The fourth graders have been keeping a big secret! Over a month ago they used the free Cookiecaster website to custom draw and design a cookie cutter to give as a gift on Mother’s Day! The students came up with a wide variety of design ideas that would be perfect for mom including animals, clothes, states, and hobbies.
The Cookiecaster website is very easy to use – simply draw or trace a shape and it will convert it into a 3D cookie cutter file which can be downloaded and printed. Here is a tutorial that students used to help them design the cookie cutters:
Our Dremel 3D20 and 3D40 printers did a great job printing the cookie cutters! We hope mom enjoys her new cookie cutter! (Note: the plastic used to print the cookie cutters may not be food safe, so it is suggested that you wrap the cookie cutter in foil or plastic wrap when using.)
Recently, the third graders have been doing internet research about an animal during technology class. They used the information they learned to type a 3 or 4 paragraph report in Word about their animal. This series of lessons helped students practice online research strategies. They also utilized the keyboarding skills that we worked on earlier in the school year and practiced some basic word processing and editing skills.
Then the students are using what they learned about their animal to build a habitat/environment for the animal in Minecraft!
I know that many of my students know MUCH more about Minecraft than I do! So we identified the “experts” in the room and I empowered them to help their classmates if they didn’t know how to do something.
It was interesting to listen to students’ conversation and ideas about how they were building their habitats. They definitely were using what they learned through their research as they designed and worked.
The first graders recently used KidPix to create a “selfie story.” This project required the students to type several sentences using the caps lock, letter, and punctuation keys. They also needed to follow multiple steps using pencil, shape, paint, and stamp tools to create their self-portraits. I was pleased to see the students’ growth as they worked through complex directions to make their stories and pictures. Here is a gallery showing their stories (click to enlarge):
This week the second graders worked on their internet navigating skills by exploring a collection of creature and avatar maker links on our Learning Links page. They needed to read directions and use their problem-solving skills to figure out how to construct the characters on each website. Here are some of the sites they explored.
Switch Zoo – create mixed up animalsMakeBadges – design creative avatarsAndroidify – make a robot creatureMiniMizer – design a Lego style personDisney Yourself – make yourself look like a Disney CharacterPeanuts – make a Peanuts character that looks like youYou can even make a custom Snoopy at the Peanuts site!Funko – add many details to your avatarCuteki – tiny cute creatures, you can even add your faceBuild a Portrait – From Coloring with Leo, build step by stepStar Wars – design your own Star Wars CharacterMakeBadges – design creative avatarsDoppelMe – click on features to customizeAvatar Maker – detailed features to design your faceFunko – add many details to your avatar
CREATE CREATURES/AVATARS: (Here are all the links.)
On Friday in the computer lab, the kindergarten students used the “wacky brush” tool in our KidPix software to draw flowers. Students had to click between colors and brush tools and control the mouse to make their drawings. I took a photo of the students with their drawings when they were done. (My apologies if someone was missed!) Here is a gallery showing their work :
We also learned how to launch and quit KidPix. We will be continuing to work on learning various tools that will help our computer skills to grow.
I’m excited to share that our second graders’ eBook, “3D Crazy Characters”, is now available for online viewing. The book features 3D characters designed with the Morphi app. The 3D files were printed on our Dremel 3D40 and 3D20 Ideabuilder printers using white filament which were colored with Sharpie markers. We used the Book Creator app to combine the 3D characters, background illustrations, stories, and audio narrations into one eBook. The book also includes information and videos on how we created the characters and eBook. (You can read more about how we created and printed the characters here.)
“3D Crazy Characters” also is available for free download on over 50 iTunes stores
all over the world! If you have an iPhone, iPad, iPad, or Mac computer
you can download the book onto your device to keep for viewing anywhere
and to save as a memory for the future!
To download onto iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Mac Computer: To download the files you will need to use an iPhone, iPod, iPad, or Mac with the free Apple Books app installed on it (or into iBooks software on a Mac computer). Use this link to download the ebook:
Notes for Educators: Our backgrounds were made in the computer lab using KidPix software. We used iPads to photograph the 3D characters on the backgrounds. The photos were added into Book Creator on the Chrome web browser. Each student typed their story and made an audio recording of their story using Book Creator. I used the wonderful feature in Book Creator which allows you to easily publish your books online.
Book Creator is currently available for $4.99 US for iOS. There is a lite version which will let you try out the app and create one book. It also is available for Android and Windows.
We have been excited to share our books with family and friends, but
we are hoping that we can connect with even a wider “Authentic Audience”
around the world. We would love for other students and classes to
download our book. If you do, could you please leave us a comment so we
can know who has been reading our books!
If you have a class that has created an eBook, we would love to do a book exchange with you!
Please leave a comment with a link to the book file or contact Miss
Bosch via email at kbosch@southfieldchristian.org or on Twitter at @karlyb.
We hope you enjoy seeing the illustrations, reading the stories, and listening to the audio. Feel free to share it with family and friends!
The illustrations for our eBook were created using KidPix software on our Mac computers. The illustrations were printed and then scanned into a digital format. I loaded the pictures into the Book Creator app, where the students made the audio recordings of their stories.
Our eBook is also published on over 50 iTunes stores around the world! Here is the link where you can download the book onto your iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Mac computer:
BONUS VIDEO CHALLENGE: If you have finished your buttons and all cards, you may try this challenge activity using buttons to make a multiple choice question:
Here are the video tutorials from our previous lessons if needed:
The third graders recently worked on a 3D design project. They used 6 point symmetry in the Morphi app to create these gorgeous 3D snowflakes which we printed out on our Dremel 3D printers.
Students began in Morphi by using the free draw tool. They turned on the axis and then used the + sign to add 6 lines of symmetry. Their designs were each as unique as real snowflakes are!
By simply tapping the 3D button, the line drawings convert into 3D! This definitely is a WOW moment for the students! Then students used the “doughnut” shape to add a loop to the top of their snowflake to make it easy to hang their snowflake.
The snowflakes were printed with our Dremel 3D printers. They look amazing!
A few hints if you try this project:
Adjust the line size and make it slightly thicker. The thin lines are fragile when they print and often break.
Be sure all lines connect on your snowflake or pieces will fall off the printed snowflake.
Designs that are very complex sometimes will not print successfully.
If your design gets too large, parts will be chopped off and your snowflake will not be round.
The Morphi app comes in a free and paid EDU version. You will need the paid version to use the drawing tool. The drawing tool is amazing and allows you to create custom 3D designs.
I did make the designs larger using the Print Studio software that comes with the Dremel Printers while I was preparing the files for printing. You could also adjust the size in Morphi, but doing this step later simplified the project for the students.
