How to turn Wikipedia Pages Into eBooks

Did you know that you can turn any Wikipedia page/article into it's own ebook?  This past week I spent 5 days up in Cupertino, CA at Apple Academy.  It was an awesome experience and I highly recommend my fellow educators to apply themselves and try to attend. I learned a lot and am ready to amp up my professional development training at my school.

Wikipedia page turned into an eBook

While I learned so many things, one of the coolest was how to turn a Wikipedia page into an ebook.  And the best part about it?  IT'S SUPER EASY!  I created a quick tutorial video for you below.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy!
Katie

Book Creator - An app for the writing classroom!

Do you write whole class stories with your students?  Do your students write their own stories or write papers?  I'm sure the answer to at least one of these questions is YES!  If so and you have access to either iPads or tables with Android, I highly recommend you check out the app called Book Creator.  In my last post, I spoke about the Poetry Cafe I did with my students and mentioned how I had them use Book Creator to create their final poetry books.  Some of you emailed me with questions regarding this app, so I thought I'd be a little more detailed on how it works.

First, it's important to note that Book Creator has two versions - the Free one and the paid one.  The free version limits you to being able to create only one book.  Which is perfect to allow you to try it out first and see if you like it.  I like how the free version just limits you that way and not on using all of the features that are available.  The paid version is only $4.99 and if you get the education discount, you can get 50% off 20 or more licenses making it well worth it!

The features that are available on Book Creator are awesome!  Way better than some of the other book creation apps I've tried.  And it only took my students about a day to quickly get used to it and

quickly become authors.  Once you open that app, you choose to create a new book.  You get the choices of choosing your book shape from portrait, square, and landscape.  I found that when printing the book, that using portrait was the best choice. But if you aren't printing and just using them as e-books, any shape would work.  You have the ability to add photos, text, writing, and sound.  I was really excited about the sound feature!  You can't currently do a highlighted with read along but that wasn't too big of a deal for me.  I can see how in the younger grades that would be very useful though. Hopefully it's something the creators of the app are looking into.  You can also adjust the background color of the pages.   One feature that my students particularly liked was being able to move the pages after you created them.  This allowed my students to work on their poetry in any order and then move them to the appropriate location when done.

My students' poetry books.

The best part was when my students were all done with their books, I was easily able to have them send them to me and COMBINE them into one large 5th grade poetry book.  At first I didn't really think about the possibilities of this until I came across this teacher (it's actually posted on the app creators webpage) idea on creating a global book where people all over the world create a page and you combine them all together.  How neat would that be!?!  I started to think about how I could have my students and their pen pals create books together and so much more.
and her

Next year....  How would you use Book Creator in your classroom?

Katie

****I took the screenshots right off their website.  You can see just by looking at those how amazing and professional your books can look.  :-)

Techie Tuesday: DocScan App

Hello Friends!  I'm back to share with you another cool app that you may or may not have heard about. And if you haven't, then trust me when I say, you want to know about it. I learned about it from fellow blogger, Catherine, over at The Brown-Bag Teacher.  If you haven't checked out her blog, I encourage you to do so. 

DocScan is an app which allows you to snap pictures and turn them into PDFs.  The basic app is free but if you want to have more features available to you, it costs only $1.99 to upgrade on your phone or $3.99 on your iPad. Within a matter of minutes of having it, I decided to upgrade so I could export my PDF to different locations.

If you are like me and you have a 1:1 device school this app is AWESOME to allow you to quickly take a picture and send it as a PDF to your student.  It even allows you to decide if you want the PDF to be in color or black and white. You can adjust the brightness of the picture as well. 

What the folder looks like.

Here is an example of how I used it the first time. I took a picture of our Science Lab pages since I typically have to make hard copies for each student.  I created a folder that held both photos of the lab page front and back side.  After I adjusted the cropping (they even let you fix curled pages!), I uploaded my folder to Dropbox.  Since I had put the photos into the same folder, it automatically made it a two page PDF.  After I had the PDF in our class Dropbox, my students were easily able to grab it and open it in Notability (another AMAZING app!).  In Notability they are able to write on the PDF like they would with a pen and paper. After they completed the lab, they uploaded their final assignment onto our class Edmodo page for me to look over and grade.  Easy - easy - easy!!!

