It was kind of tricky for me as a counselor to find apps. that apply to my field. I realized that when teaching careers I could definately utilize some apps. There were several about space and about music that could be tied into career lessons. There are times that my role in the school setting can be used as a reinforcer of positive behavior. For example, students may be on star charts for various reasons and when the star charts are filled up, a reward may be that they get to spend some time with me, the counselor. I think the iPad and the various educational apps could be used as a reward in itself. Whether students do it with me, or in their classrom with their teacher, what an amazing tool for students to learn on. My guess would be that even thought students are learning, they are having fun and feeling good about themselves.
Kathy Schrock has some great math apps. I chose to work with financial football and "my budget". The fact that these are topics not in my current curriculum added interest for me. The quick facts, lessons, games and extra resources were very useful. I will add more of her math apps down the road.
I downloaded My Gov which is an app that shows all the bills pending in either the House or Senate. This app also shows how much each Senator/Congressmen is bringing into either their state or district. I didn't like the fact this app is designed for the iPhone. While it is possible to download iPhone apps to the iPad the resolution becomes distorted when you zoom in. I also downloaded iAmerica which gives a lot of interesting facts about the US and the government but once again it is an iPhone app. I found some of the app I had previously downloaded to be more valuable such as Today History which is the best source of information I have ever seen about historical events that happened on a particular day. I also use the app Constitution which explains all the articles and amendements to the Constitution as well as all the Federalist Papers. I highly recommend both of these apps to any History teacher.
I found a kindergarten app that's pretty fun. It has lots literacy information and activities for kids to do. I let a reading group that is learning to identify alphabet letters take turns trying and they had a blast. I also downloaded the ibooks app. I found some Dr. Seuss books, which was kind of cool. I also found a book on classroom management, which was a great refresher. -- Cindy
I downloaded 5 new apps and tried them with my children (kindergarten and 4th grade). Here is my general impression of each... - Teach Me Kindergarten - focuses on math, spelling and sight words. My daughter enjoyed using this app and it gave nice reinforcement and support during activities. - iWrite Words - practice writing uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and words. I saw this one in action in one of our SpEd rooms recently and had to try it with my kindergartener. It does a great job of teaching proper writing strokes and the kids LOVE it! - Shake 'em Up States - practices states and capitals flashcard-style. This one is okay, but it has only one level so it is truly just like using flashcards. - Stack the States - practices information about states such as important cities and geographic location. My daughter was more into this one because it has levels and you earn states on your math the more questions you get correct. - Brain POP - shows a new educational video daily. Both of my children enjoyed this one. Just like the Brain POP videos online along with a quiz.
I downloaded Doodle Buddy on the Ipad. It reminds me of a marker board that I use in class. But this is even better because it's in color and you can change the background and add stamps to decorate the page. My students have used it for a say and spell game they play in groups. I am sure that there could be many uses for this app both educationally and for fun.
I also downloaded I Learn the Time. It is a game for practicing telling time. It has 3 different levels. Easy, Medium, and Hard. It also has 4 different games to play. Students move the hands to match the given time. They are even timed on how long it take them to finish the 15 questions. One of the games works with elapsed time, which is very hard for young kids to understand. Cute sounds too.
I also found a game like the old Simon game. It has levels of diffuculty. My students loved it. I found myself stuck playing it at times too. It was free, some of the levels are locked. Not sure yet if you have to pay to unlock them or if you have to work your way up to them. We are not there yet. It's class challenge.
Finding lots of fun stuff. It just takes time to locate. I also like reading the reviews. I almost bought a few apps that had some major problems and complaints from others.
As a secretary, I didn't find anything to download. I'm hooked on pinterest which has bullentin board ideas and science experiments for elementary students among tons of other stuff.
I downloaded iTranslate and Evernote. ITranslate is an app that instantly translates anything you type or speak into the iPad to another language. I really like this App because it is super easy to use and it includes audio read backs for the prominent languages. You can speak into the iPad in English, tap a button and read the response in, say, Spanish, tap another button and hear the response in Spanish. This would be a simple App to use with families who don't use English as their first language. There are hundreds of languages to choose from too. Let's hope students don't discover this App too soon. I'll become suspicious if Spanish I grades suddenly skyrocket!
Evernote is a multi-purpose App that will let me keep notes, make lists and organize data. The best thing about EverNote is that my data will transfer between devices so long as I have the App downloaded on each device. I really hope to take advantage of an App like this to eliminate the amount of paper that mauves through my off on a daily basis. I'm having some difficulty launching the App on my IPad but have used it on my phone. Hopefully I can get things working in both places soon.
States and capitols is a super fun way to practice for those students who love competition. I tried it out with my kids and we had a great time playing! The second app I tried was Oregon Trail. It was way better than the game I remembered from the '90's. It would be a great way to engage students in the pioneer history. The last one I tried was World fact book. It was about as simple as an atlas/factbbok can be. I couldn't even find a search feature. However it would work as an introduction to reference in the library
It was kind of tricky for me as a counselor to find apps. that apply to my field. I realized that when teaching careers I could definately utilize some apps. There were several about space and about music that could be tied into career lessons.
