iPod – iLearn Technology

News-O-Matic: New non-fiction delivered to your classroom every day!

July 14, 2014Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment12648 views

What it is: Press 4 Kids, News-O-Matic is both a subscription-based app and a free daily email delivered in pdf format. News-O-Matic is a fantastic current event, news source for elementary students. It is a great resource for fresh, non-fiction material for your classroom. Recall, discussion, and comprehension questions are included in each News-O-Matic. You can purchase an app subscription for your class in the 1:1 iDevice setting, or you can subscribe for the FREE daily school edition which is delivered by email. The PDF can be printed out to share with your students, or to keep your class paperless, you can share it on an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer.

How to integrate News-O-Matic in your classroom: News-O-Matic delivers a daily newspaper written especially for elementary-age students. Each edition comes with 5 current-event, news stories that cover the latest news, science, sports, and wacky kids stories. Students get a chance to not only read the news, but also rate articles, submit questions, and submit their drawings. News-O-Matic is a great way to keep your students reading regularly. Each day they will get engaging non-fiction reading that helps build a global perspective. Use News-O-Matic daily, as a class discussion starter. Challenge your students to make connections between the current events they are reading about, and the learning they are doing in class. Integrate geography study with reading each day. If you have a classroom map, put a place marker on it each time you read an article that is location specific. This could also be done virtually with Google Earth. This practice will help students visualize where each event takes place, while at the same time building geography skills.

Tips: All publications are ad free, so you never have to worry about inappropriate content.

The school app edition of News-O-Matic is $9.99 and can be found here.

Fluency Finder App: Updated with new features!

August 21, 2013Kelly Tenkely4 Comments9777 views

Normally I post all of my app posts at my other blog, iPad Curriculum. Because iDevices are becoming SO common place as a technology in the classroom, I’m going to start posting them here as well. If you just want apps, head over to iPad Curriculum and you can search apps only! Just like iLearn Technology, you can search any app by Bloom’s Taxonomy level. All of the websites I share on iLearn Technology are completely FREE, the apps I review tend to be a mix of free and paid apps. At the bottom of each post, I share the cost of the app.

Fluency Finder

What it is: In the US it is back to school time! I love these first days of school when you get to meet a new group of students and uncover their passions, strengths and weaknesses. Fluency is one of those measures that is great to have from the beginning of the year because it means that we as teachers are armed with the background knowledge to help build reading confidence in students. You can easily find and track fluency rates so that you have more time to help students strengthen reading skills and find books that are confidence-building and enjoyable for them. I have written about Fluency Finder before (here), but I’m writing about it again because they have just come out with some great new features worth another mention! Fluency Finder now has a data-sharing email function so that you can share fluency results with all stakeholders easily. Comprehension questions have been built-in so now you have a one-step fluency and reading comprehension assessment. Very handy! Reading passages are being updated with a snapshot list so that you can quickly compare passages. 32 brand new passages are also being added from literary classics for 1st-8th grade reading levels.

I like Fluency Finder because of the way that it instantly calculates results and then stores them in your Student Record for instant access. Really handy when you are in the library with students and want to quickly remind yourself of their current fluency levels to assist them in selecting the perfect, not-to-hard-book that will keep them reading with enjoyment.

How to integrate Fluency Finder app into the classroom:

Fluency Finder makes it simple to assess reading fluency in 1st-8th grade reading levels. To get started:

Add students to the app
Select an appropriate grade level passage for the student to read
Print the passage from the www.fluencyfinder.com website (students could also read from their own iDevice or computer if you want to save paper)
Begin assessment, start the app timer as the student begins reading
Student will read from printed passage as you follow on your iDevice marking any mistakes
Tap the (+) button when student makes a reading mistake
Tap the (-) button if the student self-corrects a mistake
End the timer when the student finishes
Tap the “finish assessment” button to instantly see results

Now instead of focusing so much on keeping track of the fluency and score, you can focus on what actually matters: listening for fluency, comprehension and expression.

Being a paperless school, we are LOVING this option for helping students choose books that are at a level that is “just right.” It gives us the opportunity to help students hunt down the perfect amount of challenge and really focus on a story they can love. We are all about encouraging an absolute love of reading!

