Bringing Characters to Life with Chatterpix

Mrs. Goins' second graders read the story of Bessie Coleman and discovered that she was the first African-American woman to become a pilot.  As the students read their weekly story, they collected facts about her and then created special projects using Chatterpix.  The students wrote a short summary, saved an image of her, and then used iPads to record their voices to create unique talking character projects.  This is a simple, but sensational project... and the kids loved making them!

Click here to see an example...

http://bit.ly/1q4ulyI

News-O-Matic

Mrs. McConnell's class has been learning about current events through a new website called News-O-Matic.  Each day, this site publishes articles written just for kids about the most recent news topics.  It keeps the students aware of current events, but they also love the cool stories this site includes on subjects that interest them like Minecraft and Pokemon.  In addition to the article, each story includes a related video, slideshow of photos, questions to check understanding, a drawing pad so they can illustrate what they have learned, and even a read-to-me button.  The kids love having the opportunity to choose which story they would like to read. While one might choose to learn about space...another may choose to learn about a famous basketball player.   News-O-Matic exposes them to non-fiction text and current news in an entertaining way that engages them and takes their learning deeper. 

 

Happy Numbers

Mrs. Wiginton's first graders recently tried out a math website named Happy Numbers and they loved it!  This is a great website that will allow them to practice their math skills, but leave the boredom of a worksheet behind.  Once these students learned how to sign-in...the adventure began!  Each student began with basic first-grade skills, but as they mastered each level, the next level was unlocked.  This is a great program because it allows the teacher to monitor student progress while providing an individualized learning pace for each one.  As you can see...the students were engaged and they left asking when they could "play" again.  I think I know how this website got its name.