App of the Week: Kid's Journal

Are you looking for a great journal app for kids? Kid's Journal is an awesome app to check out then! We discussed it a the App of the Week in MacReach episode 47... check out our conversation about all the ways you can use Kid's Journal, at home and at school!

Here are 9 differenent ways we came up with to use Kid's Journal for learning:

1. Daily Warm-up
2. Daily Reflection (or CBL Reflections)
3. Scientific Observation
4. Social Stories
5. What did I Learn?
6. Character Journals
7. Communication between school and home
8. PBIS - Positive Behavior Intervention Support
9. Weather reports (check out this projects page!)
10. IEAR Community.... how would YOU use Kid's Journal???

You can purchase Kid’s Journal for the iPad for $2.99

StoryBuddy

Title: StoryBuddy

 

Age Group: Pre-K and Elementary students

Cost: Lite= Free; Full version= $6.99

StoryBuddy is an app that allows children to create their own picture books. The pages can be filled of students’ own drawings or digital photos. StoryBuddy is an excellent app to help younger children develop their fine motor skills. Students will like being able to flip through their book and watch the pages turn like a real book. Children have control over every step of the book-making process including the cover page. Children can enter text using their fingers or the keypad in a variety of colors. Text and photos can be moved around the page by pressing down and dragging it where they want it to go making every page of every book as unique as the children in your classroom. The lite version only allows one book to be created at a time. Books can have a maximum of 15 pages. Final stories can be shared by e-mail, iTunes file sharing or saved to iBooks. One feature missing from this application that I would have liked to see was the ability for speech bubbles to denote conversation between characters. StoryBuddy is very user-friendly but a tutorial and assistance would be needed to help younger students become more familiar with the application. The various features of StoryBuddy allow students to create and edit digital stories that are only limited by their imagination.

 

Get StoryBuddy here

Wallpaper Collection HD by Kathy Burdick

Name of App: Wallpaper Collection HD

Free or Fee: Free!

Rating: 5/5

Why I like it: Wallpaper Collection HD can be used for more than just selecting a backdrop for your iPad. Put this app the better use… in the classroom! Wallpaper Collection HD offers hundreds of wallpaper images in several different categories, from sports to architecture. These wallpaper images make great writing prompts. Let students choose a category and a picture within that category to base their story off of. A similar activity would be to select a picture and have students write their predictions about what is going to happen next and why they think that. There is also an image story section within the app providing information regarding select images and could be used for predicting. Show students an image from this section and ask them questions about it, such as where do you think this picture was taken or was it spring, summer, fall or winter. There is limited info given so some additional research may be necessary to create an abundance of questions. Once students have answered all questions give them the correct answers so they can compare them. There is also a Pro version offered with more images and no ads. This app is a safer way for students to browse images, but always be sure to preview content before allowing students to browse freely. Download Wallpaper Collections HD, check. Select an image for my iPad, check. Now you can put this app to it’s best use yet… in the classroom!

Visit Kathy's website for more ideas on using apps in the classroom!

Review of Writer's Hat by Kathy Burdick

Name of App: Writer’s Hat    

Free or Fee: $0.99

Rating: 4/5 stars

Why I like it: Students are often asked to write creative stories on cue. That kind of pressure can cause serious writer’s block! Writer’s Hat is a great new app that can help give students ideas for who, what, where and when. Each category has a button and when pushed a topic appears to the right of the button. There is also an option called Word Box that gives nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Writer’s Hat can be used to create a plot or at least give students a starting point by getting their creative juices flowing. However, watch out for those students who become reliant on the app for ideas. Writer’s Hat could also be used for a mad lib type story by having the whole class use the first word that pops up for each category. Students can work on the their stories for a period of time (depending upon the type of lesson) without talking about their story with the other students in the class. It would be fun for the students and the teacher to see the differences between all the stories. For those students who absolutely cannot come up with a writing topic they can now pull one out of the Writer’s Hat.

Visit Kathy's Website!

iWriteWords - Drawing Letters and Numbers

App Title: iWrite Words

Grade Level: PreK-1

Purpose: A - teaches students how to draw simple letters. Fits well (not perfect) with our district's Handwriting Without Tears curriculum.

Program Functionality: A - pretty straightforward. Follow the crab to draw the letters or numbers correctly, then dump the letters in the trash can to move to the next lesson.

Overall Educational Value: A - if a student doesn't have great motor control, they may have some issue with getting their finger in the right spot. That's also a reason I like the app. It works hand-eye coordination into learning letters and numbers very similar to how our writing curriculum will tell them. I feel the balance of work vs fun is perfect in this app - draw the letter/word/number, then dump the blocks in the trash can.

Cost: There is a "Lite" version that gives you a small sampling of letters and words. Regular version is $2.99. There is no VPP discount.

Classroom Use/Ideas: This is a great letter and number introduction app for younger kids. It teaches them to control the use of their finger and introduces them to writing. 

iTunes Link: iWriteWords full version; lite version

Reviewer: Josh Allen

Blog: The Tech Fridge

#AppMondayTAS - Do As Me

I'm not exactly sure where I heard about this next app, but I love the concept and it's execution is done very well.  Do as Me is a simple app (as many of the good ones are) that allows you to draw or write on the screen, then kids can follow along and do the same thing.  In the teacher mode it allows you to erase the steps one at a time or trash the entire thing.  In the student mode you have to make it similar to what is on the screen before it goes on to the next letter or part of the drawing.  It will let you know if you go to far out of the lines.

Using the app on an iPod Touch is a little limiting, I can get about 4-5 letters on the screen, or small drawing.  I imagine the iPad version has much more of the screen available for writing, making it very effective for students with fine motor issues.  It would be nice for the app to have some more features - different color inks, maybe extra pages, different backgrounds (for students with visual issues) - overall I think the app is a solid app for working on writing skills.

App - Do As Me

Price - $0.99 (at time of posting)

Type - Universal (works on iPhone, iPad & iPod Touch)

Restrictions - Requires iOS 4.2 (will not work on 1st Generation iPhones or iPod Touches)

Skills Addressed - writing, fine motor

Patrick

Reviewer Website - http://teachingall.blogspot.com

My Pictures Talks

App Title: My Pictures Talk

Grade Level: Any

Purpose: A - Think "Photo Story 3 meets the iOS." A simple to use slideshow creation tool. 

Program Functionality: B+ - I really like how easy it ease to create a new slideshow. It's simple to pull in pics or video synched to your device or use your devices camera (hopefully iPad2's also?) to add. It's also incredibly easy to add text and audio directly on to slides. The only drawback is, once you finish a slide, you are directed back to the slideshow home page to create a new page. I would love to see a "save and make new slide" button. Files are also shared as a zip file, not as a movie.

Overall Educational Value: A - The app bills itself as a "video modeling tool." Our original purpose for this app was exactly that - using it with special education students to work on video modeling. But the app is so flexible, I could see it being used for a LOT of different purposes in the elementary classroom.

Cost: $9.99 ($4.99 if you buy 20 in Apple's VPP)

Classroom Use/Ideas: Again, the flexibility of this tool is amazing and really only limits you to your imagination. Combining real pictures or video with the text and audio can be huge for the special education student needing extra guidance or any student wanting to share what they know. And all of the creation can be done on the iOS device.

iTunes link: My Pictures Talk

Reviewer: Josh Allen

Blog: The Tech Fridge