Had some time thought I would add a post.

Here's an app I think iTunes users might like to use after Christmas.

After Christmas, iTunes gives away free music, videos, books, apps, and a variety of other things for 12 days.  Check it out...I always seem to find a few things that I enjoy.  Just wanted to give you a heads up in case you are so busy finishing your shopping that have forgotten to add this app to your iPhone, iPod, or iPad. 

Happy Holidays!!!!

On the 12th Day of Apps....

We celebrated with....

Nearpod

It's FREE....

This app has become one of my favourites for teachers to use in their classrooms with all students to increase student engagement.  Students of all ages are using this app in classrooms around our school board with great success.  

I found this on the Nearpod website and I thought it provided good info on what you can do with Nearpod in your classroom.  I have posted the link below.

Create interactive classes with ease

Using the Nearpod Content Tool, simply upload a pdf or start a new presentation and add interactive features.

Share content in real time

Push information, questions, and activities to students’ mobile devices.

Engage students

Multimedia content harnesses the students’ attention, keeping them focused and minimizing off-task behavior.

Control students' devices

Teachers can see all student activity in real-time, check attendance and identify students who log out from Nearpod.

Quickly assess student progress

Obtain detailed real-time and post-session reports showing individual and class results.

Here is a link to the Nearpod website that you may find useful

http://www.nearpod.com/how-it-works/

Also a quick YouTube clip on how Nearpod could work for you in your classroom.

Thank you for checking in on my 12 Days of Apps. I hope you found something that you might be able to use in your teaching practice. Enjoy your holidays.... They are well deserved....

The 11th Day of Apps...

My True Love of Apps, Gave to Me.....

Socrative!!

I really like this app as it provides instant feedback from your students.  Socrative is a smart student response system. It helps increase student engagement, and empowers teachers to engage their students through educational exercises and games through Smartphones, laptops, and tablets.

itunes Description

Socrative brings smart clickers, student response and ease of use to a whole new level. Be engaged for the entire class with educational exercises and games. See all your classmates’ ideas in real time and interact with the responses. Provide your instructor feedback on the lessons and how well you understand the material. Ask your own poll questions for the entire class or build a pre made activity for your whole class. Have Fun!

--WORKS ON ANY DEVICE WITH A WEB BROWSER: Tablets, Smartphones & laptops (expect some types of blackberries)

MOST POPULAR ACTIVITIES:
✔ Short Answer Questions
✔ Space Race
✔ Exit Tickets
✔ Quick Quiz
✔ Multiple Choice

Here is a link about Socrative on YouTube that you may find interesting. There are many great YouTube videos on how to use Socrative in your classroom, check them out they are excellent....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EoJtCtOhio

Only one more Day of Apps to go.... Where have the last 12 days gone?

The 10th Day of Apps

Only 2 more days left.....

So here is the app for the 10th day of apps....

Evernote!!!!

There are a lot of great features associated with using this app that many of my LD students use. This app is becoming infectious because the other day I was at a school and one of the office administrators asked me "what I was showing the student?" so I told her and the next thing I knew she was jumping on the EVERNOTE bandwagon as well.

There are some really great features that even I haven't accessed yet, but what I do have students do is keep track of their notes, take pictures of the board so they can access the teachers' notes later, do audio recordings so they can have access to the teacher's instructions for the assignments.  One of the best things is that students now have access to their notes on more than more device.  There are no more excuses that they left their homework at school.

Teachers and students are really enjoying the features of EVERNOTE.

Description from iTunes: 

Evernote is an easy-to-use, free app that helps you remember everything across all of the devices you use. Stay organized, save your ideas and improve productivity. Evernote lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders--and makes these notes completely searchable, whether you are at home, at work, or on the go. 

Key Features:

• Sync all of your notes across the computers and devices you use
• Create and edit text notes, to-dos and task lists 
• Save, sync and share files 
• Record voice and audio notes
• Search for text inside images
• Organize notes by notebooks and tags
• Email notes and save tweets to your Evernote account
• Connect Evernote to other apps and products you use
• Share notes with friends

There many great yotube videos to choose from that I couldn't decide upon which one to post, so check it out if needed.

