The History Channel has lots of options for exploring the past on mobile devices. Bet You Didn’t Know is a fun app for trivia that gives users lots of options. You can also view clips of shows and specials on the History Channel app.
Check out my bundle of Common Core aligned Social Studies iPad lesson plans!
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
There 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!
There are lots of great ways to explore current events and I’ve shared some great free apps for accessing multimedia informational text. One of my favorite news apps that I use at home and school is Watchup. This free app allows you to create your own news program by choosing short clips from different news sources (EuroNews, AP, PBS, etc.).
I love customizing any tool to fit the need of my students and Watchup is a fantastic free app that allows you to do just that!
Use this app with my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan on current events!
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!
Take your students on a virtual field trip to the Lincoln Memorial. (This one I found in the app!)
Traveling this holiday season? I love to take pictures when I’m on vacation, especially of landmarks or places I’m studying with my fifth graders. Students will be more engaged during a lesson about Mayan culture when they see a picture of you standing in front of Chichen Itza.
Take your travel photos to a new level by using the Tourwrist app. It allows you take a 360 degree panoramic view of any location and upload it using your iPhone or iPad.
If you’re not planning a trip to the Washington Moniment anytime soon, that’s fine too! TourWrist allows users to upload their pics and it’s easy to search and share them in your classroom.
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!
I love using Khan Academy and Math Train to support lessons, but ScreenChomp has taken my use of podcasts to a new level. It’s important that students in my classroom feel successful and this app turns them into superstars.
ScreenChomp allows users to record their writing and voice as they work through a problem on the screen. It captures the action taking place as students write on ScreenChomp’s whiteboard as well as the sound of the student speaking while they write.
Students in my classroom work independently and in peers to record the steps they take to solve a math problem. Not only is this a great form of assessment (students can email you a link to their video) but it makes students feel like they have a become a master of a skill. Use ScreenChomp to achieve higher level thinking in your classroom.
Check out my lesson plan using ScreenChomp in the classroom!
Check out my guide -> Screencasting Teacher Tools: Tasks, Procedures, Checklists and Rubric
Public service announcements are a great way to turn a traditional persuasive essay writing piece into a multimedia presentation. There are lots of ways I like to use the iPad camera in my classroom and this is one of them!
Check out my lesson plan on creating public service announcements in your classroom!
One of the challenges of introducing anything new to students is allowing time for self discovery. This is especially true when using the iPad in the classroom. As the new school year approached, I knew that I wanted students working on their iPads on Day One.
In addition to introducing some apps that we will be using this year, I felt that it was important to give them some free time to explore the iPad – if only to eliminate some distractions down the line.
In my first year using the iPad with students, one feature that they loved to “explore” was the camera. I’ve used the camera with students for various activities throughout the school year but this September I decided to have them filming right away.
Working with partners students first interviewed each other asking questions such as:
What books did you read over the summer?
Did you visit any family members?
What activities got you outdoors this summer?
With their partner students filmed each other answering the questions and played their videos back to rest of their groups. Students then emailed me their videos and I hope to play these back to them at the end of the year. (Using the reverse filming option, students can also film themselves independently).
Stay tuned to hear about how the camera can be used to film persuasive commercials, book recommendations, and much more!
Check out my lesson plan using the Camera app in my classroom!
Whether you’re a subscriber or not, the BrainPop app for the iPad (and the website for PCs) is a fun and interactive learning tool for students of all ages. The website as well as the BrainPop app, is full of video explanation on a variety of topics as well as quizzes that monitor students’ understanding and retention of what they’ve just learned. If you do have a subscription, you’ll be prompted to enter your login information when you click on a video that isn’t part of their free content. For younger learners, check out the BrainPop Jr app and website.
A great resource for math tutorials is MathTrain. This site has student created tutorials for all age levels that are quick and engaging. Their website isn’t iPad friendly, but they have an easy to navigate iPad app that organizes their podcasts by topic. Check it out!
Click on “Podcast” for a list of topics
A fantastic alternative to YouTube is Vimeo. Unlike YouTube, Vimeo’s website isn’t block by Websense on most networks and its HD quality videos look beautiful on all screens, including the iPad. In addition to its search function, the Vimeo iPad app allows users to shoot, edit and upload their own videos.
I’ve used HD videos from Vimeo when creating interactive textbooks for the iPad. This time lapse video of the Canadian Rockies is a great example of the quality of clips available on the site.
Here’s a Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app!
Check out this Common Core lesson plan on using interactive textbooks in your classroom!
*This website isn’t censored so make sure you search and preview before sharing with students
TED Talks are wonderful for adults and high school students, but I use them with my fifth graders – most often in small groups to extend guided reading or book club discussions.
If you’re not familiar with TED Talks they are worth checking out! Speakers are given 5 to 20 minutes to wow an audience with their knowledge, perspective and discoveries on their area of expertise. Topics range greatly and can be applied as extension lessons for all sorts of activities. There are even TED talks where the speakers are children.
Just like the website, the TED Talks app let’s you search by speaker and category.
Birke Baehr discusses “What’s wrong with our food system”
These talks can be shown to the whole class or played for small groups who are studying aparticular topic. After spending a week practicing nonfiction strategies using a text on the oceans, I loved ending my small group session by playing a TED talk on bioluminescence!
Here is a link to the TED talks iPad app, and some of my favorite talks. (Make sure to preview each talk before showing the class – I haven’t found anything inappropriate, but a few included some jokes that wouldn’t suit my class of fifth graders.)
The iPad app allows you to save these talks for offline viewing. If you’ve found TED talks that you love leave suggestions in the comments below.
Check out my common core aligned lesson plan using TED Talks in the classroom!