I love it because it's easy, saves paper, and allows me to quickly provide my students with what I need them to have WHEN I need them to have it. No more running to the copier room last minute for me!

What the PDF looks like.

My students love it because they get to use their iPad and do what we call App Smash - using multiple apps to complete a project. 

I highly encourage you to check this app out ASAP - and trust me. It's worth the $1.99 or $3.99 (depending on your device) to upgrade. :-)

What apps do you use for PDFs?

Techie Thursday: Too Noisy Pro - An App for the Classroom

Dear friends, I know I've been gone for awhile. The new school year and family demands are taking up much of my time.  But I've missed you all.  So I have a short and sweet post for you today.  Today I want to tell you about my NEWEST favorite app for the classroom.

If you have an iPad (or even your own iPhone) for your classroom, than you MUST get the app called Too Noisy.  Remember the Yacker Trackers from back in the day? It can cost anywhere from $79.99 and up depending on the make and model you get. It was designed to allow you to set a noise limit within your classroom.  Students start to get too loud and the tracker would change from green to red.  It was a great idea! But the price tag on this device always prevented me from ever
getting one. When funds are tight in the classroom, let's be honest - no one has money for that. So I never got one....until this week.

But my "yacker tracker" is on my iPad.  In the form called "Too Noisy Pro".  There is a free version of this app, which allows you to have limited controls or a paid version which gives you multiple features. I'll admit....I splurged! I paid the $2.99 right away to have all the wonderful control goodness it came with. 

What does it do?  Well, it allows me to set different settings on my iPad for sound levels.  I can set it at silent work, group work or class work. It even allows me to adjust the sensitivity levels until it is just right.  You can adjust "dampening" levels too to account for regular background noise.  One you have your level set, you can then decided on a theme.  They have six fun themes to decide on. Right now, I'm rocking the "winter" theme. 

The best part about this app, is the star feature in my opinion.  You can set it up that your students are awarded stars for going so long without setting the alarm off.  They can earn up to ten stars.  If they get too loud, a star can be taken away (if you choose that setting).  Finally, you get to choose the alarm sound.  This is the sound that students will hear if they set the alarm off. If they get too loud, the screen will pretend to shatter.

At first, I thought my students would constantly try to set the alarm off to hear the sound and watch the screen shatter. But within a matter of minutes of me beginning to use this app, my students were quietly working and if needed, reminding their fellow classmates to "shhhhhh".  They saw the screen shatter once but that was the only time.  Another neat feature is my ability to pause the noise tracker. This allows me to make announcements if I need to.





In order to provide a positive reinforcement for them doing so well, I give them $20 in class cash for every star they earn.  They LOVE it!  It has become a competition with themselves to see if they can earn all ten stars and keep it there.

Seriously, I have spent worse money on some no good worthless apps. This app, my friends, is NOT one of them.  Go. Buy it now. You won't be sorry.

P.S. My colleague has the free version. Despite it not having as many options, he loves it too!

Techie Tuesday: Owl Pellets

Every year my students and I dissect owl pellets for one of our Science labs in Life Science.  I purchase my owl pellets from Owl Brand Discovery Kits.  In addition to always being a fair price, they also provide you with free printables.  We watch a quick YouTube video which discusses what exactly a Barn Owl Pellet is since most students mistake it for owl feces. 

After watching the video, I quickly go over how to dissect a pellet carefully.  The students work in groups of two using tweezers and picks to uncover as many bones as possible in their owl pellets.  When they were finished, they spent time sorting the bones and determining which rodent they came from.  In years past, I've always had them use handouts that I provided.  However, this year I purchased and downloaded the app called Owl Pellets which is developed by Carolina Biological Supply (they also have a free version too!).  This app provides charts in which students can classify the bones, a database in which they can enter the data of their discoveries and compare with other students from across the nation.  Additionally, it has videos the students can watch as well. 

