Free/Discounted iPad Apps Today

I just wanted to share a few apps that are free or discounted currently as I write this. These might not be free by the time you click the links.

Haiku Deck - Haiku Deck has always been free. But, there are in-app purchases that normally cost $1.99 each. Right now, certain ones are free, but get them quickly. The themes titled: Lucha, Orwell, Strangelove, and Underdog. I would check each theme to be certain that the others didn't go free. Regardless of getting these themes or not, Haiku Deck is a must have app for presenting with great visuals and forces slides to become succinct. This app is constantly improving and recently they released a presentation remote associated with the iPhone app. So, download this one and try to find the free themes.

Publisher Star (notes, flyers, scrapbooks pages,etc) - At first glance, this apps was fairly easy to understand. When opening the app for the first time, there are a few example projects to manipulate and publish with several choices.

4 Dice a Fractions Game - This looks like an interesting collaborative app, and I would like to see this game played with students. The one thing I didn't like is the Facebook connection within this app. Too often, iPad games that would be great for kids have a Facebook connection, and promoting a Facebook connection in class just isn't an option (or risk) that many teachers want take.

Storyteller Deluxe - It's not a pretty app. In fact, as I was playing with it, the top portion of the screen was partially blocked by the bar indicating my wireless signal. However, this apps seems to get the job done when creating a digital story. Students can add text, audio, images, and share their final products.

PICSMART for Sped. On Sale for 9.99 normally 99.99 - This would be a great app for parents or teachers that work with children that need help communicating their needs or feelings verbally.

To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

I came a across a Tweet the other day and found this chart of four levels of questioning by @michellek107. It demonstrates two things for me.

MT @MrsTelie: Love this questioning graphic by @michellek107 #INeLearn pic.twitter.com/v8XpG3URON” 

— Daniel Gibson (@hoosier_teacher) February 1, 2014

First of all, the chart is presented in a "fun" way to get kids to pay attention to the different levels. There are tangible concepts attached to each of the levels. For instance, students all know what robots, detectives, judges, and inventors are or can relate to these concrete examples after a quick explanation. Rather than assigning professional terminology to each level, these are all written in kid-friendly language.  So yea, this chart could be a all right resource the classroom, but more importantly it demonstrates the importance of teachers leveraging the power of Social Media.

Secondly, this find demonstrates why Twitter is awesome. If teachers become an active user, follow different EDU Hashtags, and/or participate in Tweetups, Twitter can provide invaluable resources to improve the teaching profession. It draws on a collective intelligence that is made up of a network of teachers across the world. We need to develop this community of sharers and ask more teachers join to strengthen our professional learning networks. So, start searching the Twittersphere for help, resources, or connections with like-minded professionals, and give it more than one day to learn how to navigate through this tool.

Social Media in the Classroom #Infographic

I didn't create it, but I wanted to share this infographic on social media's use and place within school systems.  Embrace these communication and connection tools.  What are your thoughts about Social Media being used at the classroom, school, and district levels?

Source: The Use of Social Media in School

Hopscotch App

I'm a little behind with a few of my blog posts.  I intended on posting this one prior to the new year.  But, here we are in 2014, and I am talking about the Hour of Code.  So if you can just look past the Santa hats strewn across the room, it would make me feel better.

Last month for the Hour of Code, Mrs. Kassie Hanger's second grade students used the Hopscotch app on their classroom iPads.  There was an easy-to-follow tutorial provided for the #HourofCode, and I used part of the video to introduce the app to several students.

Hopscotch, a free iOS app, is a perfect starting block for teaching the basic concepts behind coding and backend development, while at the same time getting students excited about using tech from a developer's perspective.  As an introduction to coding, I always talk about video game, website, animated cartoons, and app development (at a lower level) to make the concept of coding more tangible.

While playing with Hopscotch in second grade, I found that several students demonstrated a knack with the program, and all the students instantly began to display excitement, engagement, and motivation to learn this new skill.  One student in particular seemed to find this program extremely engaging, and he was somewhat of a natural at linking the drag-and-drop command blocks.  When he would discover a new set of instructions that made his character(s) do something cool, his fellow classmates begged him to share his coding blocks.

This spurred a series of impromptu challenges provided by students within class that day.  To say the least, students were buzzing with excitement.  The experience cultivated a small passion for using the Hopscotch app and some of that excitement/passion must have spilled into the evening.

Parent Praise 

The next day, one particular student's mother called the school and asked his classroom teacher about coding and why her son was so excited about it.  Apparently, this student told his mom that he knew what he wanted to be when he grew up, which was a coder.  His mother was pleased to see her son excited about school and who can blame her.  Whenever a son/daughter can come home and start the conversation about school without being asked to share what they learned, it's an exciting day for parents.

"[Student's Name] told me all about Mr. Gibson coming and talking to him at school today about coding.  First, I just want to thank you for allowing him to come in and teach him!  Second, please pass along to Mr. Gibson how grateful we are that he is showing an interest in [Student's Name] and helping him learn more about coding.  He is so excited about it.  We have already downloaded the book on our iPad and he is reading it now!

Again, thanks so much!  We really are so thankful for you [Mrs. Hanger]!!:)"

Now, will he maintain this interest in coding all the way through to adulthood, probably not. Nevertheless, at least he knows what coding is, and as a second grader that allows for many years of playing around with coding concepts and computer science.   And maybe it will allow him to figure out exactly what he wants to do.  I always wanted to work with computer animation and video gaming industry.  When I made it to college, there weren't many options for this career pathway.

Thoughts for Hopscotch

Not too long ago, I found Dr. Wesley Fryer's free eBook with Hopscotch Challenges from one of his social media shares.  And I have to say, I want to have these students try some of Fryer's challenges, but I would also like to encourage students to create their own challenges for his classmates.

Now, if I was Hopscotch, I would create a Hopscotch forum and/or video section to allow users to upload challenges without going into too much detail about their code initially.   How can this game become more social?  Students had fun time working through their personalized challenges with their friends.  I think this excitement can be sustained through a social-media-type site for apps like Hopscotch.

Graphite - Get Ideas for #DLDay

With Digital Learning Day fast approaching, I wanted to share a website that may provide you with ideas for this years #DLDay.  The image above displays one review from the Graphite site, and it looks like Quandary didn't rate well from this teacher.

Graphite is one of the many free services from Common Sense Media.  The site works from crowdsourcing classroom ideas/reviews from teachers and has only been around since last summer when they were offering gift cards to provide a certain number of reviews.  As USA Today deemed it, Graphite is basically Yelp for teachers.

Graphite provides teachers with an overview and review of different apps, games, websites, and curricula for the classroom.  There is also a board feature to collect resources as you find them within Graphite.  The board feature will most likely appeal to Pinterest users.  This site lets teachers filter items fairly easily in order to locate instructional technology tools that work for their unique classrooms.

For more information head over to the Graphite website or if you have vetted Graphite let me know what you think of this site in the comment section below.  The following video does a fairly good job of describing the website and Graphite's mission.