Which essential Apps does a teacher need? Check out videos of these five essential Apps or websites. Learn why teachers should be using these Apps!
Find 10 free kindergarten ipad apps for reading and math. This list includes apps that can be great independent practice or for centers.
Fluency is one of the foundations of a solid reading program. All of my students have fluency goals - most of which are met during guided reading groups or when reading independently - but some of the students do need more fluency practice. There are several iPad apps and activities for fluency practice that I recommend. Organizing the iPads for fluency practice First you will want to figure out how your students will be using the iPad apps and activities for fluency practice in your classroom. I would assign my students specific fluency activities that they needed to accomplish each
There are many wonderful (and some not so wonder) drawing/painting apps available for the iPad. Some are easy to use while others are more complicated. Knowing which to painting app may be right for you can take some research. Below is a look at my top three painting apps for the iPad. Two of these I currently teach to my students at Apex High School. I'm listing these in order from simplest to use to most complex. #3. Art Set I love this silly little app! It's like opening the draw at home where you keep all the art supplies and finding to your surprise that someone has actually organized it. On the complexity scale it is relatively easy while still having some really great features. You start out by choosing a type of paper. These come in several different textures. You can also easily change the color. The default is white but here I have changed it to bue. Speaking of color, that's the next thing you do. Click the little palette icon on the bottom left hand corner and select from a wide range of colors. Lastly, choose your medium.. crayon, marker, pen, paint, colored pencil. They all respond similarly to what you would expect. Art Set is about as simple as that. However, I think that the simplicity is what gives Art Set its charm. Most anyone from small children to adults will be able to instantly create art. For the low, low price of 99 cents, it's worth the download. #2. Layers: If you're looking for something a little more advanced, but still easy to us, try Layers. What I like about layers is how simple it is. It has a brush, an eraser and a smudgy finger. That and of course, layers. The version I'm using only allows for four layers but that is a good number when you are just starting out. Layers has a better set of brush styles than Art Set but not so many that you can't decide what to use. The brushes are adjustable, again just enough to get started without complicating life. The best feature by far is Layers smudge tool. It just seems to work better than smudge tools on other apps. You can adjust the brush size and pressure as well. #1. Sketchbook Pro Sketchbook Pro is one of two apps I've already purchased for my art classes at Apex High School. One of the nice features that many drawing apps come with is layers (layers as a tool not to be confused with Layers the App). Layers, which are transparent, allow the artists to draw or paint on top of of drawings. For example, you can put a line sketch on a bottom layer and then paint in color on a top layer. The beauty of layers is, they can be turned on or off while the artist is working. Layers can also moved above or below a layer. Sketchbook Pro also also four different layer modes including multiply, add and screen. you can even adjust the opacity of the layers. you can see how much more rich and complex this app is already. Another really nice feature of Sketchbook Pro is all the different brushes it comes with. In the image above you can see the 8 little grey icons. These represent some of the different brushes available. I can swipe that menu and reveal more brushes. Plus I'm pretty sure I can add more brushes (though I haven't tried that yet). Sketchbook Pro also allows me to adjust the opacity of the tool I'm using. This way I can spray colors on top of colors. Sketchbook Pro even comes with a bunch of goofy stamps... clouds, little people, bugs and butterflies.. a little corny and canned but they are fun to play with. Plus, I'm pretty sure, like custom brushes, that I can create my own stamps. There are a lot of other exciting options that I haven't mentioned.. like the transform tool that lets you rotate and resize your image. Or the symmetry tool that mirrors on the right everything you draw on the left. Want to draw a butterfly with perfectly symmetrical wings? This tool is the trick. Sketchbook pro also provides a full range of image sending options... email it, post to Twitter or Facebook, etc... If your just looking for something fun and easy to use, I'd recommend you Art Set. If you are looking for something a little more grown up but still easy to use, give Layers a whirl. If you're looking for a big-boy (or girl) drawing app, Sketchbook Pro is complex enough to do some serious damage.