After the students sorted and separated out the bones, they then had to try to construct a skeleton on a piece of black construction paper.  The different groups of students would share bones so they could construct as much of a complete skeleton as possible. 


This activity always ends up being one of the class' favorites.  It combines not only science but a hands on opportunity which I find is best when it comes to discovery.  Do you dissect anything in your science class?  Tell me about it below. 

Techie Thursday (delayed): AppsGoneFree

I'm a little late on my Techie Thursday but was so excited about this find that I couldn't wait until next week.  So without further adieu here it is.   Have you heard of AppsGoneFree?  This awesome little app gives you a DAILY list of what paid apps are on special for FREE!

Unlike AppGratis or other ones of it's kind, AppsGoneFree will list more than one app.  As of today, there were 11 apps that were listed for free.  You can also look at past dates and see what apps were free and if they are still available for free, you find that out as well.  

The apps range from educational to art to productivity.  For example, today I was able to download Fiete, which is an interactive picture book that helps children work on their fine motor skills.  Perfect for my 19 month old WHO loves fooling around with the iPad. 

For my students in 5th grade, I downloaded Mozaikr, which will allow them to create mosaics from their photos.  This should be fun to use in art class - not quite sure what I'll do with it but hey I couldn't pass it up. 

It's definitely worth having the notifications sent to you on a daily basis as you never know what will come up.  

Have you ever heard of Apps Gone Free?  What is the best paid App you ever got for free?  What app do you think I should be on the look out for?

QR Code Hunt with a Valentine's Day Theme

Last year around Easter I did an activity with my students in which they had to solve riddles that would lead them to an activity they had to complete.  The riddles would bring them to another part of the school (usually another teacher) and they would receive a plastic egg that would either contain the activity or would contain the name of the activity and they would get the sheet they needed from me when they returned.  Once they complete it and I checked it over, I would give them another riddle and off they would go.  The winning team was that who solved all the riddles first and completed all the activities correctly.

Multi-colored QR Codes

My students absolutely LOVED it!  However, since this year I'll actually be on maternity leave during Easter (only 3 more weeks before my due date!!!) I wanted to do something similar with my current class.  And of course, since we are addicted to QR Codes in my classroom right now, I knew I wanted to involve those as well.  So, in honor of Valentine's Day my students completed The Valentine's Day QR Code Hunt.

First, I created eight sets of QR codes using QRStuff.com so I could make them in different colors.  Each QR Code was encrypted with a riddle that would lead the students to another teacher or faculty member at the school.  After I created the QR Codes, I printed out enough of each one for my students and visited each staff member to give them a copy of the QR code and the activity they would give my student.  It was important that I gave the other teachers a copy of the QR Code that would lead the students to them so they could make sure it was the correct color.  If a student arrived with a QR Code with a different color, the teacher would send them on their way because they solved the riddle wrong.  (It did happen a few times.) 

I started the hunt out by giving my students the following sheet.  It explained what they would be doing, gave them a hint as to what the activities were and finally a place to put the QR Codes after they had solved each riddle.  This also helped me because when a student completed an activity, they would bring it up to me, I would QUICKLY check it and if all was done to my expectations, I would give them a new QR Code.  I could easily scan what QR Codes they had already been given because they were all in different colors. 

 

This allowed me to randomly hand out the QR Codes so my students weren't all going to the same teacher at the same time.   Now regarding the activities that the students were completing they all contained the same theme of Valentine's Day.  I mixed together puzzles with math and language arts.  And the best part about all of them - they were FREE!!  (Not signed up for TpT??? - what are you waiting for - click here to do so now and find out what you've been missing!) I was able to download all the activities off Teachers Pay Teachers without spending a dime.  However, I did make sure that I went back and left feedback thanking each of the teachers for putting in their time and effort in creating the products and listing them for free.  Here is a list of the activities I used. 

