APP Time: Story Writing Apps

I've been on the hunt for sometime looking for writing apps for my classroom iPads. My goal has been to find some things that would entice students of different ability levels to write and share. Here are three that I think fit the mold.
Story Maker HD (a FREE app) allows students to design characters and scenes to "illustrate" their stories. They type their text on to the page along with their illustration, then name their story after it's completed. Students can then access the "gallery" where they can read each other's work. While simple, fun (the kids will love making the characters) and to the point, one thing I don't like about this app is that you can't add "pages" to your story - one scene and text is it. It would be great for a poetry unit for students to write a poem and then add their images. Students in the lower grades or with limited writing ability would be best served by this app. For $0.99, you can download add-on story packs (Three Little Pigs, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz, and Little Red Riding Hood), which provide you with more character and image choices for students to recreate a classic fairy tale - great for a unit on teaching point-of-view or for writing fractured fairy tales!
A similar app is Story Patch ($2.99). Although it's not a free app, you get what you pay for with this one. Like Story Maker, students can select characters and scenery for their stories. You have the option to add pages to your writing so it reads more like a book. After students save their stories, other students can go back and read each others writings straight from this app. You can also convert your story to a pdf with a touch of a button and e-mail it to yourself or parents - a great way to share student work. The one thing I didn't like about this app was, while you can change the size of your characters and image and move them around the page, you can't change the direction they are facing. I know that's silly, but I like my people looking at each other, that's all. Story Patch could be utilized at any grade level K-5.
This next app actually involves no writing at all - and that's okay! Toontastic (FREE!!!) lets students choose a scene (or draw one), select characters, THEN - instead of writing the text - you move the characters around the screen and use your own voice to bring the story to life! Basically, students are creating their own animated cartoon! And...they get to pick the background music to set the tone for each scene!!! Too cool!  It's really like making your own cartoon - hence the name! Student creations are saved so they can be viewed later on the app. You can also go to ToonTube through this app to watch Toontastic creations from all over the world! I got a lot of ideas for how to use this app just by watching those alone. What I LOVE about this app is that it take students through the parts of a story, from the conflict to the resolution (even showing them a diagram). What I don't like is the limited number of background scenes there are to choose from - like, there's four. You can purchase additional scenes for $1.99 each, or $9.99 for an entrire set. Any grade level would benefit from this app. This would also be a good app for speech therapy.
Hopefully you decide to add some of these apps to the next chapter of your iPad use!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/story-maker-hd/id428879894?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/story-patch/id388613157?mt=8
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/toontastic/id404693282?mt=8

FREE Financial Literacy Resources from Visa

Here's a way to gain some economics resources...without spending a penny!
Practical Money Skills, a program sponsored by Visa, provides teachers with fun, interactive ways to help students learn to be smart spenders and savers. All you have to do as a teacher is go to their website and order the materials you would like for your classroom - and it's FREE. I've know about this one for a few weeks, but I wanted to wait and post about it until after I had received my order - and I can tell you that neither you or your students will be disappointed! Here's a rundown of some of the resources from Practical Money Skills that I think you'll want to check out:
Marvel Comic Book - With the movie coming out this summer, your students will enjoy reading about Spiderman and friends as they learn about managing finances...and save the world while they're at it! It's definitely geared more for upper elementary and middle school. There's also a free teacher's guide to download as well.
Money 101 Booklet - This handy little guide teaches your students important facts about saving and spending, with some fun facts and websites thrown in the mix, too. After viewing it, I'd like to get enough for each student in my class.
And now for the games!!! I was most eager about getting these to try out, because...well, you're never too old to learn to play new games. Each game came on separate CDs to run on the computer. The games run directly from the CD (you can't download them to your computer, but that's only a minor inconvenience). All of them ran perfectly and were high quality, interactive, and beneficial to learning about money and finances.
Peter Pig's Money Counter - Eh, this one was okay...if you teach K-2 (third graders might like it at the beginning of the year). Upper grades...no. Just no. However, for learning the value of different coins and counting change, this is a super resource. Students have to move the coins on the screen as they count and represent different amounts of money. I can see this being great to use on an interactive whiteboard as a class review or as a station.

