Class Bear and There's an App for That

First, I would like to introduce you to Lil' Wayne.

 

Yes, that green bear is named Lil' Wayne.  And yes, I am reading him a bedtime story.  And yes, that is my dog, and she is not amused that Lil' Wayne is sitting on her bed.

My kiddos got to nominate and vote on our class bear's name.  Lil' Wayne (after the rapper) was almost unanimous.  I took him home to get a bath and whatnot, and my kiddos thought these were the best pictures ever!

Lil' Wayne is about the get shipped to New York to visit my best friend.  Lil' Wayne is going to be a traveling bear.  Since we're learning about the regions of the US, we're asking people to send him to another person in a different state so we can get some pictures of Lil' Wayne in different regions and climates.  Here's hoping we get lots of goodies, pictures, and postcards.

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So we just finished Unit 1 of our Social Studies book.  Which means our unit project.  I bought an app called Comic Life ($4.99...expensive, I know).

But totally worth it.  Comic Life allows you to create comics on your iPad.  So the students were again split into groups.  They created a comic about one of the four areas we studied (US, Caribbean, Canada and Mexico).  They had to use their social studies notebooks (interactive journals) to get their information.  Then they use the app to create a comic about their place.

When I introduce an app, I always give them one day to just play on it.  I make no rules other than "you must take turns and everyone needs to learn the app and it must be school appropriate".  So these comics were only the second time my kiddos used the app...and they did quite well I must say.

I just wish I had more time for stuff like this...cause my kids rocked it.