Tech-Tac-Toe #3 ~ Popplet

Success AGAIN! Popplet is a Web 2.0 tool that we explored in our tech class a few weeks ago. When I first explored the tool, I immediately thought it would be a great fit for my kindergarten kiddos with lots of exciting ways to use it racing through my head. Unfortunately, time slips away and I had yet to actually explore making a Popplet on my own, let alone with my kiddos. My Tech-Tac-Toe assignment seemed like the perfect opportunity to explore making a Popplet. Popplet is a wonderful technology tool that can be used to organize information visually and create graphic organizers or timelines. This tool can also combine different sources of media into the graphic organizers, such as text, images and YouTube videos. I decided to try my hand at making a Popplet, but I first had to create an account. I signed up for the free account, but unfortunately that only allows me to make 5 Popplets. If this tool is as promising as it looks, I would like to make many more than five. I then learned that our district has a Popplet account and the app is on our iPads. Yea! After watching a short YouTube tutorial, I was ready to go. It seemed simple enough. When thinking about creating my first Popplet and learning how to use it, I wanted to create something that I could foresee creating with my students. We do many science related themes throughout the year, starting off with a bears unit at the beginning of the year. At the beginning of the unit, my students and I create a list of things we THINK we know about bears. As the unit progresses and we read information books about bears, we either confirm the information we thought we knew or add new learning to our chart. This is where I thought a Popplet would come in handy. So, I created one to show some of things my students learn throughout our unit about bears.
 I very quickly learned just how easy this tool is to use. After typing in a title for the Popplet and choosing a background color, I was able to very easily add more popples (bubbles around the web) but just clicking on the small grey dots around each popple. This allows the various popples to be connected and visually illustrating their relationship. After typing in the text I wanted in each popple, I was then able to add a photo to illustrate the idea. I used screenshots images I found from Google searches. The popples were very easy to maneuver and place wherever I wanted. I also loved that idea that as new popples were added to the web, my name was attached to them. So, if my students were each adding their own popple to a web, their name would then be attached so we could easily see who contributed what to our learning. Using Popplet appears to be a wonderful way to create graphic organizers such as webs with my students. I can also envision using it with my students to create story maps or graphic organizers that show the main idea and details of information text. The next thing I will need to explore is how to use the app that is on our iPads and how many students can contribute to one Popplet. I would love for my students to be able to contribute their own ideas using their kindergarten spelling to create one shared Popplet. We will likely start with using just text first, and perhaps had images later, with support. I can’t wait to get started with my kiddos!

Tech-Tac-Toe #2 ~ Voice Thread

Yes ~ another technology success!  I have created my first Voice Thread!  After very recently using iMovie to create a digital story, but quickly discovering that while iMovie would be a tool that I would use again, I probably would not have my little kinder kiddos use it themselves (or even with support).  However, I still liked the idea of the kids creating something similar to the recent digital story that I had created with their own writing.  I am also always looking for authentic audiences for my kiddos to share their writing with, but had not yet found a program that is easy to use for both my students and myself.  Voice Thread looked promising, so I tried it out.

I was amazed with the ease of the program.  If I can teach myself to use it, it really can’t be that difficult (and it wasn’t).  I started by creating a short digital story about my family and very quickly was able to think of some meaningful ways in which my students could create their own Voice Threads.


In kindergarten,we create many class books, with each child contributing their own page.  I would love to make these books digital and easily sharable with their families.  My plan would be for the children to use iPads to take photos of their individual page for the class book.  Either I could load their images into Voice Thread, or they could even do it with some support.  They could then record themselves reading their page.  Voila!  We will have our own digital storybooks!  

The boys and girls also write their own books, both informational and narrative.  Again, we could take photos of the pages in their books and I can upload into Voice Thread so each child can create his/her own digital story.  I could then have each child narrate each page of their book into their own Voice Thread ~ creating their own digital stories!  These could then also be easily shared with parents who could then comment on their children’s stories and continue to share with other family members near and far.  This looks like a great tool for us!

Tech-Tac-Toe #1 ~ Blabberize!

Yea! I figured out another technology tool all by myself! I am feeling pretty accomplished right now. I chose Blabberize as a new tool to try out because I thought this would be a tool I could use with my little kinder kiddos. Blabberize is a super easy to use technology tool that allows teachers or students to speak through a picture. A mouth can be added and manipulated on a picture that you choose and then becomes animated to “speak” the audio that you add. The finished product is a Blabber! 

When I first looked at this tool, I wasn’t sure how I would use it with my little ones. I was seeing lots of uses as an engagement tool, but I wanted to find something my kids could create and would be meaningful for them. I then thought about the various explorations that they do throughout the year. One science related exploration that we do is a unit on oviparous (egg laying) animals. After learning about oviparous animals, the students then select or are assigned an oviparous animal to research with a partner. In the past, they have used what they learned from their research to create an information book about their animal. They share information about what their animal looks like, its habitat and diet, and any other interesting facts they learn. Then it hit me! The students could make a blabber with their oviparous animal! They could record some of the information that they learned about their animal and combine it with a picture of their animal “speaking.” This would be a wonderful, meaningful and exciting way to extend and share their learning! 

 I do, however, foresee some challenges for these little learners. I used a photo I found from the internet, but perhaps it would be easier for them to take a photo of their animal from one of their books using the iPad. The other challenging part that could become frustrating for some would be manipulating the talking mouth on the photo. Despite these potential challenges, I think this would be a fabulous tool to use with my little kinders!

This is a sample Blabber that I created of a sea turtle.