Thing 9 iBooks

 





For second graders, I didn't see as many title choices as I did for a high school student or an adult/college student.  I also use e-storia from Scholastic for my son.  They offered a set of free books when I signed up. The rest of the books are not free, however, the books are reasonable and support his classroom teacher.
I like the options available in iBooks rather than ePub.  The ePub books are black ink on white "paper" and are difficult for me personally to see.  I prefer to have a dark background with lighter print.  Besides the background choice, other advantages of using an e-reader include more choices of titles.  Some people, especially my husband, read more than one book at a time.  While traveling it is much easier to carry one e-reader than a stack of books.  You can also highlight, make notes and change the font size.  Using the contents allows you to quickly look back to another chapter.  When using the bookmark, you don't have to worry about losing your place. My son's favorite thing at my mom's is to pick up her book and close it, thus losing her place.
Annotations on a text can be cumbersome.  You know you saw a quote you wanted to go back to, but now you can't remember where you saw it, you spilled your coffee on your notes and page 5 is now
missing.  Using the notes, highlighting features and bookmark can keep you organized to complete your task.

Thing 8 Comic and Book Creation

Comic Creation

After many frustrating tries to download Story Me, I gave up!  So, my comic was made with Comic Maker HD.  I was frustrated that I didn't have another app to compare.  I shared my comic with my students and they were very excited to see it and asked when they were going to make them.  Making comics would motivate low readers and writers to be able to read others' comics and be able to write for others.   Some ideas for using comics in second grade:
1.  Writing and illustrating jokes.
2.  Showing beginning, middle and end of a short story and developing characters.

3.  Comics can be used to help students work out social situations (problems at recess).

Book Creation

How To Take Care of Pets 

Book Creator was a very easy app to learn and use.  So easy, a kid could use it!  I asked my son to help me write a story.  He came up with the idea to make a How To book.  We planned the pages, made a list of pictures we needed and then got started.  He was so excited to share the story when we were finished.  Some ideas for using Book Creator in second grade:
1.  Writing and illustrating back to school books Meet Me & My Family
2.  Students could document the process of planting seeds throughout the plant life cycle until harvest of seeds.  They take pictures and comment throughout the 40-day process.
3.  A class collaboration book to show what 2nd grade is all about.  This would be used the next year to introduce the incoming class to 2nd grade.


Students making a book to document the plant life cycle will need to monitor and comment daily on the growth and changes with their plant.  These actions relate to analyzing and evaluating which in turn relate to the SAMR Model as Modification and Redefinition.  

Thing 7 Digital Storytelling

Animated Story Project

The script of Pinky & Stripey working on a subtraction problem.

...and now for the video.

Pinky & Stripey 

Imaged based story project

A short video with facts about Abraham Lincoln and his birthplace in Kentucky.

The Video..

About Abraham Lincoln

Animated Digital Storytelling vs. Image Based Digital Story Projects

Teacher created
1.  Explaining the steps of a math problem
2.  Introducing a historical figure
3.  Using the puppets to explain a social situation (conflict resolution)

Student created
1.  Animating a personal narrative with dialogue.
2.  Building better sentences; using photos to add adjectives to a sentence 


I think my students would be able to make any of the projects I listed under the teacher created ideas.  If given a choice, I think younger students would be more interested in using the puppet apps.  My son (also a 2nd grader) loves to use Toontastic.   He couldn't wait to try Sock Puppets.  I think older students would enjoy using the Sock Puppets app, but I feel their curriculum would easily support the image based apps.  They would also be able to search more effectively for photos that are appropriate and acceptable to use.   I think teaching fiction would be easier with the sock puppets and nonfiction would suit the image based apps.