Category Archives: iPad

iPad Apps to Try Out

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We are currently using 3 iPads in our Grade 3 classroom – and loving them!  Wish we had more – but we are making the 3 work for us.  Recently, I was able to share some “must have” apps with my colleagues – it’s immensely enjoyable when you inspire people with a few really good apps that are engaging to use and have the potential to enhance learning for the students we teach.

By pure coincidence, I stumbled across two educators slideshare presentations (linked inside blog posts from my Must Reads RSS google reader feed).  Although I’ve been using many of the apps that both educators mentioned, there were a few that I will definitely check out.  I thought I’d share those (and links to the two educators) with you today. Guess what – they’re all FREE too! My favourite kind of apps!!

Monica Burns (blogs and tweets via @ClassTechTips) is a Fifth Grade Teacher at Alain L. Locke Magnet School for Environmental Stewardship (which I think is in South Harlem?).

Mathtrain
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MathTrain
Student podcasts about Math created by students at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica.  These might be a bit too advanced for my G3 students – but some of you may find this app useful for students.

Fotopedia Heritage for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
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Fotopedia
There are many fotopedia apps, specific to particular places – check out the National Parks one – it’s gorgeous!

NatureTap
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NatureTap
Beautiful nature images – I’m keen to explore this one – although I have a funny feeling that some in-app purchasing will be necessary to get the most out of this app (which will be a shame).

Leafsnap
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LeafSnap
Great leaf images – perfect for our Structures of Life unit that’s coming up soon.

Perfect Captions
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Perfect Captions
I know some boys in my class that are going to have a lot of fun with this new app! I can’t wait to use – especially with our Character Unit!

Accelerated Reader2122
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Accelerated Reader
This needs to be individualised – and since we only have 3 ipads, I’m thinking that I’ll only use it with students who need this kind of practised reading the most, for a short period of time to see if it gives them the boost they are needing.

QuickVoice® Recorder
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QuickVoice
Now, I’ve always used iTalk (and I LOVE it – but unfortunately our personal devices (aka: my iPhone) and our school devices (aka: my laptop) are on separate parts of the wireless – this means that I can not get my iPhone and Laptop to “talk to each other” over the wireless!  The beauty of iTalk is being able to share the recordings without having to download to the laptop.  I usually transfer files at home.  I’ll be trying out QuickVoice for our running records and for students practising their fluency and expression.  I like students to record themselves at the beginning of the year, then again mid-year – reflect and then record themselves again at the end of the year – comparing the beginning of the year recording with the end of year recording.  Students are always amazed to hear their improvement.  Works especially well with EAL students.

Scholastic Reading Timer
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Scholastic Reading Timer (not available in NZ Store)
Was disappointed to find that this app isn’t available in the NZ apple store – enter backup plan – use B’s US apple ID.  (Kiwi’s always have a back up plan!)

Check out Monica’s full slideshare presentation here!  There might be some more apps that you’re not using in your classroom yet.

Carlos Fernandez oversees the Instructional Technology in Leon County Schools, Fl.  You can see his full slideshare presentation here.

iBrainstorm for iPad
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iBrainstorm
A multi-device collaboration tool from Universal Mind. I’m curious to see how I can make the “flick of a finger” collaboration between my iPhone and the iPads in the class – I’m wondering what that will do to brainstorming in the classroom between my students and myself?  I’ll keep you posted!

School A to Z
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School A-Z
Produced by the NSW Department of Education and Communities, the School A to Z app brings together a wealth of resources to help parents to understand and support their child’s homework. I’m thinking that this would be a really good app to introduce to my parents – most have an iPad or two floating around the house!

Hope that some of these apps might be new for you too.
I’m always interested to know if you try these apps out in your classroom and how it goes – so please come back and leave a comment!

 

 

Dots Around the World

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The response to an idea I had while watching this movie, was amazing.

And it worked! We managed to dot ourselves around the world – literally! 17 countries, over 30 classes ranging from PreK to Year 11. Each and every dot made me smile – I hope it makes you smile too.

Many thanks to the teachers who signed up, took part with their iPads and their students and got their dots in!

Happy International Dot Day! (Updated Version 3)

Dots Around the World Collaborative Project

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Time to have a go at organising a collaborative project – and use our iPads in class at the same time.  (We have 3 iPads in our class right now – all provided by me, not the school).  If you have access to at least one iPad for your class (or an iTouch) and you’d like to take part in a collaborative video – please read on ……..

Inspiration:
The inspiration came from this video (Mr. Colosi’s First Grade Class) posted by Lucy Gray on Google+ last week.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CseZabRV-Mw&feature=share
Their inspiration came from Peter Reynold’s book “The Dot”


There is an official dot day – September 15th – and I’d like to extend this video idea to Dots Around the World and release the video on September 15th.

What do you need?
An iPad (or more if you have them) and time (time for your students to create their dot pictures using any ipad app you wish – I’m thinking the more different apps we use the more versatile we can show the iPads art capabilities).  I was also thinking that iTouches would be ok to use as well if you don’t have iPads.

Possible iPad apps to Use (but you are certainly not limited to these ones!)
Doodle Buddy (free)  Inkflow (free)  Drawing Box (free) Draw (free)
Procreate (4.99)  MyBrushes (1.99) Drawing Pad (1.99)

Optional Extra
Educreations, ShowMe, ScreenChomp, Whiteboard, Explain Everything  (these iPad apps would be cool to use if you are willing to choose one or two students to record the actual drawing of their dots – I’d speed it up for the final Video)  Please let me know directly if you would like to do this piece as well.

Very Important:
Please include student name and the app used to create the dot on the image.  See link below for an example : http://www.flickr.com/photos/teachingsagittarian/7920592790/in/pool-2114863@N22

How do we get the Dot drawings to you?
There are several different ways to get your dots to me before the 12 September deadline:

Dropbox / Box net
If you’re a dropbox/box net user – simply let me know in the table below and I will share you in on a special folder for dropping your images in

Flickr
I’ve set up a flickr group called Dots Around the World.  If you join our project simply upload your photos to this group if you are a flickr member already. (Request membership & it will be approved).  Short videos can also be posted here as well.

Email
Or you can just email your dots to me (or better still have your kids email their finished dot straight from the iPad if you have it set up)

TimeFrame
Ah, the all important time frame!  All dots to be included in the video need to be in dropbox, box net, flickr or sent via email by Wednesday 12 September – so that the video can be ready for release on Saturday 15th September.
This deadline will be strictly adhered to!

Can anyone think of anything I’ve forgotten?

Still interested?
Please click this link to the Dots Around the World Spreadsheet to help me keep track of who’s taking part and how you’re going to get your images to me!

Please feel free to invite anyone you think might like to join in!

StopMotion (TimeLapse) with the iPad

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My previous post Working Together, showed an app that I’ve been using to capture stop-motion on the iPad and/or iPhone.  There are quite a number of stop-motion apps out now, so I thought I’d share the ones I know about and what I think of them from a working with students practical point of view.

iMotionHD

iMotion HD (free – Export option $1.99)
(Disclaimer: My favourite)
Pros: Easy to use; Chose between time-lapse, manual, remoted, & audio (record sound or not); A slider adjusts the interval frame between shots; iPhone version & iPad version; Captures in both Portrait and Landscape; Has some useful overlay capture tools such as Onion Skin, Torch, Grid, Manual Focus; Unlimited movie size; Access to a gallery for ideas;
I think that it’s best feature is the iMotion remote app (also free).  This is especially handy for the manual setting (when you make those amazing moving character stop-motions).  Students used the remote on my iPhone while capturing with the iPad – this minimises the need to tap the iPad when you’re ready for the next manual shot of your stop-motion.  Very cool!
Cons:  Can’t turn off the loop playback on your device; Can’t add an audio (music file) unless you import into iMovie (or something similar). Can “pause” a project but once stopped can not add to it – a new movie needs to be started (so to join “projects” together you need to import them into iMovie or something similar).  Unless you purchase the export option ($1.99) you can not  get your stop-motions off your device – you can only watch them.  The export option gives you exporting to Photo Library, iTunes Sharing Folder and Email or a direct upload to YouTube -
Overall: Remote feature is very worth while especially when working with students and the need to align everything correctly when animating objects.  Really does need the export feature for versatility – I think that makes the $1.99 worth it.

O'Snap

O’Snap (on sale right now: .99 – usually $2.99)
Pros: Easy to adjust settings; Use front or back camera; Change the resolution; Grid overlay; Portrait or landscape; Can change default settings; Has a handy reminder feature so you never forget to take a photo (handy if you want to take a picture a day at a certain time); Overlay capture types include grid, onion skin, adjustable brackets, and ‘eyes’ to keep your photo sequences aligned and consistent; Include music or other audio from your device; Delay start; Projects are ongoing; add or delete images any time you like; Option to darken screen to save battery life; Can limit the amount of photos captured; Share your video project easily via Facebook, email, YouTube or save to camera roll;
Cons:  Pay (.99c) for photo import option; No iPad version; (opens as a small screen on iPad); No remote app;
Overall: At $2.99, a more expensive option – but has a few more interesting features than iMotionHD

Stop Motion Cafe

Stop Motion Cafe (free)
Pros: HD Video 720p; Can edit images (delete); Front & Back camera support; easy -+ adjust frames per second; Can export individual frames to camera roll; Continue to add frames to a project; Mute the sound or capture audio in frame;
Cons: No export to YouTube; email; Facebook – only saves video (called elaborate video) to your camera roll; Interface not as easy to follow as other apps. No iPad version;
Overall:  A little clunky with limited features – but ok for a free app if you want to have a go.

Time-Lapse HD Free

Time-Lapse HD Free
Pros: Easy, simple interface; adjustable frames per minute recording; adjustable frames per minute playback; Converts to video as soon as you stop/save; Saves to your camera roll; iPhone version & iPad version; Able to email video;
Cons:  Has ads; Frame limit (60); Need to purchase Pro Version (1.99) to get rid of ads, adjust frame limit & gain upload option to YouTube
Overall: Very easy to use, with limited options – good for a free app and to get started with.

Stop Animator

Stop Animator (free – Pro Version 0.99c)
*Note: free version not available in all stores
Pros:  It’s free;
Cons: Totally manual – no automatic features; no export features; Free version not available in the NZ store; Has ads;
Overall: Do not waste your time downloading this free version – there are better free ones out there.

 

Working Together

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Last week our Elementary School had it’s annual International Day celebration.  It’s a fabulous day where we come together and celebrate our differences and similarities.  This year’s theme was One Day One World.  Our clever Art Specialists, Paz Molina & Trish Neubrand came up with a mural idea that would ensure that ALL the ES students could contribute too.

Over a week or so, the mural slowly came together.  Using the iPad app iMotionHD (free version is good but the paid version allows you to export) we set the iPad2 up each day to capture the putting together of the mural.

Since we created this stop-motion movie over a number of days, it was very important to:

  • mark out (using masking tape) the placement of the iPad (on the table)
  • mark out the placement of the table the iPad sat on, and
  • mark out the placement of the Mural

this ensured that each time we captured an art session, the differences in capture were minimal.

Using iMovie, all the exported iMotionHD captures were imported in, some still images were added, along with some catchy Creative Commons music called Spring the Swing by Papa_Zulu (found on dig.ccmixter.org) and this is what we ended up with on International Day!

iPad Apps for the Classroom

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(cross-posted at Virtual Rm231)

It seems that this is a “hot topic” in a lot of schools as we head back to begin another school year.  JIS, was no exception.  We started off with a great conversation about ipads vs laptops vs netbooks – why would I want one of these in my class?  My personal opinion is, it’s another tool – use what you’ve got – experiment with what you’ve got – make what’s been made available to you work.  I’m also one of those people who’s prepared to purchase my own tool to experiment with to see if it works in the classroom for my students and/or myself before I ask admin to consider purchasing said-tools for the classroom. iPad2

A couple of days ago, I bought the iPad2.  (My son already has an iPad – it’s become his personal device – so I really don’t have the heart to permanently “borrow” his!  And that’s exactly what the iPad is supposed to be – a personal device.  But, we teachers like to take things that we only have one or two of, and make it work in the classroom environment with many more “bodies” that it was originally designed for!  (That’s why we’re such a creative and innovative bunch!).  So I believe you can make 6 iPads work in class of 20/22/32.  It will take organisation, it will need experimenting, and it will take some effort – but it can be done!

I’m glad we had an opportunity to talk about iPads in the classroom, I’m glad that teachers were able to voice their concerns, their excitement and their questions before we got down and dirty with some top apps for the classroom and ways to use them!  JIS has purchased 40 iPad2′s for their campuses.  I’m hoping that I’ll hear how it’s going and what teachers are doing with them in classroom over the coming year!

Now, here’s the part of the session that really started to buzz – the apps!  Oh the apps! There’s so many great apps out there! So, modeling one of the new online tools that I’d already exposed the teachers too, I used LiveBinders.com to create a resource called iPad Apps for the Classroom.  Click on the link or click on the image below to see this resource.

iPad Apps for the Classroom
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iPads in the Kinder Quad

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Thanks to the generousity of our PTA, funds have been approved to purchase 6 iPad2s for the Kindergarten/Pre-K quad.

