Sunday 30 June 2013

Today's Free Apps

The Stella and Sam Story Pack contains 5 interactive adventures.

This number app is great for Kindy and Pre-Primary students who are learning their numbers. It focuses on number recognition and sequencing.



Wednesday 26 June 2013

Today's Free Apps

IIf you are looking for basic maths apps for young children here are a couple that are game based and focus on the addition and subtraction of smaller numbers.




Tuesday 25 June 2013

Today's Free App

Build a Word Express allows students to build words based on the same word family. I like it be use it uses sound boxes based on phonic sounds and spells out the word as they build it and gives immediate feedback. It has 3 modes: learn, practice, test.

Friday 21 June 2013

Today's Free App

I discovered this amazing app quite by accident. It is neither literacy nor numeracy based but I found it very educational. For students who have visions of being computer programmers or video game creators/testers in their future, this is the perfect app. You make your own game and play it on the iPad. I can't believe it is free. There is a simple mode and a more complicated mode in which you can add lots of special effects to your game. Everything doesn't necessarily go smoothly, which I see as part of the learning process. I also haven't had any luck creating an account but the games you make do stay on the iPad. Have fun!


Thursday 20 June 2013

Creating Your Own Guided Readers

With the fully integrated approach we use at KPS, it makes very little sense for guided reading to be completely separate from anything else we are doing in literacy. It is also sometimes difficult to find a book that suits our purpose. We may be looking for a book on a certain theme or the genre of writing we are teaching. We might also want a book that focuses on a certain sound or certain topic words.

Perfect Solution - create your own reading books for the iPads! You can create amazing interactive iBooks using iBook Author on a Mac. These books can contain review questions to assess comprehension as well as many other features. They take a bit of time and effort to get the hang of at first but are quite simple once you work iBook Author out. 

Another option is to use an app on an iPad such as Book Creator. With book creator you can add text, pictures, movies and audio. This app is really quick and easy to use. Books can then be sent to iBooks. They can also be shared with other iPads either via email or through iTunes. If you use the Book Creator option you could still develop comprehension questions using Socrative. Below are screenshots of two books I made last year to match my theme. The first one was for a low student and was fully narrated. The second one was for a higher group and wasn't narrated.


Comic Strips and Photo Collage

I have mentioned comic strip and photo collage apps on this Blog several times. I just think they are great apps that can be used in so many ways:

  • For many reading strategies such as prediction and summarising
  • For recounts of excursions or language experiences
  • For retelling of movies
  • For creative writing
  • For recording of science investigations 
  • For procedure writing
  • To show understanding of concepts in various learning areas
  • And so many more


Here are some Comic and Photo Collage Apps that are worth trying

Strip Designer $2.99
Comic Book $1.99
PhotoComic $0.99
Halftone $0.99
Halftone 2 free
Comic Life $5.49
Comic Maker HD free
Pic Collage free
Skitch free
Frame Magice Lite free
Frame Magic $0.99
Snap Collage free
In IT students have been making cyber safety resources using a variety of apps and computer programs. The first one was made using PicCollage and the second one Strip Designer.



Today's Free App

iStoryTime Library contains 4 free narrated picture books. Students can read the story themselves or listen to it.  Great if your looking for some new books for your listening post.

Today's Free App

Axiom is a math based game in which students control a ship to solve mathematical problems. The problems get harder and requires to use wits and reaction speed.

Tuesday 18 June 2013

Today's Free App

Learn ABC It's Munch Time is another fantastic letter name, sound and handwriting app for the little ones.

Sunday 16 June 2013

Today's Free App

Toontastic Jr. Pirates is currently free in the AppStore. It is definitely worth checking out.

Saturday 15 June 2013

Educreations in Maths

I have mentioned Educreations a couple of times already. I am a big fan. This time I had year4/5 students create a resource about fractions of a collection. They worked in groups of three or four to create their resource. As well as giving them a chance to revise their knowledge and understanding it revealed some misconceptions that can now be addressed.

