Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Aurasma Book Hunt

Note: Since this post was first published, Aurasma has become HP Reveal.  However, all trigger images created with Aurasma should still work with the new HP Reveal app.

In my last post I told you that I was doing some Aurasma activities with my kiddos.  A few weeks ago, I did a Book Hunt with 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades to help them review the different fiction sections of the Media Center and I used Aurasma to make it more fun.  It was a BIG hit!  I wanted a new way to teach the fiction sections of the media center and this was it.

For the Book Hunt clues I created, I used Aurasma Studio rather than the Aurasma app.  Aurasma Studio is the online version of the app and it offers tons more options for what you can do...like creating an aura with multiple overlays and actions.  I had not used Aurasma Studio before. I did all my previous auras with the Aurasma app, but I found Aurasma Studio much easier to use for what I was doing.  NOTE: Auramsa Studio is now HP Reveal Studio.


BTW, you can learn all about using Aursma with my free How To Guide ( Just click on the picture or click HERE to download your copy.

Note: Since this post was first published, Aurasma has become HP Reveal. The app works in much the same way, but parts may have a different look.   The How to Guide has been updated to reflect that change.

For the Book Hunt lesson, I first reviewed the different sections of the Media Center, how to read a call number and how to look up books in our online catalog, Destiny.  Then we started our Book Hunt.   I used book covers as the trigger images.  I gave the students their first clue printed out.  They did not have to scan it.   It looked something like this:


They would then go and locate that book on the shelf, practicing their skills in reading call numbers and locating materials.  Once they found the book, they would scan the book cover with the Aurasma app (now HP Reveal app) and their next clue would appear as an aura.  They would then go and find the next book shown in that clue, repeating the process until they found all 4 or 5 books.

Their final clue looked like this:

I created six groups for this Book Hunt with 4 or 5 books to be found per group.  (Each group had a different color frame around their clue.)  Third grade had 4 books to find and fourth and fifth grade had five books to find.  Below are some pictures of the books they had to locate.  If you follow my HP Reveal channel you can scan each book separately to see the clues that the students saw when they scanned the book covers. (To follow my HP Reveal channel, type in this URL in the browser of your device that has the HP Reveal app on it:  http://bit.ly/MESMCAC  Once you are following my HP Reveal channel, you will be able to scan the books below and see the auras I've created.)




They had such a great time on this Book Hunt.

I am hoping to use HP Reveal (formerly Aurasma) with my first grade classes this week...but that is for another post.  Stay tuned!

Do you have any great ideas for using HP Reveal in the classroom or media center?


9 comments:

  1. It seems like this would be a great tool for book reviews. You could label the book with a green star or something so that students know there is a review attached. They could scan the book cover and listen to a peer tell why they liked the book or not. This could be written during English class or in library class and then peer reviewed. Then they could video each other giving the review. The only part I'm unclear about is what to do next... they send you the video and you upload it to your Aurasma channel? Anyhoo, I'm excited to try it! Thanks for this post!

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    1. Hi Anne,
      Great idea for using Aurasma! If you have iPads at your school, students could record their answers on those and then you could created the aura from the iPad with the Aurasma app, add it to a channel and be sure to share and follow that channel on all of the iPads you use. Otherwise, yes, you would need the students to send you the video somehow to make the aura through Aurasma Studio. There are a couple of YouTube videos that show you how to make an aura with a video using the iPad. Those links are included in the Aurasma How to Guide I created. The link to the Aurasma How to Guide is on this post. Hope that helps! =)

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  2. I just found out about the Aurasma app and am new to how it works. I like finding new ways to use it. My students and I used it for Open House this week. We made posters of concepts that we learned so far this year and then I recorded each student explaining their concept and used it as an overlay. The parents loved getting to see their kids explanations!

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  3. Thanks so much for the incredible Guide for Aurasma!!! Wahoo!

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  4. If I follow your channel, would I be able to use the auras you have already created? That would save me a lot of time:) :)

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    1. Yes, once you follow my channel, any auras I've made should show up for you if you scan the trigger images associated with those auras.

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