Creating Links on your Homescreen

One of the best features for an iPad are all the apps.  However, there are many more online resources to provide for students.

There are several strategies you can use to get links to students.  You may have created a web page with links, entered links into an Edmodo library, or saved links in a bookmarks folder on a computer.  Another strategy is to create a direct link to a website on your iPad.

To do this navigate to the website using Safari on your iPad.  Find the "share with" button and click "add to home screen". 

The iPad will supply a name for the link, which you can change, and an icon.  Now your webpage will act like an app, just tap it and go. 

Below are a bakers dozen websites as examples for iPads or iPods intended for student use. There are many many more choices, so please leave a comment if there is another good website you'd recommend.  And as a reminder, safari does not support flash so be sure your website is not dependent upon that technology. 

News Related Sites for Students
1. Tween Tribune - student news magazine
2. Youngzine - student news magazine
3. CNN student news - student channel from CNN
4. Channel One - student news channel

Science Related Sites for Students
5. National Geographic for Kids - collection of science related materials for students
6. Planet Archive - collection of images and videos from our planet, many good animal resources
7. Smithsonian Museums and Zoo - access to museums and zoos from Smithsonian

Reading and Research Related Sites for Students
8. Internet Public Library for Kids - free public library for students
9. Childrens Storybooks Online - younger students books online
10. Page by Page Books Online - young adult and adult books online

History Sites for Students
11. Lewis and Clark - example of a historical topic for Lewis and Clark
12. This Day in History - History Channel's "This Day in History"

Learning Response System for Students
13. Socrative Student Login - student access to join a socrative room, teacher access would be on teacher device

iPad Apps Not Working Correctly

We all know there are so many great apps available to use with an iDevice.  But what happens when you are running an app, or another function on your iPad, and apps aren't responding as you've experienced in the past?  Here are some suggestions you can try to remedy the problem.

Suggestion 1:  Kill the app 

• Use the four finger gesture "swiping up" on your home screen to reveal the task bar, or double tap on the home button.

• Press and hold on an app in the task bar until they squiggle
• Kill the app(s) you want to restart

Suggestion 2:  Restart your iPad 

• Press and hold the power button and home button until the red "Slide to Power Off" bar appears, and shut down your iPad.  This will completely shut down the iPad
• Wait a minute or so, and start iPad again

Suggestion 3:  Reset all Settings 

• Go into Settings - General - Reset (found near the bottom)

• Choose Reset All, and you should not lose any data
• Note:  all settings will be reset so you may have to enter in some you didn't realize

Geometry Math Apps

Today I wanted to share two apps for Geometry!  

Geoboard **FREE**  iPad App/ iTouch App -  Simple, easy to use, no ads, good for all grade levels, great app!

From iTunes Description:
FEATURES:

• Create line segments and polygons by stretching bands around the Geoboard’s pegs. 

• Choose from 5 different band colors; 8 band colors on the iPad.

• Fill individual shapes with a transparent color, or use the Fill All button to toggle all the bands between filled and unfilled.

• On the iPad, switch between the standard 25-peg board and the expanded board with 150 pegs. The larger board makes it possible for students to create a wider variety of configurations


Lesson Ideas:

Of course, any lesson you have done with a traditional geoboard you can do with this app.  The pros - no rubber band snapping and you can color in the different shapes in different colors. 

Here is a list of links to ideas for traditional uses of a geoboard from Dr. Nicki's Guided Math Blog.

TechChef4U also has a specific post for identifying triangles using this specific app.  Both are great for lesson ideas! 

Geometry Pad **FREE**   iPad Only App - For upper grades, includes coordinate grids, no adds, able to save and load to work on multiple workbooks.

