Kristi’s Unique Creations: Book of Encouragement

A Lady of Esteem

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Rhea Aralia lived an uneventful life in Virginia, until the fateful night of her kidnapping. Taken to a strange realm of destruction, despair, and mysterious people with dark secrets, the young woman must learn a new way of life to survive.

With the help of her new companions, Rhea discovers the courage to defy the tyrant King Verikhan and his heir, the cleverness to deceive the court, and the power within herself to transform this world of darkness into one of beauty and hope. Will Rhea triumph over those who seek her destruction, or will she be forever lost in the darkness known as Kaldalangra? Interview with Kristi Strong. I am so excited The Lady of Steinbrekka is available.

Being your first novel, how does it feel to go through the self-publishing process and finally, at the end of it all, have your book in hand? It is very surreal. When I first saw my book up on www. At first I did experience some doubt because I always thought you had to go through a big time publisher to be legit, but this has just blown my mind and that notion straight out the window.

Innovating learning and literacy with iPads

The indie novel world is so immense, and has such wonderful creations that it is a awesome source of entertainment and stories. What inspired you to go back to your idea, and how did you keep that motivation going throughout the course of writing the book? What do you transform into? Read and draw inspiration from others.

Be sure to listen to Jess's episode! But don't forget to get signed-up for our 1st giveaway of the month: She talks about the balance of pursuing holiness and resting in grace. It is such an important message for us today. I was just so thrilled to talk to Jess about her new book, and I cannot wait for you to listen in.

I hope you will be so encouraged! Jess says she's a big believer in creating quiet in her life. Be sure to listen in to hear more on this. Here are a few fun quotes from this episode. The wild and free girls are the holiness girls. I was hiding my holiness and forgetting about it. Standing on holy ground.

Running on holy mission. Women are feeling the need to strive more than ever. Why are we so hesitant to embrace grace? We are meant to walk in His holiness. Stop swinging from grace to truth and just be in both. Talk to Him at every point in your day. It is easy to use and can create short videos or students can continually add to existing videos, much like a regular e-portfolio.

It's a Big World, Little Pig!

There are many benefits to using video in education, such as increased student motivation, enhanced learning experiences, development of learner autonomy, and authentic learning opportunities. Many of you may know I have left the classroom and am now the project manager for a school improvement grant for two priority schools in my district. Part of my work includes providing embedded professional learning for teachers integrating the iPad into instruction in meaningful ways.

The appeal is its versatility in using it across all grades and subjects.

SJP #008: Wendy Speake : Life Creative Starts at Home

A favorite activity was creating a character analysis book featuring a character in a recent story. Often, teachers and students need a visual to get started when trying new instructional strategies. Below are screen shots from the book I created to share with teachers. This particular example is a more involved project and could take a few days to complete. Younger students, or students new to using the iPad, could simply create the whole thing in Book Creator, as it allows for multiple images, annotation with the draw tool, video and voice.

Providing students with alternative ways to demonstrate learning in creative ways engages and challenges them. Learning how to be more creative, and therefore, more adaptable, prepares students for life beyond the classroom. For a different spin on book analysis, read my post here on Book Snaps.

Who among us, both old and young, has not entertained themselves with the many filters on SnapChat? I tend to gravitate more toward the ones that lighten my face and erase the fine lines and wrinkles…I digress…but the universal interest of SnapChat, particularly in young folks, can be used to engage students in new ways across content areas without even using the SnapChat app.

The concept is to encourage more interaction with content in books the students are reading. For very young students, pictures can be taken of their favorite story parts and characters. The student can use the photo markup toolbox in the photos app to highlight areas of interest or focus.

In photos, tap the parallel lines see green arrow below. From there, tap the three dots on lower right and then tap the toolbox markup. In markup, students can annotate with drawing and text.

In introducing the concept of a BookSnap, it is helpful to students if you model it. I took a picture of my favorite passage in the book, used Markup in photos to make a circle around the passage and add text. Then, I uploaded it to PicCollage where I added stickers. The student chose Pete the Cat playing on the playground because this was his favorite part of the book, and his favorite part of the day. He wrote that he liked recess and he used the doodle tool in Pic Collage to circle the words that showed Pete was playing.

A variety of creation apps can be used to create a BookSnap. Here is one done in Book Creator app:. The student took a picture of the front cover of the book and then a picture of her favorite page. She is too young to write a sentence so she dictated it in the app. While these are very basic BookSnaps created by young children, older students can definitely create more elaborate BookSnaps.

Using BookSnaps, students can make text to world, text to text, and text to self connections. They can identify the main idea, parts of speech, synonyms, etc…and reflect about the content they are learning. Older students can collaborate on a book study and create BookSnaps to share what they learned. And if you are a bit unsure of yourself, then it can be totally unnerving.

Current design contests

I often suggest starting small by just introducing how to find their iPad in the cart, how to turn on and off the iPad, and how to navigate screens. One of the best apps to start with is the camera app. The camera is truly a versatile tool that can be used across the curriculum. And, with proper instruction in the use of the app, you can curb the number of nostril shots you will find in the photo roll. The camera can be used to document learning such as demonstrated work in reading and math journals. It can be used for student introductions with name cards, picture timelines, and help with vocabulary words.

Really, its uses are endless. You can see my Clips projects on that here , and here. Once you have your basic lesson, you can move on to taking photos with a purpose. With a new school year starting here in the United States, explore how you might use the camera with your young students in creative, new ways! I love anchor charts!

They are so useful in any classroom, as they help make thinking visible. Anchor charts also build a culture of literacy in the classroom. My students refer back to them on a daily basis as they are writing. The print-rich environment surrounds my students all day. The students and I create an anchor chart for every letter of the alphabet and I like for them to stay up year round; however, there is only so much wall space in the classroom.

I started stringing fishing line across the ceiling and hanging them from there, but I know not every school allows that. Having the iPad devices in the classroom has solved this problem for us. Each time we create a new chart, students open the Book Creator app and snap a picture of the chart…even the alphabet charts that stay up all year. In the beginning of the year, I create the book template and send it to every iPad in Showbie.

One of the first charts we create together for Writing Workshop is our favorite foods. This is not a chart that has to stay up all year, especially since they will have it in a book on their iPad device.

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