Tips: Target Fluency Rates

First Grade: 60-70 wpm

Second Grade: 80-95 wpm

Third Grade: 100-120 wpm

Fourth Grade: 120-135 wpm

Fifth Grade: 130-145 wpm

Sixth Grade: 140-150 wpm

Seventh Grade: 150-160 wpm

Eighth Grade 160-175 wpm

Cost: $6.99 (iTunes link)

Compatible with: iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 4.3 or later

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Fluency Finder in your classroom.

Send Anywhere- share files between mobile and non-mobile devices

June 13, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4919 views

What it is: Send anywhere is a super handy app for iDevices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) or Android devices. With it, you can share photos, videos, contacts or any other file easily with other iPhone/iPad, Android, or website. There is no user account to create, simply enter the one-time key that you are given to receive the files. With Send Anywhere you select the file, photo or video, contact, etc. Next you can choose to generate a QR code that can be scanned, share a key for receiving files using text message or email, or scan for devices that are nearby. You can also choose to upload the file to a server where multiple users can then download the file for a set amount of time. The receiver of the file can either enter a one-time key code, scan the QR code on your device, make their device discoverable or go to the http://send-web.com website on a computer web browser to receive the file.

How to integrate Send Anywhere into the classroom: Send Anywhere is a great way to share files quickly with students or colleagues. This is also an easy way for students to share their work with each other or with you. Because it doesn’t require a login, it is ideal for young students who may not have an email address to send you their work. Send Anywhere is super versatile. Even if your students aren’t all using the same devices, you can share files seamlessly using one of the Send Anywhere options.

Often at Anastasis, our students bring their devices on field trips for note taking and photos. When they return to school, they are always excited to share what they collected on the field trip. Often one student gets the perfect shot that others in the class would like shared. With Send Anywhere, this transaction could happen quickly without the student with the picture spending a lot of time transferring it to the other devices. On other occasions, we ask students to leave their iPads at school and a teacher acts as moment capturer. When students get back to school to reflect, the teacher is able to quickly share the learning evidences for students to include in reflection blog posts or projects.

Did you create a file that you would like to share with students? Use Share Anywhere to distribute digital rubrics, syllabi, instructions, etc. Students can quickly enter a keycode and access anything they need. Send Anywhere could also be a great way for students to “turn in” their digital work. Again, this is a fantastic option for students that don’t have their own email address to send from.

Our students create portfolios that they share at our end of the year Storyline (essentially a celebration of all the growth that has happened over the year), we invite families to come join this celebration. So often, parents want a copy of their children’s digital work. On the display that students create, they could share the Share Anywhere key code, or QR code. This would also work for identity day presentations, science fairs, etc. Work and research can be shared through Share Anywhere.

Tips: Share Anywhere is a fabulous invention. I’ve long wished for AirDrop on the iPad to share files quickly between my own devices. This isn’t currently available but is being released in iOS7. Until then, Share Anywhere is the perfect solution. For the long-term, Share Anywhere is a great option when you have a variety of device types.

Price: Free

Device: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad

Requirements: iOS 5.0 or later

DIY: a maker site for kids

March 8, 2013March 8, 2013Kelly Tenkely1 Comment5027 views

What it is: I LOVE everything about this site. It truly embodies everything I love about learning and technology. DIY is an online club for kids to earn maker skills. Kids (otherwise known as Makers) share their creations and work with a larger online community and collect patches for the skills they learn. Each skill has a set of challenges that help kids learn different techniques and create something fantastic. When a child completes a maker challenge, they can add photos and video to their online portfolio to show off their creation. DIY is a website where kids get a public portfolio, an app that they can use to upload videos and pictures of their projects, makers can choose to do challenges to earn “Skills” badges, and a parent dashboard where teachers or parents can follow along on all activity.

Maker identities are always secure, children are asked to choose an animal and a nickname to help protect their privacy. Parents get access to see what their kids are posting online.

I love that this site encourages creativity, reflective portfolios and using technology constructively. It is an outstanding balance of online and offline activity!

How to integrate DIY into the classroom: At Anastasis, we strive to encourage a maker community. We do have a 1:1 iPad environment. For many, this equates to a technology rich environment (it is) where everything is done or consumed on a device. I can think of nothing sadder than reducing learning to a device! We most often use our technology to capture and share our learning. DIY is a fantastic site that makes way for kids to be curious about the world around them, create something new and use technology to innovate.