Digital storytelling is an excellent way to foster student creativity and give them authentic experiences with reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Today I’m sharing my favorite digital storytelling apps that I’ve used in my classroom. Toontastic (free) allows students to animate their own stories while practicing key story elements. The app guides them through choosing their setting, conflict, challenge, climax, and resolution. Once students are ready to record, they can move the characters around on the screen and it will record both their animations and voices as a cartoon video. Storykit (free) lets students create a digital storybook with text, audio, and photos/illustrations. Students can either upload photos from their camera roll or draw their own illustrations using the app’s drawing feature. This app has been a favorite choice during Daily 5 writing, and we’ve also used it to publish various nonfiction research projects. Book Creator ($4.99) is hands-down my favorite app for creating any kind of eBook. Students can add videos, music, and even record their voices. Book Creator has lots of color and font options as well as a pen tool to draw and annotate. We’ve used this versatile app to publish nonfiction research projects, fairy tales, how-to books, collaborative stories, and even math explanations. In the picture below, you can see how my student has embedded a YouTube video to demonstrate how wild dogs hunt. Telestory (free) allows students to create, direct, and star in their own TV shows. There are a variety of fun themes, costumes, and special effects to choose from and you can really let students run wild with their imaginations. The picture below shows one of my students recording a news broadcast for her classmates. Chatterpix (free) can make any photo talk. After uploading a photo, you simply draw a line to make a mouth and then record your voice. With this app, the possibilities are endless and can range from silly to informative. We used this last year to make characters from fairy tales talk and explain their point of view on what happened in the story. Below you can see how one of my students embedded a Chatterpix into his eBook on penguins. (I really wish I would have saved a recording of this video!) Storybird (free) is an iPad-friendly website that allows students to create stories using beautiful and intriguing artwork. Students can search by themes (or “tags”) to find and drag in pictures. Then they begin sequencing and typing their story to go along with the pictures. Even my most reluctant writers love this site because they are so fascinated by the artwork. My favorite thing about Storybird is that students can publish their books to our class account and comment on one another’s stories. Want more app recommendations? Click on any of the images below to check out dozens of apps reviewed by yours truly.:)
Finding apps isn’t difficult. Finding education apps is only a bit more challenging. Finding free education apps is also possible. Finding free education apps worth downloading is a different story entirely. Before browsing through the apps below, let me tell you about a site that, if you haven’t visited already, you should probably go look […]
Looking for Apps for Social Studies? Whether you have one iPad, a few, or a class set, there are plenty of great apps for you.
Find 10 free kindergarten ipad apps for reading and math. This list includes apps that can be great independent practice or for centers.
47 Core Teacher Apps: A Visual Library Of Apps For Teachers
Any teacher in a 1:1 iPad classroom will tell you it can be a nightmare to get every app on every kiddos iPad. Sometimes the syncing factor works (we buy apps in bulk), sometimes it doesn't. And it usually doesn't for free apps, which is why I've included a little FREEBIE for you in this week's APPmazing edition. First let's talk literacy apps. Teaching literacy in K changes daily, as do the needs of our kiddos. One day an "A" is a "Q" and the next were reading, chopping, stretching, etc. Not only do their need change, but we have the "I'm boooreeddd" factor to deal with so we have to flip those apps through a rotation like a ferris wheel. I've compiled some of our classroom's most used apps. They are kid tested and approved. The kids go back to these over and over again and many address multiple skills. So first the highlights and then the FREEBIE! Print this page for a bulletin board or center so that kids can scan the code and access the app easily. I do this to help my kids when downloading the apps. They scan the code, the app store link comes up and we are set. It's a wonderful thing. If you're all ready to get started with FREE math and literacy apps, check out my APP Ready Pack HERE with QR codes for 80 apps plus some extras! Enjoy!
Bring Images to Life with the free Animate Anything iPad app. Great alternative to Chatterkid and YakIt. Students will love using this app for a variety of technology projects!
