This week's featured technology tool is an iPad app called Popplet, a great tool for organizing ideas and thoughts. In Popplet, users can create large text boxes called "popples". Once a popple is added, it is easy to insert text, drawings, or photos. Resize, add, and move popples with simple, touch-friendly gestures. Once you are finished, export your diagram to a JPG or PDF file. A great app for unleashing creativity!
Popplet can fit into almost any aspect of a lesson. Here are some of the ways you could use Popplet in your classroom:
Brainstorming
Map concepts
Create timelines
Presentations
Plan projects using diagrams
Record thoughts: journals, notes, lists
Assist with remembering new facts and figures
Michael Hsu and Cheryl Teng recently demonstrated a creative application of Popplet in their classrooms: 5th grade students created Popplets in which they drew a face and then surrounded the face with descriptive sentences. The objective of the lesson was to practice writing Chinese poetry while incorporating moral education (concern for others). Check out the photos below!
5th Grader Soong Ming H. works on his Popplet
Hsu Laoshi helps his students with their Popplet project
Looking for a fun way to give your students extra practice with newly learned math skills? How about trying an iPad math game? This week's highlighted tech tool is a group of math games for iPad by a company called Motion Math. So far Motion Math has released five different math games appropriate for a wide range of ages, ranging from PreK through middle school. Several of these apps were CAIS student favorites in computer class last year!
Consider borrowing the iPad cart and having your students spend some time practicing their math skills using one of the Motion Math apps. Stop by a Tech Tuesday to get some hands-on time with the iPads and try out these games yourself!
Here is a description of the Motion Math games:
1. Hungry Fish (PK - 8th): Practice mental addition and subtraction. Includes a game for adding/subtracting negative numbers (appropriate for middle schoolers and up). A highly addictive, well-designed game that is a student favorite!
2. Hungry Guppy (PK - 1st): A great app for early number learning. Similar to Hungry Fish, but geared for younger kids (especially age 3 - 4). Students build basic number sense and addition skills.
3. Motion Math (3rd - 8th): Helps students perceive and estimate fractions in multiple forms (including decimals and percents). Move fractions to their correct place on the number line. A very fun app!
4. Zoom (1st - 8th): Master place value by placing numbers on a number line. Starts at basic numbers and moves into negatives and decimals.
5. Wings (1st - 6th): Improve mental multiplication and estimation skills. Students must direct their flying bird to pass over the larger of two numbers, represented in various ways: rows of dots, clusters of dots, groups of dots, a grid, a labeled grid, and symbols (e.g. 2 x 3).
Not only have CAIS students played Motion Math apps in the past, but they have also contributed to the development of some of these apps! The Motion Math team visited CAIS twice last year and once this fall to test their apps with our students. Last spring, 1st - 4th graders helped test "Motion Math: Wings" before it was publicly released. Motion Math returned to CAIS in early September to test their latest app with our 6th graders. This new game focuses on estimation skills and adds a competitive element: it is designed to be played in pairs or small groups. Stay tuned for news on its release!
Motion Math co-founder Jacob Klein works with CAIS student Arthur S. (then a member of the 1st Grade Green class) in May 2012.
CAIS 6th graders Henry P. and Harrison H. test the latest Motion Math app in technology class, September 2012.
Exciting news in the 6th grade! This year students will learn spelling and vocabulary through a fantastic program called SpellingCity. I've heard teachers rave about this website at conferences, so I was thrilled to learn that our very own Mr. Sproull is trying this program with his students this year! Even better, SpellingCity has a new iPad app to accompany its website, so our 6th graders can use the app on their iPads (provided through the new, 6th grade 1:1 iPad pilot program).
On SpellingCity, teachers can choose ready-made lists of words or create their own custom lists. There is a wide variety of word lists to choose from, ranging from comprehensive grade level lists (levels PK through 12th grade) to lists of words specific to certain topics (like science or math vocabulary). Students can practice spelling these words and study their definitions. To help students learn the proper pronunciation of the words on their practice lists, SpellingCity provides clear, spoken recordings of every word. Students can study spelling, make flashcards, play games, and take tests to check their progress.
The new SpellingCity iPad app!
One feature of SpellingCity that Jake particularly likes is that kids can take as many games and quizzes as they want and can progress at their own pace. In his class, the requirement is to pass at least one test per week, which amounts to about 20 words. His students are to spend at least two days per week for 20 minutes at a time practicing spelling/vocabulary on SpellingCity.
As an added benefit, parents can log on to monitor their child's progress! Best of all, SpellingCity is free for basic membership. Premium membership gives kids access to additional learning activities, allows students to have individual log-ins, and enables teachers to track their students' progress. At an affordable price of $1.95 per student, it is worth the upgrade for Mr. Sproull's 6th grade class!
To learn more about SpellingCity, take a moment to watch these two short (1-minute) videos that provide a quick introduction to SpellingCity. The first is geared toward Teachers and Parents, and the second shows students how to use the site.
Want to learn more? Check out SpellingCity's Teacher Resources section or look through their Training Videos. Or, as always, you can ask me for help...and be sure to ask Jake how it's going with his 6th graders!
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