1. Valentine Mystery Word Search
2. Hink Pink - Valentine's Day Themed
3. Valentine's Day Tangram
4. Valentine's Day Wordplay Activities
5. Valentine's Day Multiplication Math with QR Codes (this one is my own creation) :-)
6. Valentine's Day Wordsearch
7. Valentine's Day Acrostic Poem
8. Valentine's Day Budget Activity

This type of hunt could be done at anytime of the year or for any holiday.  It took me less than 20 minutes to get it all set-up (as a matter of fact I did it that morning).   It kept the students engaged for a couple of hours while still having them learn.  A win-win for us all in my book!

What did you do for Valentine's Day? Have you ever done a hunt like this before with your kids?

Check out more QR Code activities here - my collection of Task Cards. 

Quadrilateral project with the Geoboard app (and a AWESOME Giveaway!)

In math class my students are learning how to identify different types of quadrilaterals and the characteristics that make them all up.  In order to assist them, I created this little handout which they put in their math notebook so they have an easy reference.

Since we have the iPads, I also created a little Quadrilateral booklet project for them to work on.  The project requires the students to create the shapes using the Geoboard app AND be able to identify these shapes in real life and explain how they are use. The students were thrilled to be able to play with the Geoboard app as we've had it on our iPads for sometime but never used it.  Just like if they were using real Geoboards, they have the ability to pick different color rubber bands but unlike the real Geoboards they can also fill in their shapes.  Best part about this app......it's FREE!

The possibilities for using it are practically endless!  Students can represents fractions, figure out area and perimeter, and so on.  It's really easy to use too.  A win win all around. 

You can get a copy of both my free handout and booklet project at my store.  Hopefully your students will enjoy it as much as mine are!



Also, in case you haven't heard or seen it already, my friend, Krystal Mills, over at Lessons from the Middle is having her First Bloggy Birthday!  A bunch of us fellow bloggers got together and donated TONS of products for her to give away ranging in all grade levels.  Head over and enter to win some awesome prize packs whose total worth IS $500!

And don't forget to download the Geoboard App for some virtual rubberband fun! ;-)

Enjoy! 

Techie Thursday: MyHomework App

As my 5th grade class continues the pilot program for the 1:1 iPads which will be in place school-wide next year, we also continue the search for a great homework app.  Of course, each student at my school is provided with an agenda book where they can write out by hand what their homework assignment is.  There are of course pros and cons to this.  In my classroom, I'm all about accountability and responsibility.  So my philosophy was always that the students are RESPONSIBLE to write their homework down.  Of course, as teachers we know that as wonderful of a philosophy that might be, it doesn't always happen.  Which then leads to issues of parents not know what the assignments are, which leads to parent/teacher conferences to try and solve the problem which leads to me having to potentially check EVERY single agenda to make sure students have written down their assignments.  And I'll be honest.....that's just not going to happen.

Sooooooo.....in efforts to save time for us all, still make my students accountable but even more importantly inform parents of what assignments are so they can be sure to provide the support needed at home, I searched out apps for students to record their assignments.  The first app we tested out was called iHomework.  It was nice and had many cool features but I found that it was unreliable at best and didn't work for what I needed.  Many times it would force close, didn't provide a link to parents, tended to confuse students on how to enter in assignments and on top of it all, cost $1.99 per iPad (of course you could get the educator discount if you bought 20 or more of it).  Don't get me wrong - this is probably a perfect app for a high school students or even college students but for 3rd - 8th grade it didn't cut it. However, it may be perfect for some.

So while my students had the option between using the iHomework app or using the traditional paper/pencil agenda, I continued to look.  After doing some research I came across MyHomework.  The app itself is free (however I think if you load it onto a computer it costs money).  The app itself requires students to create a personal login and password (unlike iHomework).  It does request that the students are 13 or older but with parent permission that isn't a problem.  Students have the ability to create different classes (which is great for middle school students) and can enter in Lessons, Assignments and Tests.  They can also download this app onto several devices and it will seamlessly sync between all of them which is what iHomework lacked.  With this ability, my students' parents load the app onto their smartphone or device and login using their child's information.  This way they can see what the assignments are and when they are due.  However, this is only TRUE if the student is recording all the assignments down. 

