SGES Contest Winner

Thank you to everyone who read and commented on our blog in May. Congratulations to Kelli L. of SGES, who won a prize when her name was randomly drawn from the May comments. She was awarded $10.00 to spend!   

Bitsboard

Bitsboard

Bitsboard (from Grasshopper Apps) is a fantastic app that includes games and flashcards for learning reading, spelling, and much more!

Teachers can create their own "boards" with current vocabulary words, spelling words, unit terms, etc. -- just type a word and it magically provides you a choice of pictures and also audio.  You can also choose to download boards from the catalog. Popular topics include English 101, Spanish 101, Action Words, Telling Time, Count Money, Phonics, First Sentences, Emotions, Seasons, US States & Capitols, and many more!

Classroom Applications:
* Flashcards for any subject
* Spelling
* Sentence Creation
* Vocabulary Words
* Foreign Language
* Students can create their own board!

Socrative

Socrative - This program is a free student response system that works like other clicker systems (SMART response), but it is a web based digital method of assessment. You can use it online and there is an app (one for teachers and one for students) that can be used as well. What is so neat about Socrative is that it can be used on ANY device with web access - iPad, desktop/laptop, smartphone, iPod Touch, just to name a few. Signing up for an account is free and easy, and getting students connected is very quick and simple - all they need is your room number (which is given when you sign up)!

You can assess students three different ways: you can give them quick, one question quiz before, during, or after a lesson to do a "temperature check", you can choose an Exit Ticket (some call it an Exit Slip), or you can create and give a Quiz. You can choose to have the assessments be student paced (they work at their own pace) or teacher paced (they go at your pace all together). You can see live results of student work right on your screen. Best of all, you can have a report emailed directly to your email address as soon as the assessment has ended or it can be downloaded. Instant results - who doesn't like that?

You can create quizzes inside of Socrative itself, or you can create and import a quiz using a template they've provided for you! You can even share your quizzes with other teachers, so you can share the workload. Check it out!

Classroom Applications:
* Formative/Summative assessment of content
* Exit slip to check the understanding of a focus lesson.
* Anonymous (honest) opinions about content in the classroom.
* Daily quizzes for grades

App image

Thank you to everyone who read and commented on our blog in February. Congratulations to Erica M. of NPES who won a prize when her name was randomly drawn from the February comments. She was awarded $10.00 to spend!   

There’s an opportunity to win a special prize by submitting a comment!

To register for our next drawing:

·         Click the comment link underneath one of the posts & select anonymous.

·         Type at least one way you can use (or have already used) the information from the post in your classroom.

·         Type your first name, last initial and your school within the comment post.

·         All the names of those who comment in February will be placed in the “hat”.

·         Our next drawing will occur the end of March!

·         This drawing is open only to elementary teachers in Lexington One.

List Selector

What do you do when you need to pick out 4 students randomly to do something in your classroom or you want to put your students into groups randomly?

List Selector is a great FREE app which allows teachers to randomly select a student (or students) from their class list or randomly put students into groups.

Teachers enter lists of their students into the app. Then the app can choose and display the names of individual students, several students ,or randomly group students by 2's, 3's, 4's or whatever size the teacher needs.

Monkey Drum

 

Monkey Drum is a fun app for all ages! Excellent for building rhythm skills and creating songs!

Explore the Monkey Drum area -- tap "Play" in the center. The cute monkey will repeat rhythms and melodies you play on the djembe drum, kalimba (thumb piano), or  marimba. Tap the monkey's head and mouth for special sounds to include in your rhythms.  You can even spin him around! After playing for awhile, you are rewarded with a banana to feed the monkey.  After the monkey eats 3 bananas, you get free hearts which will unlock other instruments, accessories, and songs.
The Song Maker allows you to create your own music using a vertical grid.  You can change the tempo as well as the instrument. The bottom right corner allows you to add measures (or pages) to your song.  Each is 8 beats. Tap play to hear your song played by the monkey.
 
You also receive free hearts each day you play, so be sure to check the mailbox!

Classroom Applications:
* Echo & create rhythms
* Repeat rhythm patterns on other instruments
* Teach melody and melodic direction using the marimba or kalimba keyboard
* Create songs
* Develops listening skills
* Develops memory skills

bookPress

The bookPress app is a free tool to create digital books. There are templates to create a children's book, poetry book, cookbook, a picture book, or a storybook. You can also use a blank template to create any kind of book you wish. Bookemon, the publisher, provides bCloud storage for your books.  Your completed books can be viewed through this app or read online. From the app you can also choose to order print copies of your book.


Bookemon also provides edCenter, a free, private, secure environment for teachers and students to create, collaborate, and share their books. Email addresses are not required for student accounts. This video provides a brief introduction and overview of this app:

Classroom Connections:

• write a class book about a field trip
• research and write biographies of historical figures
• create a class memory book
• publish student narrative writing
• create expository "how to" manuals
• publish student poetry anthologies
• create a book to document STEM activities and scientific explorations
• create a leadership book of ways students demonstrate the 7 Habits

Morfo

Morfo is a free app where you can take a picture of a person (or animal) and create a 3-D character. You can record a message and your character says it for you! You can also save the character as a video in your camera roll to share with others. This app is easy to use and is an unique way to share information.

