Enhancing a Barnaby Bear book with Technology

I know plenty of EYFS and KS1 classrooms have a Barnaby Bear. A teddy bear that spends every weekend with a child from the class. Usually, a book goes with the bear and parents are encouraged to document what happens over the weekend and this is then shared back in class.

Last weekend, my son Harry came home with his class teddy! We had a great weekend which we documented in the book by printing some photos, but as you would probably guess I couldn't just leave it at text and images. I wanted to use technology to enhance what can be done with the book.

Firstly, I wanted to document Harry's recount of the weekend. As he isn't able to write yet, I used the app Audioboom to record some audio of him talking through his weekend. This was uploaded online and turned into a QR code which was printed and stuck in the book.



For me, this is a simple but effective way in which younger children can contribute more to the book. It has so many other uses in the classroom.

On the Saturday afternoon as the rain poured outside, we decided to take Barnaby on some adventures using Greenscreen. It was great fun! Using the app Doink Greenscreen, the children recorded themselves swimming in the ocean, exploring space, on the beach and surrounded by snow. We took some pictures and printed these in the book. We then used Aurasma to link the greenscreen video to the image in the book. When scanned the following video is played -


I also uploaded the video to YouTube and created a QR code in case the teachers or other parents didn't have Aurasma. The finished pages in the book looked like this - 


Using a QR code reader app and Aurasma, the book can be brought to life! This is what it looks like -


Along with QR codes and Aurasma, teachers could also use Padlet to create a Padlet wall that parents could upload photos or videos and add text sharing what they do with Barnaby. With a Padlet wall, it automatically creates a QR code which can be printed and stuck into the front of the book. 


Padlet walls can be kept private and teachers can then share them on their whiteboards with the rest of the class. You can also use Padlet to create a 'Show and Tell' wall that children can contribute pictures and ideas to which again can be shared with the class.

Flipagram is another app that can be used to document adventures and again linked through QR codes. I have previously blogged about ideas for using Flipagram in the classroom. You can read it here - http://mrparkinsonict.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/making-most-of-flipagram-in-classroom.html

Comments

  1. Mr. M.19 November 2015 at 14:39

    Austin, our class bear, likes to get out and about: https://www.facebook.com/austinthebear

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Lovely Poem for Your Leavers Assembly

Image
I am always asked to put a little video together for our Year 6 show and end of year assembly. Each year, I always include a special poem that I finish the end of year video with. It is called Leaving School by Jade Hughes and it is beautiful: We've now left school, It's how the story ends, Tears of happiness is what we recommend,   It's what we say, But there's always a little pain, Because once you've left, It's not the same,   You could walk through school and you would see, Your friends who have grown up incredibly, But now you've gone, It's not the same, As you may never see them again,   Your friends who have grown up right beside you, Who have helped you through your daily strife, Will go ahead and leave behind them, You who wants the same old life,   But you can not live your life in the past, Hoping that the same memories will last, You have to move on and just be glad, That leaving has made you so sad, As this just shows that...
Keep reading

Using Disney Films for Geography!

Image
Last week I came across a tweet sharing this picture: I thought it would be a brilliant way for children to learn about the location of different countries around the world.  Before we looked at the map, I asked the class to list as many animated Disney films (excluding Pixar) as they could think of. We shared some of our ideas and discussed the origins of some of these stories. Some were books, others fairy tales, legends or folk tales.  This gave us a link with Literacy to discuss different types of stories, how most films are derived from written texts and also looking at some famous authors. We also talked about whether they could remember where in the world the film was set.  I then shared the map with the children and gave them time to look and see whether they knew any of the countries themselves. They had to make estimated guesses as to where they thought each film was set. After they had had a go at trying the name all the countries, they t...
Keep reading

Teaching Direct Speech Punctuation using the iPhone text messaging!

Image
Teaching direct speech is always a tricky aspect, there is so much to remember and very few useful visual pictures that clearly help children know what and how to use speech punctuation properly. Lets look at some of the tips to remember: The words that are spoken have to go within the speech marks. Any punctuation needs to also go inside the speech marks. A reporting clause, who and how they said it can go before, middle or end. A comma follows the reporting clause at the beginning. You need to start a new line when a new character speaks.  I think that is most of them?? I have heard of endless different ways to try and get children to remember these tips - keeping the sheeps in the pen  or speech mark sandwich  which are a couple of examples however they do not have any visual help for tips such as starting on a new line, which is something some of my children find hardest to remember.  I decided to use a different approach, to help cover the...
Keep reading