A little project involving NO technology

Standard form to expanded form!! Found this little thing online today and thought I'd give it a try. Not an original idea. I pulled it off another website! :)

Similar and Congruent Shapes

Lesson Plan Outline:

Class Set of iPads
Objective: SWBAT define, explain, and give examples of similar and congruent shapes.  SWBAT find different lines of symmetry in objects.
Materials: iPad, flipped classroom video
Procedure: 
1. Students have a few days to watch the video at home and respond with a written explanation of what similar, congruent, and symmetry is.  (A few days is just my preference to ensure all students have time to complete the video assignment)
2. In class do a quick review over what similar and congruent shapes are
3. (If you notice students struggled to explain online, do a small group with those kiddos)
4. Take students on a SILENT nature walk, through the school and outside.  Have them look for shapes that are similar and congruent.  They need to photograph ALL the shapes they can find! Students just need the "CAMERA" app.
5. Use the "EXPLAIN EVERYTHING" app; students create a movie to explain similar shapes, congruent shapes, and the different lines of symmetry in all shapes.  A different slide for each thing. 3 slides, 2 pictures on each slide, a written explanation of each example.
The "EXPLAIN EVERYTHING" they create, can be used as an assessment!

To take this further, you can then use World Book for kids and have the students research things that have symmetry.  For example, they could find facts about butterflies, or starfish.  Have them write about these specific objects in nature and add this to their explain everything movie.  I had them write facts about their object since that is something we were working on.

--NO paper and pencil, NO complaining over a boring assignment, Lots of FUN and lots of LEARNING!!--

IF I only had 5-6 iPads to do this lesson with:
Same objective, same materials, just tweak the procedure!
I would assign groups.
*Each group would have an iPad and they would have to work together to find pictures.  You could still take the nature walk together, have each student find things, and silently work together to get pictures.  Have them each take pictures, or just assign jobs!  Works on team building skills as well.
*Progressive project!  A student starts by finding the pictures, another student then takes the iPad and matches up similar shapes, congruent shapes, and shapes with different lines of symmetry.  The next student does the explaining/typing!  At the end, each kid in the group would have to approve the lesson!
*It could also be a center!  All of the pictures could be taken inside the room. They will still find plenty!  When they have finished the project, they e-mail it to you for a grade!

If you only had 1 iPad:
I would definitely make it a center rotation, and rotate the kids through the project/center.  I think this could be great as well!

Apps!

**One-to-one iPad ratio - (Got this great idea from a brilliant colleague!!)  If your students have an iPad they always use, they can use the "CONTACT" app to keep an individual word wall with them all the time.  It is alphabetized and easy to use!

**My all time favorite app: EXPLAIN EVERYTHING. I use this app for creating my flipped classroom videos.  My kids also use this app to record themselves completing math problems and teaching.  I like it for final projects.  It is well worth the $2.99!!!

**POPPLET lite - create webs and timelines.  You can insert pictures and type.  Easy, and free!!!

**APPSFIRE or APPSHOPPER apps.  Both of these alert you when apps go on sale! :)

I will post a list of my favorite apps, soon!

Research Projects

We spent a week researching and creating projects.  The students had a choice between Plymouth or Virginia Colony.  They had a rubric they followed and questions to answer.  After researching in their books, they moved online using the Safari App.  They went to worldbookonline.com/forkids (which my district has paid for and it is great) and factmonster.com.  Both of these are safe websites for kids to use for research.  After completing all the research, the students chose how they wanted to present the research.  The choices included an essay, Keynote (Powerpoint), or Explain everything (movie).  The students enjoyed being on the iPads and completing the research!!

The following link is an example of a Keynote Presentation done by a student.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/112002760/Plymouth-Colony?secret_password=ol09osgavr4iaqjbgdk

QR Code Fun

This week my students wrote their own multiplication properties' question.  Once their question was proofed, they typed it into a QR code.  (www.qrstuff.com) The kids e-mailed the QR code to me and I printed it off.  Since the question was hidden in the QR code, the kids used a QR scanner on each iPad, to see the question and answer it.

We got math, writing, and technology into one short lesson! :) The kids loved using the iPads to practice the questions! 

If I was to do this again, the students would put the ANSWER into the QR code and hand write the question on the top of the paper.  THEN, they could solve the problem and CHECK the answer!   

Let's do a little research!!

Just like many of us, kids aren't really into the Social Studies thing!  "Who cares about this stuff..." is an overheard comment!  Well, my kids feel the same way!  I had to find a way to get Social Studies content into my students' head with limited time.  I decided to give the kids an opportunity to play with the iPad and do the research!  Using Worldbook Kids and factmonster.com, the kids are learning about the Colonies!  The students are using a Max Teaching strategy called Insert to come up with questions that they have while they read.  Once they have completed their research and questions/thoughts, they get to share with their team.  (The way we shared today, was by flying our questions around the room - paper airplane questions)  Once we have completed the research, we will be creating a project over the colony of their choice!  Their projects will all be done on the iPad!!  When we get that far, I'll share more!

Adding and Subtracting Decimal Project!

What's more real life application than shopping?!?  To practice adding and subtracting decimals my students went shopping and created receipts!  They then had to pay extra money and find how much change they got back.  I took screen shots of different items that I knew they would enjoy.  The iCloud has the capabilities to photo stream to ALL 30 iPads.  The students looked through the items and selected four items.  They found the total, listed how much they paid and found how much change they got back.  After students finished their own receipts, they checked their neighbors.

I also had a group of students who needed to practice estimation.  This group did the same thing but before they found the total they rounded the prices.  This gave them their estimation practice.  After they completed their receipts and I checked them, they wrote estimation story problems to go with those problems.

Back in school!

The excitement mounts as the iPads are slowly introduced!  I'm all about introducing the iPads completely; but I've had some technology challenges this year!  The Friday before school started, my laptop to sync my iPads crashed due to an email virus!  I just got my laptop back this week.  My email was down for a little while and I was waiting for the Syncing cart to be delivered!  I started by showing my kiddos the covers and listened to them Oooohh and Awww!  A few days later I showed them 10 of the iPads; only to listen to them cheer!  We used iPads last week to research precipitation averages in different states.  We only had 7 iPads out and the kids all just wanted to touch them!  I couldn't given any of them enough time on it!  :)  The cart was delivered Friday and the kids all CHEERED when they found out!  Tuesday, they are going to play a place value game on their own iPad and I cannot wait to see their enthusiasm to practice place value.

Thank you again Lemons for the great opportunities you've brought to our classroom! :)

iPad app called Explain Everything.  Students use this to show what they understand about a math skill!

iPad movie made by a student!

One of the many videos made on the iPad.  The students had to research the animals using worldbookonline.com (for kids) and factmonster.com.  We got the pictures off of CreativeCommons and the music was already on the iMovie.  I thought they turned out cute for a day project!

Even though it is summer...

It's summer and I should be taking a break from school but as many of you teachers are doing, I'm reading, researching, creating, and planning for the upcoming year.  Next year I'll be in the same grade but I'm excited about the new possibilities that a class set of iPads will offer!  :)  Yep, I received a grant for a class set of iPads!! Woo Hoo!!  So this blog will be full of ways that my students use the technology and different fun things I make on the computer.   I will also include different organizing styles I use in my classroom.

I've read before about nonverbal ques and proximity for maintaining classroom management.  Over the past few years I've tried the "teacher look," standing close to the students, and "adding their name" into the lesson.  I saw online someone used nonverbal cards that the teacher just put on the students' desk; so...here is what I created.  I decided that I didn't just want to put a "negative" card on their desk so I made STOP and STAR student cards!