From iTunes Description:
With the Geometry Pad you can create fundamental geometry shapes, explore and change their properties and calculate metrics of the shapes. The shapes are displayed on a scrollable and zoomable workbook with a rectangular coordinate system. The following tools are built into the application:
- Move and scale. Scroll the workbook by your finger. Pinch and zoom the content of your workbook. Move and modify shapes.
- Point. Plot a point on the workbook. Customize point name and color.
- Line. Create a line. Customize line style, color and start/end points. Calculate line length (distance between points).
- Angle. Create an angle with up to 1 degree precision. Customize angle line style and color.
- Triangle. Create a triangle of one of the predefined types: regular, right triangle, isosceles, equilateral. Customize sides style and color. Calculate triangle perimeter and area. Calculate inner angles of the triangle and length of its sides.
- Triangle lines. Create altitude, bisector and median lines in a triangle. Calculate length of triangle lines. Customize lines style and color.
- Quadrilateral. Create a quadrilateral of one of the predefined types: regular, square, rectangle, parallelogram, rhombus. Customize sides style and color. Calculate quadrilateral perimeter and area. Calculate inner angles of the quadrilateral and length of its sides.
- Circle. Create a circle. Calculate circle perimeter and area.
- Circle radius and chord. Create radius and chord lines for a circle. Customize lines style and color. Calculate the length of the lines.


This has everything from simple coordinates, creating shapes, to calculating and demonstrating slopes..... if you teach middle school or high school geometry standards you need to look into this app. 

Apps Task Ideas - Great Resource!

I recently added a new resource to the App Resource page.  It's a spreadsheet created by Brad Wilson at www.21innovate.com.  Brad Wilson's site and blog are an amazing resource for integrating all types of tools into your teaching.  Many of you ask us for lists of apps, this is the place to go.  Under the tab on his page called "Free Resources" along the top, he has lists..... lots of lists.....based on what tool you want to use. This is the type of site I could spend hours on!

But we will focus on the spreadsheet that I put on the App Resource page. 

Notice along the top there are tabs for each other subject areas he has this broken in to.

  The YELLOW highlighted squares are each time a new app is mentioned.  Notice that with 'Middle School Math" it is highlighted once at the top and then underneath there are four more posts. Each time it is posted, there is a different idea of a task to use that app for.  I love that it gives the VERB for writing your goals for the lesson you are using it with, as well as both the traditional and revised Bloom's. 

I think this resource gives teachers just starting some great ideas for how to incorporate the apps into your lessons, taking it beyond just low level Bloom's tasks or playing games for free time. 

iDevice Cadre : 4Rivers in Ontario - May 15th

Agenda

Cadre Starts promptly at 4:00.

Please Sign In Here

1. Welcome - Please remember to Sign In!  
2. Session #1 - Facetime Conversation
• Steps to start:
• Settings - Facetime - make sure it is turned on
• Verify your email is ready to receive calls or add a new email to receive calls
• Facetime with Partner
• Capture video and pictures on chosen topic to use later
3. Session #2 - Tools for Screencast recording on iDevice
• iPad only app Educreations
•  PageSend - iPad App PageSend - iTouch App
• Create and record a mini-lesson using Educreations or PageSend (ideas include - how to solve a math problem, reviewing a science concept, or explaining differences of singular versus plural representation of a word)
4. Session #3 - Create Video with iDevice app Videolicious 
• Be sure location services is turned on for your camera
• Go to Settings - Location Services, find Camera
• Using pictures from you iPad, create a videolicious movie.  Finished product will by similar to a news anchor reporting a story, where you won't be able to align photos with words.
• 3 step process: choose your photo's, talk for 30-45 seconds (either share your personal story or have a conversation with another person), select background music.
• Final product will be auto saved in your photos
5. Session #4 - Shareout in Groups 
6. Last Cadre of the Year! 
• Registration is open for PadCamp Pendleton June 14th & July 24th
7. Announcement: FYI Google Summit in LaGrande May 19th  

More resources for those that want to extend the concepts from today

• Show Me - an ipad only screen casting app
• Flipboom Lite  - iTouch App      Flipboom Lite - iPad App 
• Splice - a Video Editor for free
• Video Editor Free
• iMovie ($4.99)
• TechChef4U Page of iPad Lessons using these apps and more!  
• Storyboards (roadrunner app)

Use your iPad for PD in PJs!

We posted about using Pinterest to find ideas and held a iDevice Cadre in March which talked about using ibooks and ebooks on your iPad, but there are lots of other ways to use your iPad for your own personal professional development.

