Doodlecast Pro

Our school chose to celebrate 101 days of school this year instead of 100 Day.  We had a dalmation theme and the kids did all kinds of counting.  Now being the tech lover that I am, I named my pup techie, decorated my classroom door like a dog house and had the kids answer questions about 101 while I recorded their voice using Doodlecast Pro!

My original plan was to use Sonic Pics, but you could not add more photos once you started recording voice, so I quickly went in search of a new app!  Doodlecast Pro did the trick.  Now we certainly could have been MORE elaborate in our video, however, we were quickly rushing 30+ kids through the station with only 20 minutes available.  We sorted the kids by grade and then quickly snapped a photo of each of them... once they had been at the puppy ear station they looked adorable!  Next we opened up Doodlecast, inserted the picture and had them record their voice (I could eat 101 Smarties etc).  Once they were done speaking they went off to color a dalmation while the next person had a turn.  We inserted, recorded and moved on ALL AFTERNOON! 

Speaking is an essential part of the curriculum and it is difficult for so many kids to do.  This project certainly highlighted that, but also reinforced the need for technology and how kids can simply make their own creations.

Here's the grade one finished video...............

And here's the practice one I had done in my own classroom the day before.  We talked about our 100 Day posters.

Enjoy!

What Does technology Look Like In Grade One?

Here it is... the techie vision I have had for months!!!!!!  Enjoy!

The process:
1.  I asked what technology meant.  Guess what I got the right answer on the first attempt!
2.  We brainstormed and webbed using kidspiration all the things we do that are considered to be technology.
3.  I interviewed each child about technology.
4.  I gathered pictures and the video interviews and added them to iMovie.
5.  I procrastinated!!!!!!!!
6.  I discovered how easy iMovie really is and finalized the product.
7.  I chose upload to You Tube as my publishing option and then embedded it here and on my class wiki.


What's next?
I think the video will be emailed to or presented to a few of the people who manage the budget and do the goal planning when it comes to technology for our school division.  Who knew 6 year old kids were so immersed in technology?

 

iMovie

So I have had a project in the works for a few weeks now, it just took me a while to get around to learning to edit using iMovie.  Thanks to a fellow colleague for finding and sharing this YouTube tutorial with me.  It walked me step by step through the features of iMovie.  I sat with my laptop playing the video and my iPad right beside me so I could pause the video and work along with the tutorial.  In under an hour I created the product I had been visualizing for months!  

The process was "easy peasy mac and cheesy" as the kids in my class would say.  And I think I might just be making another one in the very near future ( I already have the footage prepared)!   


The tutorial also walks you through how to share your finished product.  I decided to upload mine to You Tube.  As I prepare this blog post my iMovie is uploading - although I must confess, it seems to be a LONG process to upload a 4 minute video.... so much for high speed internet!


 

Autism and the iPad

So I attended 2 sessions dealing with special needs children and apps to teach all kinds of skills and developmental milestones.

The key thing I took away from it all is to identify 3 or 4 specific goals on the child's IEP and find 4 or 5 really good apps to target those specific goals.

Why is this key?

Well there are just so many apps out there that we can get lost in the apps and lose focus on our actual purpose for the app. It is not all about fun, although the apps do need to be engaging. We as educators have specifically chosen these apps to target very specific goals.

The iPad can change lives! This video is evidence of that.

60 minutes video

Click on the video that has 3 people on a stage and says it is about 12 minutes long. ( sorry I could not figured out how to directly embed the video form my iPad:)). Darn technology!!!

Good Night Ipad

Here's a cute parody of Good Night Moon!