DIY is a great place to help students discover the love and joy of being a learner and a creator. It fosters a classroom culture of innovation and sharing of learning and accomplishment. So many of the challenges incorporate learning that support standards and other learning that is “required” in the classroom. These challenges would be great to take on as individual makers, in small groups of makers, or to tackle as a whole class. Don’t think of DIY as an “extra” thing to add into your classroom routine. Instead, look through the challenges through the lens of how it can enhance the learning objectives in your classroom. Embrace the maker culture in your classroom and allow room for creativity and innovation. The inquiry model of learning lends itself beautifully toward this. DIY could be the catalyst to making the shift away from more traditional learning and into an inquiry based model.

Tips: Instead of assigning “traditional” homework (read: piles of worksheets), assign a challenge from the DIY site. Better yet, let students choose their own challenge to tackle and make time in the classroom for them to share their creations and accomplishments.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using DIY in your classroom.

Meraki: Manage Mobile Devices from the Cloud…FREE

November 20, 2012Kelly Tenkely2 Comments6825 views

What it is: Meraki lets you centrally manage mobile devices, macs and PC’s from the cloud based dashboard. The systems manager makes it simple to centrally manage applications on iOS, Android, Mac and PC devices. It integrates with Google Play, Amazon Appstore, Apple App Store and Apple’s Volume Purchase Program. In addition to being able to manage apps, Meraki makes it easy to enforce and deploy restrictions on mobile devices. Choose how your students access the app store, gaming and content, how they connect wirelessly, security settings and remote VPN access. Meraki has a virtual backpack where content can be shared with devices. Files and documents can be added and sent wirelessly. Separate backpacks can be delivered to different classrooms so that the correct documents are shared with the students who need it. The cloud platform makes 1 to 1 projects and BYOD (bring your own device) roll outs manageable. The best part? Meraki is 100% free. You just can’t beat that!

How to integrate Meraki into the classroom: This is one of those tools that I WISH I had seen before I spent $3,000 on another solution. Blerg. Live and learn, right? Next year, this is the solution I will be using to manage all of our BYOD iPads at Anastasis. It has everything that we need. The integration with Apple’s Volume Purchase Program is pretty fantastic. This is a great way for the school to purchase and manage educational apps that we want to share with students. The cloud management means that we can manage devices from anywhere and we don’t have to have a dedicated server to do it. I can do a lot of things, but managing servers is not one of those things that I want to spend my time doing!

Meraki is a great solution for whole schools or single classrooms that need to manage devices. I love that Meraki can be used for a school initiated roll-out or in a single classroom BYOD initiative. Either way the tools are easy to use and will make the integration of technology in the classroom run smoother.

Tips: Check out the FAQ page to learn more about how Meraki gets installed on the student devices. The installation changes based on device.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Meraki in your classroom.

A catalog of apps sorted by Bloom’s Taxonomy #standagain

January 17, 2012Kelly Tenkely5 Comments4432 views

Open publication – Free publishing – More apps

What it is: This week Apple is all set to make a BIG announcement about education. I always tune in when Apple has something to say, but this week I am particularly interested in what they are going to do with education. The announcement has been connected to some of the big 6 (publishers). This worries me a little bit because I find that the 6 are pretty traditional and in-the-box kind of thinkers. It will be interesting to see how (or if) Apple has managed to convince some of them to break free a little bit. What I am not excited for: a re-invention of the old way. Been there, seen that. We need something that will let students be creative and innovative, NOT rearrange their textbooks! I digress.

In honor of Apple’s announcement, I thought I would do an early release of a catalog of apps I have been working on organized by Bloom’s Taxonomy. I’ve been putting off publishing it because frankly, there are ALWAYS more to add. I just keep chipping away at it as I find it. To be honest, I have a large collection on my iPad that are ready to be added but haven’t yet. So…bear in mind this is incomplete and will continue to grow! For those of you who have iDevices in your classroom or at home, I hope it is helpful!

