The American Red Cross has three apps designed to support victims of natural disasters. Whether you’re studying a region of the United States or just looking to spark a discussion, these apps will come in handy. Show your students how to prepare and stay safe with the tips they share:
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plans on hurricanes!
Exploring the world around you can take many forms. If you’re looking to do this on a global scale, NASA’s Earth Now is a fantastic free app that allows users to spin the earth with different filters. Check out daily temperatures, ozone, sea level and more!
Teaching sustainability? Here’s my Common Core aligned QR Scavenger Hunt “Intro to Healthy Eating” and the “Food Plate (aka Food Pyramid)“
Trees Pro HD by Nature Mobile is a fantastic free app for exploring trees in your neighborhood and beyond. Forty tree species are listed with beautiful, high quality photographs and information on their leaves, fruit and general characteristics. This is a wonderful resource for teachers and students!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plans on composting, rocks, endangered species, the Amazon Rainforest, and more!
If you’re teaching outdoor skills there are three apps from Columbia Sportswear that are worth checking out. These apps can provide great extension activities for lessons on physical education, life skills, and math class.
GPS Pal -> for keeping track of outdoor expeditions
Take Ten -> tips for what you’ll need for exploring the great outdoors
What Know to Do -> a pocket guide for tying knots
If you’re students are staying indoors, try out one of my QR scavenger hunts for a mini adventure!
This fun free app, How Canadian Are You, Eh? is perfect for checking your knowledge of Canadian history, geography and pop culture. I’ll be using it with students during our unit on Canada. Great for all ages, this app chooses 20 random questions and provides the answers once you’re finished quizzing.
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Here’s a lesson for teaching Canadian geography!
Have you tried my Canadian QR code scavenger hunt?
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:
I’ve shared some of my favorite apps for learning US geography and world geography. TapQuiz Map is a free game that tests your knowledge of the globe. The player can focus on one region of the world at a time and see what countries and US states they can locate on a map. It even quizzes your knowledge of Canadian provinces.
Try this app with my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan!
Here’s another Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan that works great with this app!
Social Studies textbooks are one way to teach geography but I prefer having my students explore an atlas hands on. Zoom in and tap for more info as you virtually travel the globe with Atlas for iPad Free, World Travel Atlas Free, and My World Atlas – Free.
Check out my lesson plan using these apps in the classroom!
After pinpointing a location on the map…
UPDATE: This app is no longer available in the app store. In the meantime check out this great map app!
A great game for getting students excited about United States geography is the ESPN Map Madness app. Using clues like team logos and home courts, this app asks you to pinpoint on a map the location of professional and college, football and basketball teams. Players are awarded points for their speed and accuracy. It’s a great alternative to straightforward geography practice. A little prior knowledge about popular sports teams can go a long way!
… you’re awarded points for your answer.
Stack the States in a must have app that’s fantastic for geography practice at any age. Students answer multiple choice questions and have visuals of each state as they choose their answer.
There is a free version of this app that my students use on their iPad, the paid app seems unnecessary because the lite version is solid. Check out Stack the Countries for world geography questions.
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Here’s another Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Check out my lesson using iPads to teach geography in the classroom!
Interactive maps can bring geography and community studies to life!
Whether you are working on a screen projection to zoom in, or searching for monuments or specific regions, instructional possibilities are endless. Students can use Google street view to zoom in on the street outside their school, or look at the border between Haiti and the Dominican Republic to see deforestation right from their desks.
Using Apple’s map app – standard with the iPad operating system – you can plug different locations to find distances between two places in math class or check out a satellite or hybrid view during social studies. The free Google Earth app takes this perspective from space. Great for whole class, small group or independent work!
Check out my common core aligned lesson plan using maps on iPads in the classroom!
Plug in two locations to find the distance between them
Standard – tap on the raised corner on the bottom right hand corner to change the view