Click on the link to see one of the creations



The Paperless Classroom

There are so many websites and apps available that make having a digital classroom simple. Some that I have tried out are:

  • Edmodo and Kidblog to set tasks and communicate with students - these can also be used to communicate with parents
  • Blogs and Wikispaces to share ideas, showcase work and poll students
  • PowerPoint or Keynote to present material
  • Screen casting and whiteboard apps such as Educreations for students work out problems instead of paper
  • Book Creator and other story making apps to write stories
  • Interactive Whiteboard to show worksheets and documents from the iPad
  • Google Docs etc to share documents
  • Book Creator etc to create books for students - the great thing here is they can be at the level you want, contain the phonic sound or vocabulary of your choice and be on your current topic
  • Digital Books in iBooks for students to read

One idea that is neither innovative or creative and, as far as the SAMR Model goes, purely substitution but useful just the same is to present worksheets on the iPad. Teacher made worksheets can be saved as photos, either by taking a photo of an actual worksheet or taking a screenshot, and then presented in an app such as Doodle Buddy. Students can complete the worksheet, write their name on the sheet and you can save to Camera Roll or take a screenshot and you have your evidence. Then the screen can be cleared and handed to the next student. This could be used for assessment of learning, assessment for learning and consolidation of skills. There is a screenshot below of a worksheet as the background in Doodle Buddy.

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Today's Free App

This story of the three little pig has a listen to or read yourself option. It also has interactive features on each page. Be aware that the first two little pigs get eaten, but just temporarily.

Tuesday 11 June 2013

Today's Free Apps

You may have gathered by now, I do like a comic app. I just think they are fantastic for a whole range of literacy ideas from creating a story to developing a retell. The fact that in most you can chose the number of boxes in your comic strip makes them particularly flexible. This one comes complete with a range of backgrounds, characters and props.



123 Crazyfingers Numbers and ABC Crazyfingers Letters are fun and engaging apps for those students just learning their letters and numbers - you can even change the language.

Sunday 9 June 2013

Free Apps of the Day

Halftone and Halftone 2 are apps that you can use to turn photos into unique vintage comicswith various  styles, captions and speech balloons with the former and a comic book look with the latter.


Friday 7 June 2013

Today's Free App

Hi Guess the Place allows you to travel around the world in pictures, guessing where you are - again great for our Geography units.

Tellagami

I posted before about Tellagami but I have been having I play with it and I thought I would share. Tellagami is a free, user-friendly app which allows users to create a short video (or 'gami') with an animated character, background of their choice and up to 30 seconds of audio recording. As we are looking at Geography and History this year I have been thinking of ways to use some of my favourite (free) apps. I decided using Tellagami is one brilliant way to present informational texts.

These movies took me about 30 minutes each to make. For each movie I developed a series of 'gamis'. Because Tellagami creations can be saved to the camera roll, you can than do a huge range of things with them (or just keep them as they are) such as a slide show using Keynote, iBook using Book Creator and movie using iMovie. I went with iMovie. Also Tellagami allows you to record your voice for your character or type the text you want him/her to say - you can even choose from a range of male and female voices. While I know there are some people who love the sound of their own voice I opted for typing the text. You could specify how many facts you expect students to include. If you think your students aren't ready to make one, make your own for them to watch and gather facts from.

Tellagami has many other uses. I am thinking book reports, book retells, recounts, creative writing etc.

Here are the links to my movies. In the first one I was looking at an idea for Geography and, in the second, History. 

Thursday 6 June 2013

Wonderopolis


I have been wanting to post about Wonderopolis for a while but I wanted to come up with the perfect lesson to write about. The possibilities are endless so I decided to leave that part up to you. It a website that displays a 'Wonder of the Day' each day to promote thinking and conversation. To go along with this question, you can find basic information, vocabulary words, questions to promote thinking, and even other resources for finding out more about the topic. There are often even lessons and activity ideas to match.

