For the opening, students used Answer Garden to create a word cloud. See picture below. Students shared main ideas, as students shared the same idea, they enjoyed watching the word get larger.
As a way of reviewing facts in each chapter, our first grade students use the iBrainstorm app, to share their ideas with one another. The app has story map templates, along with a host of concept mapping templates. Students use sticky notes to post their facts about each chapter. When they are finished they can "flick" their sticky notes to another iPad in the room. Did you hear that? Yes, sticky notes fly (transmitted thru the wifi) between iPads. Students choose to accept the note from their peers. After receiving the sticky note, students drag the sticky note fact to the correct chapter.
What's even cooler, are the Fifty Three Stylus Pencils that can be paired with the app. Students write with the stylus just as they would a pencil. It has the same feel. And even has an eraser to boot.
