Welcome to our blog!

May Community Academy's 5th and 6th grade students are fortunate to be recipients of a 1:1 iPad initiative. Please follow our journey!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

A Trip to the Apple Store

In November the 5th and 6th grade students took a trip to the Apple store.
Ms. Tell writes about the visit:

The Apple Store was a nice experience for the 5th and 6th grade ipad users at May. 
The students were asked questions about how they are using the IPADS in the 
classroom. They were eager to share their daily experiences with the ipads. Students
then took pictures and videos of each other. Students then turned their pictures
and videos into exciting i-movies. Students had an exciting time at the apple store!



Students:  What did you enjoy about the trip?





Thursday, December 1, 2011

One to Watch: Popplet Lite


Generating thoughts?  Organizing information?  Popplet Lite may be the app for you!  The paid version is $4.99 and offers many great features.  The FREE version is on our iPads and has met our needs just as well.  Popplet Lite allows students to create concept maps of their thinking.  With the paid version students can create and edit multiple "popples"at one time.  The free version allows users one popple at a time, but don't let that scare you off. There is also a beta version on the web at http://popplet.com/app/#/home

This is what the application looks like:


Students double tap the screen to begin.  A blank box will appear with 4 options beneath it:

  1. The first option allows you to change the color of the box outline (black, grey, blue, green, red, orange, pink).  Changing the color of the boxes could be good for categorizing.
  2. The second option allows you to add text.  There are 3 text sizes available with left/center/right justification options
  3. Option three is twofold:  you can write inside the box freestyle and change the color of the pen
  4. Finally, the last option allows you to embed a picture into your box.  Tapping on this option pulls up your photo library.  If you want to take an image from the Internet this is also an option.  Do this by finding the picture you would like to use (be mindful of copyright).  If you are using your iPad, hold your finger down on the image. A box will appear giving you the option to save or copy the image.  Go back to your popple (it will appear as you left it when you left the app) and click on the box you would like to place the picture in.  Hold your finger in the box and you will see three options appear:  paste the image, paste the URL, or copy the popple.
You will notice the box has four circles along the outside.  Selecting and moving these will allow you to link another box to your original.  If you would like another box but NOT have it linked simply double tap the screen where you would like a new box to appear.

The menu along the top of the application allows students to change the name of their popple as well as lock it (making it closed to additional edits).  You can also export your finished product!  Popplet allows students to email as pdf, email as jpeg, or save as a jpeg.  

Here are some sample popples created by our 5th and 6th grade students.  As an introduction Mr. Hetrick, our writing teacher, asked the students to create a popple about themselves and email the finished product to him.







Students:  what do you think of Popplet?  Do you like using it?  Do you have any ideas for additional ways to use it in your classrooms?