Money Metropolis - Very cute (in a cartoonish sort of way), very interactive. My girls especially like it. After designing your character, your students choose a financial goal (from buying a game to going on a trip). They then have to buy and perform chores around town (which they choose from an interactive map) to meet their financial goal. The "chores" are all interactive, from mowing the lawn to sorting books at the library. You get paid if you do your job accurately and in a timely manner - another great concept to get across.
Financial Football - Oh, my. Every fifth grade boy's dream game. It looks and sounds like the NFL, right down to the background music and the animated players. You can choose your NFL team and the opposing team, as well as the level of difficulty ("rookie" is the suggested level for ages 11-14; the age levels go up to high school). As you make your plays, you answer questions about financial literacy. Best of all, there's a free app for Financial Football you can download to your iPad that's just as cool as the computer version. It's so authentically football that your students will forget they are learning.
Financial Soccer - Okay, I liked this one better than Financial Football simply because I understand soccer better than football. It's very authentically done in the style of the Soccer World Cup (which I don't know much about but my students were pretty impressed). The same concept of Financial Football is there, except it's a different ball game. There's a little more strategy with Financial Soccer though; the harder questions are closer to the best shots for the goal. Both Financial Football and Financial Soccer would be enjoyed by students in grades 5 and up, up through high school.
These are just a few of the resources available on Practical Money Skills. Check it out and choose a few things for your class! You literally have nothing to lose!
http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com/resources/free_materials/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/financial-football-hd/id387095643?mt=8

APP Time: Symmetry Shuffle

It's difficult...but it's so cute! You'll play it as much as the kids!

Symmetry Shuffle ($1.99) is an app that makes you think. By this time in the year, we're all in standardized test review mode (or about to be when we go back to s-c-h-o-o-l tomorrow). This is a great, adorable app to review the geometry concepts of slide (translation), flip (reflection), and turn (rotation).

To play Symmetry Shuffle, you select an object (ranging from sneakers to robots), the number of objects in your grid, and an easy or hard level. The object is to move your object to cover all the pictures in the least amount of moves - with the fastest time. Sounds easy, right? Nope! It requires a lot of thinking, rotating, flipping, and second guessing yourself - kind of like that game they have on all the tables at Cracker Barrel, Tricky Triangle. It's spatial and logical reasoning at its finest - and your students will be putting into practice the concept of transformations - even though they'll think they are just solving a puzzle!

The graphics on Symmetry Shuffle look hand drawn, but in a cute (there's that word again!), quaint way that's a nice change from the bright, in-your-face graphics of a lot of games. The sounds are soft and pleasant, too. The only major difference between the easy and hard versions of this app is that you can't "retrace" your puzzle pieces in the hard version without loosing one of your moves. Some of the objects are easier to see where you need to flip and rotate, but none are so stumping that they will frustrate. Your students will love the strategy behind it and timing themselves to beat their peers as they shuffle to cover the puzzle grid. Oh, and many of the touch features on this app involve a "double tap," which can be a puzzle in itself at first. Make sure to review the instruction first so everyone is aware of how to "move."

Have fun shuffling!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/symmetry-shuffle/id387650111?mt=8

Technology Detox

You'll have to excuse my lack of posting this month. I've been on a tech-cation.

Yes, that's right. On Good Friday, I turned off my laptop, took it upstairs, and didn't open it until this morning - and that was only because I had a grant to write before tomorrow. With the exception of the occasional phone call or necessary text, I was completely unwired for nearly 10 days (I already don't watch television on a regular basis, so no TV wasn't that hard to give up). I was on a mission to go on a complete and utter technology detox.

