My Favorite PowerPoint Lesson!

I LOVE THIS LESSON!  In the new NEISD world of iDevices and Web 2.0 tools, I’m always telling teachers not to forget about the world of PowerPoint.  This isn’t your everyday, boring slideshow.  This is a really cool fun foldable that can be used with any subject matter.  It can be created from scratch or can be saved as a template for younger grades to use.  Here is an example of what a completed project looks like using images from Google Earth:

You can use this template for multiplication facts, animal adaptations, parts of a cycle, scientific process….on and on!  Below you will find a blank template with directions, the Google Earth example you see above, and the landforms template.

LandformFlipbook_Final Product

LandformFlipbook_Template

Question and Answer Filpbook_Blank

 

 

 

 

Using More Than One App at a Time

While my husband was watching football on a Saturday afternoon (ugh), I decided to play around with this new app I found.  It’s not free ($4.99), but it’s crazy cool.  Corkulous is a great app for allowing students to explain Math, Science, or any other concepts they are learning in the classroom.  It allows you to upload images, create post-it notes to explain information and works great with other apps such as Doodle Buddy if you want to add personal drawings.  Here is an example I used to explain the water cycle:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The app also allows you to create a template as well as beginning a new project from scratch.  I uploaded some images in dropbox that I knew I wanted to include in this explanation.  When I finished my corkboard, I saved the image in My Photos on the iPad.  Then I opened Doodle Buddy, inserted my corkboard, and drew the arrows to represent the order of each process.  The last step was to save the image again and email it to myself.  It sounds tricky at first, but once you (and your kids) get the hang of it, the sky is the limit!

What in the Worldle can you do with Wordle?

I’d like to give a shout out to Mrs. Martin’s 5th Grade class at Windcrest Elementary!  Today we co-taught a lesson on Matter using Wordle.net.  The students brought their Science journals to the lab and used their notes on the different types of matter to create a word cloud.  I like using Wordle because it’s free and students don’t need to create accounts to use it.  I am attaching a “How to use Wordle” document in case you have never seen this tool before. One tip I have discovered is that it doesn’t always work in Internet Explorer.  If you come across this problem, download Firefox and update your computer to the latest version of Java.  Your ITS can help you with this if you aren’t sure how.  Here is an example:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are some other ways you can integrate Wordle into your curriculum:

  • Language Arts-Create a main idea and summary word cloud about a particular story-copy and paste the main idea in 2 or 3 times to make it larger than the details, practice spelling words or word wall words, character traits for the main character in a story
  • Math-Type in different ways to make a certain dollar amount, factors of numbers or math facts
  • Science-vocabulary words and definitions for any concept (Landforms-mountains, rivers, ocean, lakes, plains, basin…)
  • PE-bones and muscles in the body
  • Music-different genres or artists
  • Social Studies-Indian tribes of Texas, Major battles of the Civil War, Facts about Presidents or inventors

 Wordle -How To

The Four Seasons App Task Card

I came across this adorable app called Four Seasons in the iTunes app store. ( I love it when I find something cute and it’s FREE!)  This app is perfect for a Science or Language Arts technology workstation. First, search the app store and download it on your iDevice.  It looks like this-

I have also included a task card for you to use. There are other free books as well as this one. You can access them on the last page of the book. Enjoy!

Task Card for Four Seasons App