Not your ordinary birthday card!

So I have to share the precious "card" that my 9 year old made for my husband's birthday!  She kind of loves technology, too! :)

First she drew dad's favorite ninja turtle the old fashion way, on paper! Then she used good ole Chatterpix to add a special greeting and a present in the turtle's hand! Check it out! 

Pretty cute, right?  We used our AppleTv and showed it at Dad's birthday celebration.  She was so proud! :) 

Chatterpix is great for in the classroom, too!  We have used it in our Kinder classes to share animal research.  Students drew the animal they researched, took a picture of it and then made it talk and give one fact they found from their research!  You can't help but smile when you see their illustrations come alive!

What have you done with Chatterpix??

My absolute, MUST HAVE app for teaching littles about technology

In case you didn't know...I'm an Apple Addict!  At home we have a handful of iPods, a MacBook Pro, a Desktop, and 2 iPads.  We love us some apples!  Ohh...I almost forgot!  I gave  myself my husband an AppleTv for his birthday!  My techy daughter (9) and I have a blast coming up with different things we can do with it!  ...but this post is not about AppleTv.

We don't have AppleTv at my school.  BUT we DO have Reflector!!  And O.M.G.!! This is a MUST for anyone who does not have AppleTv!  A much cheaper alternative! (only $12.99 for one user!...discounts available for multiple users!)

I use this thing almost daily!  Anytime I want to introduce a new app to my class, I show them using reflector.  If I want to play music in my classroom, I use reflector to play it from my iPad through the speakers in my classroom ceiling.

It's so easy...
There's an icon on my desktop computer that I double click.  Then on my device (iPad, iPhone, iPod, etc) I "swipe up" and click "AirPlay".  Here's where it gets tricky!  Make sure you know which computer is yours!!  Our whole school has this and one time, I may have sent "Shake it Off" blaring in the Kinder classroom down the hall! ;)  Sorry, Mrs. B!

Anyway!  You can click "mirroring" if you want your iPad screen to show on your desktop computer.  In my classroom, I have a projector, so I turn on my projector, which shows what I have on my desktop...whiiiich is whatever I have "reflected" there!  TA DA!

Then I can show my students how to use a new app!  We also use this for group activities!  You can "reflect" more than one iPad at a time!!  ...more on that later! ;)

Happy Reflecting!!

Welcome!

Thanks for visiting my new BLOG!  I am super excited to share the technology projects that we are doing in my classroom, as well as how I use technology to make my busy life as a mom, wife, and kindergarten teacher run a little more smoothly!  So here we go!