Thank you for attending my workshop this month!
If you weren’t able to make it, check out my presentation Free iPad Apps for the K-5 Classroom:
Art Museum on Your iPad
5 Apr
I love apps that simulate a field trip and I’ve shared some of my favorites (Art Walk, TourWrist). Timeline: Art Museum is an excellent free app that allows users to explore the artwork of artists from the 14th to 20th centuries. I’m a big fan of timelines (Titanic, American Revolution, Math History, Revolutionaries) and this one is great for finding paintings from a specific time period or by a particular artist.
Use this app as inspiration for one of my Common Core aligned biography lesson plans (or this one)!
WWF Animal App
3 AprThe World Wildlife Fund
has a beautiful free app that contains high quality pictures and lots of information about different animals. Whether you’re looking for information on pandas, whales, turtles or tigers, this should be a go-to app to gather facts and find inspiration.
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Khan Academy
1 Apr
My fifth graders don’t have their own account or login, but Khan Academy is still a great way to introduce new topics. We often use BrainPop and student created tutorials to learn and review the steps for solving different math problems, but Khan Academy is a fantastic resource for upper elementary, middle school and high school students. The Khan Academy app is a great way for me to preview videos while I’m on the go or use with a small group who is struggling.
If your students are making their own tutorials check out my guide ->Screencasting Teacher Tools: Tasks, Procedures, Checklists and Rubric (on iPads) and Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan
Jumbled Sentences
29 Mar
A fantastic free app for practicing sentence structure is Jumbled Sentences 3. This leveled app provides opportunities for students to practice verb agreement and attend to punctuation. Perfect for elementary school students, and to reinforce skills for struggling middle schoolers.
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan for using this app in the classroom!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle for teaching ELA in the classroom! (Here’s bundle #2 and bundle #3!)
Math Bugs for Place Value
27 Mar
If you’re looking for a fun, free app for teaching place value you have to try Math Bugs. Perfect for identifying place value to the thousands place, students will create bugs with the number of attenteas, wings, etc., dictated by the place value of the digits in the number presented.
Check out my Common Core aligned bundle of iPads lesson plans for teaching math in your classroom!
SlideShare Presentations
25 MarSlideShare is a great resource for PowerPoint presentations. This website allows you to view presentations created by teachers (and all sorts of people) that may be useful for your classroom. It’s also a fantastic place to share your presentations with others.
Check out my SlideShare presentations:
- Working Together: iPad Apps that Facilitate Student Collaboration
- Free Assessment Tools for Classrooms Using One-To-One Technology
- Using an iPad with Free Applications in the Classroom
iPad Grammar: Phrasal Verb Machine
22 Mar
Perfect for upper elementary and middle schoolers, The Phrasal Verb Machine is a fantastic free app for grammar practice. Students can create their own phrases and watch each one animated (with an accompanying definition and example too!). After playing around with the machine students can test their knowledge with exercises that pair pictures and examples.
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan using this app!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle for teaching ELA in the classroom! (Here’s bundle #2 and bundle #3!)
Draw Symmetrical Figures on iPads
20 Mar
There are great free math apps for fractions, math facts, graphs, math terms, and geometry. An app I love for drawing symmetry is Grid Drawing for Kids Lite. Full of puzzles for students to solve, this fantastic free app is perfect for practicing symmetry!
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Here’s a bundle of math iPad lesson plans aligned to the Common Core!
MindSnacks: Kids Vocab
18 Mar
I’m always looking for ways to improve my students’ domain specific vocabulary. Kids’ Vocab by MindSnacks is a new app that is engaging and rigorous. It provides a pronunciation guide, practice games, and lots of colorful graphics. Kids’ Vocab includes free levels and the option to upgrade – check it out!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan for using this app in your classroom!
Here’s a bundle of Common Core aligned iPad lessons in case you’re teaching different skills this week!