This is a great app for everyone, but my LD students are really finding it helpful in organizing their school work and being prepared for class.   

On the 9th Day Apps

My True Love gave to me....

Smart Notebook....
This app is great as students can now access the notes on the iPad that the teacher is using on the Smart Board.  A great accomodation for our special needs students. Just remember that you cannot access the flash player media on the app.  

Description from iTunes....

The SMART Notebook app for iPad is a light version of SMART Notebook collaborative learning software. Using this app, you can create basic multimedia files and complete SMART Notebook lesson activities. You can use the app for individual and collaborative learning with an iPad, and you can use SMART Notebook software with a SMART Board interactive whiteboard for small group and class learning.

Features

• Pens and Erasers. Draw and write using colored digital pens and highlighters, and choose from multiple ink colors, pen thicknesses and eraser sizes.
• Text. Insert or edit typed text and change the font type, color, size and justification on the page using Text Properties.
• Objects. Organize information and change the page layout. Tap to move, rotate or scale an object. Double-tap or tap and hold an object to cut, copy, paste, lock and unlock objects or to change their order. Double-tap or tap and hold an object to activate the Infinite Cloner and to change the sound properties.
• Shape and Line tool. Add shapes and lines to your file and choose the fill color, line color and thickness.
• Photos. Make files visual by inserting photos from the iPad Camera and Camera Roll.
• Sound. Enhance the auditory experience by adding sound recordings to objects. Double-tap or tap and hold an object to view the context menu and record a new sound.
• Share files. Share SMART Notebook files by e-mailing or upload to your Dropbox account.
• Integrated with Dropbox. Keep your SMART Notebook files up-to-date across multiple devices with Dropbox integration. One tap on the Dropbox icon in the SMART Notebook app for iPad file manager and you can quickly login to your Dropbox account to download or upload SMART Notebook files.
• Activity Builder. Complete activities created with the activity builder and reset for the next class.
• Integrated assessment. Easily complete assessments using SMART Response VE.
• Display content. Show content from an iPad on an interactive whiteboard for the whole class to see using AirPlay and an Apple TV or using an HDMI or VGA cable with the proper connectors.
• Save As. Save the file with a new name to create multiple copies with unique file names.
• Revert to Original. With one tap, you can quickly reset a file to the original version for another group of students to complete.

8th Day of Apps....

Sorry that the 8th Day of Apps is a few days late...

I was just a little too tired on Friday to create a post...and then the weekend was busy with decorating the Christmas tree, and Christmas parties... Christmas holidays can't come soon enough, I think I may need a rest... 

Bits Board.....

This is a terrific app that features....
Description from itunes....
OVER 10 GREAT LEARNING GAMES IN 1 APP

Game 1. Flashcards - 10,000+ free flash cards, fully customizable settings
Game 2. Explore - Review all flashcards at once. Awesome study mode
Game 3. Photo Touch - Can you spot the right item? Play and learn at the same time
Game 4: True or False - Do you know the answer?
Game 5: BINGO - an all time favorite. Up to 4 players can play together.
Game 6: Pop Quiz - Ready for a new challenge?
Game 7: Mach Up - Can you match the items?
Game 8: Word Builder Part 1 - Can you form the words?
Game 9: Word Builder Part 2 - Can you form the sentences?
Game 10: Spelling Bee - Suddenly spelling is a game
Game 11: Reader - A fun way to learn how to read
Game 12: Genius - Ready to mix up all the games at once?
Game 13: Photo Hunt - Just like Bingo but all players compete on the same Bingo board.
IMPORTANT: The free Bitsboard app comes with 3 FREE games (Flashcards, Explore, and Photo Touch). Each additional game can be unlocked via in-app-purchases for $0.99 or you can unlock all games at once for one low price of $2.99. 