In the free version (there is a paid version for $0.99), you can record a message up to 30 seconds long.


Classroom Applications:

* Students can morph a famous figure in history or authors and can give a research report about them.
* Students can create a booktalk using a morphed character of their choosing.
* Students can record a book summary in a cool, new way.

Tech Tip: Adding International Keyboards

This short video demonstrates the steps necessary to add additional language keyboards to your iPad.  This is probably most useful for our immersion classrooms but others may find it helpful.

BuddyPoke

BuddyPoke is a free app that allows you to create a personalized avatar, send animated emoji through iMessage and email, and create an animated video by recording your own voice message. Use the built-in backgrounds for your videos or use images from your camera roll instead. Completed videos can be saved to the camera roll, emailed, texted through iMessage, or uploaded to YouTube. From the camera roll you can also share it to your network drive through the WebDAV Navigator app.
This app is a lot of fun!

Classroom Applications:
Students can...

• create a book talk video.
• describe causes and effects of historical events.
• make public service announcements about service learning projects.
• create a video of themselves reading a piece of writing.
• record themselves reading to self-assess fluency.
• describe the scientific processes of an experiment.
• practice and self-assess speeches to improve public speaking.

Qrafter - QR Code Reader

Qrafter is a free app that enables you to scan a QR code to receive links to websites, text messages, a link to a Dropbox file, a Google map location, and more!

Scan - is another free QR Code reader app. It works well with the plain text QR codes. Just skip or ignore the prompts to sign in.

There are many websites you can use to create a QR code. One site that is easy to use is http://www.qrstuff.com/. QR Voice will create a QR code that will say the "message" in a computer generated voice. http://qrvoice.net/


Here are links to a couple of resources to learn more:
QR Codes in the Classroom  - includes how to tips and classroom applications
Schrock's QR Codes in the Classroom
Anderson's QR Codes in the Classroom Livebinder

In this 2 minute video, some students explain one way they use QR codes in the classroom to enhance literacy.



Classroom Applications:

• Have students create QR codes for book review videos they create.
• Create QR codes for preselected research websites. Students could collaborate to collect sites for a particular topic.
• Use QR codes to provide exemplars for student projects or an example of mastery of a learning target.
• Provide differentiation by using QR codes to link to remediation or extension activities.
• Use QR codes to share a morning message or a daily quote.
• Personalize learning by using QR codes to provide multiple resources students can use to enhance learning.

Tech Tip: Keyboarding Shortcuts

Here is a video that can be a real time saver for you!  This video highlights several keyboarding tips and tricks that will find useful!  Don't forget to share these shortcuts with your students!!

Tech TIp: Multitasking Gestures

This video demonstrates how you can utilize Multitasking Gestures (using multiple fingers on the touch screen for specific tasks) to efficiently navigate your iPad.









 

January Comment Contest Winner

Thank you to everyone who read and commented on our blog in January. Congratulations to Ashlee Y. of LES who won a prize when her name was randomly drawn from the December/January comments. She was awarded a Lexington Gift Certificate to spend around town.

There’s an opportunity to win a special prize by submitting a comment!

To register for our next drawing:

·         Click the comment link underneath one of the posts & select anonymous.

·         Type at least one way you can use (or have already used) the information from the post in your classroom.

·         Type your first name, last initial and your school within the comment post.

·         All the names of those who comment in February will be placed in the “hat”.

·         Our next drawing will occur the end of February!

·         This drawing is open only to elementary teachers in Lexington One.

Tech Tip: Accessing Free Images on Your iPad

Many project apps include an opportunity to insert an image.  It's important to make sure that our students use copyright-compliant pictures.  There are a number of websites that offer free use of images for educational purposes (see the list below).  You can add bookmarks to the home screen of your iPad and drag the bookmarks into a folder labeled Picture Resources. Then your students will have easy access to safe images that will support their learning. Here is a short video that will explain what to do:

Scan this QR Code with your iPad to access the resources listed below:

Discovery Education Clip Art
Florida ETC Clipart
NASA Images
National Park Geology Images
NOAA Photo Library
Pics4Learning
The Library of Congress Photographs
 

Apps Gone Free

Your daily free app finder!

Each day several iPad apps that are available free for a limited time are featured in Apps Gone Free. 

Reviewers handpick the best of the apps that have gone free for a limited time.  You can read a short review of the app, see it's star rating, and also see the regular purchase price of the app.

Apps Gone Free has a scrollable calendar on the left for checking out previous days, too!

Tech Tip: Learning to use the Search Function on your iPad

Learn how to quickly find apps, pics, files, and emails on your iPad.  Easily accessing content on your mobile device is essential to your own use of the iPad and for your students.  Please watch the video below to learn more and consider sharing with your students.

