A catalog of apps sorted by Bloom’s Taxonomy #standagain
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Apps in your classroom!
Integrating technology in the classroom
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Apps in your classroom!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Conduit Mobile in your classroom!
This is a random one… so fair warning!
#1 An enormous THANK YOU to those who nominated iLearn Technology for the Edublog awards (also known as the Eddies). It is enormously encouraging to be recognized for this little “hobby” I started almost 5 years ago. You all push me forward, challenge me, encourage me and keep me striving for what’s best for kids. I appreciate you! The Edublog awards is a great place to learn about new edu resources that are worth keeping track of. Take a look at the nominees for instant inspiration!
#2 I am addicted to Pinterest. Addicted. Sometimes I don’t blog because I spend 3 hours lost in Pinning goodness. If you haven’t checked out Pinterest, now is the time. Now, if only I could tear myself away from Pinterest to actually DO those things I pin. 🙂 You can find my boards by searching “Kelly Tenkely”.
#3 On Saturday I will be hosting the first annual “Staci” awards (pronounced Sta cee). Those of you who are fans of the Office will remember the Dunder Mifflin “Dundie” awards. We have the Anastasis Staci awards. It is going to be epic. We have some pretty amazing (read hilarious) awards to give out to our teachers and board members. When you build a dream team staff, get togethers are a WHOLE lot more fun! The jury is still out for picture sharing from the event…there is no telling what will happen.
#4 Speaking of Board Members, we have an incredible board at Anastasis. They are incredibly supportive and approved our desire to send ALL of our staff to EduCon this year! Philly, I hope you are ready for our awesome. Bam.
#5 Only the best for our Board Members, since they all have iPhones, this is the Christmas gift I am giving this year. Koostik makes iPhone speakers (amplifies sound without power) out of gorgeous wood.
Full disclosure: I’m a big fan of the creator of Koostik. I like to call him dad. He is a genius. And really talented. And practically perfect in every way (anyone pick up on that Mary Poppins reference?).
It is almost December again, which means the beginning of Advent. Advent calendars are a fun way to reveal information and “surprises” for your students to look forward to each day in December leading up to Christmas. Last year I thought I would make an advent calendar of my own using Wix. I created a Web 2.0 advent calendar by choosing 25 of my favorite web 2.0 tools for the classroom. Each day you can check out a new one. (I’ll let you in on a secret, you can cheat and look at them all by clicking on the bird to get back to the calendar page…shh don’t tell anyone!) You and your students can create your own custom advent calendar like I did using Wix. Students can create an advent calendar of pictures of their school work, trivia for their parents, special audio notes, or anything they are learning. To create your own Wix advent calendar, choose a template, add shapes to the template to create your calendar pieces, add 25 pages to the site, add links to those pages. You could also create an advent calendar of your own using Glogster. Create a customized advent calendar for your students with fun surprises, quotes, video clips, sound bites, etc. It can be related to the learning they are doing in your classroom, suggestions of books to read, or reveal special rewards like extra computer time, time playing a favorite game, time for reading, etc. Be creative! I’m hoping to make a new advent calendar this year…we will see if I can find the time to make that happen! In the mean time check out these other great calendars to use with your students!
Woodlands Jr has a great online advent calendar every year that tests students knowledge about Christmas around the world. The Woodlands Jr. 2010 advent calendar is a fun one, I am hoping that they come out with one for 2011 in a few days. 🙂 This is a fun way for students to test their knowledge and learn about the ways that Christmas is celebrated all around the world. As an extension, plot the places around the world that they are learning about on a world map.
BBC Radio has a fabulous Bach advent calendar. Each day your students can listen to a story about Bach or music.
The National Museum of Liverpool has an advent calendar that reveals a piece of art from the museum each day.
The Dirt Dirt advent calendar is purely fun, each day click on a number and an animation will be added to the tree.
For those of us who are app inclined, you can download a free app for your iDevice every day from Appvent Calendar!!
Below you will find my interactive advent calendar finds from last year. You are bound to find one that is a perfect fit for your class!
