Tagged With: apps

33 Resources for Read Across America Day

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Jacqui

Many people in the United States, particularly students, parents and teachers, join forces on Read Across America Day, annually held on March 2. This nationwide observance coincides with the birthday of Dr. Seuss. Here are some great reading websites for students K-5:

Categories: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Grade, Holidays, Reading, Websites | Tags: apps, Tablets | 1 Comment

39 Resources for Read Across America Day

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Jacqui

Here are some great reading websites for students K-5:

Categories: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Grade, Holidays, Reading, Websites | Tags: apps, Tablets | 5 Comments

Top 10 Websites and Apps of 2017

Posted on January 8, 2018 by Jacqui

Throughout the year, I post websites and apps the Ask a Tech Teacher crew’s classes found useful, instructive, helpful in integrating technology into classroom lesson plans. Some, you agreed with us about; others not so much. Here, I’ll share which sites you-all thought were the most helpful in efforts to weave tech into the classroom experience. Between these, they had over 240,000 visitors during the year. See if you agree:

Have a wonderful 2018!

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Categories: Websites | Tags: apps, lists, new year | Leave a comment

Top 10 Websites and Apps of 2016

Posted on January 3, 2017 by Jacqui

Every week, I post a website(s) or app(s) that my classes found useful, instructive, helpful in integrating technology into classroom lesson plans. Some, you agreed with me about; others not so much. Here, I’ll share which sites you-all thought were the most helpful in efforts to weave tech into the classroom experience. Between these twenty, they had over 240,000 visitors during the year. See if you agree:

Websites

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Categories: Websites | Tags: apps, lists, new year | Leave a comment

52 Resources for Read Across America Day

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Jacqui

Many people in the United States, particularly students, parents and teachers, join forces on Read Across America Day, annually held on March 2. This nationwide observance coincides with the birthday of Dr Seuss.

Here are some great reading websites for students K-5:

(more…)

Categories: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Grade, Holidays, Reading, Websites | Tags: apps, Tablets | 1 Comment

Top Ten Websites and Apps of 2015

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Jacqui

Every week, I post a website(s) or app(s) that my classes found useful, instructive, helpful in integrating technology into classroom lesson plans. Some, you agreed with me about; others not so much. Here, I’ll share with you which sites you-all thought were the most helpful in efforts to weave tech into the classroom experience. Between these twenty, they had over 200,000 visitors during the year. See if you agree:

Websites

(more…)

Categories: Websites | Tags: apps, lists, new year | Leave a comment

3 Apps That Encourage Students to Read

Posted on April 6, 2015 by Jacqui

Reading is defined as “the action or skill of absorbing written or printed matter silently or aloud.” Sounds dry, maybe even boring, but once a child learns to read, they get much more than an understanding of words, sentences, paragraphs, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. It has been credited with providing an escape from reality, exercising the mind, saving lives, bringing people together, answering problems, and predicting success in school. It alleviates boredom in the bits of free time that pop up between soccer and dinner and it can be done alone or in a group.

“Books are the quietest and most constant of friends…”
― Charles William Eliot

According to Early Moments, reading is associated with the following traits:

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Categories: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Grade, Reading | Tags: apps | 3 Comments

5 Favorite Classroom Apps

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Jacqui

Apps are out of control. When you think you have just the right one for your classroom, a better/faster/snazzier version pops up. Often for free. It’s not like a decade ago when every teachers’ favorite tech tools were MS Office, KidPix, Reader Rabbit, and the internet. Apps changed all that. Suddenly, the list exploded to include names like Voki, Tellagami, Wordle, ScreenChomp, Evernote and scores more that are weekly pushed aside by a new generation.

So before I unfold my favorites, here are guidelines to what I expected, culled from top education sites like Edutopia, Google Education, Educational Technology, and EdWeek:

free or small fee
support the ‘4 C’s’–creativity, critical thinking, communication, collaboration
offer compelling content (although this is subjective; ‘compelling’ varies teacher-to-teacher and student-to-student)
are not distracting or overwhelming in colors, music, or activity
offer levels that become increasingly more difficult, providing differentiation for student needs
stand the test of time
positive parent reports
few ads–and those that are there do not take up a significant portion of the screen
intuitive to use with a short learning curve, encourage independence
easily applied to a variety of educational environments
doesn’t collect personal information other than user credentials or data required to operate the app
rated ‘for everyone’ or ‘low maturity’
no in-app purchases or billing

Based on these criteria, here are my top five:

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Categories: Critical thinking, Reviews | Tags: app reviews, apps, lists, Tablets | 6 Comments

TurboScan–Great Class Management Tool

Posted on March 5, 2015 by Jacqui

TurboScan

Scanning app

$2.99

A teacher friend is already stressed–and the year is only half over. Her school is putting together digital portfolios for every student which will include representative work monthly in each subject. That means posters, math papers, art projects, tests, summatives must be scanned into the server and filed in each student’s digital portfolio. Not so bad if there are enough scanners and computers to get it done. Which there aren’t. My friend has to wait in line, squeeze this work into breaks, or stay late or come early to try to get her portion of the work done.

One $2.99 iPad/iPHone/Android app would take care of the problem. It’s called TurboScan. Using the iPad (or Smartphone) camera, you take one-three pictures of a single- or multi-page document, tweak it so it’s the way you want it, email it to wherever you need it or save it to the camera roll and transfer it that way. Instead of hours, she’d be done in minutes.

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