Math Game Time

Math Game Time is a great hub for flash-based games and videos revolving around math. There are a ton of appealing interactive games targeted at students from Pre-K to Middle School. The video section of the site has curated a bunch of quality YouTube videos. For those that have an iPad, paid app versions of some of the games are available.

iPhone & iPad Apps for Teachers: Today in History

Today in history is a dead simple way to get historical information instantly regarding events, births, deaths and special customs and events associated to the day. 

As a bit of history Buff it caught my attention because it is full of facts linked to Wikipedia and lets me find both nibbles and in depth information on thousands of topics ranging from the strange through to bizarre.

However as a literacy who is always looking for fresh and relevant ideas Today in History offers a wealth of writing prompt materials. 

For instance today November 22 is the anniversary of JFK's assassination in Dallas 1963.  This was a great discussion topic for my class to explore the notion of 'conspiracy theories and cover ups' that led my students to research why people go to such great lengths to cover up the truth? 

We discussed JFK and then the kids brought up Roswell...  We ended up writing a short essay on "Does society sometimes need protection from the truth?"

Anyhow.. If this sort of thing is your cup of tea then take a look at Today in History here. and let me know if you know of any other great History / Writing apps

5 iPad Apps Every Teacher Should Have

Just to wrap up our week of apps for teachers here are some favourites that will make your iPad a little more productive in the classroom.  Enjoy

iWork Until Microsoft release office for the iPad iWork offers the MS Works equivalent of a productivity suite for the iPad. Pages, Numbers and Keynote make for a fairly impressive productivity suite for $30, or $10 each.

Teaching & Classroom Resources @ www.theteachinglab.com

The Elements: A Visual Exploration: Sounds a bit pricey for a periodic table, but the vividly animated illustrations of every substance our world is made of more than make up for it. $14

Bento: Organize your Life

Mobile Air Mouse: Do you use an Interactive whiteboard and have wireless keyboards and mice floating around the place that either don’t work or you have to actually sit in front of a computer to type something on your IWB.  Download and install Mobile Air Mouse and you can use your  iPad to do everything on your IWB.   Now I sit with my students and run a lesson.  Media controls, Keyboard and Mouse.  My all time most used app at school on my iPhone.  Works through a wireless network and is pretty painless to set up.  Check out the video below.

DropBox:  I own a laptop, 2 desktop PC’s at home, have files on the network at school and now have some stuff on my iPhone and an iPad.   I was going crazy trying to keep track of it all.   Drop box allows you to sync everything without any hassle at all to every PC you use both locally and in the cloud and now best of all you can access all of your files through your iPhone.  Also you can create public folders for your students to access files from the web too.  It’s free - Absolute Gold

Pi83 Graphing Calculator A simple calculator isn't enough for most math students once they hit high school, so having a graphing calculator handy is always welcome. And since Pi83 Graphing Calculator, which mimics Texas Instruments' Ti-83 graphing calculator, costs just 99 cents.  Never be outsmarted by your students again.

WorldBook – This Day in History. This interactive calendar is powered by World Book Encyclopedia and features historical information for each day of the year.  Struggling for a lesson idea today or just need to fill in 10 minutes with some great facts from history.

Cram Cram is designed specifically to help students study for a big test. The app allows them to create multiple-choice quizzes and study guides with a flash-card-like system. The app even randomizes the answers to ensure students aren't memorizing a particular option.  Best of all for teachers it has a massive bank of online tests you can access and administer.  Don’t sit up all night planning or correcting a test again.

History: Maps of the World One of the most important tools any student can use is a historical map of the world to help them in both geography and history classes. That's where History: Maps of the World comes in.

After downloading the free app, users can view maps of all the continents at different points throughout history. The app features up-to-date maps showing current boundaries. But where it provides the most value is in its historical maps, which display boundaries and important places from periods throughout history. It's a great way to help students increase their effectiveness in geography and history class and a great discussion point in geography lessons.

Flash-Me - This educational iPhone App lets you use Cramberry (the amazing online flashcard maker) on your iPad. With Flash-Me, you can create, edit and study your flash cards on your iPhone.  These can be later shared with students in class.

