There are lots of choices for current events on iPads but a kid-friendly option is News-O-Matic. This app offers free trial issues and has articles written especially for children. It includes videos, images and extra resources to help bring the news to life for your students!
Use this app with my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan on current events!
The are lots of great free iPad apps for primary source documents and Civic Quotes combines the words of famous Americans with images that depict a period in history. It’s a great free app to find inspiration for a biography report or introduce different historical figures.
Here’s a Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan for teaching with primary source documents on iPads!
Check out this Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan for a biography study!
A fantastic free app for learning letters (and new words!) is Endless Alphabet. This app lets students manipulate letters on the screen, tapping on each letter to hear its name. Students spell out words too, adding to their vocabulary as they learn the names of letters. Great for the primary classroom or English Language Learners.
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle for teaching ELA in the classroom! (Here’s bundle #2 and bundle #3!)
My students publish a variety of work on their iPads and use different apps throughout the writing process. When it comes to typing up their final product we often use PaperPort Notes. Before they send their work to print, I use the highlighter and marker tool to show them where edits and revisions need to be made. I write over their work, and send them back to their seats to make changes. The best part is that I can erase my notes once edits are made without losing any of the text on their page!
Are you in the middle of the writing process? Check out my common core aligned lesson plan using Grafio Lite. Here’s another common core aligned lesson plan using graphic organizers in the classroom!
*great for peer editing too!
Want to spread the news? Download the flyer here: Swim Dive Splash
Please don’t confuse me with the adult fiction author Monica Burns (she’s in the iBookstore too – but I’ve never met her!)
There are lots of apps I love to use to teach literacy skills: Bluster, Sticky Notes, iPrompt, Idioms, Captions, Mad Libs, Jumbled Sentences and Synonyms.
McGraw Hill has a handful of apps to teach literacy skills at the primary and elementary level: Word Wonderland (primary and elementary) and Grammar Wonderland (primary and elementary). All have lite versions that are worth checking out!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle for teaching ELA in the classroom! (Here’s bundle #2 and bundle #3!)
It doesn’t have to be Poetry Month to learn a new poem! Poems by Heart from Penguin Classics teaches users how to memorize a poem. They offer two free poems to get you started and there are more available through in app purchases. Whether you’re teaching fluency, extending a biography project of a famous poet, or just celebrating great works – check out Poems by Heart for a poem to memorize!
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle for teaching ELA in the classroom! (Here’s bundle #2 and bundle #3!)
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:
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!)
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!
There are lots of great apps for teaching literacy to your students and here’s another to try out in your classroom. In Find Synonym the user unscrambles letters to spell out a synonym for the word presented. It includes definitions for each word and you can even unlock the antonym level if you answer enough questions.
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Here’s a Common Core aligned lesson plan for teaching literacy using iPads in your classroom!
If you’re looking for a good resource for documentaries, SnagFilms is a fantastic app. Completely free, with no requirement to sign up, SnagFilms offers a great variety of award winning documentaries. Whether you’re looking to extend a lesson, kick off a unit or just learn more about a topic before teaching, you’ll want to check out this fantastic free app!
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
Forget about the way you completed Mad Libs as a child – there’s an app for that! The official Mad Libs app offers 21 free stories that can be used to reinforce literacy skills. Have students identify parts of speech and create their own fill in the blank story.
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
I love learning new things and SnapGuide is a fantastic free app that you must explore! Pinterest is a great place for gathering new ideas, and SnapGuide takes this concept to a whole new level. SnapGuide is full of how-to guides that show step-by-step instructions on how to complete a variety of tasks. You and your students can even create your own how-to guides using this free service!
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan for using this app!
There are so many great apps to have students practice storytelling and here’s another I love. Pirate Scribble by Kidoodle is more than just a coloring book. Students create pictures that correspond to a story that is told in sequence. It’s a great way to reinforce literacy skills while allowing students the opportunity to be creative.
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using another storytelling app I love!
Here’s another Common Core aligned lesson planusing another storytelling app I love!
This free app acts like the magnetic words you might have on your refrigerator. Created by the National Council of Teachers of English, Wordmover allows students to manipulate words on their screen. Choose from the list they’ve provided and add your own words to create phrases, sentences or poems. I think this app would be perfect for a poetry station or a challenge activity for fast finishers.
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app!
The iPad is a fantastic tool for completing research, publishing, and sharing your work. There are two free apps from PERRLA that make it easy to record citations whether you’re using MLA or APA style references. This app is perfect for elementary students completing a biography project or high schoolers writing a term paper.
Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan using this app in the classroom!
A great way to replace or extend a biography project is to create a resume of the person you are studying. Have students use the Pocket Mobile Resume app to demonstrate their knowledge of a historical figure’s personal information, experience and education, while choosing contemporaries to act as references and identify the skills and strengths of this person. Try it out in your classroom!
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!
I’ve discussed how much I love HaikuDeck as a presentation tool and the way I’ve used it to create memes with my students. There are lots or free apps that make it even easier to create memes (I like Mematic), and I’ve started using them across subject areas.
Have students….
Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan that would be perfect for this app!
This app might seem silly but there are lots of ways to use Funny Movie Maker in you classroom. Use a picture from your camera roll and insert your mouth or entire face to make the image come to life. Try reading the Emancipation Prolamation using Abraham Lincoln’s picture. Have students replace the face of Susan B. Anthony with their own and read a journal entry they’ve written from the perspective of a suffragette. Students can email their videos to you or save them to their camera roll. Try it out in math or science as a fun way to record steps for problem solving or documenting an experiment.
Check out my common core aligned lesson plan using this app!
Here’s another common core aligned lesson plan using this app!
