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New iPod Touch needs new Apps: what to download for our little school community?

This will be our first venture into using our school iPod Touch. We have been able to procure 6 iPods and we need to work on the best way to utilise them.  Researching available iPod models and appropriate APPS (or Applications) can be a real challenge and there are many informative blogs and wikis out there to Google. Here is a link that I found most useful as it displayed the options for each iPods in a simple comparison chart.

Have a look at this link if you are still undecided which iPod model is best for you -

Also this is an interesting link : 100 Ways to Use Your iPod to Learn.

Our first step into iTouch use was to download appropriate APPS for our students. A very basic level to use these devices, but it is a very good start. This link helped us create an ‘account’ with iTunes without using the Principal’s credit card! How to Create an iTunes account without a credit card

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A few years ago we purchased 15 ASUS eeePCs with 1GB of memory, 150GB hard drives and a 5 hour battery life and are thrilled with the prospect of working with these new tools. However, we don’t want our school environment to be exclusive to a singular device. Our IWBs,  desktops and netbooks will give students an opportunity to compose and produce work, access the Internet and engage in our licenced and free software in their classrooms. However, we believe that the iTouch can offer that ‘in your pocket’ mobility that can also offer easy access to the Internet and to a wide range of APPS that can be just as easily used in class room, on the sport / PE field and on excursions. Once the device is synced correctly,  the Apps work offline and this is of immense interest for us at St Mary’s.

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So we will start experimenting with our iPods this term. We can envisage how easily the students will enjoy their new devices , using the touch screen with ease. For students who need reward, self confidence and self esteem, this device has already proved to be an invaluable tool. We now have 6 to share between our 3 classes as a trial!

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There are so many tools out there for the iPod Touch. But I do believe that there are a unique combination of factors contributing to the right iPod choice for us. We had to factor in the the size of the unit; what kind of APPS that teachers could choose from; the student input into choosing APPs;  the touch screen with the resizing ability; the access on and off Internet for information. So the iTouch won in favour of the amazing functionality as a learning device.  Exploring the APPS available on iTunes will give us a wide variety of applications for our students who, for the most part, are in need of motivation for engagement. I have downloaded many of these APPS but next week will add to our repertoire on our one-and-only iTouch device.

There are an abundant number of Apps available and with them comes the warning that not all Apps are great educational tools. Some are just snazzy new ways to do more ‘wroksheets’. There are a few sites that I managed to find to help a discerning novice like me! These two sites were very helpful: Apps for K-12 and iPhone and Kids. There are so many Apps coming out each month and so I put   AppMiner on my RSS account to keep updating me with new ones.

Here are a few ideas for our first To-Do-List- to download APPS for our K- 8 students:

• Clock, Calendar, Notes, Calculator, Compass: all are basic yet essential tools
• Yellow Pages and Australian Postcode book:both are a must for an Aussie iTouch
• Safari, many bookmarks made from Internet spots
• Blanks, words are not easy at this level but popular for use and competition
• Procrastinate, organizational tool a favourite for staff in some schools.
• Pocket Phonics, Match, Trace it, Wordsearches – many apps for student’s skill development
• TicTacToe,Draughts, Chess, Code Cracker, Join the Dots, Connect Four: give strategy stimulation for one or more players
• FlipBook Lite, language arts teachers are using to construct interactive small projects
• GoogleEarth, virtual field trips, collaborative groups, across content areas
• Capitals & Countries- both these apps lists capital cities around the world and countries with their basic stats
• Braintuner, skills at low level, speed and competition good aspect of appPI83, very similar to to TI83 being used in classrooms
• WordWarp, favorite word game
• Dice, math tool for statistics and probability
• Lose it!and Pedometer: reference for Health/PE
• NikeTraining, Health/PE, videos used to show proper technique, to recommend routines for students away from school building
• Dice3D, math tool for statistics and probability
• CoinToss, math tool for statistics and probability
• Coin Toss World Edition, math tool for statistics and probability also compares the coins from different countries displaying culture and history to integrate math and social studies content
• WordBook dictionary, Thesaurus tools – a number are available for across content tool
• Mini Pianos, Drum Kits and Guitar chord tutors – several apps to give creative students an opportunity to learn more and accompany music
• Whiteboard, student collaboration tool across content areas
• Flashgram, used for parts of speech although the presentation is for younger students
• ChemTouch & Formulas – both offer handy formulas, Periodic Table and Amino Acid reference chart for Science for our Stage 4 students
• Spell It, Spell Check, Spell Bee- 3 app games in two levels for differentiated abilities
• Enigmo – a fluid dynamics based game. Good for puzzles and strategy.
• Spore – there is a free version that gives you one or two levels to play and is a good starter activity for a jump into evolution.
• Hanoi – simple Hanoi disc game where you have to figure out how to move the stack of discs from one side of the table to the other.
• Tanzen – yet another puzzle, spatial awareness game
• Quick Graph- dynamic graph and plotter – supports functions and easy to use calculator. Not as good as premium versions of graphs, but suffices for most class use.
• iThought & Blue Sky- both are excellent concept mapping tools
• TED- collection of videos from the TED conferences. Great for short clips, how assignments, or inspiration.
• Kindle for iPhone if you have access to kindle or purchasing through Amazon, this can be a great way to read parts of novels. Just released but look for more future support of magazines, newspapers etc. where I think any class can get the students engaged through the written word.
• InquisitorA good alternative for fast searching on the Internet. Gives more helpful descriptions of each link as opposed to the generic Google info.
• The Game of Life, Cellular Automation
• Basic Math, add, subtract, multiply, divide quiz
• IQuotation, quotation database by category, author and favorite
• Idioms, everyday idiom database
• StoryLite, personalized adventure stories
• Genius, typing program

What are you using in the way of APPS for your iPod device?? Can you shed some light on some more useful APPS before we move on to adding Microsoft docs and Podcasts to our storage??

Next job will be to look into the podcasts that are available on iTunes for students. WETA Learning Media is also available on iTunes and use story to bring topics to life in HSIE, Science and Health. Three in particular have caught my attention:

Hooked on Phonics: uses images and songs to teach rhymes, phonics, letters and reading for early readers.

Global Wonders: a video podcast introducing students to the cultures of the world with entertaining cartoon characters, actual video and images from other countries.

CNN News: This is a 10 minute, commercial free, news platform for students in Stage 2. Interesting to see what kind of news it will bring into our classrooms for current event discussions.

I also found some great  ideas shared on Twitter this week:

Tony Vincent’s “Learning in Hand”

80 excellent podcasts for every kind of classroom

Deirdre’s “iTouch Learning

Live Binders

Create your own lessons

Lots more APPS from ICT@C

UTECH Tips gives more ideas for APPS in the classroom

Looks like we will have some Busy Bowra weeks ahead of us!