Tips for Using iPads Learning Centers

Since our primary classrooms use shared iPads, I wanted to share some tips for using iPads in stations or centers.

Sharing with teacher:

• Make sure an email address is set up on each iPad, as many apps allow for sharing via email (Holmes teachers have accounts created by grade level and can submit a tech ticket if not set up on an iPad.)
• Add your teacher email address in the Contacts app on each iPad. This will allow students to quickly choose your email when auto-populated and ensure it is accurate.
• Teach the habit of including the student name in the project or email when sharing. 

Organizing:

• Set a different number or image of your choice as the background on each screen (homescreen behind the apps and lock screen before being unlocked) to easily differentiate iPads.
• Organize apps in folders for students.
• Drag most frequently used apps to the dock at the bottom of the screen. Move in new ones when needed. 

Miscellaneous:

• Project student work directly from a student iPad using the Apple TV. 
• Use a QR code to give directions or reminders to students- can link to plain text, a video, etc. 
• Use Guided Access if needed to lock a student in an app. I recommend Holmes teachers use our cart code in case another staff member needs to exit out of Guided Access.

Do you have any other tips for using shared iPads in stations or centers?

Book Creator App: Allowing for Collaboration

Book Creator is a great tool for student creativity, as they can create any kind of book you can imagine. It also can be a tool for collaborating. It does not offer real time collaboration like Google Drive does, but it allows users to combine books.

Our third graders are currently wrapping up a project using Book Creator in which students worked to research a Native American tribe. Some students worked in groups to research together but divided up the creation of sections of their group book. Each student created pages on their own iPad and then combined the pages from their teammates to create one final, collaborative book. Students used Airdrop on their iPads to share their pages with one another before combining. Click here to view a PDF of one group's book. The PDF version to share here on the web does not contain the audio recorded or "flippable" pages the students were able to see by opening their books in the iBooks app.


This process could also be used for creating class books.

Click here for directions on combining books. Keep in mind that each page or book started on a separate iPad needs to start the book with the same orientation so that the final pages will all be combined.

What ideas do you have for a collaborative project using Book Creator?

Hide Distracting or Inappropriate Material from Your Apple TV Menu

Our district is fortunate to have Apple TVs in each classroom so teachers and students can mirror their devices, MacBook Airs and iPads, via a projector.

But unfortunately the Apple TV menu is aimed at users at home for entertainment and not aimed at students at school. Movies for rent and apps like Netflix can be distracting and inappropriate for students.

Here are directions on how to hide those movies and apps. Our district's practice has been to use the 0000 code for any Apple TV restrictions for consistency's sake, and you'll see that in the directions.

Google Education on Air Online Conference

On May 8 & 9th, Google for Education is holding a free, online conference called Education on Air. The 8th is a Friday, so many of you will be in classrooms, but the 9th has sessions throughout the day you can watch. Best of all, the sessions are recorded so you can watch just the sessions you'd like afterwards if you register.

A lot of the sessions center around Google Apps for Education (Drive, Docs, Slides, etc.) but many include other topics, such as app smashing (combining apps), flipping lessons, Nearpod, etc. I'm most looking forward to Day 2's sessions- register and check them out!

App Update: Toontastic

Toontastic is a storytelling app that allows our students to animate and record their voices. Our 1st-5th graders have it on their iPads. Back in February, Launchpad Toys released an update of the Toontastic App, which made it much more useful to us with our 1:1 iPads in 3rd-5th and shared iPads in 1st-2nd.

Before:
With our free version and no in-app purchases, backgrounds for setting were extremely limited (I think there was one free one), as were characters. Students needed to draw everything they wanted to include in their videos. Also, students needed to connect to their teacher's account in order to share the video, and the only way was through ToonTube, their own video site. No saving to Camera Roll option!

Now:
Students can save to Camera Roll and then share with the teacher! Backgrounds and characters are now free! It is easy for students to animate characters they draw so they look like they are walking, instead of being a static drawing they simply move across the page.

