Middle School Math Apps (Chicken Coop, Thinking Blocks) Installed Today

The following FREE math apps were installed on our seventh grade iPads today.  Below are some reflections of each math app.

Chicken Coop Fraction Estimation Game

• Be aware of the music.  Fortunately, there is a button that can mute the music.
• Three easy, three hard levels
• Proper Fractions, Proper Fractions of Numbers, Improper Fractions, Improper Fractions of Numbers
• Middle school students may find it humorous that the chickens raise their backsides an "pop" an egg out
• Chickens will "fire" an egg toward the correct answer
• Get the answer wrong and things will get messy
• The "hard" problems are challenging
• No method for pausing and calculating while still looking at the problem
• If a student does pause to work on the problem, the answer is given immediately upon "continuing" of the game.
• Can adjust "time per question", can create a "no time" game
• Can adjust "accuracy"

Thinking Blocks Fractions, Addition, Multiplication, Ratios

View All Screen Shots

• Word problem based
• Diagrams & labeling first, numbers added to the model next
• Can't proceed to next step without "checking" first
• Built in calculator 
• Writing on iPad capabilities
• Instructions for students (should they choose to read them)
• Checks along the way provide "new" mathematical manipulatives
• CONFUSING: Number pad to enter answer, "Calculator On" button to obtain calculator for work

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iVisual Touch Infographic of 2103 Lunch N' Learns

Today, I learned about the iVisual info Touch iPad Infographic App through Richard Byrne @ iPad Apps For School.  We have implemented infographics in our high school Human Geography last year so I was intrigued to see if an iPad app could be used with students.

I created an infographic for Lunch N' Learn statistics.  This is the first full year of volunteer learning opportunities for our high school staff.

Positives of iVisual Touch 

• Free Form Writing Lines
• Multiple Backgrounds
• Four Pages of Icons
• Colorful World Flags
• Color Palette
• Seven Fonts
• Add Pictures (Great to use with other apps such as Skitch or PicCollage)
• Grid Lines for Creating
• Save To Camera Roll (Great for uploading to Google Drive)

Negatives of iVisual Touch

• No Locking Options of Objects
• No Undo Button
• No Automatic Save
• Free app great to try, but limited options (I purchased the full app)

Impact On Students:

Creativity: Students can continue to use their imagination to create graphics that express their summary skills.

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Trading Card Final Sharing Activity in AP Human Geography

The Trading Card activity was taking to a level by Mrs. Brylski that actually had the students print the Trading Cards and trade!

Video Link



Impact On Students:
Creativity:  Students needed to decipher the information that should be placed for each question.
Collaboration:  The discussion that incurred during the trading of cards was pretty in depth.  Some great feedback was provided for each student by each student.

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App Smash Challenge To Our Teachers

Because of a tweet by @mrbadura and his compilation of App Challenges, I decided to present the challenge to our teachers after yesterday's Lunch N' Learn topic.

The app challenge was promoted as this...

• Combine Two Apps for a lesson in your classroom
• Chrome/Web Based OR
• iPad Options
• Submit challenge USING any method (email, link, Google Drive)
• $25 iTunes Card to the Best One (undefined)
• All submissions combined and shared with all teachers
• Deadline Dec 17; 4:00 PM

I also had PRINTED copies for the teachers as this was something that could be taken with them when the left Lunch N' Learn.  

Impact On Students:
Creativity:  Encouraging students to integrate two apps together challenges students to take their thinking to a higher level.  Determining the "work flow' forces students to think "how best can I make this work?"  This is a life long learning lesson.

Critical Thinking: (Similar To Creativity) Encouraging students to integrate two apps together challenges students to take their thinking to a higher level.  Determining the "work flow' forces students to think "how best can I make this work?"  This is a life long learning lesson.

*All credit for this idea needs to be given to @mrbadura and a large thank you to him for sharing!

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Essential Skeleton 2 iPad App For Anatomy

The Essential Skeleton 2 iPad app provides every student with a model skeleton that can be used to learn and master the bones and all their features.  Mr. Anderson believes this app is a great app especially in large classes.

