Classroom "App"lications Technical Writing & Winner

As I've downloaded all of my pictures from the school year, I realized, that I didn't blog about one of my student's favorite writing pieces which also happened to involve one of their favorite apps "PG Viewer." The app lets students mix around different elements, compounds to make different creations, there are little people in the app too, so my rule is that the little people cannot be harmed during their creations.

Any way, the kids don't get to be on the app a whole lot. Usually their days are full, and free time if given a choice for an app it's a specific educational app. When my students found out that they could use this app with a writing piece, they were all on board.

The challenge was for students to create something (anything school appropriate) on the app, and give step by step instructions, so that anyone could follow them... hello technical writing! Students had a day to brainstorm, and from there wrote their rough drafts, worked with a partner to see how clear their writing was (the partner followed the steps that the other read aloud from their paper, if their end picture didn't match what the original creator made, then adjustments had to be made to the paper), color editing, and then the final write ups.  The projects took several days, but they turned out great, and I feel that the engagement factor really helped my students get into their technical writing pieces.

Final drafts were typed. I should have taken pictures of their onscreen creations, but neglected to, I was out sick often during this project. It was nice to know that the students took ownership enough to do a nice job for the substitute on the days I could not be there.

How do you use apps in the classroom? I'd love to know! Be sure to link up your blog posts below!

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

An InLinkz Link-up

Also, the winner for my Math & ELA Ice Cream centers is Eilid, sorry for the delay! The centers will be on sale for the next couple of days if you were wanting them and didn't win! 

Hope you have a great week!