2. At the top where it lists the categories, click on "More."
3. Using the drop-down menu, find "Education" and click on that. (See below for a visual aid.)
- The Basics
- Time Savers
- Get Inspired
- Class Projects
- Reference
Cheers,
Lesley
With the end of the quarter approaching, I have been quite busy! But do you know who else has been busy? Apple people. They now have a section called "Apps for Teachers" and while I'm sure you are familiar with at most (if not some) of these apps, you never know what you may find. (And if you find something good, let me know and I can add it to our site!) Here is what you do... 1. With your iPad, access the iTunes App Store. 2. At the top where it lists the categories, click on "More." 3. Using the drop-down menu, find "Education" and click on that. (See below for a visual aid.) 4. When you are in the "Education" category, you should see the "Apps for Teachers" in the menu at the top of the screen. 5. Scroll to the new "Apps for Teachers" menu and click on it. 6. Explore the categories with "Apps for Teachers." They include:
So there you have it. Apps suggested for teachers by Apple Inc. Perhaps it will help inspire you for 2nd quarter. ;-) Enjoy!
Cheers, Lesley
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This post is especially for Kinder and Lower Elementary teachers. As I'm sure you could guess, this is not my area of expertise; however, one of my best friends is an ELL elementary teacher, so I made sure to pick her brain this summer for some good apps. These are her recommendations:
1) Montessori Crosswords (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/montessori-crosswords-spelling/id384334005?mt=8) Cost: $2.99 This app was SO COOL! Basically, the child is given an image and scrambled letters and the child is expected to spell the word. What sets this app apart from others is the fact that it helps students with phonics because it will pronounce the sounds of the letters. This game will most certainly help students' reading, writing, and spelling skills. 2) Lakeshore Tic Tac Toe Phonics (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/phonics-tic-tac-toe-interactive/id465184366?mt=8) Cost: FREE! This is another app that works on phonics but in a different way. Two students could play against each other as they work on their reading and spelling skills. The app opens and asks which team should go first and then you can see all of the questions. The mostly deal with the sounds of letters, so it's a great game for phonics. Since it's free, why not check it out for yourself? After all, it puts a new twist on an old favorite. (And you'll get to work on sharing and taking turns, too!) 3) Mad Math (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mad-math-2/id363485649?mt=8) Cost: $1.99 Have students work on their math skills (specifically addition, subtraction, multiplication, and/or division) while they play a game of Bingo or Bubble math or even just working with flashcards. It also keeps track of students' scores so you can see how they are improving. 4) Star Fall (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/starfall-abcs/id395623983?mt=8) Cost: $2.99 Yet another chance for students to work with the English alphabet and to hear the sounds each letter makes. They get to hear the sounds in words, sentences, and games. I'm pretty sure they would like that, right? 5) Vocab-a-splat (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vocab-a-splat/id517271626?mt=8) Cost: $.99 This game is meant to help students improve their site words. The words are grouped into categories and context clues are given as students build upon their vocabulary. They say there are 400 words in the game, so that would be a great start for anyone ages 4-6, don't you think? So there you have it--teacher-tested and approved apps for Kinder and lower elementary. I hope you find them to be a great tool in your classroom. But as always, if any of you have any other suggestions, do let me know. I would be happy to feature them on this site so we can all learn and benefit from your success. Cheers, Lesley American association of School Librarians' (AASL) List of Best Apps for Teaching & Learning8/6/2013
Click on the image to go to the link.
As the school year is about to start, it's no surprise Mr. Makhlouf sent me this link to the AASL's Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. A few of them are already highlighted in this website, but many are new, so please do check it out. There are book apps (and I'm guessing they would be the complete books, too, because none of them are free. Prices range from $2.99 to $14.99.); Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) apps (and most are free except Operation Math is $2.99 and Simple Physics is $1.99); organization and management apps (all are free and most should be familiar); social sciences apps (all are $4.99 except News-O-Matic and MyCongress which are FREE!); and content creation apps (and all are FREE except GarageBand which is $4.99). So before you head off for the first day of school, take a look and see if you get any more ideas for this 2013-14 school year. With two iPad carts and many teachers who have their own iPads, I believe there are many possibilities to enhance what we're already doing well. Imagine the possibilities and keep checking back here. ;-) Cheers, Lesley Hello, everyone! I know it's been a while, but what can I say? I'm enjoying my summer. :-) And I hope you are as well! However, you should still be looking for apps and playing around with them. I have made a few changes on the site, but the one that you need to know about is an app you should have gotten yesterday--Apps Gone Free. This is an app that tells you what apps are free for a day. There are usually lots of games, but I've gotten some neat PDF and camera apps using Apps Gone Free, so check it out today and see what apps you find. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/apps-gone-free-best-daily/id470693788?mt=8 Cheers,
Lesley I've come across a few apps that I think will be wonderful for us teachers.
