Tell Me a Story!

I read a story, then I retell it. That's what kindergarteners in Mrs. Keffales's Next Gen classroom did this morning. Using the ChatterPix Kids app, students photographed the book they read, then retold the story in their own words.

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A Twist on Cinderella

It's Cinderella--with a twist! After reading the story Cinderella to her students, Mrs. Rundquist asked her students to rewrite the story their own way. You may want to read Dogerella or Crockerella--so many creative stories based on the one fairy tale. Using the My Story app on their iPads. They were able to make real online books with covers, pages with colored drawings and clip art or photos, text and voice overs. The results were amazing! Watch this space as we share some of their creations soon.

My Story Tutorial

Sharing Our Expertise

2nd graders in the NextGen classroom shared their iPad expertise with friends in kindergarten. They used the ChatterPix app to create book covers that actually "talk". Book voices were actual student recordings of summaries.

Hour of Code

Using the Kodable app for iPad, students in our NextGen classroom used some computer coding skills to observe this week's Hour of Code. Hour of Code is an outgrowth of Computer Science Education Week intended to encourage students at all levels across the country to become engaged in coding. Learn more at Hour of Code.

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Meet our NGDC Class

"Through the Next Generation Digital Classroom (NGDC) strategic design and implementation, Round Rock ISD intends to create “incubator classrooms” at each school designed to foster the integration of new teaching and learning with the help of mobile/tablet technology. Currently, this means one classroom at all 51 campuses will be a designated Next Generation Classroom . . . The next generation classroom will set standards for what the digital classroom can look like in the future and will redefine the way teaching and learning take place." http://ngdcrrisd.blogspot.com/

Meet Robertson Elementary's Next Gen Classroom--Mrs. Marnie Rundquist's 2nd grade class. Throughout the year, we will highlight activities, lessons, projects and thoughts of Mrs. Rundquest and her pioneering 2nd graders.

"This is super-exciting," said one second grader about their experience with the SockPuppet app on their iPads. Here, students planned and wrote an expository piece--a script for their sock puppets. The iPad app recorded the student's voice reading the script, giving it a sock puppet sound, and played it back in a video that students could share with each other and with their teacher. What an exciting way to make writing come alive in the classroom!