Show and Tell

So... I still consider myself a bit of a newbie when it comes to the iPad and apps. I have not explored a lot of apps yet; I mainly stick with downloading the ones that are free. I will admit I download a lot of games... due to no cost! I find that many of the good educational apps are not free. Because of this I was a little worried about having something awesome to share! I have awesome games of course, like Jurassic Park and Candy Crush.

But after widening my scope a bit, I thought about tools/sites that I have seen on the internet, and a couple came to mind (other than all of the great ones I have already learned about in this class and last years ICT class). During my last student teaching placement, I attended a few staff meetings. At these meetings teachers would share different apps or websites that they had found useful, just like a show and and tell! It was a great idea. After attending one of these meetings I started using some of the online apps that were discussed, and now I love them! And now I will share them with you; keep the learning train going!

http://www.tumblebooks.com/library/asp/home_tumblebooks.asp
- This is a website that any one can use for free. It is basically a library of picture books, all of which include audio. So you can just click on it, and the book will be read aloud. You also have the option of muting it, if you would like to read the book to the students. Sometimes I would use this at the end of the day, to settle the students down a little bit before home time. I turned off the lights and the students would listen; they enjoyed it, it was relaxing!

http://www.online-stopwatch.com/
- This is a really great tool available online. It can be googled easily (online stopwatch) or you can click on the link here. It is simple, but I have found that the students go nuts over it. Basically it provides a bunch of different kinds of timers. I would use this in the classroom when we were doing a short activity and the students had limited time. As you can imagine.. ."5,4,3,2,1!!!!!!!!!!" They would all scream at the end. A little crazy at the end, but that's why it's great; just adds a little fun!

BrainPOPJr. 
I was introduced to BrainPOP as a website, but recently I found that it does have an App in the iTunes Store as well. The app is free! There is a free trial available, but then I believe you need to subscribe. This website provides TONS of short animated videos on different subject areas. I used this during my last placement when I was doing a healthy body unit. I pulled up videos about washing your hands, brushing your teeth, etc. The students enjoyed the characters and really listened to the information; provided a great activating activity.

Thanks to everyone for sharing their apps as well, I have already added some new ones to my iPad and checked some out online!