Mibblio for Music Making
15 Mar
If you’re looking for a music making app you have to try Mibblio. Great for all ages, Mibblio allows users to layer the sound of different instruments over a children’s song and add their own. This colorful, user-friendly app will have your students making music, identifying different instruments, and creating their own beat. The first song you download is free!
Revolutionary Resource
13 Mar
There are lots of resources for gathering information on the iPad. For a different take on an encyclopedia try the Revolutionaries of the Past Century app. This free app allows users to explore influential (and controversial) figures of the 20th century from Elizabeth Cady Stanton to Raul Castro. Search by movement or keyword to access a biography, photo, audio, and links to more information.
Here’s a Common Core aligned lesson plan that is perfect for biographies!
Check out this Common Core aligned lesson plan for another biography activity!
iTooch for iPad Learning
11 Mar
There are lots of great apps for literacy and math practice and iTooch by eduPad is a platform that gives students lots of choices!
The free starter version has skill based questions for Language Arts, Math, and Science. This free content is perfect for students ages 8-11 and the upgrade has even more. Your students will love the simple interface, lesson details (with vocabulary!) and scratchpad to work out their answers.
Check out my bundle of Common Core aligned iPad lesson plans for teaching math in your classroom!
Oh No Fractions
8 Mar
There are lots of great math apps I love using in my classroom, but my favorites are usually the ones that focus on one skill. The simply designed Oh No Fractions is an excellent free iPad app that focuses on one skill – comparing fractions using models. Perfect for reinforcing basic skills and helping students gain a conceptional understanding of fractions.
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan using this app!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle that includes a lesson using this app!
Presidents vs. Aliens
6 Mar
Stack the States is one of my favorite iPad geography games and Presidents vs. Aliens is a fun app that teaches facts and trivia about the presidents of the United States. It’s interactive and informative and a great way to use transition times between subject areas, as a behavior management incentive, or to kick off a unit on United States History.
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Math Graphs Test Prep
4 Mar
I love using apps that foster collaboration in the math classroom. Make your preparation for state exams interactive and engaging with the free Graphs app. Students can answer questions based on bar graphs, line graphs and pie charts. It’s great test prep and a fantastic way to extend or review a unit on statistics and data.
Here’s my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan for using this app in the classroom!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle that includes a lesson using this app!
Show and Explain Your Work
1 Mar
Many people think that an iPad is just for games but I can ensure you that this teaching tool is used effectively in my classroom. I love having students show their work on a whiteboard app (and sometimes they connect their screens to work together). Students in my class not only solve problems on their iPads but they take screenshots of their work and email the picture with an explanation of how they solved the problem. This process is quicker than it sounds with a little practice. It’s a great way to gather work for tech-friendly bulletin boards!
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan for collaborating on iPad whiteboards!
Tellagami for Story Telling
27 FebThere are so many great screencasting apps that I use in my classroom. Tellagami is a fantastic free iPad app takes it to another level by allowing users to create their own avatars and place themselves anywhere they’d like (I’m “standing” in my classroom now.) If you’re flipping your classroom, leaving a message for students to play when you’re pulled out for a meeting, or just looking to start off a lesson in a new way, you have to try Tellagami.
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Use this app with my Common Core aligned lesson plan for the iPad camera!
No More Rubber Bands: Virtual Geoboard
25 Feb
There are so many tools I used as a student that are now available virtually on iPads. One fabulous free app that fits into this category is the Geoboard. Forget about rubber bands snapping around your classroom. The virtual geoboard has everything you need to teach polygons, area, scaling and symmetry.
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan using this app!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle that includes a lesson using this app!
Math Terms Glossary
22 Feb
It’s important for all students to use math vocabulary when describing how they’ve solved a problem. Math Terms Glossary is a free app that students can use to access definitions of math terms. Most entries include pictures and a Spanish translation of the definition.
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan bundle for teaching math on iPads!
My iPad Lesson Plans
Check out my Common Core iPad Lessons!