This is where this app gets EVEN better!  There is also a teacher component available as well (FREE).  As a teacher, I can go in and create my class(es) and add in assignments, lessons, tests, announcements, syllabi, etc.  Students can then search for me and "JOIN" my class.  Instantly providing them with all the information I'm inputting.  When I first signed up for this resource, I still made it the responsibility of the student to input their assignments in.  But I found time and time again that a couple of my students just would not enter them all in.  Which resulted in their parents still not knowing what was due and a lot of incompletes and zeros.  I have since started to input my assignments in daily (it takes me less than 3 minutes!) and still makes my kids accountable for actually doing the work.  Because when it comes down to it, I'd rather them be completing the work instead of just writing it in their agenda.  Again, my students' parents see everything I'm putting in because they either are signed in as their child on their device or they created their own account and "joined" my class.  How awesome is that?!?!

What the students see on their iPads

And again, the best part about this app and all it's fabulous features - it's F-R-E-E!!!  You can't get better than that. :-)

So don't waste anytime - check it out.  (And no - I don't get royalties.....though I should! haha)

Here are the two links you need:

Student Login: https://myhomeworkapp.com/
Teacher Login: https://teachers.io/

When you sign up as a teacher, you need to first input your email and you'll receive an "invitation" via email.  I'm not quite sure why the developer went that route but I found that I received my invitation in a matter of hours of requesting it.  Students can sign up immediately. 

Give it a go and let me know what you think!

Catholic School's Week - Over and Done

Last week we celebrated Catholic School's Week at our small but awesome school.  Each day had a different theme that we focused on.

Monday was Jeans for Jesus Day.  Students were allowed to wear jeans instead of their traditional uniform and school t-shirt.  If students chose to participate they brought a $1 which we donated to the Missionary Childhood Association. 

Tuesday was Service Day which is where each classroom focused their activities for the day around their Service Learning Project.  In case you missed my post last year on our Service Learning, you can see it here. 

Wednesday was Career Day and each teacher arranged to have parents or alumni come and talk to the students about their jobs.  Students also got to dress up like their future profession and explain to the class what that was.

Thursday was Holy Men and Women Day.  Students chose either a biblical character or a Saint to dress up as.  Or they could just bring something to symbolize that person.  The students spoke to the class about who they chose and why.

And finally, Friday was our mass celebration where the entire school went to church.

Overall, it's a fun (but exhausting week) for all involved.  In addition to the daily activities, each teacher also had to complete two extra projects with their class.  One was to lead our classes in writing a letter to their parents thanking them for the sacrifices they make to send their child to a private school.  Most of the classes just wrote handwritten thank you letters for their parents.  But since my kids and I am addicted to QR Codes, we incorporated that into our cards.  First, students had to write a rough draft of the letter they wanted to give their parents.  After I reviewed their draft, students used the App "Show Me" on their iPad to record an audio of their letter to their parents.  Here is an example of one that my students completed:



After students completed their audio video, they then went to QRStuff to create the QR Code they would put into the thank you card they made.  The QR Code was linked to the web address that their video was hosted on.  They then copy and pasted that QR Code into the thank you card template we created in Pages.  The front of the card had the words "Thank you" and a picture of the student and inside the card was the QR Code with a message to scan it with their smartphone (or their child's iPad) to see a video.  The kids really enjoyed the whole process. One of my students compared it to the greeting cards you can buy at the store and record a message inside it.  They are exactly right - except this card is hand created saving you about $6! :-)

In addition, they learned how to create the same codes I was creating for their math videos.  One students even took this learning experience and applied it to their Science Fair project which they presented this week.  On their presentation board they put a QR Code which when scanned showed them actually conducting the experiment.  How clever!!

