Scientific Sketching & Paper by Fiftythree

I love the Twitter post by one of our teachers,  Mrs. Bell's Class  (@KayleeBell17) on how her students used the ABCDE method to record their scientific observations. (Check out a full description and lesson plan from the California Academy of Sciences.)

The simple mnemonic, ABCDE, reminds students to make sure their drawing clearly depicts what they are observing.

Science notebooks are a great way for students to capture their learning . . . drawing, graphing and writing about their learning.

Why not add a bit of novelty and have students draw their observations with the app, Paper by Fiftythree?  Paper is free for iPhone and iPad. It allows you to create some amazing sketches. 
You can choose to save images as JPG or as PNG to the camera roll.

In the app, the tool tray has a variety of tools for drawing. My favorite is the watercolor brush.

Click here to see a full description of all the tools. 

To help students draw, have them try using a stylus. MEKO Stylus Pen 10 Pack Capacitive Stylus for  an iPad or iPhone is a great choice.  Great for control and accuracy.  They can be found on Amazon. This pack of 10 is only $6.99!

APP Smash Time!

Once, students have their sketches, have them upload them to one of the following applications. They can add their voice, icons, music and finally, turn their scientific sketches into an inspiring video. 

Adobe Spark Video

Book Creator for Chrome

Shadow Puppet EDU

But, wait, there's more! 

Have student finish it off by adding it to Flipgrid or Seesaw to share!

Want more details? Click here for the Google Slide presentation.

Happy scientific sketching!

Launch Yourself into Space

I love an app that has so many possibilities, plus a learning piece.
NASA Selfies app, allows you to step into a virtual space suit and visit various outer space locations.
There are 30 different stunning backgrounds that are real photos of space captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope. It's not fancy, but when you add some app smashing, it takes it to the next level.

A few ideas for some app smashing fun!

Use the Balloon Stickies app to add a speech or thought bubble.

Using descriptive language, students can record their adventure, with ChatterPix Kids app.

Have students take multiple selfies and create a story with a beginning, middle and end. Pull them into Adobe Spark Video or Shadow Puppet EDU to tell the story. 

Or, start with Balloon Stickies, add to ChatterPix Kids and finish with Shadow Puppet EDU for a fun finished product. 

To start off a unit on space, have some fun letting students design a mission patch. You can use this as a way to start off your unit on space or just  a team building activity. 

Students can head to the history of mission patches to see authentic patches designed by various teams of astronauts. Some of the patches are commemorative, not worn by the crew. 

Google Draw and Canva are two great tools to use when designing a mission patch. 

Have fun in space!
Click here to access all the slides in Google.