After coming across a post about Fraction Name Art on the Super Sweet Second Grade blog, I decided to incorporate this into a lab activity for our second graders who were beginning their fraction unit.
The students were asked to use the Book Creator app to design a page with the following information:
- Name in a large, bold font
- A sentence telling how many letters were in their name
- 2 “ends” of sentences about consonants and vowels (___ are consonants. ___ are vowels.)
Next, we used the pen function to circle the vowels and underline the consonants. I asked the students what fraction of their name were vowels; what fraction were consonants? The answers were written with the pen.
The students recorded their information and emailed the book to me. I’ve combined the individual books into class books.
To access the books, remember to tap on the links below while on an iOS device with iBooks installed. Choose download then open in iBooks.
Mrs. Garcia’s Name Fraction
Mrs. Zabriskie’s Name Fraction
For those of you without an iOS device, here are the video versions of the book.
Second graders have been busy learning about fractions. To go along with their study, we brought fraction activities into the lab.
Mrs. Shapard, one of our second grade teachers, asked her students to write fraction word problems. We had them illustrate the concept using the fraction bars found in the SchoolKit Math app (free). They took two screenshots – the first showed the total number of pieces.
Fraction Bars (uncropped)
The second showed the answer. We had them crop both images before adding to the book.
Answer to word problem (cropped)
The next step was to move to the Book Creator app ($4.99 for unlimited books and worth every penny!). It is such an easy app for all ages and has some very powerful features! One of the best features is the ability to save as a video, which is extremely helpful in sharing a book with families who don’t have an iOS device.
The students created two pages by adding their name, inserting their fraction bar pictures, writing the story problem on the first page, and writing the answer on the second. Next, they recorded their stories and answers. And, finally, the books were air dropped to me so that I could combine the individual books into one class book.
Here is the link for the ePub version.
Mrs. Shapard’s Class Book of Fraction Word Problems
In downloading the book, be sure to tap on the link while on an iOS device. Choose SAVE and open in iBooks.
Below is the video version of the book:
To make the cover, I decided to experiment with a couple of apps. Here’s a chart showing the apps used.
During the process of writing and illustrating the fraction bars, we were quickly able to check each child’s understanding of fractions. We were able to reteach as needed. The students are eager to share their fraction stories with our other classes to see if they can solve the problems!
What better way to illustrate understanding of math concepts that to apply that knowledge creating word problems? That’s exactly what Mrs. Shapard’s second graders did using the Book Creator app!
Toward the end of the fraction unit, Mrs. Shapard asked her children to write a story using the concept they had just learned. As I rolled the iPad cart into their room, the students were busy handing out manipulatives to use with their stories. There were cubes and teddy bear counters and pattern blocks and more. Of course, these had to be played with before we could even begin rewriting their stories!
The students received their iPad and opened the Book Creator app. We chose the Landscape design in order to have enough space for pictures and text. Each student would create two pages. Page one (the cover) would have the story problem typed along with an illustration drawn using the Pen within the app. The second page would provide the answer using text. Our original plan was to use manipulatives to represent the answer. That proved to be a bit tricky. They could draw their answer but when asked to transfer that knowledge using a different medium, there was slight confusion.
- “How do we put these together?”
- “What should I use to show my answer?”
- “I can’t make the blocks look like my drawing.”
The students’ comments and questions were valid – the blocks, bears, etc did NOT look like some of their illustrations so this part wasn’t making sense to them. Therefore, we slightly changed the original plan to offer a choice – represent the answer by either manipulatives OR drawing with the pen tool.
The students are becoming experts with the Book Creator app. As soon as they completed their drawings, they immediately found a quiet corner to record.
Since we decided to create a class book, the students were to email their book to me. (Since my iPad is an older version, I don’t have the luxury of being able to Air Drop – An awesome feature!).
Once I received the books from the students, it was a quick and easy process to combine each into the one class book. (One thing to remember – there may be extra blank pages that will need to be deleted. Since we were limited on class time, I deleted the extras after putting the book together. Students could very easily do that step.) I then uploaded the book to Dropbox so that it can be downloaded by others (see directions below).
Mrs. Shapard’s Class Book: Fraction Word Problems (Read the directions below to download to an iOS device or to a computer using the Chrome browser.)
Below is a video of the process (this is also included in the back of the class book).
Directions to download book to your iOS device (iPad, iPhone, etc):
- You will need the iBooks app (free) installed on your iOS device.
- Click on the book link above (while on your iOS device).
- Tap on the download button.
- Choose Open in . . . and then choose Open in iBooks
- The book is now in iBooks on your iOS device.
Directions to read the ePub book on a computer:
