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I'm looking forward to February too! I'll be presenting at the TCEA convention in Austin during the Math Academy - #tceaMathAcad on Twitter. I'm super excited to be sharing about App Smashing in math with my students. I'll share the resources here too.
With math-ish app smashing in mind, I've been meaning to share this fun project we did using Number Pieces Basic and Popplet Lite.
I did this project in small groups with my little mathematicians. We have used both of the apps before, multiple times, but they were all at different comfort levels, so it was easier to help them in small group. We used Number Pieces Basic to create number pictures with 10's and 1's of the numbers they had chosen to compare. They took screen shots of each number they created. Then began to work in Popplet Lite.
Popplet was perfect because they can type text and draw. They could type the number sentence for expanded form, and then draw the greater than / less than symbol. We've been drawing dots on the symbols to help us remember what they mean - 2 is greater than 1, so the 2 dots should point to the bigger number. There is an EXCELLENT post over at Math Coach's Corner about helping students understand these symbols, and why we shouldn't call them alligators. Check it out!
Anyway, here are some of the great creations they came up with. I love seeing how each student arranges and links the popples in their work differently.
I'm going to put this project in stations for them to do independently, but I would like for them to take it a step further and use Tellagami or Educreations to explain their thinking. What else would you add, or how would you make this project work for your students?
Great project! My wheels are turning on all the possibilities on how I can adapt this for 4th grade.
ReplyDeleteLisa, I'm so glad to get the wheels turning! If you're teaching 4th grade, you might like the app Number Pieces better. Here's a link - http://goo.gl/Su4P0P I really like the "expanding edge" feature that allows students to "measure" their blocks. You can also annotate using the app and group numbers by changing the color. It's great for showing operations with larger numbers too! Have fun!
DeleteLove this idea! Hope I can try this out with my first graders!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I also find that doing these types of projects in small group offers a great opportunity for some authentic evaluation. You can really see who can hold their own with the math concept & which kids would make great "experts" for other students using the same app. Hope you have fun!
DeleteI love this and I want to be more active with technology. How many ipads or tablets do you have? I bring my personal one to school and wonder if it can be done with one. So glad I found you! I will be following you from now on.
ReplyDeleteHi Patti, I'm so glad you enjoy the blog!
DeleteI currently have 5 iPads in my classroom and bring my own personal iPad as well. We use mine for group projects sometimes, but mostly I use it as a creativity and productivity tool for me during the day. My students are active on their 5 for many different purposed throughout the day.
You can definitely take advantage of one iPad, personal or for students, in your classroom! When I started out with them I had two iPads, but group projects are great for one iPad if you have a dongle to connect to your projector, a reflection app or an Apple TV. We have written class books, created Popplets, made movies, written poems, and so much more! You can do just about anything as a group, or let students use it individually / in a small group to create their own project. Students also love publishing their writing on a book creator app like My Story, and they could just take turns on the one iPad.
Our iPads were purchased from grant money from our awesome Education Foundation, and other school funds. Start with one, then look for ways to get more!