Apps in Plain English

Apps (short for Applications) are actually not that new.  Whenever I need some technology explained "in Plain English" - I turn to the Common Craft page.  Somehow, Lee Lefever makes complicated topics easier to understand. 

From the Common Craft page:
"We hear so much about apps today that it’s easy to think about them being a fundamentally new phenomenon, but the truth is that we used apps or “software applications” long before mobile phones.  This video explains what caused apps to evolve and what new systems are in place that are making them so popular and useful today."

Click here:
VIDEO:  Apps Explained by Common Craft 

I encourage you to check out other videos on the Common Craft page as well!

Appy Hour

I recently attended the NHSTE Workshop on Apps for Education. Wow!  I had the chance to look at and explore a lot of wonderful apps that would enhance education here at Underhill School.  I'd like to share some FREE ones with you here, but be aware I have not tried out every single one.  If you find one here that you like, let us know through comments!  If you have a great app that is not on this list, let me know and I will add it.  More apps will follow in future blog postings!

Idea Sketch

A useful app for:

-brainstorming

-outlining/note taking

-planning

-organizational charts

Phonics Tic-Tac-Toe

This app is a game of identifying vowels, syllables, letter sounds, digraphs, etc.

Audio Book

It is a recording app with unique URL for sharing podcasts, narrating  

Doodle Buddy

With this app, students can paint, draw, sketch; import photos or use supplied backgrounds; other tools: stickers, stencil, text box, paint brush, chalk, glitter, smudge; save to iPad’s camera roll or send in an email 

Screen Chomp

Use this app to explain the how/why of a concept, create a screencast, teach other students or assess student understanding.  It is a recordable whiteboard, can record using blank screen or import picture from Photos, email link to video view - a unique URL is provided

http://www.techsmith.com/labs.html#screenchomp  

QR Codes

Create your own QR codes and use them to link to audio recordings, student created digital stories, websites, images and more

http://www.scoop.it/t/qr-codes-in-the-elementary-school-classroom   

Photo Card

Students can design a postcard with photos, stickers, voice message, then email it

http://www.billatkinson.com/aboutPhotoCard.html 

Great app for sending a post card from a place/landmark studied

Toontastic 

This app allows students to create a quick 5-minute cartoon complete with music, pre-made or creatable backgrounds, and characters. Students narrate the cartoon.  Toontastic provides a platform that lets students develop the set-up, conflict, challenge, climax, and resolution of a story. 

Stack the States (Lite is free)

The app asks trivia questions about a state, or asks you to identify the shape of the state. If you answer correctly, you'll earn that state to add to your platform. The goal is to stack as many states on the platform as necessary to reach a goal line without the stack tipping over. When you reach the goal, you are awarded a state to add to your collection. 

National Geographic Explorer

This is a robust classroom resource that connects students to the world. It supports common core science and language arts standards. Highly interactive content with videos, audio, photos, and leveled text gives students an authentic learning experience that engages while it teaches.

Scribble Press

Scribble Press allows kids to combine their own writing and artwork (or clip art or imported images) into a book and even includes some "starter books," which work sort of like Mad Libs, to help inspire them.

Miss Spell

This app will test the spelling ability of your students by offering up a variety of words that the students need to decide whether they are spelled correctly or not. Speed and accuracy score the best points as you decipher the 20 words on offer for each level. American English is the standard spelling format, and there are over 10,000 words tested.

Story Kit

Story Kit is the International Children's Digital Library App. It allows students to create their own stories, complete with pictures. Add text boxes, images and sound clips. Record sounds for stories, and add, reorder or delete  pages. Add pictures by drawing on the screen, taking a picture of something, or drawing something on paper and taking a picture of it.

Bluster

Players match synonyms, prefixes, or rhyming words in this interactive vocabulary game with single player or team mode

Counting Bills and Coins

This is a great app with five different activities that are customizable by skill level. Kids can do simple activities with just beginner knowledge of currency, all the way up to more complex word problems making change at a cash register.

Here are some recommended websites that also review and list educational apps:

Digital Wish's Apps Center for Education Helps Teachers Identify Android Apps for the K-12 Classroom! Funded by a grant from the Motorola Mobility Foundation, Digital Wish has just launched the Digital Wish Apps Center, the newest tool designed to help teachers find the best educational applications designed for the Android. operating system. http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/apps_center

TCEA-Recommended iPad Apps

This Google spreadsheet is publically available and contains hundreds of apps listed by over 50 different categories – the matrix is color-coded to easily identify FREE resources and prices are listed for those with a cost. http://tinyurl.com/TCEA-iPad-Apps-Matrix

From eSchoolNews ~ 10 of the best apps for education

As iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches become more integrated in classrooms, educators, and students are looking for new ways to apply them to the learning process. Applications on all of these devices can help automate current classroom processes or present new ways to learn that previously had been unexplored. In this collection, eSchoolNews’ Assistant Editor, Jenna Zwang assembled a list of education “apps” for Apple devices of note, five are free, and the other five range in price from $0.99 to $9.99. http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/01/07/10-of-the-best-apps-for-education

The Best Education Apps at FETC (Florida Education Technology Conference)

Mobile learning was a cornerstone of the FETC conference in Orlando last month (Feb. 2012) and the buzz culminated with the conference's closing session: An App Shootout where ed-tech pros Gail Lovely, Hall Davidson, and Jenna Linskens shared some of their favorite apps for Apple devices. This link includes 11 apps shared by Jenna and links to the two Google spreadsheets compiled during the “shootout”, one list from the panelists (37 apps) and one from the audience (over 50 additional apps)! http://thejournal.com/articles/2012/02/06/the-best-education-apps-at-fetc.aspx

Top 20 Must-Have Educational iPhone & iPad Apps Used By Real Teachers in the Classroom

From the Appolicous Advisor, educators share their lists of the best education apps for elementary, middle school, junior high, and high school. http://tinyurl.com/Top-20-Must-Have-Apps

 

To GOOGOL or Not To GOOGLE

"Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. 
A librarian can bring you back the right one." 
 The Guardian (London)

goo·gle/ˈgo͞ogəl/

Verb:

Use an Internet search engine, particularly Google.com: "she spent the afternoon googling aimlessly". Search for the name of (someone) on the Internet to find out information about them.

It has become a verb of common use in our popular lexicon "to google".  And I'll admit it...I've googled, too (I "googled" google for the screenshot above).  But it is no accident that the first definition uses the phrase "googling aimlessly" as an example.  Google is great when you have plenty of time and want to wander through endless websites looking for exactly the correct result.  However, as you can see by the number of "hits", you would have to wander through 16,430,000,000 websites to truly know if you have gotten the information you want.

If you were really looking for the meaning of the math term "GOOGOL", you might have to dig deeper.  If you got lucky (and spelled it correctly), you could find the following:

 Of course, it might still be a bit confusing:

Any good librarian will direct students and staff to the best resource for the information they need.  Sometimes that is a particular website; sometimes it is a dictionary; sometimes it is a book.  But the best resource, the most reliable resource, the QUICKEST resource - is someone who already knows where to find the correct answer.  Ask your librarian.

If You Like WORDLE...

...you'll love some of these new websites.  They are like a WORDLE (words individually sized appropriately to highlight the frequencies of occurrence within the body of text), but inside a shape!  This is a simple tool that automatically fills a shape with any words you like. Enter some words separated by commas in the text box and press the 'Enter' key. You can also choose fonts or change the colors.

            Here's one for Valentine's Day: 

http://www.neoformix.com/Projects/WordHearts/

And another one in the shape of a snowflake:

http://www.neoformix.com/Projects/TextFlake/index.html

Another great Wordle-like website that uses shapes is 

http://www.tagxedo.com/

Tagxedo turns words into a visually stunning word cloud, and is great for projects, themed activities or making gifts.

Check them out, and let us know how you might use one of these websites in your classroom.  PLEASE comment below - we'd love to hear from you!

Apps for You, the Teacher

APPitic is like an "App Store" for teachers.  Created by teacher and technology specialist Alline Sada, it is an online guide to apps for learning, including great categories (see below) for browsing like "Bloom's Taxonomy" and "Multiple Intelligences".  ADES are "Apple Distinguished Educators" who review and comment on apps.  Many of the apps cost only a few dollars and lots of FREE apps are listed as well.  Check it out, and share YOUR favorite apps or websites for apps aggregators!

Click here: appitic.com

Student Response Systems

At the Christa McAuliffe Tech Conference, I had the opportunity to demo a Smart Student Response System (SRS).  I've been considering a purchase of such a system for our Underhill Library, and it was great to have the chance to play around with one.  

Many of us are using BrainPop Jr. more than ever, and the built-in quizzes that are tied to state standards make it easy to assess student comprehension.  Although our students love to go up to the SmartBoard to chose an answer from the multiple choices, think about how much fun it would be if each student had a response clicker!  More than just the fun factor, using a Student Response System would:

~ eliminate that "getting up and sitting down" transition time

~ enable every student to participate at the same time

~ give the teacher an overview of each student's answer; it is clear at a glance who "gets it" and who doesn't

~ require participation by all, especially those quiet students who rarely raise their hands

~ stimulate class discussion based upon the immediate results 

~ encourage students to reflect on their own answers by giving immediate feedback

~ also allow teachers to create their own quizzes, or share from the Smart Community

Look at the screenshots below, check out the links, and give me your feedback....should we purchase a Student Response System for Underhill School or is it just another "gadget"?

Smart Response Features

Videos to learn how Smart Response works

Website with Links to Articles on SRS

All You Need for a Snowman

Although we haven't had too much snow so far this season (not counting the Halloween Blizzard of 2011), we can't help but think about making SnowPeople.  They are so cheerful, so easy to get along with, so much fun to create.  If you need inspiration or just a really good story to read to your students, we've created a Resource List in our Underhill Library Catalog just for you! 

Simply click here:  Underhill Library Catalog Online

and you will see "Destiny Quest" (screenshot below) - a feature where we can create lists of resources for your convenience.  Go to the RESOURCE LIST, and click on the one titled "Snowman" and browse away!

While you are here in DESTINY QUEST, look to see what 
THE TOP 10 BOOKS are, and check out some of 
our NEW ARRIVALS!