What it is: It is December! This means the beginning of Advent along with the anticipation and excitement that it brings. The Internet is full of interactive advent calendars that you can use in your classroom to teach about how the Christmas season is celebrated all around the world. These advent calendars reveal fun facts, interactive activities, and stories.
Santa’s House Advent Calendar– This advent calendar tells a fun story. Each day reveals another secret about what goes on inside Santa’s home on the 24 days leading up to Christmas. In each picture, there is a little mouse hiding. When students click on his ears, he jumps out.
Christmas Around the World Advent Calendar– Each day students click on the date to reveal a fun fact about how countries around the world celebrate Christmas. The facts are accompanied by great illustrations and pictures. This site shows up very small inside my Internet browser (Firefox). To remedy this problem, click on “view” in your menu bar and choose “zoom”. You may need to zoom in several times.
Christmas Mice Advent Calendar– This calendar tells the story about a mouse family who celebrates Christmas. Each day a little more of the story is revealed. Each picture includes some animation.
Santa’s Advent Calendar– On this advent calendar, each day reveals a new song or activity for students to complete. There are some fun Christmas themed mysteries to solve, stories to read, and activities to work through.
French Carols Advent Calendar– This is a French advent calendar. Each day contains a new French Christmas carol sung by children. This advent calendar would be a fun one to include in a study of Christmas around the world.
Christmas Around the World Advent Calendar Quiz– This advent calendar tests students knowledge about how other cultures celebrate Christmas. Each day students are asked a question and given hints to help them answer. When the answer is revealed, students can click on links to learn more about the Christmas celebrations in that country. This site also includes great activities and teaching resources for Christmas.
Christmas Advent Calendar– Follow the adventures of Zac the elf as he tries to find a Christmas present for Santa. Each day a little more of the story is revealed.
Christmas Activity Advent Calendar– This advent calendar has fun little games and activities to play each day. The games and activities are quick and easy to complete, building mouse and keyboard skills. This advent calendar would be a good one for the classroom computers as a center activity.
How to integrate Interactive Advent Calendars into the classroom: The season of Advent is always filled with eagerness and expectancy. Build some of that anticipation into your school day by allowing students to unlock a new secret on the advent calendar each day. Use these advent calendars with the whole class on an interactive whiteboard or projector, or set them up as a quick center activity that students can visit. Use the advent calendars that reveal a story to practice looking for foreshadowing clues, using context clues to guess what will happen next, or as story starters for students own stories. The Christmas around the world advent calendars are wonderful for teaching students some of the history of Christmas and the way that other cultures celebrate the familiar holiday.
Tips: Each of these advent calendars has some fun goodies and hidden surprises, find the one that best fits your classroom needs.
Leave a comment and share how you are using Interactive Advent Calendars in your classroom.
How to integrate Tag My Doc into the classroom: My mind is racing with the possibilities of Tag My Doc in the classroom. I can envision middle and high school teachers using Tag My Doc to share documents with students. In the land of mobile devices, Tag My Doc makes a whole lot more sense than endless paper copies that get lost on the way home. Post the QR codes from Tag My Doc next to your door, as students leave the classroom they can scan the code for the evenings homework, study guides, rubrics, etc.
Students can use Tag My Doc to keep a record of all the digital documents created throughout the school year. Each document can be uploaded to Tag My Doc and an accompanying QR code can be printed and put in a physical portfolio. No more worrying about where a document was saved and if students transferred it to a flash drive or CD at the end of the year. Everything is kept in the cloud and easily accessed.
Back to school night and parent teacher conferences are a great time for parents to gather information about what is happening in your classroom. Instead of making paper packets, hand out a business card with your contact information on one side and a Tag My Document QR code on the other side. Parents have all of the information they need without the paper clutter at home. Awesome.
Tag My Docs is fantastic for staff meetings, conferences and meetups and anywhere you are sharing documents.
Tips: Tag My Doc supports the following file types: jpg, tiff, png, bmp, gif, doc, docx, ppt, pptx and pdf.