Mathematical Formulas Mathematical Formulas is a must-see app for any math student. It not only helps users gain access to hard-to-remember formulas quickly, but it might also prove to be a handy studying tool.

Like me if you are not Rainman and your students hit you with something from left field in maths this is a great tool to get you out of what can be an embarrassing spot.

Anyhow I know some these are iPhone apps but I am sure that by next week there will be another thousand useful and useless apps that will take their place.  Enjoy your playtime over Easter with your iPad and let me know what you have found useful.

What do teachers want from an iPhone, iPad App

We are currently in the process of creating an iPhone / iPad app for Edgalaxy so that we can better share our content with our mobile audience. 

And I have one very simple question for the teachers of the world.  What do you want from an app?  Please leave us a comment below and hopefully we can incorporate some ideas into our app.

Thanks

Kev

Students, Mobile phones and Potential Cancer Risks???

Today the World Health Organisation released an interesting press release about the Potential risks of mobile phones and links to brain cancer.  Let me repeat that I am not saying these devices cause cancer but they have officially been given the 'maybe' status by the worlds most recognised health Advisory Centre.

Many teenagers spend hours on these devices every day and this could be an issue they might like to know more about.

For years as a teacher in health classes we have discussed the risks of smoking, drugs, bad diet and so on... So should we make an issue of this or are we just scaremongering...

I would probably err on the side of caution and tell students the potential risks and let them make their own minds up but I would strongly recommend the following use of a mobile phone until we know a little more facts.

Try to limit talk time on mobile phones - text MSG or landline where possible.

Try and carry your phone in a bag - not in pockets etc.

If you are going to play games for extended periods - Switch to Airplane mode - This will turn off all radios in the phone

I often look at the wireless points plastered around our schools and wonder what the deal is with those too.  We all have a right to ask questions when it comes to our health.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic as both a student or a teacher.

50 Essential iPad Apps

We often get people sending us recommendations for great iPad / iPhone apps that teachers can use.  But today I came across this great list from IGN.  There is a great mix of productive and fun apps that you might want to take a look at.  The complete list can be found here.

4 iPad and iPhone apps to improve junior literacy and numeracy skills

With over 100,000 apps on the apple market it is important to revisit the latest educational apps available today I have found 4 great apps that will help your little ones improve their reading writing skills without breaking the bank.

Kidcalc - Price $1.99 buy it here

KidCalc teaches number recognition, counting and math to pre-schoolers, kindergarteners and elementary school aged children using flash cards and puzzle games, with engaging artwork, animation and voice-overs.
KidCalc includes animated addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division lessons. KidCalc is easily configurable to adjust how challenging the counting and math puzzles are, with settings for toddlers learning numbers, for preschoolers learning to add and subtract, and for elementary school aged kids learning to count as high as 1000 and to multiply and divide.

KidCalc is jam packed with features and now teaches the following skills:
• Writing numbers
• Number recognition by sight and sound
• Quantity recognition with icons
• Counting forwards and backwards, with voice-overs, by increments of 1, 2, 3, on up to increments of 100
• Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division with operands up to 1000
• Reading numbers spelled out, up to one thousand

Grover's Number Special  $1.99 - Buy it here

Hello Everybodeeeeeee! It is I, Grover, your cute and lovable waiter, and I need your help. Charlie the cook did not come in to the restaurant today, and the Customer wants his lunch right away! Join me in the kitchen to catch—and count—ingredients to make delicious and nutritious meals. 

Cooking with me is easy! All you have to do is tip your cute little iPhone or iPod touch back and forth, and my adorable little hand will move the tray. I will tell you how many things to catch, and we will count them together. It will be so much fun! Oh, pleeease play my little game—The Customer is getting very hungry!

"Elmo loves this game! Elmo can play all by himself. And Elmo’s friend Grover is so silly!" -Elmo

"This game look so good, me try to eat phone!" -Cookie Monster

"I thought this was the worst game ever, until Grover made a HUGE mess. Heh-heh!"
-Oscar the Grouch


Features:

•Part of the Count with Sesame Series!
•Original Sesame Street video!
•Easy to play
•Just tilt your iPhone or iPod touch to catch the ingredients!


