digital Word Wall... on the iPad

After observing students' attempts to use the classroom Word Wall (or avoidance of), I realized...

• early and emergent readers consistently had difficulty distinguishing between visually similar words (ex: "is" and "it")
• copying information from the class Word Wall to personal writing was not supportive of the visual development of ages 6 and 7
• seeing homophones (ex: "to", "too", "two") did not support students' use of homophones accurately in writing

After discussing my observations with my first graders, we collaboratively identified a possible solution that would increase independent use of the Word Wall, support accurate spelling in personal writing, and promote knowledge and use of homophones... a digital class Word Wall!

Using the Book Creator iPad app, I created a digital Word Wall.

I created one page for each letter of the alphabet.  For each high-frequency word on the page I created an audio recording of the word in isolation and within the context of a sentence.

I "published" and shared the digital Word Wall with students through iBooks... providing students access to a digital Word Wall on their iPads.

a first grader uses a digital Word Wall on the iPad

Aurasma iPad app- augmented reality

The First Grade Butterfly Class used augmented reality to share reflections about themselves as learners with parents during our conferences!

The first graders self-reflected on the learning, growth, and progress they have made from August to November in 1st grade and wrote their reflections on paper.  Each first grader examined his/her notes and sorted the notes about his/her self-reflections into categories.  Each first grader used the categories he/she created and his/her notes to compose an informational text with purpose of informing the reader of the learning, growth, and progress he/she has made in 1st grade.

The first graders viewed, identified, and discussed strategies informational speakers use and practiced reading their writing independently as "informational speakers".  Then, the first graders practiced their informational speaking skills with a partner.

The first graders used the video recording capability on their iPads to record a video of their partner presenting their reflections as an "informational speaker".

Each of the first graders decorated a paper "butterfly" with pictures and words that represented himself/herself.

The "butterflies" were hung on our class bulletin board in the hallway.

The first graders used the Aurasma iPad app to turn their "butterfly" into an augmented reality trigger.

The first graders used the Aurasma iPad app to import their informational speech video from their iPad camera roll as an "overlay" that would appear when the "trigger" (paper butterfly) was viewed.

a first grader uses the Aurasma iPad app

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a parent uses the Aurasma iPad app
during First Grade Conferences