BITS BOARD TRACKS YOUR PROGRESS

• Bitsboard keeps track of every answer and makes it easy for you to see what words and boards you have mastered and which ones you need to study some more.
• You can now instantly see your level of mastery for each particular board so it becomes easy to keep track and figure out what to work on next

SUPPORTS MULTIPLE USERS

• Bitsboard makes it easy to add multiple users and switch between user accounts
• Track progress at the user level
• Automatically saves game settings at the user level

ACCELERATES YOUR LEARNING

• Bitsboard's learning algorithm automatically personalizes each game based on the players skills.
• Bitsboard knows your problem words and when you are ready to move on to your next challenge.

SHARE AND SYNC CONTENT ACROSS DEVICES

• With Bitsboard, you can share and sync your custom lessons across devices with just one click

Check out this video, it is very helpful.

7th Day of Apps

On the 7th Day of Apps, I'm starting to wonder "who thought this was a good IDEA". Oh yeah, that was ME!!!!

So here we go on the 7th day of Apps my true love gave to me.

Panther Math Paper for $19.99 (a big splurge)....
This app is fantastic for students with motor disabilities.  This app would also be excellent for any student who could benefit from using UDL principles.

Description from www.panthertechnology.com

Now you can do math without holding a pencil. We've integrated the principle of Universal Design into an elegant interface that allows people to work independently on "digital paper". Math Paper offers the foundations to learn simple arithmetic, and the power to do complicated equations. Do whatever problems you want. Or choose from hundreds that come with the app. 

Here is a link to a video from vimeo on the Panther Math Paper App...

http://vimeo.com/58327955

The 6th day of Apps

We are half way through the 12 days of Apps....

So here we go with #6. 
QR codes

There are a variety of QR apps that you can use.  I use I-nigma or QR Reader for iPad either are excellent.

QR (Codes Quick Response) are so fun to integrate into the classroom. Quick Response codes are bar codes with information. QR Codes can include contact information, websites, text, SMS, pictures and so much more. 

Students enjoy using QR codes in their activities.

QR Codes are so easy to create.  QR Stuff is the easiest site to use to create codes… In 3 steps and voila and you are done. Download your code and insert it into any document or presentation. The best thing about using and creating QR codes is that it is all free. Students must have access to either of these devices a smart phone, iPad, or iPod download a bar code scanner to access codes. 

Check out these websites for ways in which you can use QR codes in your classroom.

Treasure Hunts- http://www.emoderationskills.com/?p=1161

Teaching Fractions- http://2d-code.co.uk/qr-code-jenga/

How to use QR codes in your classroom-http://www.schrockguide.net/qr-codes-in-the-classroom.html

5 Real ways to use QR codes in Education- http://www.fractuslearning.com/2012/02/20/qr-codes-in-education/

Check out ScoopIt! it has some great links on how to use QR codes in your classroom.

On the 5th Day of Apps

My true love gave to me....A great app for Teachers...

Remind101

Description from the itunes store....

Remind101 provides a safe way for teachers to text message students and stay in touch with parents. It is 100% free and is used by over 500,000 teachers, students and parents to send millions of messages every month.
FAST, SAFE & EASY
* A teacher communication tool that allows you to message your entire class of students and improve parent involvement.
* Teachers never see students' phone numbers. Students never see theirs.
* Students and parents join by sending a text message. No computer needed.
* As a safety precaution, only one-way messaging is permitted, allowing teachers to send updates and reminders without having to worry about managing another inbox.
* Great for parent teacher communication: improve parental engagement at the primary school, elementary school, high school or college level.
* Inclusive classroom communication: students and parents who cannot receive text message notifications may opt in to receive their teachers messages via email.
* Have an upcoming test or quiz? Schedule text messages to be sent later.
* As safe and easy as teacher student communication could be!

The Remind101 developers can be followed on the following social media sites.
Follow us, twitter.com/remind101
Friend us, facebook.com/remind101

4th Day of Apps

Choiceworks

A great app for students who need to use a visual daily schedule. We are having great success using it in a variety of our schools for a variety of students.  This app is a little expensive at $6.99, but well worth the price.  

