This week will be my fifth week of summer vacation. Up until now, I have not wanted to think about school at all. Now that July has begun, there is this tiny part of me that is beginning to plan, and longs for a little of the structure that is part of my school year. As I browse Pinterest, I'm starting to look at beginning of the year ideas with a little more interest. Now don't get me wrong. I am in no way ready to go back to school just yet, but I am ready to do some of the creative planning for school that I really love.
Two weeks ago, when I was participating in professional development for math, we were asked to write some story problems for math. I had one of my classroom iPads with me. I started creating my story problems on the iPad using the app, Keynote. This app was so easy to use and the slides looked fantastic. It was easy to use the camera on the iPad2 and insert photos into the presentation.
I feel like I kind of missed the boat here last year. While we used our iPads daily, we primarily used them to blog or research. Next year my students are going to use Keynote to present their learning to the class. There are countless ways that we can use this app. I have no doubt they will be very successful.
Another app that we have on our iPads but have not used is iBrainstorm. I plan to model using this app for class discussions. After my 4th graders have seen it in use a few times, I think this is another app that will be very productive, especially for collaborative work.
My principal asked each of us to check out one of our iPads for the summer. She wanted us to play with them and explore. I have a feeling this was just what she had in mind.
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