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Tag My Doc in your classroom!
How to integrate Quixey into the classroom: If you or your students use ANY of the above platforms, Quixey is a must! Hunt down the exact app you need quickly and easily. Have a mixed platform classroom? Quixey makes it simple to see where app crossover is possible for the classroom. This is one handy search engine!
Be sure to bookmark Quixey on classroom computers for easy access to an anytime search. When you find an app you are interested in, click for more information, screen shots of the app and a link to the app store. You can even tweet the app out or share it on Facebook!
Tips: When you click on an app, Quixey will even redirect you to the appropriate app store for download!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Quixey in your classroom!
How to integrate Moglue into the classroom: I think tools that make content creation simple are absolute genius. As much as I would love for every student (and myself) to know how to program, it takes quite a bit of know-how before students can make their stories and ideas come to life. The intuitive interface of tools like Moglue let students focus on breathing life into their creations and not on the technology tools used to build them. Tools like Moglue are wonderful for the classroom where students are often short on time and resources (someone to teach them programming). Because the interface is so easy to use, students can focus on telling a story, releasing their inner artist, and letting their creativity shine.
Students (or classes) can use Moglue to:
Tips: The Moglue builder can be downloaded on Mac or Windows computers and has a great tutorial to get your students started!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Moglue in your classroom!
How to integrate the Draw a Stickman site into the classroom: Draw a Stickman is a fun interactive site that uses student creations to tell a story. Students can complete the interactive on individual computers, iDevices (the site works great!), interactive whiteboards, or classroom computers.
Aside from just fun practice at following instructions, Draw a Stickman would be a great fictional story prompt. Students have the bones of a story and can fill in details, vivid verbs, adjectives, etc. to tell the story. Students can focus on fleshing out their hero, the plot of the story, the details, the setting, etc. Students can come up with a moral of a story that they add in the customized ending. This link can be sent as a tweet, facebook link, or in an email to accompany the story they have created. These stories would be fun to share as a class…how many different stories did students come up with using the same base?
On an interactive whiteboard, students can go through the story together, labeling the different parts of the story (beginning, problem, climax, resolution, ending). This interactive can help students identify parts in a story including setting, characters and plot.
Tips: After you have gone through Draw a Stickman, you can personalize the message at the end and share. Add any two lines of text that you wish. This could be a fun way to reveal messages to your students!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Draw a Stickman in your classroom!
Today @j_allen asked how we handled eportfolio’s at Anastasis Academy. The 140 characters of Twitter felt a little too limiting to explain the hows and whys of what we do…bring on the blog post!
Anastasis has a one-to-one iPad program. Our students own their iPads in a modified BYOD (bring your own device) setup. I say modified because we requested what device they brought. The iPad was the ONLY supply on our supply list. Anastasis supplies all other materials (pencils, papers, crayons, markers, paint, glue, etc.). This has been a fantastic setup for us. Families are in charge of keeping the iPads in working order, synced with the student iTunes account and charged for class. We made the decision not to own the iPads as a school to keep costs low for technical support, replacement of broken or out-dated devices and so that our students could take ownership over their own devices. Students can add any apps to the iPad at home using their own iTunes account. As a school, we purchase curricular and productivity apps for students. Students download these apps using redeem codes so that they can stay signed into their own iTunes account.
Anastasis has 60 students in 1st through 8th grade. At the beginning of the school year, we sent home a list of recommended restrictions for parents to set up on student iPads. We taught families how to enable parent restrictions on the Internet, movie/app/song ratings, and how to block in app purchases. We asked all parents to restrict student access to Safari. At school, we downloaded the MobiCip app to every iPad so that we could filter the Internet. MobiCip allows us to set up broad category filters based on age. A premium MobiCip account lets us filter exactly what we want to and allow those sites we want to. (For those who are wondering our students do have access to YouTube.) 🙂
I digress…the question was about ePortfolios.