Youtube:  Subscribe to channels that are of interest.  Many great online webinars will post their sessions to youtube for later watching.
Some channels to subscribe to:

• Google in Education - just posted their EduOnAir sessions - 45 different topics about all things google.
• YouTube Teachers - Choose from a list of topics that are relevant to you.  
• TEDTalks and TEDEducation  - 18 minute long talks from some of the world renown leaders in all areas.

Podcasts:  On the music player of your iPad (have you used it yet?) you can download many free podcasts to listen to on your own time.  Some great iPad or Education focused podcasts are:

• Appy Hours 4 U (30 episodes and counting)
• Learning in Hand by Tony Vincent 
• Appysmarts: Best Kids apps for iPad and iPhone reviewed
• Tech Chick Tips - tips and tricks geared towards educators working on integrating technology into their curriculum. 

Zite on the iPad

Flipboard on the iPad

Zite or Flipboard:  Apps that allow the user to choose topics of interests, it aggregates articles, posts, RSS feeds and puts them all in one place.  This is handy, being able to read topics on education from a number of different sources all in one place.  Comparing the two:  Zite is easier to begin with.  It gives you a list of common topics or you can search common topics.  Flipboard is more personalized.  You can add your google reader feed, twitter, facebook, etc.  Both apps allow you to instantly email a link, retweet, or facebook the article that you are reading to share easily with others.
Here is a few resources for more information:
15 Fantastic Ways to Use Flipboard from Cool Cat Teacher Blog
If You Like Flipboard, Check Out Zite - It's Easier to Use by ReadWriteWeb

Twitter:  Give it a chance - you don't have to be a thousand tweet a day person - you don't even have to tweet a single tweet!  It's already loaded on your iPad and you can use it as a pretty powerful PD tool.
Sign in and follow the hashtags that are of interest to you.
I like:  #edtech, #edchat, #mlearning, #ipadchat, #ipaded..... to name a few.
I also follow some of my favorite bloggers, which is nice because they often tweet a link when they post to their blog.
For those of you wanting a little guidance here is:  The Ultimate Twitter Guidebook For Teachers by Edudemic






Of course, if you like real people interaction style professional development, don't forget to sign up for PadCamps happening out here in Eastern Oregon in June and July! 

More Educational Free Apps!

Marcel  - Free for Today - 5 stars
KidsandBeyond LLC has had various apps throughout the week (I believe until the 15th of May) that they have reduced to free.  Today's app is Marcel - an ebook about a bookworm.  I've noticed with the other ebooks by this company that many include comprehension questions and other interactives that we don't always see in ebooks.  This book says that there are updates coming that will include some of these features.



Other Kidsand Beyond always Free Apps include:

• Learn the Letter (Pre-K)
• Match That Shape (Pre-K)
• Map My Globe HD (Elementary - continents, poles, and ocean placement) 

Ed's Jungle HD - a hide and seek game for students to explore and learn about 20 different jungle animals.  This is a new released app, no ads, and lots of interactive for the younger children.







For a limited time - Toca Doctor is free.  Smart Apps for Kids has a great write up here. There is also an iPhone app for this as well.  






Eclipses - In honor of the upcoming solar eclipse here is a free app that will show time, locations, etc of all upcoming sky events, including the upcoming transit of Venus.   In access wikipedia online to give more information on the events.






Learnin' USA -iPhone/iTouch
Learnin' USA - iPad
Extra practice for learning the states and capitals.  This is also a new app, so not many ratings on this.





As far as other items, I'm see lots of "sales" on apps - such as the Oceanhouse Media's Smithsonian Apps for $0.99.  

If you are looking for more interactive ebooks for your iPad here is a link to Digital Storytime's list of Free ebooks based on their ratings.

Agenda for May 9th iDevice Cadre Pendleton

iDevice Cadre Agenda - Pendleton - May 9th 

Cadre Starts promptly at 4:00.

