Showing posts with label language arts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language arts. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Book Creator

Available in the App Store
Available on Google Play

Teachers have begun to use the Book Creator app to publish student work in an epub format.  This format allows readers to open an ebook in the ibooks app on an ipad or in the Readium Chrome desktop app.  This user-friendly app allows students to insert saved images and video, text, draw visuals, and record audio.  The full version ipad app is currently $4.99, but users can download the free version to try it.  The free version is limited to one published book.

Watch this 1.5 minute video to see how easy it can be:

Faith Christian School teachers can find this app loaded on the Elementary and Junior High ipad carts.  View an example of Bailey's e-book (select Open in iBooks on an iPad) or view the PDF version.

Find more information on the Book Creator app here.

Monday, April 7, 2014

Poetry Month


In celebration of Poetry Month, I would like to spotlight a few poetry apps:
Diamante Poems by Read Write Think walks students through the process of creating a diamond shaped poem called a Diamante.  Final poems can be shared by email or saved to the camera roll.  View more about the Diamante poem and ways to use the app.

Poetry Creator is a digital version of what the developers call Refrigerator Magnet Poetry.  The student uses a set of words called a mix-tionary to create a poem.  A limited number of custom words are allowed. The final product can be shared via Facebook, saved to the camera roll, or by email.  View more about the Poetry Creator app.

Theme Poem bRead Write Think allows students to create a theme or shape poem that is written inside a graphic shaped as the subject of the poem. Students can select shapes from five themes: nature, school, sports, celebrations, and shapes.  First, they brainstorm words and phrases before writing the poem.  The final image can be shared via email or saved to the camera roll.  View more about the theme poem and ways to use the Theme Poem app.
Haiku Poem also bRead Write Think again does a great job of stepping students through the writing process for the Haiku poem format.  During the initial step, students brainstorm words and track syllables.  The brainstorming step makes filling in the Haiku poem template a breeze.  Students finalize their poem with a beautiful background image from the app image collection or import their own.  The final product can be saved to the camera roll or emailed as a JPG.  View more about the haiku poem and ways to use the app.
Word Mover bRead Write Think is a great place for students to create poetry based on a given word bank.  Those included in the app:  America the Beautiful, Gettysburg Address, I Have a Dream, and Shakespeare's Sonnet 18.  From within the word banks, students can click for other bank combinations within the word bank category.  Read, Write, Think's concepts of found poetry and parallel poems can be found here.  View more about ways to use the Word Mover app.
Read Write Think's app, Acrostic Poems, guides students through the writing of an acrostic poem.  First, they brainstorm words using the title's letters.  Second, they compose the poem in a user-friendly template.  Last, they save the poem to the camera roll or email the final product.  View more about the acrostic poem and ways to use the app.
Visual Poet allows students to create a three panel visual poem.  Images and text can be pulled together to complete this visual product.  Users may import photos from their camera roll, Tumblr, Flickr, and Google.  The final image can be emailed or saved to Tumblr.

Poetry from the Poetry Foundation includes a large library of poems that users can read on their device.  Many titles also include the audio component that reads the poetry outloud.  Note: Teachers may want to preview the app as all poems included may not be appropriate for all age groups. View more about the Poetry app.

 Visual Poetry (currently $1.99) creates a word collage from the words in a poem.  Included are many creative possibilities - text color, background color, a variety of shapes, and a variety of fonts.  In addition, the app now allows users to draw their own shapes.  Final images can be saved to the camera roll, saved as wallpaper, emailed, posted to Instagram or Twitter.  View more about the Visual Poetry app.

Other Resources for Poetry Month:



Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Inklewriter


Inklewriter is a great free writing tool to create a Choose Your Own Adventure style story.  Writers who would like to create interactive stories will love this easy tool.  Go to http://www.inklestudios.com/inklewriter/ to read an example story, watch a short tutorial video, or begin your own story.  Create a login to save and make future revisions to your writing.

Serious writers may want to pay Inklewriter the $10 fee necessary to convert their file into an e-book format readable on the Kindle.  Directions are explained in detail here.  Teachers may see a great opportunity to teach on the issue of copyright after reviewing these directions.


Monday, November 18, 2013

Read Write Think Apps



For years, I've loved Read, Write, Think! They now have several FREE great mobile apps available for parents, teachers, and students.

Alphabet Organization allows students to create an alphabet book or alphabet chart including words starting with each letter of the alphabet.  Options available are 1) one word and accompanied photo per letter or 2) multiple words per letter.  Planning sheets can be found at Read, Write, Think (Sheet 1 and Sheet 2).  Read more here.
Available in the App Store

Trading Cards can be a valuable tool to test comprehension.  The app offers several templates including  Fictional Person, Real Person, Fictional Place, Real Place,  and Object.  Students are prompted with guiding questions to complete the trading cards.
Available in the App Store
View this one minute video to learn more about Trading Cards:


Word Mover allows students to create poetry from a supplied word bank.  In addition, the app offers the flexibility to add your own words.  Read more about the app here or review a "found poetry" lesson plan here.
Available in the App Store
View this one minute video to learn more about Word Mover:


The Venn Diagram has been a useful tool for many years.  Now, students can create a venn diagram in a digital format and email it directly to the teacher from this handy app.

Available in the App Store
View the 5 minute video below for an explanation and a preview on the ease of using the Venn Diagram app (Thanks, Matt B. Gomez!)


The Timeline app is a simple-to-use tool to create a timeline of sequential events.  The timelines can be organized based on date, time, or event.
Available in the App Store
See examples:




Read, Write, Think allows users to keep their work separate from other users with a simple login.  This feature is unique to other apps and allows for better organization when using shared mobile devices.

View Other Read, Write, Think Poetry Apps: