Weekly Tech-y News May 14-18

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Weekly Tech-y News March 19-23

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Bunny Collages in PicCollage EDU

Let your students create these clever bunny collages as a way to publish a writing project, and become familiar with tools in PicCollage EDU.

To create this, have students use the web search tool to search for grass, bunnies, chocolates, etc. They can double tap the grass picture to set as the background of their collage. Remind them to add "png" to the end of the image search to find images with transparent backgrounds. They can use the FREE Easter-themed stickers in PicCollage EDU, the doodle tool, and the text tool to add additional details and words to their collages. When finished, have students save to Seesaw to share!

Directed Drawing - Tech It Up!

Use this adorable FREE directed drawing activity from First and Kinder Blue Skies and let students draw digitally using an app like Doodle Buddy or PicCollage EDU. Then, they can add to Seesaw and use the text tools to write a poem, tell a story or add a reflection. Super cute and simple St. Patrick's Day idea!

CLICK HERE for a bunny directed drawing that you can use for Easter!

Weekly Tech-y News January 22-26

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Gingerbread Men in PicCollage Kids

This was such a fun, simple way to introduce students (and teachers!) to PicCollage Kids, and the concept of setting an image as a background and having students complete a project. You could either send students an image (via Seesaw or AirDrop), or let them use the web search tool in PicCollage to find a blank gingerbread man template.

I like the idea of using Seesaw Activities to distribute the image to students, plus give them directions. Teachers can give students audio AND visual directions on how to complete the task in PicCollage, then upload to Seesaw under Activities & it will be organized if you tag a skill or folder. I also like that when using Activities, I get the grid view where I can see which students have completed the task, and which I'm still waiting on.

Here's what you'll see:

Here's what they see:

To access this Seesaw activity and add to your own library, click here. 

Once the image is on the iPads, students open PicCollage Kids and set the gingerbread template as a background. They could do a web search for eyes, nose, etc. I let them use the free sticker packs (choosing from the tons of Christmas stickers) and doodle tool in PicCollage Kids to decorate their gingerbread people. The students then used the text tool to add a sentence or two about their creation, then saved to the camera roll and uploaded to Seesaw. They loved this activity!

Weekly Tech-y News

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Thankful Cornucopias in PicCollage!

Let your students make a cornucopia of thankfulness using the apps PicCollage or PicCollage Kids! Students will add the cornucopia image to PicCollage and set as the background of their collage. Then, they'll use the web search tools, drawing, text and stickers to add things they are thankful for. This is a fun activity to personalize and share what they are grateful for. Click the image below to grab a copy to share with your students!

This idea was inspired by the amazing Erintegration!

This also works great in Seesaw activities! Check out how I added directions to make this an independent project for students.

Create Student Avatars Using PicCollage Kids

In Mrs. Podoll's 2nd grade we used Erintegration's awesome idea for creating student avatars using the app PicCollage Kids. Allowing students to customize their avatars for use in Seesaw and other programs that require a profile picture gives them ownership of their journal, as well as helps protect student privacy. Plus, this was a really fun activity for learning how to use PicCollage Kids and encouraging student creativity. Read this post on the PicCollage Educators blog to find out how to make them. Continue reading to see some more amazing examples from Mrs. Podoll's class!

Love the creativity shown!

How to Change Seesaw Icons:

When students were finished, they uploaded their completed collages to Seesaw. To make these the student icons in Seesaw, the teacher downloaded each image using the three dots, then in the Manage Students settings we were able to change each student's icon. Watch this quick video to see how:

Weekly Tech-y News October 23-27, 2017

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Spooky Good Costume Collages!

Fall is such a busy and fun time of year, and I know my kindergartners were always super motivated to learn when I could somehow incorporate one of their favorite holidays - Halloween - into my lessons! They love the excitement of Halloween and it helps them to become engaged in so many learning activities. Using the app PicCollage Kids is a fantastic and easy way to let your students illustrate their Halloween costumes and share with the class, and this simple activity could be tied to many different concepts in your classroom.


To make the collages, have students open PicCollage and use the photo tool to take a  selfie. All you want in the collage is their face, so they should then double tap their selfie and carefully use the clip tool to trim around the image so they only have their face. Pinch and drag the image so it’s the right size and positioned above the middle of the collage (they need lots of room to draw their costumes)!

Next, have them use the doodle tool to draw their costume. Remind them to use different colors and utilize the tool that allows them to change the thickness of the drawing tool to add detail and color in areas. Let them have fun and be creative!

After their costumes are drawn, let them set the background. I let the first graders choose patterns, but you may want them to choose a solid color (like black) and use the doodle tool, stickers or web search to add some fun Halloween details in the background.

Next, I had them add text. The first graders I worked with simply added a label to tell about their costume. If this is the basis of a writing project for you, perhaps you want them to add more text here to tell a “how to” story about trick or treating, or tell a spooky Halloween story. This could even be a math project - think about having them add details like bats in the sky, pieces of candy, etc and then creating story problems to share with their friends.

The last detail I let these first graders add is 2 stickers from the fall sticker collection (we could download these free from the PicCollage Kids app - not sure about regular PicCollage). They loved adding this detail, but I also wanted to limit it so they didn’t fill their entire screen with stickers!

When students were finished, we saved these collages to the iPads and shared on Seesaw. Many students added their voice to Seesaw, to explain their costumes. They absolutely loved viewing each other’s work and sharing their fun costume ideas! What learning activity could you incorporate into your classroom, using this simple illustration as the basis? Share with us in the comments!

Here are some awesome examples from Mrs. Erickson’s first graders!

Weekly Tech-y News!

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Weekly Tech-y News

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