We use a combination of Evernote, Edu 2.0 and Edublogs to keep and share our work. Evernote has been a fantastic app for our students. Students can record text, images, and audio directly in Evernote. Each note can be emailed to teachers and parents. A link can also be generated for each note making them easy to share on blogs. Better yet? There are SO many apps that have the ability to share with Evernote. Very handy. Students do quite a bit of writing directly in Evernote. This is a good place for all of student writing (even those pieces they don’t want to, or aren’t ready to, share). Evernote makes it easy to organize all of their notes into notebooks (the learning curve here is teaching students to use some organization). The ability to record audio and take pictures of their work in Evernote is great. This means that students can capture learning that isn’t natively digital-digitally. All of those awesome inquiry projects that they construct and build can be captured and reflected on in Evernote. Another HUGE benefit to the Evernote/iPad combo: it goes with them everywhere. Recording learning on a field trip? Check. Recording learning at home? Check. Recording learning on the fly? Check. Teachers often send students a PDF instructions for an assignment or a picture to the student’s Evernote account. Parents can login to their child’s Evernote account from any computer or iDevice to see what they are working on.
Edu 2.0 is our education portal. In Edu 2.0 we can share things as a school community. Edu 2.0 has a built in e-portfolio (we don’t often use this), a blog, a post feed, calendar, and message system. Edu 2.0 makes it easy for us to stay connected as a school community. Because we teach young students, this “walled” community is a safe place for students to share any, and all, of their work and thoughts. Students often write blog posts in Edu 2.0 about their learning. Other students, parents and teachers can comment on the Edu 2.0 blog posts. Teachers use Edu 2.0 to send students assignments, make class announcements and communicate quickly with parents in their classroom. Students can link any content from their Evernote account to their blog in Edu 2.0 to share it with other students, parents or teachers. The school calendar is updated with all birthdays, learning excursions and school events so that students, parents and teachers are always up-to-date. The live post feed makes it easy for teachers and administration to make school-wide announcements. This feed shows up on the home page of every student, parent and teacher.
Each of our teachers has a class Edublog. This is where the teachers write blog posts about the happenings in their classrooms. Students can also contribute to the class blogs to get input and comments from a global audience. The Edublog is the place for interaction and collaboration with the world.
We have a school YouTube account where students can upload videos and stop motion animations. The school account has become a nice central place for students to share their work with the world. I act as administrator on the YouTube channel so that I can moderate comments and videos. Students can easily link to, or embed, videos they have created in Evernote, on their Edu 2.0 blog or on Edublogs.
This combination of tools has worked well as an ePortfolio for student work. I love that at the end of the school year students have ALL of their work with them. Because they own their iPads, the Evernote content goes with them. Even without the iPad, students can access their Evernote account from anywhere and continue using it.
Do you have a one to one program? I would love to hear your solutions for an ePortfolio!
Whew, it has been a while since I have done a Friday recap. Mostly because these days I’m just so happy to have made it through another week that I am celebrating other ways…like by taking a nap.
Anastasis Academy has just completed week number five. Can I say how incredibly cool it is to see something that you pour yourself into come to fruition? We have students! We end every week with a field trip learning excursion. Awesome.
If you are interested in following our journey, you can follow our blogs (yes plural, we each have at least one, some overachievers have two…or more). I’ve created a bundle that you can subscribe to in Google Reader. Subscribing to a bundle means that you will never miss a beat…it will almost be as good as being here with us. This is just the collection of teacher blogs. Each of our students blogs as well, we can’t share those publicly because we use full student names. Occasionally I may let you have a peek at some of our student writing by republishing the post anonymously. For now you will have to take my word for it, these kids are amazing.
Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and YouTube. You can be a super fan and like us on Facebook. If you are ever in town, stop by and let us show you around!
This week I found some super cool apps. I’m talking classroom changing here. I couldn’t wait to blog my favorite find which is Demibooks Composer. A BIG thank you to @ianchia for making me aware of its existence. I can’t wait to see what our students come up with! Demibooks Composer puts the power of interactive e-book publishing into the hands of every student. I am geeking out here. It is seriously cool. Hurry up and download it while it is FREE. I would have paid big money for this app. Big.