Do You Hiaku?

I started working with a 1st grade extension group a couple of weeks ago.  (We call them an extension group because they have mastered the curriculum their teacher is currently teaching to the other studnents and their learning needs to be expanded upon!) We just completed a project about animal senses.  We read a book that discussed various unique or unusual senses from several animal species.  The students did additional research on their animals.  They each asked three questions pertaining to the information they had already gathered and then looked on-line to find the answers.  They used an iPad app called Haiku Deck to organize their information and present it to each other and the rest of their class.  This project was relatively quick, informative, and a lot of fun.  It gave the students the opportunity to work fairly independently but still collaborate with each other and with me when they needed assistance.  It also allowed them to integrate technology into their research project.
I think my favorite part about the entire project was when I utilized students from our 1st grade technology class to instruct the students in my group on how to use Haiku Deck.  My campus is lucky enough to have a 1st grade class that has been using iPads at a 1:1 ration all year.  These students are technology experts!  I asked their teacher, Mrs. Russell, if I could borrow four of her digital natives to explain the app to my students and help them set up their Haiku Deck. It literally took less than 15 minutes before I started hearing, "We're done!"  Of course, we had some editing to do (and that still did not get perfected, but it is 1st grade, so what are you gonna do!) and some revisions but they were actually done very quickly. The end result looks pretty amazing, too, as you can see for yourself if you follow the links below!
What are your favorit apps for presentations?

Fish Facts Haiku Deck

Celine and Cade's Fish Facts
Emma and Sienna's Animal Sensors
Karlee and Leah's Chameleon's
Izaiah and Jolee's Ibis

Toontastic Project

I am embarking on a new project with a group of second graders.  These are students I pull for RTI purposes and they are super excited to have the opportunity to work on a project that involves reading, research, and culminates with a Toontastics cartoon where they can tell everyone what they learned.
We read a guided reading book from Reading A-Z about living in a big city.  We live in a fairly rural part of Texas, though most of my students have been to Dallas because it's about an hour away.  We had a great discussion about what it would be like to live in a big city, how it would be different than what we are used to, what they would like and wouldn't like, etc. Then, we talked about what cities the students had visited, what they did while they were there, and if they ever wanted to go back.  We also talked about cities they had heard of but hadn't visited.
Next, each student chose a city that they would like to know more about.  We talked about what kinds of things they would need to know before they visited the city. For example, they were very interested in knowing where McDonald's was located.  I broadened that question by asking about restaurants in general--what types of foods do people like to eat there? Is there a famous restaurant?  We talked about landmarks and tourist attractions. We also talked about population and density.  One of the major concerns the students had with living in or visiting a big city was how crowded it was so they thought they needed to have an idea of how many people they might be bumping in to.
After we worked together to make a list of potential facts we needed to gather, I typed it up and distributed it to the students.  They used these questions as a guide as they began to do their research.  These students meet for 30 minutes twice a week and we have now been working on this project for about three weeks.  (We are doing some other things, too, like working on sight words and reading skills.)  They are just about done with the research phase.  They are working on gathering their information and determining which important questions still need to be answered.

The Toontastic Monkey!  Picture courtesy of Launchpadtoys.com 

Our next step will be writing a short script that tells about their city.  When that is completed, they will each be making a slide to go in a video which we will create using the app "Toontastic."  If you've never used this app before, check it out. There's a free version, which is very good by itself, and then a paid version.  There are several scenes to choose from and we've already talked about appropriate/inappropriate.  For example, you wouldn't have your character talking about a big city while standing in a cemetery or Frankenstein's laboratory. Once I have approved their scripts, each student will have the opportunity to set up their scene and record their message.  They will also get to add music.  When the entire project is completed, we can uploaded it to Toontastic's website, Launchpadtoys.com so that their teachers, classmates, and parents will be able to watch it.  It's a lot of fun but more importantly it's given them the opportunity to work on some important areas.  In order to put this together we've had to read, write, research, condense, summarize, work together, create a scene, animate characters, select appropriate music, and essentially perform a role.  While the topics of cities in and of itself may not seem that important, it's the act of completing a project and using all of these important skills that has made this beneficial to the students.  We've continued to incorporate reading, word work, and sight word work into our time because that is also important and critical to the success of these children but we are also working on our skills while we create something meaningful that will be long lasting for these students and those who have the opportunity to watch it.