Using Toontastic

The app allows for multiple scenes, in a story arc format, with scenes for story elements like conflict, climax,  and resolution. You could also add scenes or delete them, and even ignore the story arc idea altogether. Students could even do short, one scene animation videos that don't necessarily tell a story.  Ideas: an animation explaining meaning of figurative language, explaining a science concept using, or animating a historical moment.

With the new Save to Camera Roll feature, your students could easily do an app smash combining a video created in Toontastic with other images and/or video in iMovie.

Student Examples from our Third Graders

Cinderella from the perspective of the prince

Cinderella from the perspective of the caterer of the ball!

App Update: Adobe Acrobat DC- PDF Reader

Adobe Reader is now called Adobe Acrobat DC. The app update came out on April 6, 2015, so some of our students have gotten this updated version. If you use this, you'll want to note the change in case  any of your students have this version.

Our district supports this app for students to be able to annotate PDFs. Many times a teacher will share a text or other PDF through email, Edmodo, etc. It doesn't work perfectly and there are several features you have to pay for in order to use, but it does allow students to "write" on a PDF and then share their work with their teacher. 

At the top left you can access the menu. (You'll probably start with the Home icon in that place, or if you've opened a PDF you'll start in the Viewer.)  Comment and Viewer are pretty much the only options on the menu that don't require a pro subscription.

Tapping Comment will bring up the tools to annotate, such as drawing/writing with the pencil and adding text. I will say I unfortunately did not get the highlighting, underlining, or strikeout tools to work, but underlining with the pencil accomplished the same idea.  Tap a tool a second time to deselect it. That's when you are able to scroll up and down in the PDF again. Again, not perfect, but you can annotate. 

Tap Viewer in the menu and tap the up arrow/send and share icon in order to share the finished, annotated PDF. This is where the option appears to open in another app (such as Edmodo to turn in as an assignment) or to email.

Engaging, Game-Based Fun with Kahoot- Save Results in Google Drive

Some of our teachers use Kahoot with students for a fun, interactive class game.  You can add your own questions, project the game from your free teacher account, and have students join your session on an iPad. You can include photos or videos with your questions. Students earn points for answering correctly and quickly. Or you can turn off the point system to create a non-competitive game, gather feedback, or use for a formative assessment.

A newer feature of Kahoot is that you can save results or answers from each student, either by downloading them or by saving the directly to your Google Drive. (I recommend renaming the file right away, and filing it in a folder so you can find it easily later- it may automatically name it something random you would have a hard time searching later!) To save your results, watch for this screen at the end of the Kahoot activity, and click the Download results option or the Google Drive icon.

If you're new to Kahoot, head on over to their site and sign up. You can play an introductory game to familiarize yourself with how it works. 

If you have used Kahoot with your students, please share your thoughts in the comments below!

Flocabulary: Video Resource for Teachers

Have you tried Flocabulary? As teachers search for different media to share or introduce concepts to students, some may be interested in what Common Sense Graphite refers to as "Schoolhouse Rock meets Tupac" in a "delightful hip-hop-based platform." Definitely engaging for students, I've seen several teachers in our building projecting Flocabulary videos when addressing a concept or CCSS standard.

It is a paid subscription service; District 97 has purchased a subscription. If you are a D97 teacher, search for an email from Sheri Lenzo where she provides the specific link you need to set up an account. (New teachers, I was the one who sent the email to you at the beginning of this year.) If you cannot find the email, let me know.

Check out Common Sense Media's Graphite review (scroll to the bottom section) to see what other educators think.

For those of you who have used Flocabulary, what have you found beneficial?

Popplet: More than just a mind map

A lot of our younger students have been using the Popplet app lately:

Second grade goal setting Popplet (photo blurred for privacy!)

Second grade independent work on RI standards for main idea and details

This app is so simple to use that it is great for any age and does lend itself very well for acting as a virtual graphic organizer. A great fit is the main idea and details concept you see above, but there are many more uses if you think beyond the web format. These could include:

• timeline
• summarize story events in chronological order
• historical events
• family tree 
• book characters
• historical figures
• listing steps in a process 
• science experiment
• math problem
• snap photos with the camera to include with each step!
• basic brainstorming
• organizing words
• synonyms
• antonyms
• Spanish words or phrases
• virtually any visual you'd like students to create with text and/or images!

