Frog Fun!

We have been working on the frog life cycle over the last little while.  Right now we are learning about frogs!  Today, we started making a digital image of the frog's life cycle using the iPads.  I googled frog images and then saved them on the iPad.  Of course, the iPad makes it super easy to download images!  I had read about it and tried it today and it is so neat!  Thank you to MattBGomez.com for the tutorial.  He had done it with his kindergarten students using the butterfly cycle and the Story Buddy 2 app.  You just pick the image you want, tap on the image, and then hold you finger on it and a popup will appear inviting you to save the image.  It saves to the camera roll.  Once it is on the camera roll we can do lots of things with it! The possibilities are endless!  I showed the children the images I had been able to capture and then we imported them into Strip Designer to make a pictorial image of the frog's life cycle.  Then we added the words!

One demonstration and then off they went in pairs! Here are a few of their efforts.  Have to figure out some way to compile them and post them altogether!

I love the Hello balloon and the Boing!  It really fits!

We also created a frog report this week.  The children had to read a compilation of facts that I put together for them and sort them into four categories.  They were What They Look Like, What they Eat.  About the Enemies, and Cool Facts.  They thought everything was a Cool Fact!  

We read the facts together on the overhead or with the cam on my computer and decide on the appropriate code to categorize them.  We choose L for What They Look Like, E for What they Eat. Y as in Yikes for About the Enemies, and C for Cool Facts.  The students volunteer to read the facts and then we collectively decide on the appropriate code.  Then they cut out the facts and glue them to the appropriate page. 

I like doing this type of project because it lets my more able readers shine and be challenged and lets all my students take part using the coding system.  Everyone gets to complete the project and engage at the level best suited to them.  

I am compiling this project as a Teachers Pay Teachers project and it should be up soon. I have a few things I still want to add to it!   My students are my best critics and they liked it.  Hope you will, too!