Technology Tuesday - It's Back!

Technology Tuesday is making a come back.  My goal this year is to share more of what I do with technology in my classroom.  We do a lot, but I can't find the time to put it on the blog.  So, this year, I vow to be better.

This past quarter, my students worked extremely hard on a narrative piece about an explorer that we were studying.  This project became a bear because of time in our class.  We had MANY interruptions and honestly didn't get to do writing every day like I wanted.  I hate that writing was cut because it is one of my favorite subjects to teach.

Anyway, students researched and then compiled all of their research into a piece of writing that told the story of the explorer.  We tried to make them sound less encyclopedia and more 4th grade.  Some were successful and some were not.

But, the most exciting piece of this project was using Book Creator to publish the writing into a real ebook.  My students were thrilled to open their email one morning and have an ebook that was able to be downloaded onto their iBook shelf.

Book Creator is an amazing app that I would pay for again if I had to.  At the time I purchased it, it was $4.99.  But, with any app, that price may change at any moment.

When you open book creator to start a new project, these are your choices.

Your blank page

 When you click the i in the upper right corner, you have the options to change page colors and use grids to line up your features.

The music notes give you the ability to add sound - recorded or from your Itunes library.

Tap on the screen to add text.

 While in the text screen, tap the i at the top of the screen to get text options such as color, alignment, size.

Book Creator is simple to use.  You can type directly into the page, add photos, and even record voices (my favorite part).

 Once everything is in and set, you just tap the outgoing box at the top right of the screen and you can send it to different apps.  We chose to send it to ibooks.  From there, I sent the e-book through email to my students and parents.  Then they were able to open it in ibooks on their iPad, ipod, etc. and read our work.

Here is what your book looks like on the iBooks shelf.

                           

Tap the book to begin reading.

Imagine the possibilities - have students create real examples of non-fiction books, use as a digital portfolio, the options are endless!

If you haven't tried it yet, try it soon!  You will not regret it!  We plan to use it the rest of the year to create class books to share.