We are using the app Shadow Puppet this week to practice retelling stories. The app is free and relatively simple to use. There are two versions of the Shadow Puppet app: we prefer Shadow Puppet Edu because it has student friendly options and images. Retelling with Shadow Puppet: Get Images Students took pictures of the book they read first. We used picture books, but you could use chapter books and have students take a picture of each chapter too. After opening the app and choosing 'create new,' they are prompted to select pictures to use and it will automatically place
Aloha friends! I hope everyone had a decent Monday. I know that they are not always great, lol! Just a quick post today to share with you how I am using my iPads in the classroom. Yes, I said iPads! This year I received my first iPad through a Donor's Choose project. I love it! Not only for the students but for myself. I started with using it at our listening center. I downloaded the Storia App from Scholastic and it was an instant listening device. All the kids fought for it for the first few weeks, but after awhile they learned how to take turns and knew when they would get to use it next. I also used it for math games for early finishers Well last week our principal handed out iPads for the whole staff! It was all set up for us by our Computer teacher and we have access to iTunes and You Tube at school! Yay!! We also received this little baby so I can hook it up to my projector and display it to the whole class! Since I have two iPads now I decided to place those two in our Word Work station during our Daily 5. My kids love the centers I make and purchase and would not give those up, but there are so many great apps that I wanted to try. So I learned how to make folders on my iPad so that they would know what apps they could play. Here are some of their favorites that I see them playing. Endless ABC is just adorable and there are great vocabulary words on there. Here is another favorite My smarties like this one and so do I. They have to try to make as many words as possible in 3 minutes with certain letters. Rocket Speller is cute too, and it's a great way to get your struggling spellers to engage and practice. Some of the other apps that are on there are Grammar Wonderland, Phonics Genius, Spelling Magic, Spell Animals, Sight Words and Spelling City. My kids cannot wait to get to Word Work! My rules are they can only use the iPad once per week to make sure we all get a chance. So I usually have two friends on iPads and two who are doing other activities during this rotation. Last week you could have heard a pin drop in my classroom during Daily 5. Everyone was so engaged, that I was wishing my admin would walk in and see what was happening! All of the above apps were Free when I downloaded them. I have not spent any money on classroom apps yet. I have also downloaded these Math Apps for my early finishers during math time. Many are just basic addition subtraction practice games. I love Sudoku games and they have a kids version that is great for this level. I have Math Quiz Game Show on my computer that I bought from Lakeshore. I love that they have an app for it and for free. It's a lot like Jeopardy and more than one student can play. I also like Sushi Monster from Scholastic. It is definitely higher level for your Math Smarties. Just a word of warning there are lots of free apps out there, but read the reviews and test them out. Many are just advertising for paid apps. I am lucky to have my daughters to be able to play and tell me what they think before we use them in class. Do you have iPads in your classroom? What are your favorite ways to use them and what apps would you recommend?
Make your lessons memorable with the free ipad app, Texting Story. This digital tool is a great way to get your students thinking, creating and writing while using technology in the classroom.
Looking for some educational apps for toddlers? These toddler apps are teacher recommended and are great for both ipad and android devices.
Find 10 free kindergarten ipad apps for reading and math. This list includes apps that can be great independent practice or for centers.
You can use ipads and comics to encourage your reluctant young writers to express themselves. Here's a list of useful and engaging ipad apps for writing.
Check out the 10 best apps for preschoolers for iphone or ipad. Educational apps with learning games for 3 and 4 year olds.
Reader's theater is an engaging way to practice fluency, but add an iPad to it and suddenly students are begging for the next rehearsal! I'm going to share with you 3 simple ways to upgrade a typical readers theater classroom performance using the iPad. Set up Reader's Theater First you need to decide how to set up and run your class reader's theater. You can have students stand in the front of the classroom facing the audience in a line and step forward when it is their turn to talk. Or for more informal practice, have students sit in a circle
Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas Fourteen Fabulously Free Math Apps With An iPad Giveaway!
Using the free web tool, Incredibox, in the classroom for technology projects. Great way to incorporate music into your curriculum! Will work on Chromebooks, laptops and computers. There is also an iPad app available for $3.99
Integrate technology into a reading and craft lesson by making a digital version of a Leaf Man on Pic Collage or Pic Collage Kids. Last week my girls and I were attempting to gather some leaves for an upcoming project at their school. They were reading the book Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert and creating their own. However, the weather has been unseasonably warm so our leaves hadn't turned quite yet. We found a few brown and red, but mostly green leaves. Which is fine...but...it got me thinking about ways to extend the project digitally. For this lesson, I suggest you
Zeker voor mijn werk gebruik ik mijn telefoon meer dan ooit, want er zijn ontzettend veel leuke en handige apps voor leerkrachten.
How about after you find the apps, do you know how to evaluate their pedagogic implications ? Are they educationally valid ? Do they target skills you want your students to work on ? Are they flexible enough to let students learn in different settings ? Are they student friendly ? Via Amanda Blakley
Apps for the Art Classroom. I’ve been teaching with iPads for a number of years now & I thought I’d share what Apps I’ve been using & found success with.
