techchef4u

3 Interactive iPad App-tivities that aren’t Apps!

lisajohnson2007 — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:54:49 +0000

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am always intrigued by sites that offer interactivity but are not apps (ala Quizlet). I had observed Mr. Wayment’s class reviewing the Greek & Latin roots using an 82 card Quizlet deck he had created. Students were utilizing various activities within Quizlet (e.g. Speller, Learn, and Scatter) to review the terms.

Study these flash cards | Study greek flash cards

While the students were engaged in the app-tivity, Mr. Wayment shared another online resource that he had been using (on both the computer and the iPad)… Jeopardy Labs. Though I did not have a chance to create my own, I did explore the sample Mr. Wayment created on Greek & Latin Roots. Although he initially created the resource online, he has the flexibility to have students access it in small groups on the computer and from the iPad.

Wayment's Greek and Latin Roots: Online Jeopardy

Here’s how it works:

Multiple Teams: The site allows multiple teams (up to 12) to play the same board.
Choose a Category and a Point Value.
Answer in question form: They are presented with a statement and must verbalize the correct question to match (e.g. Statement: “Derivative of “digit” that means magic tricks, card tricks, or sleight-of-hand” Correct Response: “What is prestidigitation?”)
Assigning Points and Recording Scores: If the team provides a correct answer, they tap the + and the point value of the item is added to their leader board. If they answered incorrectly, they tap the – and the point value of the item is removed from their leader board.
Repeat and Enjoy: After the points are recorded, the teams would return to the game board and a different team would repeat the category and point value selection.

Though the lesson itself essentially was English Language Arts focused in nature, the idea of jeopardy for any content area or grade level is fully translatable and customizable. Note: Jeopardy Labs does require a nominal PayPal donation of anywhere to support the website and tuition and books for the college student who has created the resource. Utilizing the current pre-created templates is FREE.

While researching Jeopardy Labs, I came across Bingo Baker (another online resource created by the maker of Jeopardy Lab). With this tool, you can easily create and play your own Bingo Boards (online and directly from the iPad) with no login or payment. Each Bingo Card includes 25 squares (including one free spot). The cards can also be printed as a PDF for playing as a hard copy or annotating in an app like PaperPort Notes or Notability.

Bingo Baker step-by-step directions: I created a Snapguide for how to create and play your Bingo Card.

Snapguide: How to Create & Play BINGO on your iPad

Interesting note…

I created the card on my iPad and went into play mode on the iPad and then used the same link on my computer for the card and had a different variation of the same card.
If you refresh the page on the iPad or the computer, it will create a different variation of the card using the same words entered.
One cannot edit the card once it has been created (only clone it).

Further English & Vocabulary Resources:

Pop in with BrainPOP

lisajohnson2007 — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:51:57 +0000

By a series of fortuitous events (e.g. a last minute cancellation and a random email), I had the app-ortunity to lead a webinar for BrainPOP on “iProductivity in the iClassroom“. The session covered a few online tools for assessment, tips to preview and preselect apps, shared 17 free apps that can be used to create student products, and culminated with tips for submitting and preparing student work.

Andrew from BrainPOP and Me at Mobile 2012 edited with online version of BeFunky

The archived webinar can be located through the BrainPOP site. We received some great feedback on the content delivered in the session and I am looking forward to the possibility of delivering a follow-up iPad session over the summer. Thanks again Andrew for the app-ortunity to share my app-thusiasm for iLearning.

iClassify Triangles: Part 2

lisajohnson2007 — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:31:22 +0000

This post is a follow-up to the original iLesson “iClassify Triangles“. The original lesson provides a few direct instruction videos on classifying triangles, a set of mystery triangle flash cards, and a handful of extension app-tivities. The following could be used as a stand-alone geometry resource or an additional app-tivity to support the initial iLesson.

Student Task: Use the Geoboard app to make an example triangle for each of the following triangles using the specified color:

Yellow: obtuse isosceles
Red: scalene right
Purple: right isosceles
White: acute scalene
Green: acute isosceles
Orange: obtuse scalene

Classifying Triangles with Geoboad app

Extensions: Complete the question and one of the tasks below.

Question: Which triangle can you not make and why? acute equilateral
Task 1: Take a screenshot and bring the completed Geoboard image up in Skitch. Calculate the perimeter and area of each of the triangles.
Task 2: Graph triangles in Geometry Pad. (Teacher could provide a task card with specific directions: e.g. “graph an isosceles right triangle in quadrant 2″).

Check out these other Math iLessons.