Capstone

Capstone Lesson Plan

Programming with Scratch Jr.

Reflection - The programming apps were a lot of fun to me coming off the Hour of Code. Problem solving is something that our students struggle with. Part of the problem is not having perseverance to stick with a task. Also, there is the fear of getting something wrong. When you are programming, it uses a lot of trial and error to make something work the way you want it to. They can also discover that there are many ways to solve problems. Some may take more steps than others, but they can accomplish the same goal. The challenges I see with programming on the iPad is the fact that we have a very limited supply. Not everyone can use iPads at the same time. I think another problem that will occur is the inability to stop! I have a hard time with both the problem solving games and the programming with coming to an ending point! I think students will have this same issue. They won't want to stop after a given time period. 

Problem Solving with Bubble Ball and Tinker Box

Reflection - I tried out the Bubble Ball and Tinker Box apps. Bubble Ball was the easier of the two. A ball has to reach a checkered flag. The user can move different blocks and tools around the screen to help the ball reach the goal. There isn't anything fancy about the game. You can change the color of the ball and the level of the music. The graphics in this game are very basic. The Tinker Box game has a lot more to it. The graphics are very detailed. The tools and apparatus are complex. I did the tutorial level which helped give me the basics. My son tried to start right off at the challenges but struggled with how to connect and build certain machines. He ended up going back to the tutorial level to get the basics. Each level is a new challenge. The screen will give you some hint about the general area to place an apparatus, but it takes trial and error to accomplish the task. Both of the games require perseverance. There is a lot of testing that has to be done. Just because you don't reach the goal the first time, you have to keep trying things until you can make it work. Perseverance is a skill that many of our students lack, and these games would help them reach new levels of sticking to it!

Online Bookmarking with Diigo and Pinterest

Reflection - I am a fan of Pinterest. I like collecting links and posts on all different topics. It has been a great tool for school, helping me find ideas for everything from bulletin boards, to party planning, to lesson plan ideas. I have never tried Diigo until now. Since I am used to Pinterest, I didn't care for Diigo in the beginning, but I think that it would take some getting used to. I liked being able to tag my posts and search the tags at a later time. As for the limitations, I can pin all day long, it is just a matter of actually going back and reviewing my pins and incorporating them into my lessons. My "School" board has also gotten too large to search effectively so I need to reorganize my folders so that they are more specific and more manageable 

Dictionary

Reflection - After using both of the dictionary apps, I prefer the Dictionary.com app over the Merriam-Webster. I had some difficulties with Dictionary.com at first because I had apparently installed the Word-of-the-Day widget, but not the entire dictionary. Once I found the correct app and loaded it to my iPad, I was very pleased with the features. I really like way the thesaurus and dictionary are set up in different formats with a different color tabs. I liked the tabs along the top of the screen in Dictionary.com. It helped me find exactly what I was looking for without having to search down the screen.

Citations with EasyBib

Reflection - EasyBib sure simplifies doing citations! When I had to do citations the long way, I was constantly questioning the order that I put the information, and where to put the appropriate punctuation! This straightens it all out! There would be some down sides to this method, though. Students can cite books that they have never seen or researched from. And though this seems like a great tool for citing books, how does one go about citing journal articles or websites? Internet sources are always the hardest to cite and I'm not sure this app has the capability of citing a blog or online journal. As always, this app only works when students have access to Internet and a device. 

Mind Mapping with Popplet Lite

Reflection - This app was very easy to use. It was easy to add popples, draw pictures, and add images. This would be a great app to map out a story during prewriting. It would also be a great way to summarize a unit in social studies. It could even be broken down so that different groups could work on different subtopics and then bring it all together in the end. I also think this app would be good for planning events in the classroom. The plan can be mapped out so that each task is assigned to different people in order for the event to run smoothly. 

Quizlet

Find the Technology Flashcards

Reflection - This is an easy app for creating sets of flashcards. The set creation could be done by students or by the teacher. There are many different options for ways to study the flashcards, including some races against the clock. This would help students review terms, practice vocabulary, or review key facts about a topic. I don't prefer games of rote memorization, but I know the students will like studying this way, and they can challenge one another with the speed games. 

Augmented Reality

Reflection - These apps would be very engaging for for elementary students. The AR flashcards would be great for younger kids and would get them very involved with the alphabet, shapes, and colors. The colAR Mix app would be great to get older kids excited about art. Many kids don't like the idea of coloring as they get older, but to see the pictures come to life would make it so much more exciting. 

Qrafter

Reflection - I have created QR codes before so this assignment was a bit easier than some. I created QR codes with a Google Maps link for our school, for a YouTube video that several teachers created for Halloween, and one linking to my school webpage. These would be fun to use in school, too. I have always wanted to put QR codes in the library near certain series of books that would link students to other books in the same genre. Near the Harry Potter books, I could post a QR code that would link to a website, "If you like Harry Potter, try these..."
     Another idea I had for QR codes could be to set up a scavenger hunt. Each QR could link to an answer to a question. Find all the QRs and you will find all of the answers!
                                                      I also really liked the idea of QR codes being used for student portfolios. This would be a great way to store student work and information.
        The potential roadblocks that I can envision would have to do with the lack of technological resources. We don't have devices for all of our students. Many bring devices from home but this is not an item that every student has. This would be a great tool for parents, too, but not all of them have access to a smartphone or other such device. In school, we share iPads among many students so it is possible that they will not be available, or they will not be charged for students to use.

