Appy Summer Vacation!

For our last session of the year, I would like to introduce a few apps that you might enjoy exploring with your child during the upcoming long vacation. While having fun, students will at the same time continue to read and learn, maintaining important skills during the long break.

(1) Reading

Younger students will surely enjoy these nonfiction books from the Smithsonian Institute (apps designed by Oceanhouse Media).

Polar Bear Horizon

It’s Tyrannosaurus Rex!

Penguin’s Family

Older students, who read independently, will definitely be intrigued by the following two interactive book apps.

Alice in New York – a different spin on the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland

Khoya – an interactive fantasy adventure (recommended for teenagers and adults)

(2) Learning

A great app to review and practice computation skills, i.e. addition, subtraction, multiplication and division:

Sail Through Math

An app to strengthen vocabulary and spelling:

Bluster!

A fun app for different grade levels to test knowledge in several areas, i.e. math, science, language and history :

Brain Quest

(3) Photography

Some fun apps to encourage your children to explore their creativity while capturing unforgettable moments during the vacation:

My Sketch

Strip Designer

Wishing you a relaxing long vacation and much quality time with family and friends,

Tanja

iPad Cafe - Third Session

I am excited that on Tuesday, January 31, we are already hosting our third informal app sharing session. Once again, Sarah, Rhona and I will be presenting some interesting apps that we discovered - some already used with students in class.

As during the previous sessions, I will focus on reading and book apps. The more apps I download, explore and use with students, the more I learn about the differences from one app to another. While some reviews already point out strengths and weaknesses, it is often only once I have the app downloaded and explored with students, that I can tell whether I find it useful or not. With book apps, especially interactive book apps, the question is often whether they distract too much from the main storyline. Here is an app which I find has just the right balance of engaging the reader without distracting. I like the various options available (read to me, read myself, etc.) as well as the brief tutorial at the beginning of the app:

Harold and the Purple Crayon

And here are some great nonfiction books for our young inquirers:

Bobo Explores Light

This is a real multimedia experience since the app includes videos, images and text (so there is definitely some independent reading required).

The Strange and Wonderful World of Ants

I have to admit that with this app it wasn't "love at first sight", it took me a little while to appreciate it and discover its special features (e.g. you can adjust the reading level). It was an immediate success with our first grade inquirers. Even though I have had this app for a little while already, I still have a group of students basically every day reading this book during recess.

And here two of my favorite (non educational) fun apps: I think every iPad needs a Candle and a Facelift from time to time. Enjoy!

What can you do with an iPad in the Classroom?

Teachers at LCS are exploring the use of iPads in the classroom during a workshop on professional development day, January 9, 2012. This is what they will be looking at and we thought you might enjoy exploring these apps as well. So I am cross-posting a section from our presentation here for you, including the respective links to the App Store. Enjoy!

What can you do with an iPad?

You can read…

Kindle

… or let someone read to you!

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

You can write

Pages

You can present

Keynote

You can explain

ScreenChomp

You can search/look up

WordBook XL

National Geographic World Atlas

You can explore

Science 360

WB This Day in History

You can practice

Everyday Math (Beat the Computer)

You can create…

Artwork: 123 sculpt, ZenBrush

Photography: Skitch, WordFoto

Music: GarageBand

Movies: iMovie, Film Director

Cartoons/Comics: Toontastic, ComicBook

Poems: Poetry Creator

Books: BookCreator

(… and in case the power goes off, you have an emergency light source through Free Candle ;) )

Reading on the iPad

(On September 29, 2011, we will share with our parent community at LCS how the iPad can be used for reading, learning and more. Below we include an outline of the presentation with links to some of our favorite apps – for you to follow up on or read about in case you are not able to attend.)

Hi – I am Tanja Galetti and I am the Elementary Library Media Specialist at LCS. While I love reading “good old” print editions of books, I also have a great interest in exploring all the new ways we can enjoy reading nowadays. A year and a half ago I got a Kindle and thought that there wasn’t anything that could top this. This summer I got an iPad – and I love it! While there are many different ways of reading on the iPad, I want to share four different ways that have worked for me so far more.

Kindle for iPad

• · Free download of app from App Store
• · Requires Amazon account
• · Books are purchased through Amazon.com
• · Text, illustrations in grey shades, no interactive features

iBooks

• · Free download of app from App Store
• · Requires iTunes account
• · Books are purchased through the iTunes Store
• · Text, colored illustrations, audio, no interactive features

FreeBooks

• · Free download of app from App Store
• · Books are downloaded for free through the app
• · Text, audio

Interactive Book Apps

• · Each book is an app
• · Books are purchased through App Store
• · Text, illustrations, audio, interactive features
• · Examples: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, Meet Millie

Wonder where I get my recommendations? My secret weapon is Twitter. I follow professionals (e.g. librarians and teachers) who write reviews about the books they read and/or apps they discover, e.g. donalynbooks, shannonmiller, MrSchuReads, iPad_storytime, smartapps4kids.

Welcome to The iPad Cafe!

Welcome to our new blog where we'll be sharing information about the latest apps to use with your elementary school children. We'll be posting links, reviews and suggested apps on this website to help you and your child make the most of your iPad.




Tanja Galetti, Rhona Polonsky and Sarah Pickles