5 Ways to Use the Daily Wonder App in the Classroom
The popular children's book, Wonder, is coming to the theaters next month! Who is excited? Check out the movie trailer HERE.
A few weeks ago Angela from Fun in Fifth Grade posted on her Facebook page a daily inspirational quote book companion to the book Wonder entitled 365 Days of Wonder. I thought this would make such a great addition to any classroom!
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I then began to wonderš if a Wonder app existed and ended up stumbling upon the FREE Daily Wonder app in the iTunes store. It is based on the 365 Days of Wonder book offering daily inspirational quotes from historical figures as well as everyday kids! Plus, there is an excellent resource library filled with goodies you can use in your classroom.
Here is a quick demo I did about the app:
Here are five ways I thought we could work this app into the classroom.
Calendar Game
If you watched the video above you would have seen that a calendar launches to help the user keep track of the quotes he/she has read as well as indicate the current date, thanks to Auggie's icon. Turn this into a game! The challenging thing about this calendar is that the days of the week are not included as headings. Students will need to really think about the order of the days of the week.
You could prompt questions like:
- What was the quote for this past Monday?
- Which day of the week will Halloween fall on this year?
- What will be the date two days from today?
Class Meetings/Class Discussions
There is not a single quote I have read that would not make a great class discussion. What better way to start your day or even class meetings than by quickly accessing the quote of the day and holding a class discussion. The Kindness Tip of the Week is also a powerful discussion starter. You could check in with students at the end of each week to hear how they impacted others by taking on the kindness challenge.
Vocabulary Instruction
Many of these quotes are jam-packed with some juicy vocabulary words! This would be a great opportunity to expand your students' vocabulary by working with these particular words throughout the week. If you need some techie ideas for vocabulary practice then check out THIS blog post.
Writing
Once students understand the meaning of the quote, have them respond to it through writing. Reporting on the act of kindness they attempted for the week is another idea. They could simply write about the quote/act of kindness in their notebook or digital journal. You could even have them post their thoughts on a collaborative Padlet wall. Flipgrid is the ed tech rage these days so have students take their writing a step further and record themselves reading their piece for others to enjoy! Or have them write and record in Seesaw.
Biography Study
Since many of the quotes include an author biography, have students choose one of the famous authors they learned about from the app and do a biography study to learn even more about that historical figure. They could even report back to the class about their findings!
How else could we use this simple app in the classroom? Let me know in the comments below!
Poster Generator
I recently learned about this cute website, WONDERous Portrait Creator, in which students can create a kindness poster:
Check it out! Here is the one I made:
