10 Apps for Tuesday

I found some great free apps that I had to share! 1) Click on the link below 2) Click on View in iTunes and iTunes will open for you 3) Click on Purchase and put in your password. If you have any questions about downloading, please let me know and I will stop down and help.

1) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/endless-alphabet/id591626572?mt=8 The Endless Alphabet App is an interactive 'monster app' that has almost like alphabet flashcards and upon selecting a flashcard a word starting with that letter comes up. Students have to plug in the letter and as they drag the letter it makes it's sound. So cute! It is updated on a regular basis with new words. 

2) https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/hudsonalpha-icell/id364882015?mt=8 HudsonAlpha iCell App is an interactive app to travel through plant, bacteria, and animal cells. It is color coded and I wish I would have had this when I was in science classes! 

3) https://itunes.apple.com/app/powers-of-minus-ten-bone/id591722396?mt=8 Power of Minus Ten- Bones is an app to show you the inside of bones, a broken hand bone and how it heals. You can zoom in both ways and has scientific names with explanations. 

4) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/disney-fish-hooks/id550005327?mt=8 Disney Fish Hooks App looks a lot like just a game, but it cleverly disguises critical thinking and process skills as learners have to get the fish out of the bubble at the top of the screen to the aquarium tube by carefully angling series after series of logs with the correct angle. I thought it looked easy until we got to the higher levels and then, it got really fun. It reminded me of a Rube Goldberg machine. 

5) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gesundheit!/id591696651?mt=8 Gesundheit! is the app of the week on iTunes and, again, at first looks like a game, but to get your "guy" from place to place, you have step on levers, get fruit, and... okay, fine. It's more of a game, but fun to learn how to use the multitasking gestures on the iPad with short tutorials coming up when needed. Not to mention, it has fun flute music. 

6) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wheels-on-bus-all-in-one-educational/id543545550?l=es&mt=8 The Wheels on the Bus Activity Center has counting, racing games with spelling, puzzles, and other fun activities centered around transportation. The full version has more, but this is free and has quite a lot. 

7) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic-free/id404693282?mt=8 Toontastic was mentioned in a past email, but it keeps getting better with updates. You can have students create their own cartoon based on many fun characters, backgrounds, record their own narration, and it even coincides with the traditional plot diagram with a story arc. I can see a lot of possibilities for Elementary all the way up to Middle School. Even if you do not have an iPad right now, stop in and use one for a day or so to check it out and use them in class. The iPad checkout is located here: http://tinyurl.com/deuelipad

8) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/language-development-preschool/id554622105?mt=8 iLearn with Boing has multiple apps, but you can only do the "words" portion of each app for free. The words portion allows you to take the seals (in the ocean app) and move the letters in the order of the word. There are many other iLearn with Boing apps too.

9) https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/geodash-wild-animal-adventure/id573679651?mt=8 GeoDash combines a Mario World type game with learning animal characteristics and specific animals in different biomes. As it is a National Geographic sponsored app, it has a lot of great information read aloud to the students as they go through the game. 

10) https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/where-do-i-go-group-match-words/id499190609?mt=8 The Where Do I Go? App is a fun way for students to learn how to group and classify animals, food, geography, climate, and home. It is fun to watch as they are given a theme and have to choose all of the applicable items in that category. 

I'll stop at 10 for today, but had to share some of the latest. Also, a new update is available for iPads as of yesterday. Go to your Systems App, General, Software update and tap install. You cannot install software using the school's wireless, but you can at home. I can also do this install when I hook iPads up to the MacBook Pro in my office that does not use the wireless. If you need help with this process, let me know. 

Have a great day! 

MS/ HS Tech Tools Presentation

Here is the copy of the MS/ HS Tech Tools Presentation. We went through some great ways to integrate video in the classroom, ways to store useful classroom videos on playlists, as well as many great FREE video resources.

Crash Course YouTube Channel for Biology or World History

There are 73 videos on this channel that are quick-paced and have interesting graphics. They are between 12- 15 minutes long and may be interesting to show in class. There are topics in both World History and Biology. Take a peak and see if any may be relevant for your classroom. There are some that are better than others, but worth a look to help reinforce an idea learned in class. 

Crash Course YouTube Channel

Welcome back! Week One

The summer ended quickly and soon we will be back to the classroom. I have been given a wonderful opportunity to be able to come into your classroom to help with technology integration. Next week at in-service I will have some time to visit with each group (Elem, MS, and HS) about what you would like me to do for you this year and I am excited to hear about your ideas. 

So, to start of the year, here are a few technology ideas for you: 

Every email I send out or handout I give out at any in-service will be archived at my blog. Here is the link: http://teachertechweekly.blogspot.com/ 

http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ 

The fun math facts listed here and each fact has a problem, diagram or short explanation of a fun math fact. This may be a good opener for class and most can be adapted for upper elementary through high school. 

http://www.mathlanding.org/
Math landing is a great K-6 database of math lesson plans and most of these plans you could find through other places on the internet, but this site has them all stored for you to search.
http://visual.ly/
If you like Pinterest, you will like this website. Almost all of the great graphics you pin are cataloged here and you can even make your own! You could find a great graph or chart to display population, election coverage or current events information in visual format is a great way to target visual learners. You could also take your own to teach many graphic concepts.

http://scistarter.com/
Sci Starter is a database of science projects/ lessons that are categorized by topic, but you can search by key terms as well. You can also search by topics that are free/ low cost, have teaching materials available or feature projects.
http://freemusicarchive.org/
Napster and Limewire are long gone and it is hard to justify spending money on music to narrate a school project. This archive will give you a great place to download a genre-searchable database of music.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/studyblue-flashcards/id323887414?mt=8 

"STUDYBLUE Flashcards" iPad/ iPod Touch app is a FREE flashcard app that requires an account, but it can be created after you download the app. Always on the lookout for great flashcard apps, this one heads to to the top of the list because of the collaboration element. For lower grades, it might be teachers creating the flashcards and sharing or upper grades, the students split the material and collaborate for a great review tool. 

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/using-i-and-me/id493067783?mt=8 

"Using I and Me" is a great app for iPad/ iPod Touch users with pre-made flashcards with pictures of situations using I and Me properly. As a former High School English teacher, I will attest to the need for this app for just about every student, even me sometimes!

Quick Tip: 

Have you ever shortened a URL to make it easier for students to type in? You can do this with ANY web address. There are many options, but I like to Google route because it will save all of your past shortened URLs for you when you are signed in with your Google ID. Here are the steps: 

1) Copy the URL you want to shorten. 

2) Open up this link in a new window or tab: http://goo.gl/

3) Paste the URL you want to shorten in the box. 

4) Click on the blue button, shorten URL. 

5) Your new URL will appear in the box and look something like this: http://goo.gl/3w5qc 

Please let me know if you have any questions and I will do the best I can to help you. Have a great weekend!