ReplyDeleteThere are times that my role in the school setting can be used as a reinforcer of positive behavior. For example, students may be on star charts for various reasons and when the star charts are filled up, a reward may be that they get to spend some time with me, the counselor. I think the iPad and the various educational apps could be used as a reward in itself. Whether students do it with me, or in their classrom with their teacher, what an amazing tool for students to learn on. My guess would be that even thought students are learning, they are having fun and feeling good about themselves.
Kathy Schrock has some great math apps. I chose to work with financial football and "my budget". The fact that these are topics not in my current curriculum added interest for me. The quick facts, lessons, games and extra resources were very useful. I will add more of her math apps down the road.
ReplyDeleteI downloaded My Gov which is an app that shows all the bills pending in either the House or Senate. This app also shows how much each Senator/Congressmen is bringing into either their state or district. I didn't like the fact this app is designed for the iPhone. While it is possible to download iPhone apps to the iPad the resolution becomes distorted when you zoom in. I also downloaded iAmerica which gives a lot of interesting facts about the US and the government but once again it is an iPhone app. I found some of the app I had previously downloaded to be more valuable such as Today History which is the best source of information I have ever seen about historical events that happened on a particular day. I also use the app Constitution which explains all the articles and amendements to the Constitution as well as all the Federalist Papers. I highly recommend both of these apps to any History teacher.
ReplyDeleteI found a kindergarten app that's pretty fun. It has lots literacy information and activities for kids to do. I let a reading group that is learning to identify alphabet letters take turns trying and they had a blast. I also downloaded the ibooks app. I found some Dr. Seuss books, which was kind of cool. I also found a book on classroom management, which was a great refresher. -- Cindy
ReplyDeleteI downloaded 5 new apps and tried them with my children (kindergarten and 4th grade). Here is my general impression of each...
ReplyDelete- Teach Me Kindergarten - focuses on math, spelling and sight words. My daughter enjoyed using this app and it gave nice reinforcement and support during activities.
- iWrite Words - practice writing uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and words. I saw this one in action in one of our SpEd rooms recently and had to try it with my kindergartener. It does a great job of teaching proper writing strokes and the kids LOVE it!
- Shake 'em Up States - practices states and capitals flashcard-style. This one is okay, but it has only one level so it is truly just like using flashcards.
- Stack the States - practices information about states such as important cities and geographic location. My daughter was more into this one because it has levels and you earn states on your math the more questions you get correct.
- Brain POP - shows a new educational video daily. Both of my children enjoyed this one. Just like the Brain POP videos online along with a quiz.
Good apps that were fun to work with.
I downloaded Doodle Buddy on the Ipad. It reminds me of a marker board that I use in class. But this is even better because it's in color and you can change the background and add stamps to decorate the page. My students have used it for a say and spell game they play in groups. I am sure that there could be many uses for this app both educationally and for fun.
ReplyDeleteI also downloaded I Learn the Time. It is a game for practicing telling time. It has 3 different levels. Easy, Medium, and Hard. It also has 4 different games to play. Students move the hands to match the given time. They are even timed on how long it take them to finish the 15 questions. One of the games works with elapsed time, which is very hard for young kids to understand. Cute sounds too.
I also found a game like the old Simon game. It has levels of diffuculty. My students loved it. I found myself stuck playing it at times too. It was free, some of the levels are locked. Not sure yet if you have to pay to unlock them or if you have to work your way up to them. We are not there yet. It's class challenge.
Finding lots of fun stuff. It just takes time to locate. I also like reading the reviews. I almost bought a few apps that had some major problems and complaints from others.
As a secretary, I didn't find anything to download. I'm hooked on pinterest which has bullentin board ideas and science experiments for elementary students among tons of other stuff.
ReplyDeleteMaryAnn
I downloaded iTranslate and Evernote. ITranslate is an app that instantly translates anything you type or speak into the iPad to another language. I really like this App because it is super easy to use and it includes audio read backs for the prominent languages. You can speak into the iPad in English, tap a button and read the response in, say, Spanish, tap another button and hear the response in Spanish. This would be a simple App to use with families who don't use English as their first language. There are hundreds of languages to choose from too. Let's hope students don't discover this App too soon. I'll become suspicious if Spanish I grades suddenly skyrocket!
ReplyDeleteEvernote is a multi-purpose App that will let me keep notes, make lists and organize data. The best thing about EverNote is that my data will transfer between devices so long as I have the App downloaded on each device. I really hope to take advantage of an App like this to eliminate the amount of paper that mauves through my off on a daily basis. I'm having some difficulty launching the App on my IPad but have used it on my phone. Hopefully I can get things working in both places soon.
States and capitols is a super fun way to practice for those students who love competition. I tried it out with my kids and we had a great time playing! The second app I tried was Oregon Trail. It was way better than the game I remembered from the '90's. It would be a great way to engage students in the pioneer history. The last one I tried was World fact book. It was about as simple as an atlas/factbbok can be. I couldn't even find a search feature. However it would work as an introduction to reference in the library
ReplyDelete