Top 5 Apps of the Month

by Lindsay Deschamps 13:35:00 0 comments Assessment Explain Everything Feedback Google Expeditions Showbie Student-Led Swift Playgrounds Teacher-created Tiny Tap

#5: Tiny Tap 

Tiny Tap makes it easy for teachers to create interactive lessons, educational games, flashcards, and fun quizzes in all subject areas.  If you can't find an app that suits your needs, create your own with Tiny Tap!

Tiny Tap empowers you to create your own interactive educational activity and share it on the Tiny Tap marketplace for others to play and learn from.

Using this app in the classroom:
-Formative assessment: Find out what students learned from the lesson in an engaging way!
-Student-led learning: Students create their own app to teach other students important concepts.
-Collaboration skills: Students create an app with a partner to teach other students.

#4: Showbie

Showbie is the fastest, easiest, and most effective app for assignments and feedback in your iPad classroom.

Using this app in the classroom:
-Workflow: Share work with your students. Students complete the work inside the app and send it back for feedback and grading.
-Organization: Keep your students organized with due dates, and voice note reminders.
-Assessment: Provide verbal or written feedback directly on the student's work.
 -Parent Communication: Invite parents to see their student's work.

#3: Explain Everything

Explain Everything is an interactive screencasting whiteboard that allows students to record everything they do within the app.  This includes their voices, their drawings, and the movement of their pointers.  The record feature allows students to record their thoughts and reflect on their work and the learning process.

EE makes it easy for teachers to create and share video tutorials, online manipulatives, and interactive lessons.

Students can import an existing presentation, draw and highlight over the top while verbally explaining, and export a movie that encapsulates their understanding much better than the mere slides.

Using this app in the classroom:
Student voice: Students can complete work directly in the app and orally explain their process.
Checklist: Ensure students completed all expectations by asking them to orally explain and point out where they accomplished each expectation.
Teacher tutorials: Support students by creating tutorials that can be accessed after class.
Student-led learning: Students support other students by creating their own tutorials that can be shared with the class.
Assessment:Provide oral and written feedback directly on student work.

#2: Swift Playgrounds

Swift is a fun and easy way for students to experiment with code. It requires no coding knowledge and it teaches students to master the basics of coding by solving interactive puzzles.  The app also contains additional challenges that let students explore code and create programs.

It was created exclusively for touch screens and features a coding keyboard so you can write programs in just a few taps. Beware, this app is highly ADDICTIVE!

Using this app in the classroom: 
**Check out the Teacher Guide in iBook Store "Swift Playgrounds: Learning to Code 1 & 2"
-Language skills:Students practice basic language skills in order to code their product.
-GRIT: Students are consistently challenged and encouraged to revise their work in order to be successful. 
-Collaboration:Students work collaboratively to complete challenges.
-Critical Thinking: Students are not only thinking critically to solve challenges, but they can also modify and build their own programs.

#1: Google Expeditions

Google Expeditions is a virtual reality teaching tool that lets you lead or join immersive virtual trips all over the world-get up close with historical landmarks, dive underwater with sharks and even visit outer space!

Bring your students on a guided tour of over 200 different expeditions!
This is my favourite app of the month because it allows the students to explore outside the classroom walls without ever leaving the classroom.  Teachers have access to great talking points, engaging questions and interesting facts that make the expedition experience so much more meaningful than just showing pictures. This app is a game changer!

Using this app in the classroom:
Science: Take your students on an interactive tour of the human body to learn about the heart, the respiratory system, the nervous system and much more.
Geography: Visit different ecosystems, national parks and cities all around the world.
History: Travel to historic sites around the world, famous museums and war sites.
Language: Visit the setting of your novel or promote deep discussion in the classroom while visiting the world.
Career Studies: Explore career expeditions with your students to learn more about jobs and careers such as engineering, aquarists, scientists, and aviation.