Here's a great description from the itunes store.

The Choiceworks app is an essential learning tool for helping children complete daily routines (morning, day, & night), understand & control their feelings and improve their waiting skills (taking turns and not interrupting). Created with the support of leading hospitals and child development specialists, this app is designed for caregivers to provide clear and consistent support to foster a child’s independence, positive behavior, and emotional regulation at home and in the community. It can also be customized for teachers in a school setting. 

Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChoiceworksApp

Key Features
■ Three boards: Schedule, Waiting, and Feelings
■ Three Companion Books supporting each board
■ Image Library preloaded with over 180 images and audio
■ Add your own images and record your own audio for limitless customizability
■ Easily create profiles to personalize and manage multiple users
■ Save an unlimited number of boards for multiple children or different routines
■ Speaks boards out loud with professionally recorded audio
■ Time saving essentials like search and auto-save
■ Share boards by Email or iTunes File Sharing with other Choiceworks app users
■ Ability to print boards or save as PDF

Schedule Board
The Schedule Board focuses on making task completion easier and more fun, allowing the user to select up to five steps on iPhone, seven on iPhone 5 and eight on iPad that can be easily reordered. The schedule is then paired with an all done column to check off steps toward a motivating reward. As the task image slides to the all done column, the user gets both visual and audio confirmation. Schedules can be enhanced by adding a timer. The schedules are easy to edit and fully customizable. Once you have created a schedule, it will be saved automatically.

Waiting Board
The Waiting Board is a great way to teach waiting skills like taking turns and/or not interrupting. The user can begin by reading the companion book, When Do I Have to Wait?, in order to explain to the child the reason why everyone has to wait on occasion. Using the waiting board, the top picture can be selected to indicate the reason why the child will be waiting and a timer can be set to show how long the child will be waiting. Next, both the user and the child can select an activity for the child to do while waiting.

Feelings Board
The Feelings Board provides a tool for helping children understand and express emotions. The user can begin by reading the companion book, When I Get Upset, to provide an example of how the child might recognize an emotion and choose a coping strategy. On the Feelings Board, the user can then help the child indicate how they are feeling from a range of options, select a coping strategy, and then request an activity which would likely help them feel better or re-engage with others.

Profiles
Supporting multiple children is effortless with Profiles. When using profiles, the app automatically organizes boards by child and encourages independence by removing the distraction of other children's boards. Personalize each profile with a name and custom photo.

Image Library
The Image Library comes preloaded with over 180 of Bee Visual’s most commonly used images, each with professionally recorded audio. You can access the images quickly using the search feature or simply by scrolling through the images. Users can add to the Image Library by selecting an image from their own camera roll or by taking a photo. The user can then add a caption and record the audio. The images can be defined as a Schedule Board Title, a Task or an Activity, a Waiting Board Skill or Activity, and/or a Feelings Board Activity. This allows only the images you want to use in those categories to be viewed when you are editing and customizing the boards. 

Here's a link that you may find useful when beginning to use this app. Good luck...and enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6lBfRYK6Nc

On the 3rd Day of Apps...

My True Love Gave to Me....Story Creator....

Another great app...Teachers and students love this app. It is so easy and fun to use. To top it all off it's FREE.... Get the PRO version for $1.99.

Story Creator allows you to easily create beautiful picture books containing photos, videos, text, and audio all in one location. Story Creator brings your best stories to life and easily allows you to retell and share your memories.

Story Creator offers a creative way to enjoy your personal pictures, videos, and experiences with family and friends.


Kids will love this app because it is so easy to use. Teachers love it for the same reason and for many more.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgDP4XkuGDM

2nd Day of Apps

Explain Everything.... A great way to increase student engagement....

I love this app as it gives students the ability to creatively communicate their thinking.  Students love using this app, and working collaboratively to create amazing projects for their teachers.  