An intial meeting with a Kinder team rep (aka: the techie Akiko), the following things have been decided:

  • A separate iTunes account will be created for each team:  Pre-K Team & Kinder
  • The EdTech Accounts department will purchase credit for the iTunes account so that Paid apps can be purchased (spending can also be tracked through this department)
  • Purchase audio splitters (so that 2 or more students can listen to audio on the iPad2 at the same time)
  • The iPads will travel in pairs (so that 3 classrooms can have access to the iPads at any given time)
  • Before the end of the year we will try to purchase 3 iPad2s (they are currently sold out in Thailand) so that all of the team members can “play” with the iPad over the summer.  (Teachers are meeting each other during the summer at various Professional Development courses & will swap iPads over)
  • The focus areas will be Literacy & Math
  • Technology & Learning Coach (me) will:
    • pass on a collected list of iPad apps & recommendations (from PLN) to the team to trial
    • set up an Action Research in Literacy & Math to measure the impact of the iPad2 on student learning (with the plan to get approval for the purchase of more iPads – 6 per classroom)
    • Visit schools in Hong Kong (& Japan – hopefully) to observe how iPads/iTouches are being used in the classroom (with the plan to get approval for the purchase of iTouches for Grade 1)

Apps To Get Started: PreK-K Team

iReading – Stories Collection I lite for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

iReading – Stories Collection I lite (Free)
AppleTreeBooks™ has been inviting some of the best illustrators from across the world to create illustrated stories for us. Exquisite pictures, vivid narration as well as animation and interactive features bring you and your children wonderful stories and a brand new reading experience. We have carefully selected various stories, including well-known classic fairy tales and new original stories, to give you many options to find the ones you love. Additionally, we will continuously update the books on our online bookshelf, so that you can read our illustrated stories at any time. AppleTreeBooks™ will enables you to experience a new kind of reading and the fun that comes along with it.

Talking Tom Cat for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
Talking Tom (Free)
Tom is your pet cat, that responds to your touch and repeats everything you say with a funny voice. Excellent for those kids who are reluctant talkers, or for beginner EAL students learning to say words or phrases.
Pop Math Lite for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
PopMath Lite is the free version of the award winning PopMath.
It is a fun way for kids to practice basic math: 6 pairs of bubbles with numbers float on the screen above beautiful backgrounds.  Each bubble contains a number, like 7 and 3+4: pop the right pairs!  As you progress through levels, numbers increase. End of levels greet you with your time for that level, a message personalized to your performance, and the number of mistakes you did. This free version is limited to additions. The full version PopMath features additions, subtractions, multiplications and divisions, including the choice to practice a given operator for even better drills. It also contains many more background images for more fun.
Learn ABC recognition, writing, and listening skills with animals.   Two writing modes:
1) ALPHABET LETTERS: Write the Capital and Lower-Case letters and learning the letter recognition along with the sound.
2) WORDS: Hear the animal name, write the animal name, and learning the spelling in the process. 

ABC First Phonics - Sight Words Free Lite for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
Brain Counts apps – there are quite a number of lite (free) versions of the Brain Counts apps available for the iPad
iTunes
ABC Sight Words HD Lite (Free)
Learning over 200+ Dolch Sight Words or “High Frequency” Words will help your child learn to read better, and in most schools, it is a requirement for the kids to know these without sounding them out.  The POWER in this learning tool is the ability to change the setting to fit your child’s learning level and style and design to grow with your child. Use this to design your own custom learning lesson plans.
Learn Number counting, writing, and listening skills. This game reinforces associative learning which may aid in early brain development in young kids and may help your child get a HEAD START in READING and WRITING.
ABCMouse.com Grand Canyon for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
ABC Mouse (Free)
This book is part of the next generation of interactive mobile books for kids. With unique features, engaging art, and high quality narration and music, this book will be a favorite for kids of all ages.  Features of this book include:
Realistic page turning – Swipe your finger or click on a corner
Read to Me – The Book reads aloud with professional narration and music
Read with Pause – The reader turns the pages and can read along with the narrator
I Can Read It – The reader reads the book all by themselves
Glossary – Readers can select the glossary on pages to learn the meaning of difficult words through simple explanations
Clickable Search & Explore – On certain pages, kids can click on the animals that they find to hear the names of the animals read aloud.
Fun Facts – Filled with fun facts about the Grand Canyon that will educate and amaze your child. There may even be things that the parents don’t know!
Fully Produced Song – Listen to the entire Grand Canyon song as song by the award-winning ABCMouse.com team at the end of the book.
StoryKit for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
StoryKit (free)
Create an electronic storybook. Make use of the little gaps in life – on the sofa after dinner, in the back seat of the car, or on a train – to do something creative together.
Storyrobe for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
StoryRobe (0.99)
Amobile digital storytelling application. Create a digital story in three simple steps.
1. Choose Images/Videos
2. Record Story
3. Upload to YouTube or Email to friends
Alphabet Tracing for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
Fun train, truck and worm animations come to life for children to follow, while showing the proper way to write alphabet letters and numbers.
TeachMe: Kindergarten for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
TeachMe: Kindergarten (0.99)
TeachMe: Kindergarten is an educational iPhone app which teaches four different age appropriate subjects to Kindergarten aged children: sight words, addition, subtraction and spelling. Subjects can be selected, set different difficulty levels, and you can even choose specific questions. The performance history for each subject can be reviewed.
Word Magic for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store

