50 Fantastic Free iPad Apps We all love getting something great for free! However, hunting down the good free iPad apps from the terrible ones in the jungle of the App Store can be a difficult job. Fortunately for you, I’m here to help. We’ll try and keep a mix of old classics and new favourites, read on and stock up on fantastic free iPad apps! Like the article? Be sure to subscribe to our RSS feed and follow us on Twitter to stay up on recent content. Flipboard Flipboard is one of the most popular news readers for the iPad due to its fantastic, intuitive interface and its sheer ease of use. Planetary Planetary is a fascinating way to explore your music collection that’s only available on the iPad. We recently reviewed Planetary and found it to be a simply stunning free offering for the iPad. Zite Zite is a great way to consume all kinds of news and articles, that gradually learns your preferences and what you like to read. The Onion If you’re not already a fan of The Onion, you probably should be. IMDb Remote Paper 500px
Ten Terrific Apps for the Younger Set Teachers With Apps has highlighted some TERRIFIC APPS for anyone with an iPad and a youngster. These apps cover a variety of different skills and all are engaging, entertaining, and extremely educational! You'll find these apps are appropriate for a wide range of interests and abilities - the levels span from toddler to preschool to the early elementary grades. Check Them Out! Felt board, by Software Smoothie, is an app that brings us back to much simpler times via a virtual felt board. Unlike traditional felt boards, this digital version offers many opportunities for customization due to its large selection of characters, props, and backgrounds. Ready to Print, by Essare LLC, was created by Diane Reid, an Occupational Therapist with over twenty years of experience. Little Bee’s ABC, by LisbonLabs, is yet another ABC app to hit the shelves. Pip and Posy: Fun and Games, by Nosy Crow, is an activity book chock full of entertaining play for the younger set and will not disappoint.
Apps for Learning Grammar Skills After having a discussion this week with a friend who is a teacher and mom, we realized that we didn’t know any great apps for practicing grammar skills. The discussion came about because her oldest daughter was struggling to understand the parts of speech. Her daughter really enjoys using her iPad so her mother thought if she could find some engaging apps, possibly in a game style format, that she could encourage her daughter to practice learning the parts of speech to help improve both her knowledge and her Language Arts grade. Grammar Jammers Grammar Jammers, created by Pearson, is an app to help children to practice grammar skills. Grammar Games by Tap to Learn Grammar Games is another highly engaging grammar app for children in grades K-6. Painless Grammar Challenge Painless Grammar Challenge is a quiz and game based review app created by Barron’s. Grammar Dragon Education Article By Laura Ketcham-VanHellemont Picture By BarcelonaDigital Free Educational Resources by SmartTutor.com
Digital preschool A local preschool integrates iPads into the classroom to equip young children with the necessary technological skills for their future. At the school, children are introduced to using the iPad from as young as two-years-old. As digital technologies become ever more pervasive, a preschool in Bryanston, Johannesburg, has implemented iPads in the classroom. The Bryanston campus of The Little Ashford Preschool (The LAP), which opened in September 2011, has the motto: “Innovatively equipping your kids for the future” and introduces children to new technology early on, while also using it to improve parent-teacher communication. The school’s principal, Marli Hoffman, says the school offers entry-level, 16GB iPads with WiFi access, at a subsidised rate of R3 000 for its 37 children. “We do daily reports on the iPads for each individual child to let the parents know how their child is doing and what they did that day at school.” Age-appropriate Positive results Push-back Balance Long-term impact
New Science Apps from Pearson to Help English Language Learners and Struggling Middle Schoolers Mobile Apps for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch Showcased at National Science Teachers Association’s 2011 Conference San Francisco – March 10, 2011 – At the National Science Teachers Association’s (NSTA) annual conference, Pearson today showcased three new Language Central for Science apps for students in grades 6-8. The apps are designed to help struggling students and English Language Learners master the vocabulary that is the foundation for understanding and mastering science concepts. The mobile apps cover life, earth, and physical science and take middle school students on a learning adventure with three different interactive activities: they can study with Interactive Science Flashcards; self-assess understanding with a Trivia Challenge quiz; and strengthen skills with a Word Fly definition game. In Word Fly, students get the chance to “feed” the Language Central chameleon to reinforce their knowledge of key vocabulary.
Waynflete uses iPads in preschool PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- For a long time, only older children have been using technology in school. But now tablet computers are opening new possibilities for the youngest learners, while some people wonder how young is too young. Waynflete School in Portland introduced iPads to its preschool program last year, and the teachers feel the devices have been a huge success. With the help of a teacher, 3-5 year olds have been composing music using the GarageBand app, and using QR codes to access websites their teachers have chosen with videos on a certain topic. Teachers Bob Mills and Gretchen Schaefer said the devices allow students to work more independently, and give them self confidence. Some parents were concerned about using the devices with such young children, but the school has not had any push back since parents have been able to see what has been happening in the classroom. You can learn more about those recommendations by clicking here.
Frankie Lemmon School Overview The school’s intense focus on development of communication skills is clearly evident in the portfolio of innovative techniques and technologies used which include: Custom Programmed Voice-Output Devices: Big Mack single switch device for short phrases; Compartmentalized Communicator for combination object/picture/voice relationships; TechTalk , TechSpeak, and Seven-Level Communicator devices using… Continue » Tech & Young Children In its position statement titled, “Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8,” The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) states, “For children with special needs, technology has proven to have many potential benefits. Continue » Life Improvement Grant In 2012, Frankie Lemmon School became the recipient of Ikea’s The Life Improvement Project grant for the project Special Technology for Special Kids. Continue » Matching Technology Continue » Apps for School
Apps for Professional Development Twitter App (free) Twitter is one of the most active and beneficial social networks on the web. All educators would be wise to join the conversation. If you haven’t used Twitter yet, I would recommend that you read these excellent blog posts: Google Voice (free) Text and call for free! Skype (free) A beautiful app that allows you to make and receive VOIP calls on your iOS device. HeyTell (free) A fun “walkie-talkie” app for quick voice communication. Consumption Apps FlipBoard (free) A beautiful app that turns your RSS reader (such as Google Reader) into a magazine. Zite (free) Similar to FlipBoard, however instead of just providing a beautiful interface to view content you select, Zite tries to introduce you to new content sources based off of sources you currently read. QR Code Readers Quick-Response codes are the strange black and white boxes that have begun appearing everywhere. Diigo (free) Research Apps: Genius Scan (free)
Early Childhood Education and the iPad I was fortunate enough last weekend to receive an invitation to the Sydney Catholic Schools Early Years Conference. I was interested because the conference was centred around creating a clear and coherent vision around Early Years pedagogy. I was also intrigued to see how the iPad fitted in with this vision. One of the sessions I attended was Technology in the Early Years - Apps and iPads by Kate Highfield a Lecturer in Early Childhood from Macquarie University Sydney. Kate was certainly an engaging and passionate speaker but what really impressed participants was a scaffold by which we could evaluate the apps that are used within the confines of our own classrooms. Kate and her research partner Kristy Goodwin have developed this scaffold from their research into educational apps. Kate suggested that we could plot apps on a educational continuum depending on where the different apps contribute to cognitive development. PuppetPals: FREE Create your own animated stories. StoryKit: FREE