Toward the end of the 12-13 school year, I talked with the 2nd graders at Brewster School about what they could share about their school since they were moving on to Korn next year. They had lots of ideas as you can imagine!
But then I asked them to consider something new: audience. Who would they be sharing with and how did this change what kinds of things they would want to share? After much discussion, we figured out that there were 3 general categories of people with whom we would be sharing: new kindergarten students, faraway friends from the Skypes and connecting we do, and friends & family.
2nd grades thought that the new kindergarteners would want to know about where things were in our school - the lunchroom, the gym, the art room, music, library and who the teachers are. They thought faraway friends might be interested in what specials we have (important stuff to 7 and 8 year-olds). Friends and family would want to know about the favorite parts of Brewster. While some of these overlap - it was an interesting and important discussion to have with them.
First students planned out what they wanted to include - some used a storyboard and some sketched it out on paper.
We used the iPad app Creative Book Builder to create eBooks. It took a little longer than I thought to plan them out, so many of the books are not finished, but they are pretty neat! Students quickly became experts at adding photos, headings, captions, text, and a few even tried using a Table of Contents, since part of my goal was to have them include some of the informational text features we had explored this year.
Below are a few of the books we created. Please note, in order to see them, you must use an iPad or device that will read .epub. For more of our books, please visit the Student Work page.
But then I asked them to consider something new: audience. Who would they be sharing with and how did this change what kinds of things they would want to share? After much discussion, we figured out that there were 3 general categories of people with whom we would be sharing: new kindergarten students, faraway friends from the Skypes and connecting we do, and friends & family.
2nd grades thought that the new kindergarteners would want to know about where things were in our school - the lunchroom, the gym, the art room, music, library and who the teachers are. They thought faraway friends might be interested in what specials we have (important stuff to 7 and 8 year-olds). Friends and family would want to know about the favorite parts of Brewster. While some of these overlap - it was an interesting and important discussion to have with them.
First students planned out what they wanted to include - some used a storyboard and some sketched it out on paper.
We used the iPad app Creative Book Builder to create eBooks. It took a little longer than I thought to plan them out, so many of the books are not finished, but they are pretty neat! Students quickly became experts at adding photos, headings, captions, text, and a few even tried using a Table of Contents, since part of my goal was to have them include some of the informational text features we had explored this year.
Below are a few of the books we created. Please note, in order to see them, you must use an iPad or device that will read .epub. For more of our books, please visit the Student Work page.
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