Curriculum and Skills:

This educational application combines learning and fun! As your child plays with Grover, he can also build important school readiness skills, including counting, number recognition, and object identification.

•Visual discrimination
•Counting
•Number recognition

abc PocketPhonics: letter sounds & writing + first words Price $1.99 Buy it here

abc PocketPhonics was designed and reviewed by teachers who use phonics (letter sounds) to teach children to read. It is primarily aimed at preschool kids and those aged up to 7. To understand the best educational practice underpinning abc PocketPhonics, order the free guide to teaching kids to read from the app.

Phonics was recommended by the Australian Federal Government's Teaching Reading report in 2005.

LETTER SOUNDS
Simply put, phonics (letter sounds) is about helping children learn to read by understanding the sounds that letters make. 

abc PocketPhonics teaches the letter sounds for all the letters in the alphabet. It also teaches over 30 letters sounds that come from combining letters together (like “sh” and “ch”), because they are key to reading so many frequently-used words. Most apps only teach A to Z.

LETTER WRITING 
PocketPhonics visually demonstrates how to write each letter. Children enjoy practising their writing by tracing the letter with their finger (similar to a Montessori classroom where children learn first to trace letters with their fingers). PocketPhonics also works with iPhone-compatible styluses.

abc PocketPhonics will also (optionally) check the accuracy of your child's writing. 

170 FIRST WORDS
Using a unique, "letter sounds make words" spelling game, children learn how to sound out and spell over 170 frequently-used words.

iWritewords Handwriting Game Price $3.99 buy it here

iWriteWords teaches your child handwriting while playing a fun and entertaining game. Help Mr. Crab collect the numbers in sequence by dragging him with your finger - and drawing the letter at the same time. Once all the letters in the word are drawn properly, a cute drawing appears. Tilt your iPhone or iPod Touch and watch the letters slide into the rotating hole and advance to the next level.

Features:
• Learn handwriting the fun way
• 70 words/levels of uppercase letters
• 70 words/levels of lowercase letters
• 20 levels of numbers
• 26 levels (A to Z) of individual letter tracing for uppercase letters
• 26 levels (a to z) of individual letter tracing for lowercase letters
• Playback the accomplished words featuring your child's own handwriting
• Realistic physics and gravity for falling letters
• Play the ABC song by tapping or shaking your iPhone or iPod Touch like drumming
• Each letter and word is spoken as it was completed

I am sure that you know of plenty others so please post your suggestions below.

Android for Academics

We often overlook the Google Android platform here at Edgalaxy in favour of the iPhone even though it has over 15 million users around the world.  Andrew Cullison the founder of Android for Academics shot me an email to tell me about his great list of apps he and others have specifically made for teachers and students on the Android including

Grade Book for Professors (with Google Docs Sync)

Direct Market Link

Edit your grade book directly from your phone!

• No need to sync two separate grade books! Use one primary grade that is stored in the cloud on Google Spreadsheets.
• Email a student their grades with the click of a button!
• Pin-number to protect your grade books in case your phone is lost.
• Direct Market Link – note this link only works when browsing from an Android Phone

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Attendance (with Google Docs Sync)

Direct Market Link

A simple and efficient way to take attendance with your Android device! All attendance results are saved to a Google Spreadsheet.

• No need to enter student names into phone. Just get the student names into a Google Spreadsheet and the app handles the rest.
• Direct Market Link – note this link only works when browsing from an Android Phone
  

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Grade Ticker

Direct Market Link

Simple tool to help professors and teachers make grade tallying more efficient

• Integrates with Gradebook for Professors for easy grade entry
• Direct Market Link – note this link only works when browsing from an Android Phone

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Grade Rubric

Direct Market Link

Simple tool grading tool for professors and teachers who use a grading rubric for assignments. Option to auto-generate an email with detailed grade report for student.

• Custom rubric labels.
• Choose letter rubrics and numbers rubrics
• Integrates with Gradebook for Professors for easy grade entry
• Direct Market Link – note this link only works when browsing from an Android Phone

Check it out here and be sure to let us know if you know of any other great Android Apps