'ave an app-y day
This is a collection of some of my favourite apps, along with suggestions for use. I have also included links about some of the apps that I want to explore. If you have any suggestions for apps to be added here, or would like to contribute your ideas, please email me.
Voicethread allows you to talk, type and draw right on the screen. You can create and share conversations about documents, images, diagrams or anything that you can upload to the app.
In my Library, Kindergarten used Voicethread after reading "The Enormous Crocodile" by Roald Dahl and viewing Facts about crocodiles on the internet. Some students chose to respond to the story and others chose to review facts. It could also be used to:
Thinglink can be downloaded as an app or can be used via the web. You use an image - either a photo that you have taken or an image that your have sourced, and you create "touch" points on the image. Each touch point can then have content attached to it such as additional images, music, videos or just text.
There are lots of examples of their use on the thinglink website, including an Information Report on Tasmanian Devils and another on Elephant Poaching. The limit of its use, however, is your imagination. I have seen it used for prediction pre-excursion, with a photo of the students attending taken and touch points added to each student with their predictions of what they might do or see. Thinglink could also be used for descriptions, post-survey results, responses to texts, book reviews, as a visual literacy aid to explain elements, and the list goes on. Book Creator for iPad is an easy to use iBook creator. At $6.49 it doesn't come cheap for a class set of iPads but there are many benefits (the free Lite version only allows you to create on book).
Book Creator can be used for simple projects or more detailed and complicated research reports. Images and photos can be used, along with typed text and audio narration. Just some of its uses include:
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Popplet Lite is the free version of Popplet but it still has lots of great features.
In practice, I have used Popplet Lite with my Year 3 and 4 students to brainstorm 'Australia' in preparation for their own investigations into specific topics relevant to Australia, like Australian animals, Dangers in the Outback or anything else they find of interest. It could also be used to:
Play School's Art Maker is a great app, especially for pre-Year 2 students, but could really be used by any grade. Students choose a background relevant to your content area, for example, a farm, and then use choose a variety of characters to be added to the image. Once all of the characters are added, students can move them around and records their voice as they do so to tell a story or explain the characters and their interactions. The video is recorded and saved to your account but it can also be exported to the iPad's gallery and then emailed or uploaded to other applications.
Other suggestions for using this app:
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