I have heard of teachers doing a Wonder Wednesday and I like this idea of doing it once a week so that you can be selective in the wonders you choose - there is a huge archive. You would be unlucky not to find one that matches your current topic. I think one idea would be for students to have a go at answering the 'Wonder' in their writing. They could also use research skills (under supervision) on iPads, of course, to find the answers. As a class you can then look at the resources on Wonderopolis that give the answer.

You may be wondering why I am posting about this website on my iPad Blog or you may have guessed - it is also an app. The app has most but not all of the same features as the website.
Just to inspire you even more, here are some recent wonders:

Why Do Stink Bugs Stink?
Why Do Dogs Have Wet Noses?
How Does a Thermos Work?
Why Do Mosquito Bites Itch?
Where is the Biggest Castle in the World?


Today's Free App

My Zoo Adventure. I love this interactive book because you can add the child's name to personalise it but it doesn't read aloud. It has games, educational facts, colouring etc.

Wednesday 5 June 2013

Today's Free App

ABC Write Listen Learn is designed to help students learn the alphabet. They get to trace each letter, hear the letter name and see and hear things that start with the letter.

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Back to Basics

I thought I would describe some of my favourite iPad features for those just starting out or still getting to know their iPad. I will include some really basic stuff that I didn't know when I got my first iPad. I will start with a few features and post more later.

So in no particular order:

Deleting or moving apps
- to delete apps you need to hold your finger down on the icon until it shakes and has a cross. Touch the cross and you have deleted the app from the iPad. In this mode you can also move icons around on the screens.

Putting apps into folders
- to do this first hold your finger on the icon until it shakes. Then move an icon on top of the icon of the app that you want to put it in a folder with. You can now name your folder and drag any other apps into there as well.

Safeguarding Settings etc.
- I always have a folder that students are not allowed in. I call it Teacher Only or No for younger students and in here I place Settings, App Store, iTunes and any other apps I don't want students accessing without my permission. More recently I have placed Safari in there as well. If, for any reason, I want students to use an app in this folder it is a rule that I start the app.

Caps Lock
- this is a very basic one, especially for iPhone users. To use capitals when typing text you touch the up arrow and (it took me a while to work this one out) for caps locks tap it twice. The whole button becomes blue in caps lock.

Closing Apps
-to close apps that are running in the background use four fingers to slide your screen up and you will see a row of icons at the bottom. To close these hold your finger down on one until they shake and touch the red minus. This closes the app but does not delete it from the iPad.

Adjusting Brightness etc
-to adjust the most things you do this easily in the Settings menu but there are some simple ones you can do from the screen. Use the four finger slide up to reveal the bottom icons and slide this icon bar right to reveal the left side of it. Here you can lock the rotation, adjust screen brightness, adjust volume and control music.

Locking Students into an App
- sometimes free exploration is fantastic and when completing work flows students need to go in and out of apps but there are times when you want to set students up on an app and you want them to stay on this app. Guided Access is a feature available on iPads and is useful for young students and students with special needs and can be accessed through the Settings menu in Accessibility. There are more details on how to set this up in a May post titled Guided Access.



Monday 3 June 2013

PhotoCard

PhotoCard is a fantastic free app that allows you to create postcards using your own photos. It's a great quick workflow app. A way that I see it being used in a geography unit is to have students research their location, find and save a photo of their location and then imagine they are holidaying in the location and sending a postcard home. You could specify the number of facts that they would need to include. Postcards can the be saved to camera roll and used however. You do need to complete a free registration that is very simple. I did this and signed my class iPads all into the same account. You can even easily change the name of the signee as this appears on the postcard. As with all apps you plan to use in your classroom as well as all work flow lessons you develop, it is important to try it out yourself before you introduce it to the class. This particular app has many features that you only find by playing around with it.

Saturday 1 June 2013

Today's Free Apps

Phonics Make a Word 1 is an app that supports phonics and spelling. It is designed for early readers and focuses on short vowel sounds.

Fraction Circles is designed to teach students all about fractions and has three different activities.

Azawhistle Kids is an interactive story that teaches kids about cleaning up.