Explain Everything is an easy-to-use design, screencasting, and interactive whiteboard tool that lets you annotate, animate, narrate, import, and export almost anything to and from almost anywhere.

Create slides, draw in any color, add shapes, add text, and use a laser pointer. Rotate, move, scale, copy, paste, clone, and lock any object added to the stage.

Add new or existing photos and videos. Import PDF, PPT, DOC, XLS, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, and RTF files from Evernote, Dropbox, Box, GDrive, WebDAV, Email, iTunes, and any app that allows you to open these files types using "Open In…". Export MP4 movies, PDF documents, PNG images, or XPL project files directly from your iPad.

(The above description from the iTunes app store.)

Cost $2.99

There is a android version available as well on Google Play. 

Here is a great link, that has a great video on Explain Everything.

http://www.explaineverything.com/

1st Day of Apps

Here is my 1st app for the 12 Days of Apps...

I love the Teach Me Apps, for our young friends.  I used these app with my lifeskills students and what a difference it made in their engagement, and achievement.

There are 5 different grade levels ranging from Preschool, Kindergarten, Grade 1, 2, and 3.

The Teach Me apps teach six different age appropriate subjects.  These apps focus on: sight words, shapes, colours, addition, subtraction, spelling and now writing letters and numbers. Parents/Teachers can select which subjects they want, set different difficulty levels, and even choose specific questions. Parents/Teachers can review performance history for each subject to check how the child/student is doing. 

TeachMe:  keeps children engaged with a rather unique reward system where children earn a coin for every three correct answers. Coins can then be used to purchase stickers to place in fun sticker scenes or to purchase items for the new virtual aquarium. Sticker scenes can be exported as wallpaper or emailed to family and friends. 

The simple and intuitive user interface is designed to be child friendly, which allows children to play without help from an adult. An animated teacher (Mimi Mouse) gives verbal instructions and feedback to the child which makes learning fun. 

Starting Dec. 4, the 12 days of Apps....

Holiday Spirit....

Only 13 more school days left until the holidays, not that I am counting :-)......

I was thinking it might be fun do a count down of my top 12 favourite apps... So starting on Dec. 4 I will post a new app everyday until our last day of school on the 19th.  

Enjoy and if you would like to add your favourite apps please do so...it is always nice to have lots of great apps to try.... Have a great Monday everyone.....

Mindmapping & Graphic Organizers

Popplet...

Popplet is great for school as it is a platform for students to communicate their thinking to their teachers.  

• It can be used for brainstorming, mindmapping, and as a graphic organizer.
• It can also be used for creating timelines. 
• It can also be used for collecting inspiration i.e. A scrapbook. 
• Create for collaboration between students and teachers.
• It can also be used to make connections between items and matching for our life skills students.

Popplet lite is the free version of Popplet. When using this version you are limited to just one popplet ( 1 page). 
With the purchase of Popplet ($4.99) it lets you create an unlimited number of local popplets, which are stored on your iPad. You can also use the full version to create online popplets, which can be shared with and edited by other Popplet users, both on the web at popplet.com and on their iPads. 

This is a great app for students to use to organize and plan their thinking. The possibilities are endless for this great app. A must purchase for school ipads.

It's been awhile....

I've been neglectful... Sorry...

Sorry everyone. Things have been a little busy, and I haven't been as diligent about writing as I would have liked.  So I promise that I will try harder to add more posts today. 

First Class- the update is finally working well... Go ahead and update your app. (Sorry a little late)....

SAMR Model- 

The Substitution Augmentation Modification Redefinition Model offers a method of seeing how computer technology might impact teaching and learning.  It also shows a progression that adopters of educational technology often follow as they progress through teaching and learning with technology. 
While one might argue over whether an activity can be defined as one level or another, the important concept to grasp here is the level of student engagement. One might well measure progression along these levels by looking at who is asking the important questions.  As one moves along the continuum, computer technology becomes more important in the classroom but at the same time becomes more invisibly woven into the demands of good teaching and learning.

