Conversations in Literacy: Character Traits Reading App

Using iPad app Chatter Pix in the classroom

We have been having a lot of fun with folktales and character traits lately! Students are learning to use dollar words when they describe the characters and to use evidence from the story to prove why they think the character is behaving or feeling that way. We've made some cool videos to go with these activities too! You can play the video farther down in the post.

One new tool we are using to help us with this is ChatterPix. The students can choose a picture from the gallery or take a picture of themselves to use. For this activity, the students chose a picture from the book we have been reading, The Three Little Pigs by James Marshall. After choosing the picture, they draw a line for where the mouth should be and record themselves talking. ChatterPix for kids counts them down to when to begin talking, which is very helpful.

The different ways you could use this app are almost endless! Another easy way to use it is for students to practice building sight words and then use ChatterPix to record themselves reading their words to show how well they are doing. Also, students can record a cold reading passage, practice the passage and then record themselves again to show progress.

parent communication is easy using the Seesaw app

After recording their answers, I shared the videos out to parents using the Seesaw app. Click here if you have not read how to use Seesaw in your classroom. It is super easy and fun to share pictures, videos, and notes with your students' families!!

folktale books and resources for the classroom

I really enjoy using these books in our folktale unit! So many great lessons like character traits, how characters change, lessons to be learned from the stories, what makes a story a folktale, etc...