How to integrate Bloom’s Taxonomy of apps into the classroom: Bloom’s Taxonomy is by no means the best or only way to categorize websites, apps or other educational tools. However, I often find that for my purposes, it is a really nice way to organize tools so that I can find them later. It also keeps me (and my students) thinking about the learning process and keeps us all from getting stuck in a one-type-of-learning rut. Bloom’s is also extraordinarily handy for categorizing apps that don’t fit neatly into a subject matter or that fall into several different subject categories.

In the apps, I have given you a little guide. If an app cost money, I’ve added a $$ on the app. The others are free. The free apps are just as wonderful as some of the paid!

Keep the guide of apps handy for those parents who ask for your best app recommendations!

Tips: Use the Bloom’s Taxonomy app guide with my Bloomin’ posters! Stay tuned for BIG versions of the posters coming soon with my launch of the Learning Genome project on Kickstarter! Woot!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Bloom’s Taxonomy of Apps in your classroom!

An advent calendar for everyone including my Web 2.0 calendar and app-a-day calendar!

November 29, 2011November 29, 2011Kelly Tenkely5 Comments4385 views

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.

Quixey: Your go-to app search for ALL platforms!

November 7, 2011Kelly Tenkely7 Comments3636 views

What it is: Have you ever attempted an app search? It is a miserable experience, unless you already know what you are looking for, you are out of luck! Quixey changes all of that by powering app searches across multiple platforms (Android, Bada, BlackBerry, Chrome extensions, Chrome web apps, Facebook, Firefox add-ons, IE add-ons, iPad, iPhone, Mac, Symbian, Web, WebOS, Windows, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone). Quixey works with manufacturers, carriers, search engines and platforms to create a custom app search solution. Quixey uses what they call “functional search” just for apps. When you use Quixey, you don’t have to know the app’s exact name or “official” description to find the app. Quixey scans blogs, review sites, forums and social media to learn what each app can do and how people are using it. The Functional app search isn’t dependent on keywords. When you search an app, you can type in the kind of app you are looking for. Easily narrow your search by device. Next to the device, you can see how many apps are related to your search making it simple to see how much digging you will need to do. Next to each app that comes up in your search, there are snippets: short pieces of information that help you decide if the app will do what you need it to. Need to narrow it down even more? No problem, Quixey let’s you organize by paid or free apps, or filter by a custom advanced view. Very handy!

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!

Moglue: Create interactive ebooks and release as apps!

October 26, 2011Kelly Tenkely4 Comments11286 views

What it is: Moglue is an interactive ebook builder that helps students create and share their stories on mobile devices as an app. This download desktop platform makes it a snap for students to create interactive ebooks and release them as apps for iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), Android tablets and Android phones. Students only need to build the content once and Moglue makes it compatible with each user interface seamlessly. No programming is required, this is a great creation platform for all classrooms! Using a simple drag and drop interface, students can make their stories come to life. Every child is enabled to be an artist now.

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:

Tell a fractured fairy tale
Create a choose your own adventure story
Demonstrate science concepts in an interactive “glossary”
Create a class dictionary of math, science, economics or geography words
Write creatively
Create an interactive “textbook”
Create an illustrated dictionary for a second language
Create an interactive “travel-the-world” geography book

This is a neat way for students to publish their work and share with others!

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!

Books Should Be Free: Free Audio Books from the Public Domain

May 25, 2011Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4655 views

What it is: Books Should Be Free is a fantastic collection of audio books that students can download and listen to for free from the public domain. Books are easily searchable by genre, keyword, title or author. Books can be downloaded as MP3 files, iPod or iTunes format. Each book includes a description of the book, full text from Project Gutenberg, a Wikipedia link, and the audio download. Students can play a snippet of the audio before deciding to download. The collection is pretty impressive, including my favorite classics.

How to integrate Books Should Be Free into the classroom: Not every child has an extensive collection of books at home, or parents who model a love of reading. Books Should Be Free expands every classroom and home library by giving students access to some of the most loved books of all time. Students can download both the audio and accompanying text for a read along or simply listen to the audio file. Audio books help students build comprehension, fluency and help students develop a love for story. Books Should Be Free is a great way to start a Reading Buddies program at your school with some MP3 players or iPods that can go home with students loaded up with good books.

Tips: Looking for some more ebooks to expand your classroom library? Check these out!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Books Should Be Free in your classroom!