Word Magic (0.99)
Word Magic is designed keeping preschooler and kindergarten kids in mind. It is very ideal for kids between the ages 3 to 6. It is an excellent application for kids to have fun with words and their spelling and learn them.  A picture is shown and the kids should select the missing letter for the picture. The picture for the word will be read out. There are three flavors. Based on the kids level, you can choose missing letter at the beginning or in the middle or in the last. 

Licking Letters for iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad on the iTunes App Store
Licking Letters (o.99)
Jump into the pond and help your lovable friend, Hoppy the Frog, lick letters to spell words! Kids will have a blast with this exciting and fun spelling adventure! (Ages 2-8)

Links to Others’ Recommended Apps Lists

TeachWithYouriPad I love the way this wiki has been set out!  Clicking on the link above will transport you to an entire page of suitable K-2 apps.  There’s a blurb about the app & the cost – they are also listed in curriculum areas.

teachwithyouripad - Grade K-2 Apps

iPads as Research Tools for Kindergarten
From Zoe Page – Kindergarten Teacher at YIS using iPads in the classroom

iPad Apps for Primary
From Fraser Spiers’ blog

10 Top iPad Apps for Kindergarten
From 1:1 in Practise blog

iPad Apps for the classroom
From One Thought Ahead blog

50 Educational Apps for the iTouch
From Keri-Lee Beasley’s blog: Tip of The Iceberg – most of the apps listed are suitable for the iPad too.

iPad Sharing #1
From Allanah King’s blog: Life is not a Race to be Finished – A list of her favourite apps for the iPad so far.

10 Top iPhone Apps for Kids
Wait! There’s More: Another 10 iPhone Apps for Kids
From Travel Savvy Mom (even though these are iPhone apps, they can be played on iPads too).
Note:  Most of the apps recommended on these blog posts are paid apps.

Can you help?

Given that our focus is Literacy & Math apps – what K-2 apps do you recommend?
How do you know iPads in the classroom impact student learning?
How do you collect the data?

Share and Share-Alike

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The power of your personal network really shines through when you share. Share

Today I shared 10 minutes of my time by skyping into @jasongraham99′s staff meeting in Jakarta, and sharing “3 apps and a tip” for the iPad. I have to say it was pretty hard to narrow the choice down to only 3 apps (so during the “tip” I managed to sneak in another app!).

By using the document camera, the iPad and the share screen function of the Skype (for Mac), I was able to demo the apps and the tips really clearly.

So what did I share?
App 1: Idea Sketch FREE
- fantastic for brainstorming, can email ideas, save to photos.  It lets you easily draw a diagram – mind map, concept map, or flow chart – and convert it to a text outline, and vice versa.

App 2: Chicktionary FREE
-excellent vocabulary/spelling “game” – remember when the teacher put up a word on the board & you had to see how many words you could make from the letters – well this is it iPad style and it’s one of my FAVOURITES!

App 3: Talking Tom FREE
-demo-ed how you can video “Talking Tom” - great for students who are learning English or any other language for that matter, great for reluctant speakers (remember using “puppets”?) who don’t like to talk to “others” but for some reason they love to talk to Tom! The video could easily be a record of oral progress! (Once you get over the initial giggles of course!)

Tip: Install iBooks and get the iPad User Guide as a free download because it’s got a tonne of tips in there!  (see how I sneakily got that extra app in there!!)
Here’s an extra link – just for you dear reader(s) – download this awesome FREE PDF from makeuseof.com with a wealth of tips & tricks for the iPad.

I did show how you can tap a word in iBooks and you can instantly look up the meaning of that word, and I did show how to do a screenshot of anything on the iPad by holding down the home button and the power button at the same time (& the images automatically ends up in photos) so I guess that I snuck in 2 extra tips as well!!  My mother always told me I was not a very good counter!

What would you share if @jasongraham99 asked you to skype into his next staff meeting?