Classroom "App"lications: Lit Circle Role

The weekend is so close I can almost feel it. I'll be heading back home to help celebrate my Dad's 65th birthday. It's been awhile since I've been home, and I cannot wait!

Onward to more educational posts.

I just finished up Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing with one of my classes using the iPad for our lit circle roles. It was a bit shaky at first, but as we moved on, things started to work better. Our culminating activity was creating a "commercial" for the book; as this is one book every fourth grader is required to read. I could not get over the creativity that the kids put forth; it was fun to watch the clips.

In my last Classroom "App"lications post, I talked about the role of summarizer. Tonight, I thought I'd share one of the other roles: Word Wizard. As the year goes on, I'll add in more apps for each of the roles to switch things up a bit, but we're starting slow for now. :)


Word Wizard: Flashcard App

For this role, have have 5 instructions:

1. Choose two new words from your reading. Try to pick words that you haven't seen, are unusual, or were tricky for your group.
2. Create a flashcard for each word on the Flashcard app.
3. Write the word, the dictionary definition, and a sentence using the word. Make sure that the definition and fits the way that the word was used in your read.
4. Add an image to each card, to illustrate the word.
5. Be prepared to help your team create flashcards for your words. 

When you open the flashcard app, you will want to click on the red icon for "My Decks"

From there, you will see a list. Many of these are pre-loaded and can be deleted. I added a deck for this book that I shortened to TFN. This was done by hitting the plus button, and clicking the options that fit the best.

Once a deck is created, if you want to add a card you have to hit edit. When you do, the little red minus signs appear. It's at this point that you can click on a deck and add cards, or delete a deck.

Next, you will see a list of cards. I just have the example card in my deck at this point. You'll notice, that I have the red minus still, from hitting edit on the previous page. From here, I can hit the plus sign and add another card.

The last step is to add the information. On my deck, it is a "plain card" (you can choose T/F, multiple choice, among other formats). I had students put their word under 'directive', the definition under 'answer' and under 'clarification' a sentence using the word.

For this book, students chose the word just to get used to the app and how things work. For the coming book, I will have students use My Big Campus, to share their cards and definitions with me, or have them screen shot them, so that I can develop vocabulary quizzes that are in tune with what they have.


How are you using the iPad in your instruction? How are your student's using the iPad. Be sure to click the picture below and link up your classroom "app"lications. I'm hoping to keep a link up going each month throughout the school year! Be sure to check back for a growing list of ideas.