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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

QR Cubes

I stumbled upon the idea of QR cubes a while back and thought there were so many possibilities of how they could be used in the classroom, I just wanted to share. They are so simple to make and it is a great way to bring technology into the classroom. 

I have actually built quite a few now because they have been quite addicting. For example, I created one for writing prompts. The students would roll the cube and then with a QR Reader (I'll list some below) scan to see what prompt they would be writing about. Some other ideas you could make cubes for are:
  • Content questions for review
  • Warm up questions
  • Wrap up questions
  • Story elements that a student would have to identify after reading a story
  • Quick Facts
  • Rewards/Incentives
  • Positive sayings
  • Vocabulary
  • As a way of grouping
  • Math problems for students to solve
Here is a link to my Writing Prompt QR Cube if you would like a copy. All you would need to do is just print it out and assemble the cube!
Directions to make your own
If you would like to make one, I have detailed out the steps below. I suggest creating all of your QR codes first and saving them to your documents. My favorite QR generator is QR Stuff but you can use any QR generator you prefer to create them. I just love that QR Stuff allows you to change the color of the codes, whereas a lot of others only create in black.  
  1. Go to QR Stuff and choose plain text for the data type.
  2. Enter in your text you want the students to read when scanning.
  3. Choose your preferred color.
  4. Then under the preview box, click download QR code.
  5. Choose the location where you would like to save it, name the file (for example my naming scheme usually is writing 1, writing 2, and so on because it'll make things easier later to locate and identify) and then of course save!
  6. I repeat the first five steps until I have all six QR codes created for the cube's sides.
  7. Next, open up the cube template. Click HERE if you would like to use the one like mine. However, any cube template will do. (For some reason they file looks blank on Google Docs until you download it but it's really there).
  8. Now from the template (opens in Word), choose insert picture and navigate to your first QR code.
  9. I simply resize and move the QR code to fit the template and continue the steps until all of my QR codes fit nicely on there.
  10. I then save the file and print the QR cube file out on card stock. You can do it with plain paper but I find card stock holds up so much longer and it's easier to glue together.
  11. Voila! You have your QR cube.
Also, here are a few QR reader apps I recommend. You can search for them on iTunes or Google Play for Android.


i-nigma
QR Droid



NeoReader





RedLaser

5 comments:

Miss Trayers said...

I had never heard of that before. Very interesting, thank you for sharing.

NotJustChild'sPlay

Primary Possibilities said...

I will have to check this out! I don't know what we have to read the codes... I may have to let them use my phone... Our ipads don't have cameras.

I gave you the One Lovely Blog Award.... Stop by to get it!

Stephany
www.primarypossibilities.blogspot.com

Mrs. Castro said...

Hi Shana, I just discovered your blog and am so glad I did. I'll be using iPads for the first time next week and will be looking to your blog for guidance!
Stop by my blog when you get a chance.
Laura
Mrs. Castro's Class 2nd Grade...Spanglish Style

The Hip Teacher said...

I LOVE THIS IDEA!!!! I've only used QR codes a few times, but my students were always so excited to scan them and see where they ended up.

Thanks for the One Lovely Blog Award. I am now a follower of your blog and will be checking out back to get more great tech ideas!

~Julie
www.thehipteacher.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

I have used QR Codes in my classroom a ton and I absoutely LOVE this idea! I am taking on a new positon this year as ITRT (instruction technology resource teacher) and I'm excited to share this as one more way to use QR Codes! I have also linked your blog up with mine as you have tons of great ideas!!!

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