The Augmented Reality Dot

Even though it isn't anywhere close to Dot Day (September 15) this quick and low material lesson was perfect for May.  It was exciting and easily manageable for "school's almost out excited kids." We read the book The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and students used markers, crayons, or colored pencils to color in their dot.  I didn't tell them about the augmented reality just yet.  I kept it a surprise.  (Actually, I said, "If you do amazing work, I have a special surprise for you!"  Another May technique!)

ColAR Mix

Once the amazing work was finished, students opened the ColAR Mix App. They were delighted to see their artwork come to life in augmented reality.  Laughs and whoooooo's and giggles filled the room.

Once every student saw their art, each student inserted their hand into the frame and with the help of their table buddies, took a picture.  Downloaded through dropbox and then labeled, these pictures are on our artsonia account.  I also printed small 3x5 pictures and had them laminated.

Students put their hand into the frame!

See everyone's snapshot on Artsonia.com

There are many options for the kids (and adults!).

On day two students recapped what The Dot is all about and we opened up my twitter account (@ArtsyMissHatch).  Students sent a message to the author, Mr. Reynolds, about the lesson they learn to be more confident artists.  It was a great way for the students to summarize the lesson. Very shortly, they received a message back! How exciting for the kids and great advice too! 

While students were waiting for to label their jpg in Dropbox on my computer, they experimented with the bird print out and colored more dots.  They wrote their name, drew new birds chasing worms, and found joy in art :) 

To print out more AR coloring pages go to ColAR Mix's website.
It's available on goggle play too!

When you only have 10 iPads and 30 students...

WRITE ARTIST STATEMENTS!

Here my second grade students are writing.  They are comparing the experience between drawing Georgia O'Keeffe inspired flowers on the iPad verse painting them.  Some like the experience of painting while others didn't like the messy and preferred the digital experience.  Other students said they liked to zoom in on the iPads to work on detail areas.  Check out our paintings and our digital paintings on artsonia!

M's digital painting has beautiful layers because she played with the opacity tool.

I love the way A replicated her strokes on the iPad, and it gave her artwork a beautiful linear quality.

Having more control over colors on the iPad benefited N's ideas.

Waiting for Our Clay to Fire...Ceramics on the iPad

ASM Pottery

Students were waiting for the kiln to do it's thing, so they went on the iPads! I created a Ceramic file for them which had four apps.  They had to set the timer and watch each other, which created a lot of collaboration and fun!  The most popular app was Pottery HD Lite (which I know most students went home and downloaded!) and my favorite was ASM Pottery.  Students could rotate the pottery and read more about the artists inspiration for design.
These were also great apps to have ready on the iPad because when those few students finished glazing their coil pots early they were able to get on the iPad. (After cleaning up, of course!)  This also made me look good when I was getting observed :)                                                                                                                                  

The Many Adventures of Modeling Clay: Stop Motion Animation by 4th Grade...