Blog #5-Web 2.0 Tools-Ripped Apart: A Civil War Mystery

Picture courtesy of the National Museum of American History

Apps for teachers and teacher librarians are quite plentiful these days, but I still struggle to find things to support social studies and science curriculum for my elementary students.  I was thrilled to find a great app for social studies on AASL's Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2015 list!  The Smithsonian Institution has developed Ripped Apart: A Civil War Mystery, available for free in the app store.

 

This innovative product uses an inquiry-based approach to teach students about the Civil War.  Users participate as an intern in the National Museum of American History and must solve puzzles to unlock clues and make notes in a journal as they work to solve the mystery.  Did I mention that the app incorporates primary source documents?  With an amazing collection of historical photographs, the app brings a portion of the museum right into the classroom.  The creators shared a webinar to explain the reasoning behind the app as well as insight into its use.

 I downloaded the app and played around with it.  Puzzles and clues and even a creepy basement, oh my!  It was incredibly easy to navigate and totally engaging. Who doesn't love a good mystery?  Plus the bonus of learning content from curriculum standards make the one a real winner.   I would recommend it for upper elementary and middle school students as the content and reading level is more appropriate for those levels.  This best app of 2015 will be a hit with your students and teachers.

Post #3...Web 2.0 Tool-Smore

This week I am sharing Smore, a great Web 2.0 tool that I was introduced to at our monthly district school librarians meeting.  This easy-to-use service allows users to create online flyers that can be quite dynamic.  Our chairman uses it to create eye-catching agendas for our meetings.  When I say eye-catching, I mean cute, pretty, neat, organized.  We were all immediately asking...how did you do that?  Students and parents would definitely be attracted to the information you wanted to share.  Below is a brief video overview of Smore.  Notice how quickly a project can come together and how easy it is to modify.

A Cupcake Story from Smore on Vimeo.

Although registration is required, many basic features are offered for free!  The free service allows you to create and save flyers as well as a shareable link so that you can publicize as needed.   Although the service does offer limited backgrounds and templates for free, an upgrade is available to educators for an annual fee of $59, which is a bargain compared to $15/month for personal accounts.  The upgrade allows you unlimited flyers, use of all templates and backgrounds, the ability to use your own backgrounds, and tracking statistics.

My favorite thing about Smore is its ease of use.  Once I was registered, I created a flyer literally in minutes.  Once my background and template were selected, the website led me through each section.  The pictures were on my computer, so adding them to the flyer was as simple as uploading them into each spot.  Any information that I did not want to include on the template, I just left blank.  Serioulsly, this was so easy, I don't know why you wouldn't want to try it.

The possible uses for librarians and teachers include newsletters, web pages, announcements, and even powerful promotions for fundraisers or school events. Really the possibilities are endless, especially if you purchase the upgrade plan.  I was impressed even with the free options of Smore and plan to use this service for my monthly newsletters, announcements for faculty meetings, and I am going to investigate ways to tie it into my school webpage as well.  While I am not sure I will purchase the upgrade package, the shareable nature of the flyers makes them super easy to distribute, and think of the trees we can save! 

Post #2-Web 2.0 Tools-Quizizz

Quizizz is a free platform offering access to tons of previously created learning quizzes.  Users may also create their own quizzes.  Once registered, teachers simply select a quiz, generate a code, and share that code with students.  Students then access the quiz from their devices by logging in with the code and a nickname, and the game(so to speak) begins.

This app has been compared to Kahoot, with the difference being that Quizizz allows teacher and students access to questions, answers, and leader board on their individual devices. Another difference with Quizizz is the ability to extend the allowed time for students to answer questions.  In addition to an engaging classroom activity, the app also features a Play Live and Homework option for students to use outside of school. 

I found the app easy to use and relatively quick to access, especially if I chose a premade quiz.  Teachers would love this app when they wanted a quieter competitive review.  Students would definitely be engaged in the lesson and willing to try since their answers appear on their own device rather than on a screen for everyone to see.  Below is a video tutorial for this exciting new app.