Strippin' with iPads

I love an app called Strip Designer! My students use it for projects in many different subjects. It allows the student to draw or insert a picture. Pictures can come from the internet or using the ipad camera. Then students can label their illustrations. Here are a couple of examples:

This app allows students to be creative and also demonstrate their learning. I have used it for vocabulary, social studies, math, and science projects. The app is very easy for students to use. It allows for students' finished projects to be emailed out to share. My students love strippin' with Strip Designer! 

Swimming with iPads

The first week using the ipads in the classroom went swimmingly well - not that I'd expected any different. Of course, like anything else you do in the classroom I introduced the rountines and procedures that go aling with ipad use in the classroom. That part actually did go differently this year. For the past two years, I have introduced ipads to students who have not ever used them in a classroom setting. This year however, my students came to me with a full year of experience, using them in second grade. A nice, unexpected bonus. So, we were really off and running (swimming) with the ipads after a brief lesson on responsible use in the classroom.

This week my students used GoodNotes to work on grammar skills. They expertly maneuvered through this app - opening, reading, and annotating PDFs on subjects and predicates. The students also started working on their first project on the ipads this week using an app called Strip Designer. They are drawing and labeling the six geographic regions of our State. At the end of our first day using this app, when I had to tell them it was time to stop working on their projects I was the recipient of huge moans and groans! They didn't want to stop working! 

I will be posting pictures of my students using the ipads during the school year. I want people to see the students engaged in learning with technology. However, I am waiting on media releases from parents right now. Pictures soon!

The positive and energetic response I get from my students anytime we use the ipads in the classroom reinforces to me that technology is an important and necessary part of learning for this generation of students.  

More to come...