Tech Tuesday-Toontastic

I am often asked "What is a good app for ______." Fill in the blank with virtually any concept, and the process is usually the same.  I research a variety of apps, look on social media, check out app store rankings only to find a great app that either costs way too much or cannot be used by students under the age of 13.  So imagine my surprise when I learned about Toontastic. It is FREE, and as far as I can tell there are no in-app purchases. It is also engaging, intuitive, and the final product looks great!

What is it exactly?

Toontastic is a creation app that allows students to easily produce their own cartoons while guiding them through the parts of a story or project.  Students can choose a short story consisting of 3 scenes, a classic story with 5 scenes, or a science report.

Pros and Cons?

There are no logins to manage, and the projects are easily exported to the camera roll for easy sharing via Seesaw. I love that the app allows for a lot of student creativity, but also has some structure to help keep kids on track.  Students can draw their own backgrounds and characters or they can use the premade ones.  The app is definitely engaging, but it could easily become a distraction for some students.  I think that making sure students have a plan for their story before they start using the app is crucial, otherwise they can easily get lost in all of the customization options. 

Overall, I think this could be a very powerful tool for students to show their learning in a really creative way.

Check out the short tutorial below to see some of the features.

How can you use Toontastic in your classroom?

Tech Tuesday-SMART Notebook SMART LAB

SMART Notebook has undergone some changes in the last year, one of the most notable changes is that the program no longer supports flash.  While this has been a struggle for a lot of teachers who depend on flash based interactives from the gallery, the good news is the SMART LAB has been expanded and improved.  SMART Technologies realizes that teachers don't have lots of extra time so they have tried to streamline the process of making customizable, flexible, and engaging games and activities for your students.

What is SMART LAB?

The Lesson Activity Builder (or LAB) was introduced in SMART Notebook a few years ago, but version 17 includes many more options to engage students than previous versions.  There are 11 different activities to choose from including a games, assessments, and brainstorming activities.

How do I build an activity?

Click on the SMART LAB icon and select the type of activity you want to create.  It will then walk you through the creation of your activity and the different settings available.

Where can I download pre-made activities?

You can find activities created by other teachers by searching on SMART Exchange.  Search for the content you want and narrow your search results by LAB Activities.

Can I change pre-made activities?

If you find an activity from SMART Exchange that is good, but not exactly what you are looking for you can change it by clicking on the pencil icon in the top right corner.

How do students engage in the activities?

Some activities require students to have their own device, and others have the flexibility to be played on the SMART board as a center (or whole class) or can be accessed on individual student devices.  To use their own devices, students will need to go to classlab.com. The website will prompt them to put in your class code.  The code is an 8 digit number, but students should only have to type it in once.  After that their device will remember the class, so all they need to do is select their name.

Can I see some examples of SMART LAB activities?

Yes!  Here is a SMART doc that you can download to see some of the activities in action.  Below you can also find a video where I demo some of the features.

Please let me know (via comment or email) if you would like some help getting set up or planning for a SMART LAB activity or if you have any questions!