AdDiCtEd to QR codes!

This week QR codes hit the school when a 4th grade class embarked on a QR Code scavenger hunt.  Setting up this activity didn't take tons of time, and the students loved it.  They even want to create their own QR codes now!

Not sure about QR codes?  Check out the document I created for students before we began the hunt.  By the way, I couldn't figure out how to imbed video into issuu, so I just had to make hyperlinks to videos on pages 2 and 12 (by clicking on the words).

Open publication - Free publishing - More qr code

Creating the scavenger hunt was fairly easy thanks the time spent collaborating with the classroom teacher.  Bouncing ideas off each other definitely helped us work out all the kinks.  Then her student intern created 5 story problems for us to use.  Once we had these, I typed the problems in PowerPoint, added fun backgrounds, and saved them as JPEG images.  My biggest challenge was figuring out where to post each problem.  I finally created a new blog and uploaded each Math problem as a photo.  I used Kaywa to generate the codes.  This was the easy!!!  I then copied and pasted each code into a publisher document so I could print them and cut them out.

The logistics for the scavenger hunt were the hardest to figure out.  We decided that each station would have 2 codes for students to scan.  The first code was the problem they had to solve, and the second code told them where to find their new problem.  We also downloaded a PC QR code reader from QuickMark.  Each team had a laptop computer they carried from station to station to use when scanning the QR codes.  Here are examples of each:
Story problem
QR code location

On Monday when we had the scavenger hunt, we were fortunate to have our principal and district leaders come help us.  This allowed us two adults for each group of students.  The only issue some groups had was QuickMark kept freezing on us.

Now that we're addicted to QR codes, we have big plans for bringing more into the school by adding them to the inside of library books with links to book trailers and/or other student book reviews.  The 4th grade teacher I worked with also has other thoughts about implementing them in the classroom, and I can't wait to keep brainstorming ideas with her!

By the way, I found lots of good ideas and information about QR codes online.  Here are some of my favorites:
Steven Anderson's LiveBinder: QR Codes in Education
Gwyneth Jones has a couple great links on her blog, including QR Code At-a-Glance Comic Tutorial and QR Code Scanning for Parents.

Scan the QR code below for a link to a video about EDIBLE QR codes!

Did you know you can create QR codes in color?!?  I used QR Stuff's website.  Too cool!

Cool Tools for School

Here's my first great website find.  It's on issuu.com (which in itself is a FUN website for uploading presentations).  This is Cool Tools A-Z, and is an alphabetical listing of great resources for the classroom.  Click here for the Cool Tools.  This came from Jeremy Renner's website.  It's chalk full of great resources.  Check it out!

If you're like me, you like posters but don't have a drawing bone in your body.  Never fear, The Poster Maker website will help you create a poster in about 10 minutes.  You do have to sign up for this website, but it's free.  Go forth and create!  Click here for The Poster Maker.

This blog post was short and sweet tonight, but gives you plenty to explore.  Have a great week!

A new chapter...

In an attempt to share my knowledge about technology and books, I decided to start a new blog dedicated to ideas, standards connections, and more.  But, you'll still find my random thoughts weaved into each post.  I'm excited to start this new chapter in my blogging adventures!  Stay tuned in the next couple days for my first topic: QR Codes.

Here's what I learned to do this weekend--embed something in my blog!  The glitter text came from a flash glitter text generator website.  Too much fun!  By the way, if you stumbled upon my blog by scanning a QR code from a mobile device, you might not be able to see the flashing glitter text below.  It says "Read."