Challenge 3 Reflection

I explored all three apps this week. I spent the most time with screen chomp & explain everything since I had already explored educreations when we were exploring apps on our own. Screen chomp was actually a bit challenging at first because I wanted another page and couldn't figure out how to get one. Eventually I realized that I could erase the first page and write the second. I also wanted to be able to write the whole page and then record it but it made more sense to write a line record then audio & then write the next line. I also managed to cover the microphone in the middle of the video so you couldn't hear my audio. I like the explain everything app better. I found it to be more user friendly. I wanted to demo a homemade play dough recipe for parents but I didn't want to make play dough for my classroom this early in the summer. I even thought about making it for my niece but she is leaving for vacation so she wouldn't be home to receive it in the mail. So instead explained how to use a Keurig. Additionally, I am having some Internet connection issues since the storm so I don't think it posted to my blog... I will try again tomorrow.

Check out my Scribble Press book: Mike and the Great Outdoors

Check out my Scribble Press book: Mike and the Great Outdoors:

Written & illustrated by me!

http://ebooks.scribblepress.com/book.php?g=ACG7KTD6


Sent from my iPad

Check out my Scribble Press book: How many?

Check out my Scribble Press book: How many?: It is a digging deeper math book.

http://ebooks.scribblepress.com/book.php?g=99H445Q9


Sent from my iPad

Reflection on Challenge 2

The apps we used this week will be fun to use with kids. I especially like Story Kit...one, It is simple to use & two, the kids can narrate their stories. I can see kids illustrating books and me scanning in their illustrations, then having them narrate, I could even transcribe their words into text. I also like the idea of having simple text books that the kids could read to themselves as a fun way to practice reading and build sight word knowledge or even some basic math skills. I think that I would have kindergarten students illustrate on paper since the drawing features lend themselves to pictures with less detail. I can also see making some books where children can tell about their families using photos. I think this weeks tools are more kid friendly for kindergarteners to use. I don't foresee using dictation with kids mostly due to the fact that so many of them have articulation errors in their speech to begin with; I think I would spend more time editing rather than just typing what they want to say. I do like the other 3 programs but must admit I would be very frustrated if what happened to me with story robe happened to my students. I know my local copy was available to view but if I am taking the time to produce finished work like this I would want to share it with their families. Also, I set up google reader and what a fast way to view everyone's posts & I noticed that sometimes you can view things on the computer which just don't work on the iPad. All in all a good week.

Sharing a story with you

This is a story shared with you by the StoryKit iPhone application.

Click here to read the story.

Sent from my iPad

Story Robe

Well I have this cute little video about Woodland Animals but Story Robe keeps freezing when I go to email it so I can't seem to share it. I will keep trying to get it onto my blog but sometimes technology has a mind of it's own. Up to the sharing point it was pretty easy to use.

Scribble Press Reflection

So I like the book making with scribble press and I could see using it with kids. However, I did run into one problem...when I published the book to iBooks the text on two of my pages covered the bottom part of my photograph that I had taken & used in my story, even though it did not do this on my draft. I went back in to edit and fix this but it did not allow me to click on the photo & re-size it. I then erased the pictures and took the pictures again, re-inserted them and re-published the book but the published book did not reflect the changes I had just made to the two photos. This was a bit frustrating but I decided to leave it alone since I can't seem to find a way to make my changes show up. I will just keep in mind when using photos to leave a larger margin for the text.

Check out my Scribble Press book: My Book of Favorites

Check out my Scribble Press book: My Book of Favorites :

http://ebooks.scribblepress.com/book.php?g=UKAHFNH3


Sent from my iPad

Dictation 2

I don't think it u doers todo me any better this time.

So I went to see the surgeon on Monday and he told me I can stop wearing my brace inside the house and move to stop wearing my brave outside the house. He was pleases with my knee bending 90 degrees and he hopes that l'll have full range of motion when I see him in three weeks. He said if I was going to the fair them I should put the brace on to protect it. I am still healing for 12 weeks and hopefully by December things will be 100% back to normal. So, all in all it was a good visit.

Dictation 1

This really had a hard time understanding me. Maybe if I talk slower?

a collage for you

So I checked out pixlomatic quickly and made different borders and shades for this picture of my niece & her Mom.

Created using Pic Collage. http://pic-collage.com

Sent from my iPad

Challenge 1 Reflection

I enjoyed these programs in our challenge. I found both the picture collage and animoto very easy & fun to use. I did not like the cropping feature of the picture collage; drawing with your finger what you want cropped is creative but I really wanted a straight line and couldn't draw one if my life depended upon it. Animoto was fun and I enjoyed the ease of use and that it had music to choose from that could be used in our videos. This was important to me since I tend to listen to pandora rather than purchase music on iTunes. HD slide show was definitely more complicated to figure out but with that complexity there are a lot more options for picture editing. I did purchase a song and made a video of pictures from my sons high school graduation. It came out ok but this program is too complex to use with kindergarten students. With that said, i can see myself using it for sideshows for families about their children for special events such as open house. As i am typing this reflection i am wondering if i could import a digital recording of the kids singing or talking to go with the pictures, I will need to go exploring this. I can see myself using animoto & pic collage with kindergarten kids. They could pick out pictures or maybe even take pictures to tell a story. They love seeing pictures of their work & of themselves. One thing that has struck me is I am much more willing to just go try things out & get help if I can't figure it out than previously; this is what kids do with technology...try it & if it doesn't work try it another way. I have always believed that I was pretty good with technology but now I think I am much more engaged with it & motivated about how to include it in my classroom.

Reading other people's blogs is fun but time consuming. Keeping them on Module One is fine; however, I have not been able to open Amy's blog in the last week or so...it just keeps saying loading but never loads. I know I am not the only one who is experiencing this.

Check out this video I made with Animoto!

Check out this video I made with Animoto: Farmer's gardens

Sent from my iPad

a collage for you- this one was emailed.

Created using Pic Collage. http://pic-collage.com

Sent from my iPad

Photo collage- camera roll

There is the photo collage for module 2. This program is pretty easy to use!

Week 3 Reflection

This week I had fewer opportunities to use my iPad because we spent time where there was no wifi access. I did spend some amount of time on Craig's list looking for cheap used cars...I am still shaking my head that it is cheaper on insurance for my sons to each have their own "beater cars" than for us to only have one for them...but it is! I also have played scramble free & draw free; it has been nice to have a few new games. I also spent some time creating & organizing folders. I checked out everyone's new blog post with the exception of Amy's... For some reason hers would not load the other day. Now that I am becoming a bit more mobile I am hoping to check out photo & video options.