Please Sign In Here

1. Welcome - Please remember to Sign In!  
2. Session #1 - Tools for Screencast recording on iPad
1. Install  One of the Following Recording Apps
1. PageSend - iPad App PageSend - iTouch App 
2. Educreations
3. Show Me
4. Flipboom Lite  - iTouch App      Flipboom Lite - iPad App 
3. Session #2 - Facetime Conversation
1. Facetime with Partner
2. Capture video and pictures on chosen topic to use in Session #3
4. Session #3 - Create Video with Apps
1. Penguin Apps
1. Videolicious 
2. Animoto
2. Roadrunner Apps 
1. Splice
2. Video Editor Free
3. iMovie ($4.99)
5. Session #4 - Shareout in Groups 
6. Other Resource for Video with the iPad  
1. TechChef4U Page of iPad Lessons using these apps and more!  
2. Storyboards (roadrunner app)
3. Action FX 
7. Last Cadre of the Year! 
• Registration is open for PadCamp Pendleton June 14th & July 24th
8. Announcement: FYI Google Summit in LaGrande May 19th 

Mirroring your iPad on a PC with AirServer

There are lots of option for using your iPad with your projector.
A VGA cord straight to the projector (requiring you to be tethered to your projector) and the apple TV set up.  We have some great tips for Apple TV with older projectors that we will post about later.
 On a Mac there has been the option of purchasing Mac app called Reflection which mirrors your iPad to your computer (thus allowing you to project what you are doing on your iPad through the projector).  There is a time  limited trial available on their site, and in limited, I mean 10 minutes.... 

VERY recently AirServer came out - enabling you to mirror your iOS device on your PC and/or Mac.  The PC version is a pre-release version with only mirroring (audio will come with later free updates) thus it is Version 0.9!

With a 7 day free trial you will be able to get plenty of time playing with it to see if this is the right choice for you as a way to project your iPad.  Once audio is enabled on the PC version, I personally feel the $7.99 price tag for a standard license is well worth it. 

My desktop with Geoboard mirroring via AirServer

 

To download a free 7 day trial  

of AirServer visit this link.

A few notes:

• Again, with the PC version there is currently no audio as part of the mirroring.  This will change as updates are rolled out for free...... so grab it while the price is low! 
• Notice on the download - it asks for you to do this through a facebook account....I did it and chose private as to who could see my activity on facebook.  I have not had them post a single thing on my account since I downloaded the trial.  
• I did have to do a Direct X install/update on my computer in order for the download to work.  
• There is nothing to install on your iPad. 
• You can rename your computer, though setting a passcode (so students don't take over) is not activated for the PC version....yet.....
• But even without a passcode - Joe was mirroring on my computer and even though I was clicking on "airplay" on my iPad, I was not able to kick him off.  I did not mirror until he turned his off. 

iPad Day of Training in May

Simple K-12 is offering four free Webinars for educators using iPads in their classrooms.  These trainings are all free, and will be available on-demand for a limited time following the scheduled webinar, if you are unable to attend.

Session titles include the following, all times Pacific Standard Time

• 20 Free iPad Apps Educators Can't Live Without! - May 15 10:30 am
• Easily Create Detailed Classroom Observations with iPad Apps - May 15 11:30 am
• iPad Applications for Math Intervention - May 15 12:30 pm
• Create Your Own eBook with iBooksAuthor - May 15 1:30 pm

Free Apps for Teacher Appreciation Week

I'm going to start posting links as I come across them.... McGraw Hill has 5 mobile math gaming apps free this week only!

 Links are on their site:

https://www.mheonline.com/apps/

Now that I have time to add, here are the direct links straight to the itunes store for ease of downloading!

• Everyday Mathematics Addition Top It 
• Everyday Mathematics Equivalent Fractions
• Beat the Computer - Multiplication 
• Monster Squeeze
• Everyday Mathematics - Divisibility Dash 

iPad and Pinterest

Pinterest is being used by teachers as a tool to curate ideas and it's gaining speed!  Besides the yummy food, great craft ideas, and dream houses there are lots of educators using pinterest to collect ideas from around the web.  Check out this infographic on the uses of Pinterest in Education.

 I love it because it's so visual....not just a list of links.

 Some Pinterest boards of note:

• iPad Lessons by Lisa Johnson 
• Teacher Blogs by Liane Courtney 
• Common Core also by Liane Courtney

Of course there are many others out there....as all you pinners know!