You Oughta Know - Technology Integration Project!

Can’t you hear it now…Alanis Morrissette circa 1995?  I LOVED her first album, I even bought the second in my freshman year in college – No idea where those are now, but for now I am blog hopping with some AMAZING teachers today, thanks to Jasmine from Buzzing with Mrs. McClain!  We are all sharing something that you NEED to know about. 

Today I will be talking about a project my firsties just completed – We actually just shared it with families today!  This project connected literacy, writing, art, and technology – and even some science too.  Read on – I bet you could modify this for ANY grade level and any number of topics!

We teach biographies as an integrated social studies and reading unit.  Once learning about the genre as a whole, we focus on people who have made a difference.  We read MANY biographies, but in guided reading we focus on three people:  Abraham Lincoln, Cesar Chavez, and Rachel Carson.  We have guided reading books at multiple levels to make the content as accessible as possible. 

This piece is the one that you will have to change to match what you teach.  Any person or character that students can learn about would work.  You will see soon, why it needs to be a person!! ;)

Once we thoroughly studied our people, students were able to choose which person they would like to complete a project on.  I gave students a voting sheet – I didn’t care how many kids chose each person, but each needed to be divisible by 3.

Then in art class, the art teacher did a unit on portrait drawing and they made these.

These are complete and hanging for my work share this morning. 

Back in the room, each group worked together to write the 3 MOST important facts about their person. 

Then, using the Ipads, we used an app called Morfo. 

The kids took a photo of their portrait (each group chose one portrait to use), then they made it come to life and recorded their facts. 

Here is a sample…

So, what do you think?  Is this something you would try in your classroom?  How else do you use the Ipad in your classroom?

Excited to hear your ideas!

Keep on hopping!!

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