Stop Motion with LEGO Movie Maker

Reflection - Creating a stop motion film was fun, but quite time consuming. First, a tripod would have been very helpful. It is really hard to keep the iPad in the same position throughout the filming. One must also have a lot of patience because in order to make the film flow, the objects can only be moved a very small distance.
     This project would be very fun if students were acting out a scene from a book. Different groups could pick different highlights from a novel and then bring them to life through stop action films. I have taught a  LEGO Night Lights (after school enrichment) class for the last several years. It would be fun to incorporate the stop action movie making into this class, too.

Movie Trailer with iMovie

iMovie was fun to use and the trailer was easy to put together. These presentations would be fun ways to introduce new units in the classroom. It would definitely engage the students! There are many possible ways that iMovie could be used in the classroom. Creating a trailer would be a fun "group mixer" for the start of the year. Small groups could work together to take videos and pictures and put them into the trailer. This app would also be a fun way to put together a year-end video for students. Many of our classrooms have a "Student of the Week" who puts up a display outside the classroom. It would be fun to have a "Student of the Week" trailer featuring a student's family and highlighting the student's interests.

Garageband

Reflection - I had fun adding and experimenting with instruments to create my own "sound" but I was very frustrated with finding a way to share the audio. I think that older students would have a great time with this app. They could create fun study guides that would help them remember facts for a test. Younger students could even put easier facts to music or to a beat. It would be a great way to memorize numbers, like an address or phone number.

YakIt Kids / ChatterPix Kids

This is my video using YakIt. This was a simple app to use and I like the fact that I could choose pictures from a gallery with many options. I liked that I could change voices too. The only disadvantage to this app is the 15 second restriction. It felt like it was too short to get my point across.



I made this video using the ChatterPix app. This app was easy to use, too. But this app did not have a large gallery of pictures to choose from like the YakIt app. But what made this app better was the fact that I could record for 30 seconds instead of 15. It made a big difference in being able to make my point without feeling rushed.

Reflection - There are many other ways that these apps could be used. We could take pictures of different computer parts (monitor, mouse, CPU, headphones) and then animate those objects to explain in 1st person what jobs they do in the lab. Another idea is to use the apps for 1st day of school introductions. Each student could take a picture of themselves and then animate the picture to tell a little about themselves and their goals for the year. Another idea would benefit the 2nd grader's animal reports. A picture of the animal could be animated to tell some facts that students learned from their research.

Talking Avatar

Reflection - Tellagami is a fun app that I know my students will enjoying trying! One way I could use the app is by having students do short book talks to promote a book they are reading. We have also been working on fluency when reading poetry. This would be a fun way to practice. Another way to use Tellagami is by having students create an avatar of a famous person from history that they can animate to tell a story of their lives. Another idea I had was to have students create an invitation to their parents for open house. Each student could make an avatar that looks like themselves and then record an invitation to parents reminding them of the date, time, and activities taking place at the open house. They could then email the link to the parents who then can watch the gami to get important information.

Finding Apps

This is the Crayola: Lights, Camera, Color! app. I found it in the appoLearning website in the elementary photography category. With this free app, you can take a picture or use one from the gallery. The app will then drain all colors and you can then color it and add stickers. Many of the add-ons are not available unless you upgrade to the full version.

This is the Cyberchase 3D Builder app. I found this app by searching App Store's educational apps for elementary school. It's a $.99 app from PBS Kids appropriate for ages 6-8. Students can transform 2D objects into 3D objects by dragging up the sides to fold the shape. The game helps students visualize and manipulate objects in a 3-dimensional space. 

The is the Hopscotch app. I found it on the appoLearning website in the Computer Science/Technology category. This app is free for individuals but there is a $9.99 School Edition. This app teaches programming on a simplified level and would be great during lessons in coding. 

The app is rates high on the App Evaluation Checklist, especially because of the ways it promotes creativity and imagination. Students can create simple or complex code. They can follow challenges or use the blank project template to create their own. Students can use "given" steps, or they can explore the code in order to do it themselves. The content cannot be copied or printed, but it can be published within the Hopscotch community so it can be viewed by others.

Reflection 1 - The Cyberchase 3D Builder is available from PBS Kids for $0.99 when purchased individually. When 20 or more are purchased through the Apple Volume Purchase Program, it is available for only $0.49 each. This saves approximately 50% of the total bill. This is a great resource to help save our school district money. Since our district is limited to 1 iPad per classroom (and another group of 6 available for check-out) it is important that people communicate when purchasing apps. It is possible that a group of 20 or more could benefit from an app and could buy it for about half the price. 

Reflection 2 -After a teacher evaluates an app and finds it useful, it would benefit all of us if the teacher shared the app evaluation. Then other teachers could make an informed decision if the app would benefit them, too. Once that information is gathered, it can be determined how many apps would need to be purchased. If many are interested in using the app, the district will save money in making the purchase. On the other hand, if teachers keep information about apps to themselves, there may be large numbers purchasing the app, but paying full price.