Reading Response with ChatterPix Kids

Reading response is an important tool in Reading Workshop to monitor comprehension.  It is important for students to talk about books so they can better understand what they are reading.  Here are a few examples of different reading responses:

This book is about...

I like this book because...

My favorite part was _____ because...

My favorite character was _____ because...

_____ feels _____ because...

I learned...

My favorite app on the iPad to use for reading response is ChatterPix Kids.  ChatterPix Kids is very kid friendly and easy for students to use.  It allows students to practice responding about the book orally.  This is a great opportunity for our auditory learners to shine.

ChatterPix Kids

Students simply take a picture, draw a mouth, and record their ideas.  Students can also add borders and images to decorate their creation.  When they are finished, they can download their project directly to the iPad.

ChatterPix Kids can be used for reading response in different ways.  The student can take a picture of the front of the book and make the book talk.  This is great when responding "I like this book because" or "This book is about".

Students can also focus their projects on certain characters or events by taking a picture of a page in the book.  These reading responses can focus on how the character is feeling or explain different parts of the story.

ChatterPix Kids is fun and easy for the students to use.  I introduce the app whole group to the class.  This can create a loud classroom because everyone is talking at one time.  I discuss with the students how they need to try to pick a time when the classroom is quiet to record their voice and always listen to their recording to make sure that they can understand what they are saying.

Once the students can use the app independently, I use 5 iPads in the classroom for when students are doing Read to Self.  Students pick a book from their book box and complete an assigned reading response or a reading response of their choice.  When they are finished, I ask the students to keep their iPad with them but continue to read their books to themselves.  When we are finished with the rotation, I ask students to share their project with the class.

Reading Response with Google Forms

This week we are reading books based on the characters Elephant and Piggie by Mo Willems. The students absolutely love these books, and they are great for teaching students various reading skills.

The students are working on improving their reading comprehension by retelling the story when they finish reading a book.  Our activity on the Chromebook was for the students to type a reading response after watching a YouTube video of the book Should I Share My Ice Cream? by Mo Willems. The reading response was created by using Google Forms and shared with the students through Google Classroom.

The YouTube video was added to the Google Form so that it was easily accessible to the students. The first question was for the student to type their first and last name so that I could identify who was filling out the form.  The second question asked the student to retell the story.  I choose paragraph for this question type so that students would have enough room to write their answers.

Once the student hit submit, their answers were sent to me.  Through Google Forms, you have the option to see each individual form that is submitted or display all of the answers easily with a Google Sheet.  The teacher can also give feedback to each individual answer and assign a score to the form. 

Overall, Google Forms was very easy for the students to use.  The one problem was the size of the video.  When the students played the video in Google Forms, it was very small, and it would not let the students enlarge the video.  The students had to click the YouTube button and watch the video on the YouTube website.  This gave the students access to other videos.  Most students closed the tab when the video was finished and completed their assignment in Google Forms.  However, a few mischievous students decided to watch other YouTube videos.  These students were quickly redirected back to the assignment, and if the off task behavior continued, they were give a piece of paper and pencil to complete the assignment.  

Download a copy of the form here.

UPDATE:  Thank you @RichesonEmily for your feedback.  You can enlarge the size of the video in Google Forms the same way you enlarge an image (pulling the blue boxes in the corner).  Emily also suggested using SafeShare.tv to prevent students from venturing from the designated video; however, you will have to use SafeShare as a link in Google Forms because it cannot be embedded as a video.  Great ideas!