For President's Day, we wanted to find something interactive, engaging and fun to use with our students in the library. With our MERGE headsets, iTouches and iPads, we searched for augmented and virtual reality resources to use and found some really exciting ones that we couldn't wait to use!
First, there are several in Google Expeditions that tie into the Presidents, national monuments, Washington DC and more United States government focused themes.
I created a Google Slide to print off and post on the screen to direct the students to two expeditions we wanted to focus on for President's Day. By doing this, it gives them a few hints to what they are to do with the MERGE headsets. They know to open up the Google Expeditions app and that they are looking for The National Mall and U.S. Monuments. There are several places they can visit in both of these.
The next one that I was super happy to find was the 1600 App from the White House Historical Association.
On the app site, it shares....
The White House's "1600" is a new way for kids and playful Americans of all ages to learn about what happens at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. All you need to do is tap "Start" and point your camera at George Washington (on the one dollar bill).
Built through a collaboration with the White House Historical Association and Nexus Studios, the app’s aim is to educate and inspire the youngest Americans to learn more about the White House's role in our democracy. Our hope is that whether it is experienced on a teacher's desk or dining room table, kids walk away from "1600" with a better sense of the institution and its purpose. Not to mention, a smile.
Move your phone around to explore from different angles, and touch the Oval Office to reveal a surprise.
Take a look at this to see how excited the kids were when they explore the White House with the 1600 app! It is fascinating to watch them try to touch the White House and experiment with the augmented reality.
I love seeing them try out new things with this technology we have.
Here is a little tip.... You don't need to use real dollar bills. I found a photograph online and we copied it on white paper.
As you can see, it worked perfectly!
You can find the 1600 app in the App Store for iPhones and iPad. Read more about it here.
As I shared last week, we also used this Presidental Symbaloo which contains lots of places for them to research, read, listen, sing and create around the Presidents and First Ladies.
And the President's Day Collection by Destiny, was a big hit for our students and teachers during President's Day and will be all year long too. You can follow this Collection and...
...even make a copy to add your own library resources to it as well. You can see in this picture above how we did this with our Collection to include books, eBooks, databases and more.
We hope you had a special month celebrating our Presidents. Let us know how you celebrated and what you used in your library and classrooms!
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