So, why would the techKNOW teacher torture herself like that? Basically, I needed a break. Computers, iPads, responders, software, apps - so much has changed in education in the almost decade since I began teaching. Remember the "blue out" we used when we made mistakes when writing report cards? Once upon a time, the computer didn't average your grades and print it neatly out for you. All by hand, baby - well, hand and calculator. We thought we were "cool" when we hooked the little (repeat: little) television sets in our room to our computers to showcase Internet images to our classes. Who needs Jeopardy on a Smart Board when you had a rockin' one on poster board with library card pockets to hold your questions in each category? Especially when you glittered the giant JEOPARDY to make it extra snazzy? Okay, maybe that was just me.

Technology has made life easier for teachers in ways you new guys and gals will never know. It's also made our lives a deluge of passwords, programs, lost files, found files, e-mails, formatting issues, and a lot of other "tech-aches" that I don't even need to mention - you just know. The change is here to stay - technology rules. But often, with each new thing we have to do or remember in the classroom, it starts to overrule. Instead of guiding or enhancing what we do, it feels like it's beating us over the head with a yardstick.

Which is why I needed a detox. A complete and unapologetic MIA from the information superhighway. I cleaned. I cooked (and it was edible). I read. I went outside. I planned projects to work on during summer vacation, since it starts next month (!!!) I went out to eat and shop. I had conversations with friends and family face-to-face and not over a wireless device. Most importantly, I survived. My head is a lot clearer, except for the fabulous head cold I picked up when I went out to eat and shop. I'm more calm, organized, and focused. I feel a lot less stressed and a lot more...like myself.

Growing up, we didn't have a computer in our home until I was in seventh grade. Dial-up Internet...maybe a junior, senior in high school. Most of our students don't know life without it. I can entertain myself a week without technology, but can my students? Can yours? Probably not. We need to teach our students to use and utilize the digital awesomeness in their life to learn through but not lean on. If not, there's going to be a entire generation coming up the pike that's plugged into everything but life.

That being said, I just found a great app. I can't wait to share it with you. But you'll have to wait until this evening to find out all about it, because it's beautiful today - and I'm going outside.

Donors Choose

There's a light at the end of the tunnel...and its name is Spring Break! Although the school year is nearing it's end, it's never too early to think about things you need for next year. If you haven't heard of the organization I'm about to tell you about, you're in for a treat - and if you have, I hope it encourages you to get thinking about what you could accomplish for your classroom!

Donors Choose is an online non-profit that allows donors and organizations to donate funding to classrooms across the country. All you need to do as a teacher is to make an account and create a project. Using the selected vendors that Donors Choose has designated (there's plenty of them for all your needs, ranging from basic supplies to technology to musical instruments), choose the materials that you need for your classroom. Once your write about how the materials will benefit your classroom, your project will go "live" in about five days so others can view your project.

So far, I have had two projects funded by Donors Choose this school year alone. I was pretty pumped to come home Thursday afternoon to find out someone had donated the remaining funding for additional math and reading materials for my classroom! How fast your project gets funded depends on many things. Your best bet is to create a project that is less than $400, even if it means breaking a larger project down into several requests. Mine were both under $400 and received funding within 3-4 months. Sometimes there are special opportunities for you to earn funding for your project, such as gifts cards through companies like Skype and Groupon.

If you needed any more motivation to post a project on Donors Choose , look no further than Horace Mann's The Classroom Project II. Starting April 4th, Horace Mann (a teacher's insurance company) will start funding 10 projects a week $500. All you need to do is "like" Horace Mann on Facebook and post your project ID number under the link for The Classroom Project II.

If you are a new teacher or just new to writing grants, Donors Choose is a great way to get practice creating projects for funding. You have nothing to loose and a lot to gain. There's no limit on how many projects you can have funded, so this is an opportunity to begin a means of securing materials for your students for years to come. It's pretty amazing to think that people you will never meet have the opportunity to impact your classroom and students. Take a look - you may think of something to write for over Spring Break! It's almost here!!!

http://www.donorschoose.org/teachers

http://www.horacemann.com/teacher-lounge/donorschoose.aspx