Programming "Small Moment" Stories with Scratch Jr.

Students adapted a Small Moment story they had written into a Scratch Jr. animation. First, students created backgrounds. Scratch Jr. has some backgrounds to choose. Students were shown how to modify a background or even create one from scratch. It's a good idea to emphasize that a background should only contain items that will not be animated. Scratch Jr. allows up to four backgrounds in a project. Next, students added characters. A character can be a person, animal or object (anything that is animated). Characters can also be modified or created from scratch.

Each character must be animated independently. A useful tip is to broadcast messages to sequence or synchronize actions, either from the same character or between different characters. Another useful tip is make sure you are putting the end action block after the last action in each section. Otherwise, actions or audio can get cut short.

Sharing is projects is a little tricky since Scratch Jr. doesn't have an export to video option. Only a project project file can be shared, which can only be played back by a device with Scratch Jr. This is probably because the program includes interactive programming blocks that would be lost if exported to video. We tried making videos by playing back a project on one iPad and recording it with another. However, the audio suffered significantly. There was already classroom ambiance in the original projects and recording the final product with another iPad doubled the classroom ambiance. To get around this problem, we used a rather complicated system which involved recording the Airplay stream with a computer program called Reflector 2.

Although the audio and video quality were much better recording the Airplay stream, the setup makes this solution very difficult. In the future, I will probably just upload the project files to Google Drive and instruct parents to download Scratch Jr. on their device to view their child's project. Scratch Jr. is now available on several mobile platforms, including iOS, Android, and ChromeOS.

Acts of Kindness

In the Illustrating and Differentiating with Google Drawings post, I shared some examples of drawings from third graders. Since then, I've introduced Google Drawings to first grade students. I wanted something easy for them to draw the first time, since Google Drawings is different from many other drawing programs for children.

In Acts of Kindness, students created "shape dudes", which is simply a basic shape with arms, legs, eyes and a mouth, to illustrate their idea. First students typed a sentence stating an act of kindness they would do in their own life. Next, they drew a shape dudes that represented themselves. Finally, they created a second item, a prop or another shape dude, to illustrate the kind act.

Persuasive Video: Should Minecraft be Used as an Educational Tool?

Students were asked to persuade others whether or not Minecraft should be played by students in school. After doing some research, they brainstormed their ideas, and eventually used iMovie to record a trailer video.

Weather Reports using Doink and Explain Everything

Fifth grade students created weather reports using Explain Everything. They added slides about cold and warm fronts in the U.S., temperatures throughout the country, and a 5-day forecast in a regional location.The students then created a script to include themselves reporting the forecast using the Doink app and a green screen.

It's Okay to Be Different

Kindergarten students created their own version of "It's Okay to Be Different" by Todd Parr. Students finished the sentence "It's okay to be..." with their own idea. We used Pixie in the computer lab, but any drawing program could be used. If you have only one iPad, students could draw their picture on paper, take a picture with the iPad when they are done, and then record their voice with app like Explain Everything or Book Creator.

Wampanoag Poster Project Using Prezi

What is a Prezi? A Prezi is an online format to create presentations on a "zoomable canvas" rather than the traditional linear format of presentation tools such as Powerpoint.

A third grade class used online Prezi for their poster project. Working in small groups students used both computers and iPads during the project depending on what was available. By creating the "Prezi" on the iPad, students were able to add movies from pre-selected sources, as well as create their own images in the app "Drawing Pad." Students could also draw and paint on paper and take a photo of the image with the iPad to use in the Prezi.

Students learned about copyright issues and checked google images "usage rights" before selecting a searched image. Students used their google docs to keep track of resources used.

Visit the classroom site for the complete set of the students' first Prezis! Just be aware they may take a while to load--

Illustrating and Differentiating with Google Drawings

Google Drawings is a drawing program accessible right within Google Drive. The process of illustrating ideas activates creative, comparative, and analytic cognitive functions. Using technology for illustrations is engaging and can enhance your differentiation efforts. Drawings might be a hook to the content for some students.

Since the files live in Google Drive, students can access them anywhere. They can be included in Google Classroom assignments and inserted into Google Slides or Docs projects. They can even be used in Explain Everything or iMovie!

Drawings can be used in any content area. Here are some ideas:

• illustrations
• diagrams
• flow charts
• pictographs
• digital posters (think Glogster without the hassle)

Here are examples from a 3rd grade Google Drawings exploratory activity that happened between Halloween and Thanksgiving.