I had a few students who decided they wanted to add their voice to their equations.  They uploaded their equations into the Explain Everything app and the Tellagami app.

From the Showbie App, I uploaded the student made equations to Dropbox.  Then I created a QR code that linked to each problem.  We used the student created equations to practice this skill again. 

The students LOVED solving the problems created by themselves and their own classmates.  

This activity was a huge hit that we will be repeating!  My students were totally able to create the problems for our task cards.  Why didn't I think of this before?!

To download a copy of our student made QR code equality of equations task cards click the picture below.  

QR Code Task Cards

My first graders have enjoyed QR code task cards. After completing several activities made by other teachers, I decided to create one myself.  I began by creating the actual task cards themselves.  I made 12 different problems for my students to solve and created a recording sheet for their answers.

I then saved the task cards as JPEGs and uploaded them to my dropbox.  In dropbox, I clicked the share link button on each image to get the URL.  I copied each URL into the Kaywa QR code generator website to create the QR codes to link to each task card.  I previously blogged about using this website to create QR codes.  Click here for a post with a teacher sheet on how to use this website to create the codes.

I'm so excited to try this activity out with my class.

colAR mix app

My class has been fascinated with the Aurasma app where we can make images come alive.  So when I learned that the colAR Mix app had some free seasonal coloring pages for the holidays, I decided to try out this app with my first graders.

It was a huge hit!  We will be trying out their New Year's pages in January.  I downloaded the free coloring pages here.

Rudolph Stories in Book Creator

This past week at school we had many festive activities as we approached Christmas break.  On our reindeer day we read several fiction and nonfiction reindeer books. 

 

Then we began to create our own reindeer stories to publish in the Book Creator app on the iPads.  We have the free version of the Book Creator app.  It allows you to create one book at a time.

First we used a graphic organizer to plan each page of our story.

This was our first time using the book creator app.  The students caught on to the tools within the app very quickly.

The students found it very easy to use the drawing tools within the app to add details to their pictures.

They were thrilled to make a cover for their stories.

When the books were complete, we exported them to the Explain Everything app.  In this app, the students recorded themselves reading each page of their stories.  We then saved this project as a video to the camera roll so we could upload them to our Kidblogs.

Here are a few of the finished stories. They are very simple stories since this was our first time using the app.  I'm hoping our next books will contain more details.

 

 

Augmented Letters to Santa

We wrote and typed letters to Santa for our local newspaper.  The students were very excited about the chance to be published in the real newspaper!  We wrote the letters first in class, and then we took them to the computer lab to type for the paper.

I always love reading their Santa letters.  They have the best reasons for how they have earned the new toys.

We then took a picture of our handwritten letters and uploaded them to our Kidblogs.  I wanted to use the Aurasma app to augment our letters to Santa.  I had my service learning student from the high school video each child reading his or her letter.  I was hoping to use each student's letter as the trigger image for his/her video.  I had thought that the handwriting and borders being different would be enough to keep each student video with the correct letter.  It wasn't!  So I took a photo of each student and attached the pictures to the letters.  Then I linked each video to the student's photo.  Now when we scan the photos in the Aurasma app it pulls up the video of each child reading his or her letter to Santa.

Fact Families on the iPads

We have been learning about fact families in math. For one of our fact family activities, I had the students represent a fact family on the iPads.  Each of my students had a different set of numbers to use for his/her fact family. I allowed the students to choose their own math manipulatives to use for this project.  Some chose to use our 2 colored dots and some chose to use our linking cubes.  I also had the students choose between the Popplet app or the Pic Collage app to show their final products. Below are some of the finished products.