We had a blast making videos and smashing apps in 2nd grade! The students were learning about the Eastern Woodlands Native Americans and I wanted to give them a chance to show everything they knew in a fun new way. We recently received 26 iPads from the PTA at Short Pump Elementary, so I have been trying to include them in lessons to show the teachers just how powerful these tools can be when used correctly. iPads aren’t simply a consumption device anymore and these second graders can show you that they can be used to produce meaningful work.
I gathered a bunch of pictures from Britannica Image Quest for the students to use. I put them in a Google folder, made the folder public, and then created a QR code that the students could scan. The students chose 3 pictures and saved them to the camera roll. We then opened up the Pic Kids app, which is an AWESOME app! Julie Smith, an amazing Henrico County Elementary ITRT told me about the app, and I’m in love with it. With this app students can create professional looking picture collages in minutes. It’s so easy to use and the kids love it! The students changed the background, added their pictures, typed their names, and took a selfie. Once they were finished the students saved their amazing collages to the camera roll.
Next we wanted to make our collages come to life. Since I had already used ChatterPix with this particular class I wanted to show them a new app. This could be done with ChatterPix just as easily though! We ended up using Shadow Puppet Edu, which is just a little different. This app is a fantastic way for students to make videos out of pictures. You can use more than one picture, but for this we just used their Eastern Woodlands collage. Within the app you can highlight certain areas of the picture and even zoom in while recording your voice. One of my favorite things about this app is that it gives you the ability to pause and resume your video. This is great for kids who need just a second to gather their thoughts between what they are explaining.
We saved their finished videos to the camera roll and then the students sent me their work through the Google Work Collector. Check out a few examples below!