SAMR model developed by Dr. Ruben Puentedura  http://www.hippasus.com/

SAMR Poster- Apps that fit into each of the categories.

First Class App Update

DON'T UPDATE

If you happen to use the First Class app on your iPhone or iPad, don't update it yet.  I have experienced many difficulties with this new update and now have resorted to using my laptop to answer and write emails to colleagues.
Hopefully the bugs will be worked out soon.  I'll keep you posted.
Have a lovely day.....

Word Prediction and Reading App!!!

iWordQ

Happy Friday Everyone :-).  For those of you who don't know about iWordQ yet it is one of my favourite apps for students who are in need of a word prediction and reading app. 

iWordQ in Writing Mode-it assists students who need the support of word prediction, abbreviation-expansion and speech feedback features.  Spell-check and dictionary access is included.  Speech recognition (for speech to text) is available for iPad 3, 4 and mini's.

iWordQ in Reading Mode- text is shown in a more visually pleasing way to improve readability.  It is used for editing and proofreading, learning to read, silent reading, other reading modes.

It is great for writing and then cutting and pasting or "opening in" other applications where you would like your writing to appear (i.e. Pages, Explain Everything, Email, SMS-text messaging, Facebook, Twitter and a variety of other apps as well).

It is more expensive at $24.99, but it is well worth the investment for individuals who are in need of this type of assistance. ( It has been a life saver at home for my LD son, the both of us no longer want to pull our hair out when he has writing tasks to be completed). 

The WordQ software on the computer does the same thing as the app on the iPad. (WordQ is available on all of our school board computers).  

If you are needing any assistance on using the app or the software I would be happy to help.

A great app and website...

Scoop It!

Scoop it! is the smart way to easily organize and share ideas that matter. Create your topic, curate: leverage the Scoop it! community to explore your interests, follow your favourite topics and get fresh relevant content suggestions.  

For example I really enjoy searching for (i.e. ipads in education) Scoop it! then finds all of the relevant information for me and then I share it with you. 
Give it a try, it's easy to use and provides lot of great info on all kinds of topics.

Thanks to Superintendent Tom D'Amico (OCSB-Ottawa Catholic School Board) for turning me onto Scoop It! last fall at a MISA (Managing Information for Student Achievement) meeting and again at The Meeting the Needs Conference this week.    If you're on Twitter he is one to follow as he is a great proponent for teaching and learning in the 21st Century with a focus on innovation, technology and creativity. 

Follow him at @TDOttawa on Twitter.....

NearPod app for idevices.

Well it is Sunday, and I am going to try to catch up on my posts as last week I was busy with the Meeting the Needs Conference.

NEARPOD
I have known about NEARPOD for awhile now, but hadn't had a chance to play with it until Thursday (at the conference).  It is fantastic...it is an excellent app that enables teachers to use their idevices to manage content on students' idevices.  It combines presentation, collaboration, and real-time assessment tools into one integrated app.
I have posted a youtube link that will give you a brief overview of how to get started.
If you need any help with this let me know and I would be happy to help you integrate the app into your teaching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGTb6L1zkxs&feature=c4-overview&list=UUZObtfKJpsY-lywwLvYQbdA

PAPER PORT NOTES....

An app that you may find useful....

I like this one as it is created by the makers of Dragon, it does a lot of great things.
BONUS it's FREE!!!!

http://bdmtech.blogspot.ca/2012/03/paperport-notes-app-for-ipad-notetaking.html?m=1

Welcome to My Assistive Technology Blog....

Welcome Everyone!!!! 

Thank you for stopping by and checking out my new Blog on Assistive Technology.  

This blog is a place where I plan on posting information that may be helpful to you when using AT (Assistive Technology) and iDevices with students. I will post new apps, tips on how to troubleshoot difficulties, IEP expectations, links to websites and videos as well as a variety of other topics.  If there is a topic that you would like me to blog about I would be happy to add that topic to my posts.  

I am looking forward our journey with AT and iDevices :-)

Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy your long weekend!!!