1. TeacherCast -- This app links you to TeacherCast.net (a great website that is actually very much like the app itself) and gives you access to their podcasts, blogs, videos, etc. about educational issues, topics and ideas. There is also links to the mobile classroom (which gives you access to materials you would want to use in a mobile classroom) and "apps" recommends apps for you (though it's not working at school well... I wonder if that's because the App Store is blocked, though). I think it's a very user-friendly interface and the ease of use continues if you look at the bottom of the screen where the navigational icons are that can give you more information about TeacherCast, link you to "educational portals" (i.e., email, calendar, Facebook, Dropbox, Gmail, YouTube, etc.), and extras which will link you to already done LiveBinders filled with great ideas and other links that aren't quite as exciting, in my opinion. Even though it's basically the same as the website, it's worth downloading the app so that you'll see it and be encouraged to use it more. 2. TeacherKit -- This app is great for classroom management. You can create seating arrangements here and you can add notes about attendance, behavior, and the grades of each student. There is even a space to add the student's email, a parent's email, and a parent phone number. The navigational tabs at the top allow you to tap on students who are present, quickly add a note or a behavioral note about a student, and keep track of grades. While I don't think I will use the grading feature, I'm excited to use it as a tool for parent meetings. It will be nice to have all of those notes in one place! You can have multiple classes, too, so this will work well for high school teachers. (And you can change the settings so that you can keep track of excused and unexcused absences! Edline may not do it, but now we can! All I will need to see is that excused absence slip...) Elementary teachers, please read about ClassDojo. 3. ClassDojo -- The app actually goes along with the website. In fact, you have to use the website to set up your class. Nevertheless, I think this app/website could work WONDERS in your classroom because you award students positive points for working hard, being on task, or participating or you could take away points for negative behaviors like being off task, talking out of turn, or being unprepared. The students are displayed as funny-looking avatars so you could display this during class to see how many points the students accumulate and then the stats are kept on the website. The website is MUCH more complete; the app seems to be just a quick way to award/take away points, but I think it would be good motivation to show students at the end of the day. And you can wipe the points daily so all students start at 0 each day, but YOU can see the daily stats or the average to see if there is a problem. You can also share this with parents. Personally, it's a little too elementary for me, but it looks like a great tool for those of you who have younger students. 4. WDWDT? -- WDWDT=What did we do today? This is actually a phone app that you can download onto your iPad and it will contact the students and parents to send reminders about homework or special events, or you can ask for volunteers (student or parent--maybe you need a chaperone or maybe you need someone to read their poem to another class or something), or you can conduct a survey, or you can arrange a meeting. If you can get parents to use this app (but really, why wouldn't they want access to that kind of info?), this would be an AMAZING tool. I'm going to require my students to use it because the Google calendar and Facebook reminders weren't enough. When in doubt, over-communicate, right? ;-) Cheers, Lesley Congratulations!!! I hear the iPads are out and I've seen some pictures and what not on Facebook. How fun! So now I'm hoping we will make this site AMAZING! As you find cool apps, please let me know and I will post them here so that we can use our new technology in the best way. Yesterday, Edutopia posted this picture: Those are words to remember.... In fact, here is an article that talks about putting iPad on a "pedestal"--something we definitely don't want to do! If you are interested, here's the link: http://www.edudemic.com/2013/05/ipads-in-the-classroom-the-right-questions-you-should-ask/
Those are some questions we should all be asking as we work together to use iPads in an educationally sound manner and not as a means of entertainment. Cheers, Lesley Guess what I found the other day... A blog like this website! Here's the link: http://appsineducation.blogspot.mx/
So as we prepare for our iPads, please check out this website. (I'll also add specific links on the pages of this website, but I wanted to highlight it here.) As you find apps you like, please let me know and I will add them to our site so that it is more tailored for us at CAT. Let's face it, the World Wide Web is FULL of resources; therefore, if we can find apps that work for us, it will be nice to have them in one place, especially as teachers come and go. Cheers, Lesley So today I have stumbled upon a great new resource: Listly. The pages I've found have a list of apps specifically for iPads; however, I plan to see what others lists I can find on Listly. I've already bookmarked the ones I've found on my Diigo account and linked them on the appropriate pages here, but just in case you missed it, here are the pages I've found and LOVED!
Educational Games: http://list.ly/list/1oW-parents-guide-to-educational-ipad-games?feature=widget Educator's Essential iPad Toolkit: http://list.ly/list/1WF-educators-essential-ipad-toolkit?feature=widget iPad App Recommendations for K-6: http://list.ly/list/1W6-ipad-app-recommendations-for-k-6?feature=widget If I find more, you better believe I'll post them here to highlight the wonderful resources I've found. Enjoy! Cheers, Lesley |
About the AuthorLesley is an English teacher who is passionate about using connectivism in the classroom and preparing students and teachers for using the tools that are available to them on a regular basis. This blog will focus on iPad apps and Web 2.0 tools that can enhance and diversify learning. Leave a comment and let me know what you think or what you'd like to learn about! Archives
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