S'More Tech Summer Camp, Day 24 (One iPad)

Hi campers!

Don't you love summer? Waking up without an alarm clock...being able to stay up late to finish a book...going to the grocery store when it's not crowded...I hope you are enjoying a summer filled with little indulgences like these! I am.

Today it's time to talk about another way to use your iPad, even if you only have one iPad. Today's focus is CONNECTING with PARENTS!

The iPad is a super tool to help you involve parents with your students' learning. Here's how.

Book Creator!

Book Creator is an app that costs $4.99 in the app store. This app creates an ebook from your text, photos, audio, and/or video.

Here's an elegant little video from the publisher to show you how to use the Book Creator app.

And here's how a Texas librarian uses Book Creator to connect with parents. She assembled work that students created in preparation for an author visit with Kate Klise. Then she showed their work to the author and shared it with parents as well. Here's a peek at her ebook.



This second grade teacher had her students create winter pictures in KidPix, took photos of the student drawings, recorded student descriptions of the pictures, and created an ebook with Book Creator. You can see that this could easily be the culmination of a collaborative research project, with labeled and narrated illustrations.

Not only would this be a very 21st century learning project (with technology and collaboration), but it also allows you to share the work with administrators, parents, and teachers, so that everyone can become more aware of what we really do as teacher-librarians.

Have any of you used Story Creator before? I can't wait to try it next year!