Word Clouds

Have you tried the new app by ABCya called Word Clouds? It is currently free and is phenomenally easy to use! If you are not familiar with word clouds the idea is that you get a graphical representation of your text. Words that are used in higher frequency are represented larger. 

This app is phenomenally easy to use. My kiddos learned how to use it in about 5 minutes. The next day, they taught another first grade class how to use the app. If a first grader can teach someone how to use it, you know it's easy!

We used this app to create a word cloud for our moms as part of their Mother's Day gift. We did a bit of brainstorming together on chart paper to get the ideas flowing. Students were then asked to write the name they call their mom at the top of their paper (mom, momma, mommy, etc). They then numbered their paper from 1-10 and thought of 10 (or more if they could) words that would describe their mom.

When putting their words into the app, each student typed the word "mom" four times so that it would appear larger than the others and then proceeded to type in their other words. When they were done they were able to choose the font, color and directionality of their words.

These turned out wonderful and were a nice addition to our Mother's Day gifts.

Mom's Day

I just love the way our Mother's Day project turned out! I saw a similar idea on Pinterest - oh how I LOVE Pinterest- and tweaked it a little bit. 
We took our pictures with the iPad while signing the phrase, "I Love You".  Then during Writer's Workshop time, we wrote 3 reasons why we loved our mom's and typed them up to attach to our pictures. We also added a handprint, which I cut out using our Ellison diecuts, and glued the fingers down to match the I love you sign. Once the kiddos were done assembling their project, I laminated them and added magnets to the back. 
I'll definitely be doing this project again next year as it blends the technology usage and writing together beautifully while letting us write for an authentic audience.