Tried It Tuesday (QR Code Adventure)!!

Wow!!  What a wonderful sale event that was at TPT the past two days!  I would love to hear about some of the products you purchased during the sale.  I tried to limit myself but it was pretty tough to pass up on tons of amazing deals!  

For this week's Tried It Tuesday, I would like to post about a product that I have had for a few months  but never had a chance to use with students before the end of the school year.

My Tried It:

QR Code Adventure

Okay, so I haven't actually tried it with my students yet, but I finally tried this product at home and got it all laminated and ready for this coming school year.
The product is the QR Code Adventure by Digital: Divide & Conquer.

You know how you print things and have the best intentions to try them but never get around to it?  Yep.  Here it sat amongst my pile of products waiting to be cut and laminated from a post back in May!

In the end of the year craziness, I just ran out of time and since QR codes are fairly new to me, I didn't really know what to expect on this QR Code Adventure (and didn't take the time to sit down and try it!).  Well, now I have thoroughly checked out this product (with all my time off in the summer;) and it is AMAZING!  

Matt at Digital: Divide & Conquer truly focuses on students and their needs in today's technological society.  Sometimes it is difficult to understand the world in which our students are being raised now since it doesn't seem THAT long ago when I was growing up in the 80's-90's.  I never had technology at the tip of my fingers and I SURVIVED!  What's wrong with talking to people on the phone instead of texting or what about writing someone a letter to communicate?  Why do I need to "find" things to entertain my own children all the time?  When I was growing up, my mom sent us outside and there we went, playing all day without any cell phones, iPads, Nintendo DS, Leapfrog Explorers, etc.  When we went on road trips, there were no DVD players in the car!  However, IT IS a fact of life that today's learners ARE different based on the world surrounding them.  As teachers we need to appeal to their interests and grab their attention in any way we can.  Using technology as a tool in instruction is an excellent example of one way we can reach our students and make an impact.

So, what is the QR Code Adventure all about?  It is a series of over 40 different QR codes that take the students to short videos, photos, games, informational text, and educational games.  Here are a few pictures of the sites the QR Code Adventure brought me to on my iPad. 

Students then analyze what they are seeing, reading, or hearing.  

The product includes over 20 variations of graphic organizers to either allow the teacher or student to choose which one would be best to use for the particular adventure.  I know my students will absolutely love this QR Code Adventure and will be begging for more.  The clips, text, etc. are at a high interest level and not only would this be great for center activity or even whole class activity, it work well for early finishers as a reward "fun" activity or as a brain break for the class.

Disclaimer: My bloggy buddy, Matt, from Digital: Divide & Conquer did not pay me to write this post and he actually doesn't even know I am writing it.  I was just so impressed with this resource that I had to share!  Some of you might have seen it and wondered, like me, "What IS this adventure, anyway?"

AND...he has other QR Code Activities in his TPT store.  :)

I am going to be a little MIA this week since we are heading out for a week of camping and maybe an amusement park for a day.  We haven't gone anywhere this summer since we are really saving for Disney next year but I need this week to decompress.  Then, it will be back at school the last week in August to get everything ready for students starting September 5th.  I will be popping in to check emails but the iPhone just isn't the same as the laptop!