Pulling a Story out of a Hat

This week we used the iPads in a lot of different ways.  Our skills and knowledge are expanding which is making it easier to layer our learning.  We continue to use Today's Meet in reading and QR codes in math but we added two apps this week and combined them to produce one project.

What is Writer's Hat and Book Creator?  Writer's Hat is a simple app that generates ideas.  It can be used to inspire creative writing, oral fluency or just imaginative thinking.  Book Creator is an app that puts your writing into a book format.  Once the story is typed, students can add illustrations and pictures and even record themselves reading their own story.

The Project:  I was amazed at how much the students loved Writer's Hat.  It is a great app to use when you only have one iPad (it does cost 0.99).   I was able to take my iPad around to each of the six tables in my classroom and the students took turns pressing the who, what, when, or where label to reveal the essence of their story.  Students were then given class time to write and conference with me as the writing process progressed.   The next day when we had a class set of iPads students then took their story and put it into a book format using Book Creator.  They added illustrations either by drawing them or downloading pictures. When all was finished students recorded themselves reading their own stories.

Reflections:  What did you think about Writer's Hat?
~  I liked it because it challenges you to write about a topic you normally wouldn't have. Aiden
~  I liked it because if you couldn't think of anything to write about it would help give you ideas. Charles
~  I thought it was creative but challenging Grace 
~  I though it was really fun because you could make interesting stories.  Madison                        
~  I thought is was really cool.  Tristan