Front Side of Card

Inside of Card

The other project each class had to complete was an art project.  The only guidelines that we were given was it had to tie into Religion.  The project I chose could be used with ANY topic and the students were really proud of their final product.  I found and printed out an outline of a cross with a dove that the students had to cut out.  Next, they were given a piece of white construction paper and were instructed to paint it with their watercolors.  While the watercolors were wet, they then sprinkled salt over it to produce a unique look.  I was really happy with how they turned out.  Here's some examples:

We had a great week but I'll admit it's nice to be back into our regular routine.

Do you celebrate Catholic School's Week?  If so, what did you do?

  

February Freebie: Valentine's Day Math Activity

February is coming up and you know what that means!!  Love is in the air - and since one of my all time favorite loves is Math I decided to make a freebie for all of you.  If you haven't already heard, Laura Candler over at Corkboard Connections is having a February Freebies Linky Party.  Be sure to check out all the other awesome freebies that are available!

Okay back to what I have available.  :-)  Have your students practice their multiple digit multiplication with this fun little activity.  And for those of you who have the ability to scan QR Codes in your classroom, I created the activity with the ability to use those too.

So pick your love potion and download this neat little freebie today!

                           

 And, if you are a fan of QR Codes, be sure to check out my Math QR Code task cards in my store.

Enjoy!

Techie Thursday: Using QR Codes in the Classroom

We've all seen them. Those black and white square boxes that remind us of barcodes on tags, books, etc. Now we find them all over! And in case you didn't know, they are called QR Codes. They can be found on movie posters, on the back of books, in magazines, on products we buy - simply every where! Every once in awhile you may scan one and find it takes you to a website which will show you perhaps an advertisement of some sort, a movie trailer or perhaps something different altogether.

The more I saw these boxes in the world around me, I tried to think of ways I could use them effectively in my classroom. As many of you already know, my students are piloting a 1:1 iPad program, so having a device that could read the QR Code was not an issue. I've started with just one class and eventually will use them in more subjects once the ideas hit me. We've started with math class. So often I will teach a lesson and walk through multiple examples with my students only for them to go home and for whatever reason blank on what was taught. They'll come back the next day, I'll go over more examples and the light bulb (hopefully) goes off! I thought, wouldn't it be more effective for them to see examples the evening they are working on their homework? Absolutely (in my humble opinion)!

With that being said, I have now started to create short videos (I try to keep them 5 minutes or less) that are filled with examples from that day's lesson. Now, I know that I can find plenty of videos already created with the skills I'm teaching, however, our particular math program is very vocabulary heavy. So I make sure that when I'm creating the video, I'm using the vocabulary the students are also learning in class. Plus, the kids get a kick out of hearing my voice compared to someone they don't know. This way, I also know the videos won't one day be gone unless I get rid of them. I'm organizing all of my math QR Codes in a notebook where I glue in a copy of the sheet I hand out to the students. This way,  I will only have to make a copy each year and not completely recreate them.


Creating the videos IS EASY! I use an app called ShowMe which is free but there are tons of other ones out there you can use. The nice thing about ShowMe is that I can easily record my video and upload it and it will immediately post it on the internet for me. From there, I take the web address they provided and go to Kaywa QR Code Creator.  I simply cut and paste the web address in and click on Generate Free.  It automatically makes me a QR Code which I then take a screen shot of and create a document of it (just copying and pasting it over and over so I have an entire sheetful).  I print and cut out the QR Codes and the students glue them into their math notebook with their notes from that lesson.

Kaywa QR Code Creator Website

Students have on their iPad the App called Scan and when they want to see the video, they simply open up their notebooks and scan the QR Code.  It will automatically take them directly to the video where they can watch it.  The videos are nothing fancy and don't take long to make at all. 

I've had a great response since I began doing this (only starting on Monday).  And for students who were absent for some reason, this helps them too since they can still see examples being completed by me. I look forward to figuring out even more uses for this nifty little codes.  I really think there are a ton of possibilities out there.

I even created sets of QR Code Task Cards for students to practice math and language arts.  Check them out at my TpT store.  

Do you use QR Codes in the classroom?  Share below!