Bill Atkinson's PhotoCard Lite

Bill Atkinson's Photocard Lite is an app that you can easily create postcards that include text and an image. You can add images from your camera roll (including images you have saved from the web to your camera roll).

Tips:

• This app works the best when you hold your iPad in portrait mode. It lets you see both the image and the writing. 
• It will keep one postcard at a time. Starting a new postcard will erase the previous postcard.
• Tap outside the signup stuff - you don't need it.
• Document images from the web using the caption option underneath the picture. 
• From student iPad in portrait mode, click on the arrow on the bottom left to save the postcard to the camera roll. You can then use Webdav to upload the image to the network. 

Classroom Applications:
Write a postcard to a book character or author.
Write a postcard to a historical figure or as a historical figure.
Write a postcard about a historical event as if the student was there.
Write a postcard to their parents talking about a science lab or other classroom event.
As a class, write a postcard to parents about a classroom activity.
Teachers can individualize postcards to students and parents as a classroom communication tool. 

Tech Tip: Speak Selection - an iOS tool

Below you will find a video tutorial that describes how to use the Speak Selection tool in iOS6.  This tool has many classroom applications for both struggling and advanced readers and writers.  Please take a few moments to watch this video.

Please add your comments about how you will or have used this feature in your classroom!

Read Me Stories

Read Me Stories is a free app that contains picture book stories.    You can choose to read the story by yourself, or you can have the app read the story aloud.  As the story is read, each word is highlighted to help students track the words. There are 8 categories of stories and the app contains one sample book in each category. Other books are available for purchase.

Classroom Applications:
The purpose of this app is to foster independent reading for students in Kindergarten-2nd grade.

Trading Cards

Trading Cards - This is one of my favorite new apps! It allows students to show what they know about people, places, or things in an original format. This even has an option to practice and show learning of new vocabulary!







Here is what the developer said about this cool app:

Create trading cards for any number of categories, including:
• Fictional person
• Real person
• Fictional place
• Real place
• Object
• Event
• Vocabulary word

Each category has  guiding questions for creating the card.

You can send the completed trading cards to the camera roll and then save it to WebDAV so you can move it or print it later!

Classroom Applications:

* summative project on famous historical figures

*culminating project-based learning activity

*formative checks for new vocabulary terms

*formative/summative assessments of literary characters

and, MUCH MORE!

Videolicious App

Videolicious is an easy app to make a quick video to show student learning. You can add several pictures from your camera roll that you have taken or saved from the web. You can set the app to mic only to narrate the images or you can record video clips within the app.  You can add their royalty free theme music to the end. The final video saves to your camera roll. There is a one minute limit for the video.

Classroom Applications:

• Book Talks/Trailers - take a picture of the book cover and a picture of a drawing of your favorite scene.
• Discuss learning from field trips, science labs or other classroom events.
• Share research information about famous people or historical events.
• Show understanding of various content.

Pixntell - Digital Storytelling

Pixntell

Pixntell is a simple, easy to use Digital Storytelling app!  The free version allows you to use up to 5 photos and saves as an MP4. (You can upgrade for $.99.)

Tell Your Story in 4 Easy Steps!!

* Pick Your Pix - Use photos from your camera roll or take new pictures as you go.

* Arrange Your Timeline - Drag & drop photos to order them or delete photos.

* Record Your Voice (or Music) as you swipe through photos.

* Save your Story and Share via Email, Dropbox, YouTube, Facebook

Classroom Applications:

*  Take photos of science experiment; students narrate the process

*  Field trip photos with explanation of location

*  Take photos of artwork with student narration

*  Narrated photos of student work

*  Photos depicting a historical event, math concept, or other subject related idea

Skitch for iPad

Skitch for iPad (by Evernote)

Annotate - Create - Edit - Present!

Skitch for iPad is an app that allows you to add text notes, sketches, arrows, shapes, and more to photos, screenshots, maps, and web captures....or create a blank page to begin!


Classroom Applications:
*  Label the parts of a cell, a plant, the heart, etc. 
*  Point out locations of interest on a map.
*  Draw a route to a famous location.
*  Add a picture to a vocabulary word. 


Too Noisy

The Too Noisy app was shared with me by a student and I think it may have a place in the classroom management repertoire for some teachers. There is a free version and $.99 version that just adds more backgrounds.

From the TooNoisy website:

Just Right!

The "Too Noisy App" has been designed to assist a teacher keep control of general noise levels in a classroom using a visual stimulus.

As the noise level in a classroom increases beyond an acceptable level the noise level meter dynamically indicates the level of noise, and the background graphics within the app change to reflect the noise levels.

Teachers are able to control the sensitivity of the app by using the sensitivity slider within the app itself so the app can be used for all types of lessons.

Getting louder

Classroom Applications:

The app can be run directly on the ipad or displayed on the classroom interactive whiteboard by using a VGA adapter from the 30 pin iPad socket (note this feature only works on iPad 2's).

This app can be downloaded by clicking the image at the beginning of this post!

Too Noisy!!