Apps A-Z: Doodle Buddy & Doodlecast Pro

Doodle Buddy and Doodlecast Pro two apps that I would never have thought to use in my class; if it had not been for the creativity of my students. 

Doodle Buddy 

My students really enjoyed being able to use Doodle Buddy to paint, draw, scribble and sketch. I just saw it as a white board with annoying sounds. Yes, sounds. There are funny sounds paired with the stamps in the app. I found them to be rather annoying or students were annoying me with them. Needless to say I stopped using the app. It wasn't until students were giving an assignment in which they had to illustrate their own pictures, and not just google images (which they love to do) that I saw how beneficial this app was. Students still googled images but placed that image in Doodle Buddy, traced it, then removed the image. After removing the original image they then colored in the traced image and saved it to their camera roll for use in another app. Some students still preferred to free hand. Below are some student drawings using Doodle Buddy: 

Free hand Drawing

Traced image 

Free hand drawing; with stamped flames from app

We will definitely google images less and illustrate more. 

Doodlecast Pro

Doodlecast Pro is also a whiteboard app (so I thought), but instead of just drawing it takes it a step further and allows you to explain what you’re doing at the same time. It records everything that you draw and say. Great for math class, right? My thoughts exactly. So, again it wasn't until students were given the freedom to select the app of their choice for retelling a story. That I saw how this app would be beneficial in the classroom. There are lots of uses for this app in any classroom across a variety of content areas. This makes a great app for flipping the classroom! Which I plan to try during the 2013-2014 school year. Below are some videos created using Doodlecast Pro:

Apps A-Z: Common Core Standards

Common Core Standards

Common Core Standards a MUST have teacher app! Our district, like most, has made the move from state standards to common core statandards. Learning a new set of standards can be difficult, especially if you've taught from the same standards for a number of years. This easy to use app helps ease the transition putting all of the common core standards at your fingertips. It covers math and languge standards for grades k-12. This is an app I referred to weekly, sometimes daily, as I planned lesson and tried to understand these new standards.

Apps A-Z: BrainPOP

Today's app is BrainPOP; one of my favorite resources! BrainPOP has several short animated videos, covering serval content areas, that can be used to support your lessons. The videos also really engage the kids, and they LOVE Moby (the robot character that  is in every video)! Each video has a quiz that can be used, as well as, other resources. Videos are common core aligned. The BrainPOP app can be found in the Apple, Android, Windows, or Chrome markets. You do have to have an account to view all of the videos, but there are lots of free videos, and they have a featured video each day. Below is today's featured video.

 

Brainpop in the Classroom

In past years I've used BrainPOP during whole class instruction to introduce a concept. This year with the 1:1 iPad initiative I was able to individualize the videos kids watched. One of our units involved students writing biography reports, so I had students look at the 66 famous historical figures brainPOP features. Students selected three of these famous people, watched the videos and then decide which they wanted to further research. This process worked out really well, and the kids enjoyed it. They also learned a lot from the short videos they watched, and the biography projects that were presented at the end of the unit. There are numerous ways to use BrainPOP in the classroom. How do you use BrainPOP in your classroom?

**BrainPOP tip: Register as a BrainPOP Educator for lots of other resources like lesson ideas, searchable standards, Mixer, a tool that lets you create custom BrainPOP quizzes. Plus so much more!

You May also like BrainPOP Jr., or BrainPOP ESL.

Apps A to Z: Aurasma to Zapd

It's official the 2012-2013 school year is now history, and for our school history it was! A new school that housed all of the sixth graders in the district, and the first school in the district with a 1:1 iPad initiative. As you can imagine it was a year of many first, and lots of learning for  us as teachers. This summer, I would like to reflect on and share the many apps I used or saw my colleagues use in the classroom. So, with the start of my summer vacation also comes "Apps A to Z!" Apps A to Z will cover apps from Aurasma to Zapd and everything in between. Going in aphabetical order, I plan to feature one or two apps a day.

Today, I begin with Aurasma & Zapd. When first introduced to each of these apps, I struggled with how to use them in the classroom. They have since become two of my favorite apps. See how I've  explained Aurasma using Zapd. 

Aurasma is augmented reality; meaning the physical world and the digital world are combined. Aurasma is a great app for students to share what they have learned. It is also a great way for teachers or presenters to give  more information through a poster, bulletin board, book etc. I did not use Aurasma much in my classroom this year, but I will be using a lot of Aurasma  next year. Especially for student presentations.   

Zapd allows you to create instant websites. It was not until the end of the year that I used Zapd in my classroom; before that I had seen students use it for projects in their computer media class.  I had students create a website for the upcoming sixth graders titled Sixth Things You Need to Know About Sixth Grade. One of the math teachers (iTeach with iPads) used it as a way to present lessons to students, and has a tutorial on ways to use Zapd in the classroom. 

Have you used Aurasum or Zapd in your classroom? If so how? Do you have ideas for using either of these apps? Be sure to leave a comment. I would love to hear your ideas!

Museum Hunt

Friday, we went on our annual field trip to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. It was awesome! Students took their iPads and took lots of pictures. While at the museum students completed 3 scavenger hunts using an app called Museum Hunt. This app has pre-made scavenger hunts for museums and zoos across various cities. Luckily, our city was one of them. This kept students focused and engaged during their free time at the museum. It also allowed them to see parts of the museum that were not on our guided tour. When we returned to school students created a collage of 8 (number of school days left) pictures using the Pic Collage app.

Coming Soon, Apps A-Z!

It has been a busy, yet successful school year. As the 2012-2013 school year winds down, I'm excited about getting back to blogging! Beginning May, 23rd, I will start blogging on a regular basis again. First, on my agenda will be "Apps A-Z." The past two years I've had the opportunity to have iPads in my classroom. Over the course of 26 days, I will share many of the apps I have used or have seen my colleagues use in the classroom. Below is a list of the many apps I will discuss:

A--Aurasma
B--Brainpop
C--Common Core
D--Doodle Buddy
E--Edmodo
F--Follett Digital Reader
G--Grand Prix
H--Hyperblast
I--iMovie, inspiration, iCard sort
J--Jet Ski
K--Keynote, Kids Doodle
L--Lite (Downloads HD Lite)
M--Morfo
N--NoteLedge
O--Overdrive
P--Puppet Pals-Puppet Pals 2
Q--QR Codes
R--RedLaser
S--Strip Design
T--Trading cards
U--USA Today Education
V--Voice Recorder
W--WebDav
X--X-ray (Photo Booth with Pic Collage)
Y--You Can Handle Them All
Z--Zapd