Our Classroom Zoo

There have been plenty of occasions when my classroom has resembled a zoo!

But today, through Augmented Reality, we actually turned our EYFS classroom into a real zoo!

I've blogged about different ways you can use Augmented Reality (you can read them here) and it never ceases to amaze pupils and bring that moment of awe and wonder that technology can provide.

The app we used today was LEO AR camera. Using Apple's ARkit, the app allows you to scan the ground and place 3D animated objects into the real world. 

There are a range of different objects you can add including different animals and dinosaurs. There is a horror option which may not be appropriate for your pupils. Today, we just used this app on my teacher device.  

There is a record option which allows you to video the animated object within the scene alongside your pupils. This is a little buggy at the minute so today we just used the screen record option of the iPad to capture the interaction between the pupils and animals. 

Once we had placed some animals in the classroom, we recorded each other standing with them. Using the app Apple Clips, the pupils then shared some facts about each animal. We put everything into a little video as a guide to our classroom zoo. Let us know what you think:

Enhancing our Mini Beast topic with technology

Over the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of working in Year 1. Their topic for this half term has been mini beasts and so I wanted to share with you some of the work we have been doing through technology.

First, you may have seen the Hungry Caterpillar video we made, you can read about how we created this here.

The children have also been learning about different mini beasts, researching facts and information and then creating these videos using the app - Shadow Puppets Edu:

Last week, students were writing their own mini beast poems, focusing on the use of alliteration. To add an element of performance, the pupils recorded themselves sharing their writing using the app ChatterPix Kids. Here are some of their examples:

These are just a couple of example of how I try to promote the use of technology in the primary classroom. It is about children creating content through these creative apps. Each of these ideas can easily be adapted to any topic you are doing with your pupils. 

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Creatively Retelling The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Who doesn't love this book?

An absolute classic! 

With Year 1 doing their Minibeast topic, I had to make a link and explore the book. We had read it through and used some of the brilliant Talk4Writing techniques to help us retell the story. To engage the children further, we decided to create our own version of the story starring Year 1.

To do this we used the masking tool with the brilliant Doink Greenscreen app. This short video demonstrates the process:

Once all the children had created their video on Doink Greenscreen. We put it all together in Apple Clips where pupils could also add emojis for all the food. This was their finished video:

I can't wait to use this idea with other areas of the curriculum!

Improving Oral Speaking in EYFS/KS1 through Digital Storytelling

One of the best ways in which I use iPad in the classroom is to encourage and improve student's speaking and listening. In a culture of teaching, where we are so accountable to prove what we have done in books, I fear we do not develop young children's oral speaking skills. In my opinion, if a child cannot talk you through a story, I don't believe they can effectively write one. So over the past few weeks, I have been using one of my favourite apps - Puppetpals HD Directors Pass, to improve and develop children oral storytelling.

The app, which I have enjoyed using for a number of years, allows pupils to add pictures of characters alongside background and record their own cartoon. It lends itself brilliantly to so many different areas of the curriculum. Working with Reception over the past few weeks, we have focused on using it to allow pupils retell stories they have been reading in class. Here are a couple of recent projects the students have created:

The Tiger Who Came to Tea

The Gingerbread Man