Thing 22 - Discovering Apps - Best of Apps

I currently have the Apps Gone Free app on my phone and iPad, but I don't check it everyday.  When I first downloaded it I would look, but I think too often most of the apps that were free I was not interested in, so then I stopped looking.

For this Thing, I went in search of the Best Apps.  I went to the AASL Best Apps for Teaching & Learning 2013.  What I liked about this list is that they were categorized and only had five apps in each category.  At the end of June, I believe, a new list for 2014 will be coming out as well.

I decided to try Toontastic.  On the AASL website this was the description they shared:

Toontastic by Launchpad Toys

Level: K-5 (ages 5-10)

Platform: iOS

Website

Characters and backgrounds come to life while students record their own stories with Toontastic. Original drawings and art can also be animated and turned into cartoons and then shared with classmates, friends, and family members.

Quick Tip: Students can create their own animated cartoons to write stories, animate concepts, and share their ideas.

One of the first things I liked is that it shared the plot line of any story with the creator.  Reminding them of all the different elements that belong in a good story!  The app provides step-by-step directions of how students should create the story which was extremely helpful for little ones not able to read yet. On a negative note, most of the good characters that I wanted to include required me to pay to have that character in my story. I did discover that students could draw their own character which I am sure some students would like to do.

I love the ending how it appears like the view is going to the theater to see the video!  Students would love this app as they create stories for a variety of content areas.  The video was easy to export to the camera roll so that it could be shared with classmates or the teacher.  This was a fun app to explore!

Thing 21 - Free-for-all: Thinglink

I love Thinglink and believe everyone should try this app!

Thinglink started out as a web tool, but in the last year the group created an app version as well.  Thinglink makes your image come to life!  I have used this tool/app with students and teachers and both groups have loved the final product that was created!  Video, websites, Google Documents can be linked to the image to allow the viewer to learn more about the image or idea.  This tool/app is so easy to use and it engages the viewer and creator with the topic.



Here is an example of a new one I created this year about Human Rights novels students could choose during an English unit.




Here is another one I created for my students to find out what happened to the people living in the Secret Annex:





Not only can people create their own Thinglinks, but can explore the site to find other interesting Thinglinks to learn more about various topics.  I highly recommend trying Thinglink!

Thing 20 - Games: Word Mess

Our family has lots of games on our devices, but in general I don't really play many of them.  I prefer to look at my Feedly account, Pinterest, Facebook, etc... I do play a few games though and one of my favorites in Word Mess.

Each game is different but it requires me to look at words associated with a certain topic and created with a random word cloud each time.  This game appeals to me because of the word association and trying to beat the time of my last search.  The frustrating part for me is that many times the one word I have left is looking right at me, yet I can't find it in the "mess".

Thing 19 - Hobbies: Vivino App

I did not realize that there was a wine scanner app!  Of the two bottles I scanned, the first one was not in the system and it was going to be completing a manual match and be getting back to me.  This wine was from a local winery, so I assume this app may not be familiar with it.  I will be curious if they really do get back to me once they do a little more searching.  My second bottle that I scanned was in the system.  It had the rating of others, the price, and reviews from other wine drinkers.  Will I use this app much - not sure?  It will be fun to test throughout the summer though.

Thing 18 - Education: Show of Hands

From this list I had tried many of the apps, but one I had not looked at yet was Show of Hands.  By the description, I thought that this would be a perfect addition to the classroom, but after trying it out, I am not so sure.  The rating on the Apple App Store said 12+ and if I was going to use this in the classroom, I would want to make sure I am previewing what some of the polls are for the day.  It appears that anyone can ask anything, so as a teacher I would want to be aware of questionable polls.

One of the polls I found was this....

What I found most interesting is all the statistics a person could get from people participating in the poll.  I tried several and it seems like the creator of the poll can ask for various forms of statistics back on those participating in the poll.  Again this is a great tool if as a teacher I could have a little more control over what might appear as the next poll on the list!

Quizlet I love!  I have used this app and website with students for the past 3 years.  It is great to see them engage with the vocabulary words being discussed in class.   Quizlet is something that both students and teachers should try throughout the year.  Teachers can show students how to create their own lists or create the list so students can work with the words
Here is one of the lists I have made:

Human Rights Vocabulary List

Thing 17 - Connecting to Community: Explore Minnesota

Of all the apps listed for this Thing, the one I was most interested in was the Explore Minnesota app.  I was excited to see what kind of content was available at my fingertips as we travel around the state.  Instead I was very disappointed... I couldn't get anything to load on this app.  Not sure if it was just the day or what, but I tried it on my phone and the iPad and neither one would open up any of the various categories listed.  This will be an app that I keep on my device and check back later to see if I can get it to work.

I then picked the UpNorthExplorer.com app.  This app did work for me!  I can see this being a helpful app when traveling. It did seem like it was a bit limited as to what it offered me.  I would assume there are more shopping options, lodging, dining etc....

Thing 16 - Audio: Audioboo

For this Thing, I decided to try out Audioboo once again. This is another Web 2.0 tool that I had signed up for a long time ago, but had never tried on my iPad. This is a very easy app to use and could be used in a variety of ways in the classroom and in the media center. One of the most obvious ones might be to have students record book reviews for me. The Audioboo web version allows the creator to make a QR code for the "boo" that was just created. This would be a simple display idea that I could use throughout the library space. Another idea might be to have students create a "boo" with directions for various technology tools. My list continues to grow as I think about this fall, but most of the apps I am finding from this activity are ones that can be integrated into a variety of content areas in a variety of ways. Here is my Audioboo example:

listen to ‘QR Codes in the Classoom’ on Audioboo