Appsmashing...maybe

For the past few weeks I have been creating poems on the computer and iPads with my first grade students.  First we made cute name and picture poems (bottom) but then we made fun sensory poems using two apps.  This was my first attempt at appsmashing with the students so I stuck with two apps.

First students had to choose something to write their sensory poems about.  Then they wrote it out on paper. (If my first graders were more experienced on the ipads, this part too could have done in an app like Poplet, or even Plain Text.)

1. Doodle Buddy:
This app is simple to use and the students always have fun with it.  For this project students drew the object they were describing in their sensory poems.

2. Tellagmi:
I am absolutely loving this app.  I wrote a bit about it here, Tellagmi post, and now that I have had multiple classes and grades explore this app I enjoy it even more.  The first grade students built their avatar selves and then added their Doodle Buddy picture as the background.  Students then recorded their poems.  *I now know students could have just drawn right in Tellagmi and we could have skipped the Doodle Buddy step*.

Here are some examples:

Name/Picture Poem:

Word Mover and Spine Poems- first grade

A couple of my classes finished their poetry projects before the others due to schedule changes.  Instead of moving ahead, I decided to continue with poetry.

First the students used Word Move on the iPads to create poems.  We talked about how their poems should make the reader feel something, anything.  It could make us laugh, for feel sad, or silly.  At first grade most of them went with silly.

Word Mover is a free app that allows the user to create poems.  Users can create accounts within the app which is great if more than one person is going to use Word Mover.  The app gives you a word bank to drag words from or select a blank one and write your own words.  Words can be moved around, enlarged, and rotated, and colored. The app also allows you  add a background as you can see in my students examples below.

After they walked through the Easy Fiction section and selected books to make spine poems.  This was much harder but what turned out to be a fun challenge.  I debated on pre-selecting books for the students to choose from and I'm not happy or sad that I did not.  The spine poems turned out pretty good considering they had already made a poem on WordMover so they had limited time a vast selection of books.

Poetry- first grade

To start I explained it was National Poetry month.  Everyone all over the country, young and old is enjoying poetry this month!  I read a couple of poems off of every page from Jack Prelutsky's book "Read A Rhyme, Write A Rhyme".  With some poems on the SMART Board students saw that the rhyming words were always at the end of a line.

In pairs, students finished the Food Poem, Dog Poem, and created their own Animal Poem.

After the students typed up their written lines in MS Word.  This is the first time they have had to use their mouse and move their cursor to where they wanted to type.

This is also the first time students learned how to add ClipArt.  They added the clipart and formatted it to be in front of the text so they could resize and move it to where they wanted.

I decided to add the skill of Save vs Save As... to this lesson.  Students picked up very quickly.

When completed students shared their printed poems with each other on the carpet.

Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.1.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.1.10 With prompting and support, read prose and poetry of appropriate complexity for grade 1.

Earth Day and Poetry Month- second grade

April is always fun with the second graders.  We read "The Lorax" by Dr. Seuss and discuss as many ways we can think of to help protect the Earth.  In pairs students are each assigned one way they can help the Earth and they brainstorm ideas.

The next week I read variety of poems by Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein, and "In the Wild" by David Elliot. 
Students took their brainstorming ideas and wrote couplets to match poetry month.

Each pair worked together to record their voice a class podcast and draw a picture to go with their piece of the podcast.

Playing the Object

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Common Core
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.2.6 With guidance and support from adults, use a variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.4 Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.2.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories and poetry, in the grades 2–3 text complexity band proficiently, with scaffolding as needed at the high end of the range.