And since our district has access to Britannica ImageQuest, our students have an enormous resource for license-free images to add to their Popplets from their iPads. 

If you combine Popplet with another app for some app-smashing, you can really expand on what students get out of it. Some examples in which students can insert their Popplet, when students save their Popplet as an image (JPEG) file, based on our current 1st-5th app list:

How have you used or how would you use Popplet with your students? 

YouTube Tools for Sharing Videos with Students

Some tools you may find helpful if you have a YouTube video to show- simply copy the link to the video in these sites:

1. SafeShare.tv  This one will be a review if you were at our staff meeting last year when we discussed avoiding distractions and inappropriate suggested videos on YouTube. It removes all those advertised and suggested videos so you can project a video safely for your class or share a link for students to view a video safely.
2. Tube Chop   This site lets you select part of a longer video and share just that part with students, choosing start and end times. Cut out what you don't want to share. The link also cuts out all ads and suggested videos like SafeShare.

Student Attention-Getters with Technology

When we have to "deliver" information to students, usually when introducing a new concept or skill, we want students to be engaged. Here are two attention-getters you can use in presenting.

If you were a part of our last institute day and the "tech slam" you heard about Tellagami. This is a great app to add any photo as the background while a character speaks your own words. Introduce a new story, historical time period, or science concept through a "gami" video. Click the videos for student examples.

Check out this blog post from Free App Friday for a few more examples across grades and subjects.

Another app is called Chatterpix, or the kid friendly version, Chatterpix Kids. It allows you to animate a mouth on any image and record your voice. Imagine book characters, photos of actual or historical people, even inanimate objects speaking to your students!

Although these apps are not on the student iPads at this point, you could still work out a system for students to use them on your iPad, especially since they both have 30 second limits. This would allow for students to quickly rotate through using your teacher iPad, taking turns.


How would you use Chatterpix or Tellagami in your classroom?

Google Slides App: Adding Images

If you've used the Google Slides app, you've noticed there's no apparent way to add photos, rendering it fairly useless!

But there is a workaround! Thanks to Susan Oxnevad, data/tech coach at Beye School, for putting together the steps. The workaround involves saving the file as a Power Point file, which allows for adding photos. The only drawback is that this format does not allow for collaboration between users on the same file.

Click here to see the steps to add images in Google Slides. 

Frequently making QR codes or sharing links in your classroom? This will save you time!

Google Chrome is a great browser to use because there are many tools you can add to make life easier. Here's an extension (tool) you can set up once and have it at the ready at the top of your browser any time you need it.

It's called ShortenMe. It adds a one-click way to get a shortened URL and/or QR code to link to whatever website you're currently viewing. That makes it faster and easier to share a website quickly with students.

QR codes and shortened URLs (links) automatically appear right in your Chrome Browser!

Set up

You first need to login to Chrome. If you have not already logged in, your district gmail account may have automatically connected. Otherwise, you can sign in with your district account. Click the three lines button (what I've heard is referred to as the "pancakes" to get to the menu to sign in or check if you're signed in.)

Next, go to the Chrome Web Store at this link to add the free ShortenMe extension.

ShortenMe will now appear as three dots in a horizontal line in the top right. Click it once, and that's all you need to do!

Chrome Bonus: Sign into your account in Chrome on any computer and you get any extensions or other tools you have already added on another computer automatically.

Text to Speech Feature on the iPad

The iPads have the capability to read selected text to students, mainly in Safari but also a handful of other apps. This might be helpful for students learning to read, difficulties with reading, etc. and can be turned on and off.

I quickly put together a short video showing how to turn this setting on and what it looks like in action. 

I forgot one step to turn on this setting in the video, so this is the order: Settings > General > Accessibility > Speak Selection.

Also, this video was recorded in the Touchcast app, an amazing, free app you can try out on your teacher iPad!