Some benefits include of the app:

• Seeing individual bones
• Rotate bones 360 degrees
• 3-Dimensional
• Full model for each student (great for larger classes)
• Mobile
• Highlight individual bones
• Identify and isolate an individual bone away from the full model
• Annotation tools
• Zoom In & Out 
• Screen shot for Pic Collage and SMORE
• Correct audio pronunciation
• Multiple search options
• Exporting options of annotated objects
• Quick Reference to all skeleton parts
• Quiz Set Up-multiple choice & free response

Video Link

ITLS: Standard 3
The impact on the students...

• Collaboration--N/A
• Creativity--Combined with SMORE or Pic Collage provides for creative finished product of concepts learned
• Critical Thinking--Quiz format for analyzing aspects
• Citizenship--if documents are shares, students will understand that their creations are visible by the world.

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It Ain't About The Device, It's The Impact That It Has

Coach My Video has so many options for physical education class. Last January, Mr. Goodness made the jump into using Coach My Video to aide in the student's understanding of a concept that was being taught. The iPad video and the drawing tools provide instant feedback to the student as to what they can improve so as to accomplish a task.

While this is great, the purpose for this blog post is the following email received yesterday from Mr. Goodness.

Clay,
I just had an amazing session with a student.  I was using the CMV app
with a student to help illustrate what he was doing and then used the
drawing tool to show what to change.  He got it!!  The best part was
that we sat down together and he was able to communicate to me via
drawing on the iPad what form was better and why.  It gave me
goosebumps.
Have a great day,
Kare

Using technology is tremendous if it's used beyond "this app is cool".  In the above situation, the student couldn't visualize what they were doing.  However, with the use of a portable tablet (iPad) the student was able to instantly visualize what was being performed correctly and what needed to be fixed.  The inspirational part was that they student and teacher were able to communicate via the drawing tools from Coach My Video.

Techcoach's need to continue to know that what they are doing is for a purpose.  The purpose is to implement the correct tool at the correct time for the correct reason.  This truly points our focus to the SAMR model.

I am so blessed to work with teachers who understand it isn't about the coolness of the tool, it's about how the tool impacts a student's life.

Video Link

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iDevices, Google Drive, and Over App To Document Successes

Mr. Fullerton, our middle school principal, and Mr. Krause, our middle school assistant principle, created an opportunity for staff to use two and one half hours of a professional development day to allow staff to create their own learning environment.  Staff were able to choose their own area to think, question, collaborate, and create.  Some staff chose our own school forest and made bacon over an open fire, some chose a local coffee shop, while others chose a comfortable couch in our school.

To document these great areas of learning, Mr. Fullerton and Mr. Krause asked staff to send in a picture via email or text of their learning environment and who they were with.  After receiving the pictures a place to house the photos was needed.  Before doing this, the Over App was used to include messages that were sent with the picture.  The Over App allows for text to be placed on a picture.  A Google Drive folder could be accessed by both men so they could simultaneously upload pictures to the same digital area.  To share the folder, the two gentlemen placed the link on their Google Docs agenda.  This work flow provides digital documentation of successes from the original agenda.

I am extremely proud of our middle school administration team as they are utilizing the technology to enhance their learning environment.  As they become familiar with the technology, they can offer innovative technology solutions for our teachers!

View Their Story!

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PHS iPad Apps By Department

I was finally able to create lists of apps that exist on our department iPads at the high school level.  I was able to save these lists as pdfs via the iTunes store app on our MacBooks.  I liked how I could include the name of the iPad app and a picture of the app.

It is truly interesting to see how the types of apps are different between departments and how some are the same.

VIEW THE APPS

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Air Server For Connecting iPads To Computer

While conducting Day 3 of my "Teaching With Technology Tools" graduate class, I was able to incorporate the Air Server app for displaying iPads on my laptop computer.

Bottom line: Fantastic!

Students created Explain Everything screen casts or PicCollage creations that could be used in their classroom.  In an efficient sharing method, the Air Server app allowed for students to quickly connect to display their creation and to disconnect so that another student could display their creation.

Thankfully, our district has decided to purchase this amazing tool for our teachers!

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Docsteach iPad App

Docteach from The National Archives Experience 

The App

DOCSTEACH - Bring History To Life For History Students

DOCSTEACH - iPad App Explanation

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Teacher Tells Their Story - Episode 3

Mrs. Deprey completed an engaging collaborative project using the iPads.  The Explain Everything app provided the perfect tool for students to create a fractured fairy tale complete with audio and animation.  The video was then shared with third graders in another city.

Hear the process:


View Mrs. Deprey's example:

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Climate Apps

As the completion of a class, I created a lesson that incorporates four apps that can provide a better understanding of Arctic and Antarctica climate and its impact on the area. Lesson Plan

Arctic Watch


Clast


Climate Finder 2.5


Climate Pathways

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iPad Whiteboard For Authentic Connections In Science

Mr. Lenz discovered the whiteboard app and put it to good use.  View how technology was incorporated into his Science classroom at the right time and for the right reason.

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Romanticism vs Realism

In E11, Mrs. Noe wanted the students to experience learning about the difference between romanticism and realism.  The students had a choice to create anything with music, art, apps, and even Legos.

One of the great tools that students used was Pixntell iPad app.  Pixntell allows for students to complement a slide show of pictures with audio.

The two creations below were created with Pixntell.

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Superimposing Photos On iPad In Calculus 2

Our calculus teacher came to me with this:

I want students to bring in an object, take a picture of it. superimpose it on a grid and take measurements.  Then develop the equation to calculate the Volume of the object using calculus.  I need you for the image capture and superimposing,

and this link.

I have never been asked this.  Off to discover I went!

1.  Explain Everything-a go to app, but not for this-can't blur one photo on top of another
2.  Visualize - used before, but not for this-can't blur one photo on top of another

Another Need: find a piece of graph paper!  Initially I was using Visualize app and it needed a specific resolution of an image.  This lead me to the Graph Paper app.

Eventually, I found this...

Superimpose App

It didn't require a specific resolution of graph paper.  Therefore, I was able to simply save an image of graph paper from a Google image search.

After one hour, this is the final solution that I have come up with...

Take picture of an object with iPad camera, store in camera roll

Save image of graph paper from Google Search to iPad

Use Superimpose App for combining two images.

Export final product of two pictures to camera roll

If the students need to manipulate the two images further, the SKITCH app will be used for annotating.

See final products:

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State Championship via SQWORL

SQWORL

GET ALL WEB LINKS DOCUMENTING 

PULASKI'S STATE CHAMPIONSHIP

NOTE: Some links will not work after 30 days due to newspapers terms of service

Made with Haiku Deck
Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad

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CloudClip Clipboard For iPad

CloudClip is a fantastic tool to have a record of the last 15 copied items on your iPad.

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Study Blue For Properties of Quadrilaterals

Mrs. Gulan and Mr. Kinate used the StudyBlue iPad app today to help master the Properties of a Quadrilateral.

View the process complete with one student reaction and a terrific "Directions Page"



You may be interested in how we used StudyBlue in Science or as a Semester Exam Review Tool.

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Five +1 Creating iPad Apps To Fight Winter Blues!

Color Effects Free

Animator Free Free


Halftone $0.99, VPP: $0.49


TXT Pics HD $0.99


InstaStory HD $0.99


Comic Life $4.99, VPP: $2.49

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Sound Cloud For 1920 Radio Spot

Simply Phenomenal!

Some of the social studies teachers, Mr. Krause, Mrs. McCumber, and Miss Wilcox wanted a tool to help record 1920 radio shows.  Students were to write a script which was derived through research on topics that were presented to the students.

Initially the teachers were going to use Audio Memo to record the radio spots and then upload them to Google Drive.  While the free version allows for recording, it does not allow for uploading to Google Drive.

I suggested SoundCloud as another alternative because I felt that the iPad app was quite user friendly, and I liked how all the radio spots were placed into one website type page.  Teachers created classroom accounts.  Since the free version only allows for 120 minutes of recording, teachers used Gmail accounts to create SoundCloud accounts based on class hours.  After the class hour, teachers changed the passwords to the class accounts.

We were also able to meet standard number 1 of our ITLS standards as it was a new digital creation.

Some fantastic radio spots were created:




View the process, read the details and rubric, hear the teachers talk about how great the process was, and consider using it for your next project.

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