Monday, February 25, 2013

5th Graders Create eBooks on Idioms

5th graders in Sue Hooge's writing classes at Independence Elementary School were recently inspired by students in Indonesia to create their own "enhanced eBooks." Students read and discussed the eBook "Our Batak House," created and published in January 2013 by elementary students taught by Jane Ross in Indonesia as part of her classroom "Digital Backpack" project.


In addition to text and photos, an "enhanced eBook" can include recorded audio. After completing a language arts study on idioms, Mrs. Hooge and YPS instructional coach Wes Fryer taught IES 5th grade students how to use the iPad app "Book Creator" to include both photos and recorded audio in an eBook. Students decided to create their own "class eBooks" about idioms, and used "Our Batak House" as an inspirational model. Each class included "About the Author" or "Behind the Scenes" pages at the end of their book, to provided more information and context for readers who might be anywhere in the world!



If you have an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, click the links below to download the "enhanced ePUB" eBooks created by Mrs. Hooge's writing students and enjoy their digital creations!

The Idiom Book (Mrs. Hooge's Class)
Amazing Idioms (Mrs. Cromwell's Class)
Idioms (Mrs. Burgess' Class)



Wes Fryer recorded a five minute video for Alan Levine's project, "True Stories of Open Sharing," telling the story of how 5th graders in Sue Hooge's class came to be inspired by Indonesian student eBook authors. The title of that video is, "Open Sharing Leads to eBook Inspiration: Indonesia to Minnesota to Oklahoma."

 

Way to go Mrs. Hooge and 5th grade students at IES for creating these enhanced eBooks! It's exciting to see the wonderful ways our Yukon teachers are helping students develop their literacy skills! It's also very timely to see this great example of how positive open sharing and use of social media tools can be for student learning, since the international "Open Education Week" is coming up March 11-15, 2013!