New Math App Page

The  NCTM annual conference in Philadelphia this past week was filled with many math ideas!! The iPad sessions I attended gave me a list of apps that could be usefully in teaching math. I have decided to create a separate page that will hold a list of apps and also will break the CCSS into each strand. I hope it will be helpful.....

CCSS Math App List

Fossil Apps

The following are two apps that students enjoyed when we learned about fossils after school on Monday:


Dino Digger ($.99) In this app the player slides a couple fingers back and forth to uncover a dinosaur fossil buried in the sand. When most of the fossils are visible the dinosaur comes together and players can then see what the dinosaur would look and sound like. Students enjoyed listening to the sounds of the different dinosaurs and became good at recognizing what fossils created what dinosaurs. I would recommend this app, simple and players had fun with it!

Dinosaurs: The American Museum of Natural History Collections (Free) Many, many great photos of dinosaurs and fossils. Good discussion starters!




Tools4Students ($.99) This app provides graphic organizers that only work on the iPad. To add onto this activity students could use the an organizer and choose two dinosaurs to compare and contrast. Below I took a screenshot of what that organizer would look like. 


Compare/Contrast Graphic Organizer:

Math In The News App

Math In the News (Free) This app would be a benefit for any math teacher who wants to teach students where math is found in their everyday lives. The teacher could project this app for the whole class and lead their class in Math Talk. Here are a few screenshots of the app...

    

Super Excited!!!

This week our school received new iPad3's, we are super excited! The camera takes sharper photos and anything you view looks great! Slowly I will be transferring things from the iPad2, having the "iCloud" makes that process so much easier. If you have multiple devices in your classroom you probably know about the iCloud and how it makes an old "icky" task of loading apps to each device a blessing. The iCloud also can be a way to manage your calendars, contacts, emails, and iWork documents. If want to check the documents that your students are working on, it's pretty easy---- log into iCloud on the computer. Here are the steps....Have Fun!


Go to the following URL and login with your iTunes username and password:
https://www.icloud.com/


Your screen should look like this:

All the iWork documents from Pages, Numbers, and Keynote will be available:

 My favorite feature is the "Find My iPhone", you can manage the location of all your classroom devices and look how specific the locator gets:

Easter Apps and More

Easter Bunny My Face (Free) Do this with all your students and put on a bulletin board with a clever saying like "We are hopping for books". Let me know other ideas for this app..comment below.

Easter Twinnoo (Free) You will be doing two things at once, on the left side you will be solving simple math equations and on the right you will be looking at two eggs and tapping on the egg that shows the correct color if the eggs were combined. This game uses both of your hemispheres in your brain. This is harder than it looks.

Move the Turtle ($2.99) Haven't played this app, but it looks like a it would be a way to teach students about programming...might be a Gifted and Talented app!

Simple Physics ($.99) Every middle school teacher should get this app for their students.  

Exploriments: Simple Electrical Circuits ($.99) This app shows how simple circuits work, allows the user to open and close switches. In my opinion, this app should not replace the hands-on activities using wires, batteries, and lights, but I could see the teacher projecting this app on the Activboard or SMARTboard and working through some of the activities with students as a whole group before they worked on the hands-on activity. The following link will bring you to the Experiments webpage with the other apps that they have created...worth checking out.
Exploriments Website

Amanda, thanks for suggesting the next three apps:
Tap the Frog (Free) Strategy game with lots of levels and activities.
Lakota Toddler (Free) Teaches Lakota language
Ojibway (Free) Learn to speak the Ojibway language

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas

I can't wait to have a normal schedule this week...wait...I forgot this weekend is Easter! The past two weeks I have heard incredible speakers at an Apple training, ASCD conference, and the NDCTM math conference. Here are some of the ideas that I wanted to pass along.......

• The Apple training focused on update to iBooks which allowed users to download textbooks to their iPads. Teachers now have the ability to create your own interactive books to use in your classroom. The software to create these books can be found in the App Store on your Mac computer or laptop. Currently, the iBooks Author software is a free download (as long as your computer is running the newest iOS Lion). 

• Explain Everything ($2.99) This would be a good app to have students work problems and while they are recording themselves through the app. The recorded presentation can then be emailed to a teacher. Students can input pictures and draw or illustrate as they are explaining.

• Relection app ($14.99) This software will run on your computer or laptop and allows your iPad to project wirelessly. All you have to do is go into the Settings of your iPad and click on the General tab, then Bluetooth and then click on the signal from your computer. Found this to be a little temperamental, but willing to give it another try. 

• If you are one of those teachers that wish they could have a few iPads in their classroom, try one of these sites. It's possible that you could write for a small grant and your wish may come true.
• http://www.donorschoose.org/
• http://www.digitalwish.com/dw/digitalwish/home