Moldiv - a free app with wins for the teacher & wins for the student I don't write about or recommend many apps but this is a free app with wins for the teacher & wins for the student. It's really simple to use and has got some great features. It's advertised as a picture
Edutopia blogger Monica Burns suggests nine free virtual field trip apps that bring students the world from the comfort of the classroom.
Make your lessons memorable with the free ipad app, Texting Story. This digital tool is a great way to get your students thinking, creating and writing while using technology in the classroom.
If you’ve been around The Stay-at-Home Teacher for very long, you know we love all sorts of hands-on activities. We LOVE sensory bins, PlayDoh, hands-on Math and Literacy centers – you name it! But can I be honest with y’all? We also love some iPad apps and see value in using them during our school …
Integrating technology with back to school iPad activities & apps If you are like me, you like to spend time building your classroom community. Now that we have a class set of iPads to use, I have turned to technology for many icebreaker back to school Ipad activities that I used to do on pen and paper. One reason is that it is fun and something a little different for my 3rd graders. Also it sets the tone of collaboration that will be a huge component of our classroom. Another bonus reason to use iPads the first week of school
Finding quality free toddler apps for iPads is harder than you think so we've put together some of our favorites - all free, all educational and all add free!
After posting our list of Math Websites and Apps for Kids, many of you reached out and asked for educational apps for kids that do not require Wi-Fi, Internet or a huge data plan for your phone or tablet. We will not let a lack of Internet access or a limited data plan stand in […]
Introduction In today’s post, technology and performance combine in a lesson plan based on one of the most simple (yet […]
Over 35 of the Best Educational Apps for Kids - from Math, Science, Reading, Language, Social Studies and more! Free App Options Included.
June 2, 2016 The popular app Poetics is free today and only for a limited period of time. Poetics provides students with a powerful tool to combine imagery and words to create expressive poems and engage in creative poetry writing activities. Similar to Poetics, we curated five more interesting iPad apps you can use with your students in class to enhance their poetry learning. Check them out and share with us your feedback. Enjoy 1- Poetics- create, write and share visual poetry ‘Poetics is a visual poetry app that combines moveable text with photographic imagery.Take a picture and write anything you feel, whether a poem, one word or a caption. Or start with text and add an image later. At the touch of a finger, words playfully collide and interact, giving a physical feeling and connection as you scale, rotate, lift and drop them.’ 2- POETRY from The Poetry Foundation ‘With the Poetry Foundation's universal iOS app, you can now take thousands of poems by classic and contemporary poets with you wherever you go. From William Shakespeare to César Vallejo to Heather McHugh, the Poetry Foundation's app turns your phone, iPod Touch or iPad into a mobile poetry library’ 3- Poetry Daily ‘Poetry Daily is an anthology of contemporary poetry. Each day, we bring you a new poem from new books, magazines, and journals, chosen from the work of a wide variety of poets to provide you with a window on the broad range of poetry offered annually by publishers large and small.’ 4- Poetry Everywhere ‘ Poetry Everywhere is a collection of short poetry videos featuring contemporary poets reading their own works, introduced by Garrison Keillor. It’s pure poetry! With easy navigation, this app is a sure way to provide reflection and inspiration.’ 5- Glossary of Poetry Terminology ‘Poetry Glossary provides you a comprehensive list of terms related to Poetic terminology with its short description/meaning which guides you in understanding the terminology better.’ 6- Poetry Creator | Verses - Poetry, Poems & Poets ‘Ever wonder what it would be like to mash-up a Shakespeare poem with a Hip Hop Song? Verses is a new iPhone and iPad app that puts a fresh spin on a cherished classic: refrigerator magnet poetry. We built this app to set your creativity ablaze with Verses's limitless word mixing possibilities that allow you to become a kind of dictionary DJ. After creating a poem out of your own personal mix of dictionaries, you can send your creation to friends via email or publish it in your Facebook photo album! (network connectivity required)’. Follow us on : Twitter, Facebook , Google plus, Pinterest This post originally appeared in Educational Technology and Mobile Learning ( www.educatorstechnology.com ).
Discover a range of educational resources, lesson plans, and templates to help you make the most of Book Creator in your classroom.
Many teachers look for more ways to integrate technology in the classroom. This post helps meet that goal by sharing a list of free literacy apps for elementary students that can be used for different ELA/ Grammar concepts. 2020 UPDATE: This list of free literacy apps has been updated due to iOS changes for Apple
