Bookabi

There are 2D and 3D characters, fun backgrounds and stickers, and lots more in Bookabi by Tamajii, Inc. Your students can make up their own stories by using the resources available and adding speech bubbles. Students can take their own photos and use them as backgrounds in the story.

Wonderful, Wanderful Books Now Available for iPad and Android Devices

Harry and The Haunted House, Arthur’s Teacher Trouble, Ruff’s Bone, and other children’s digital classics are now ready for Android devices. The series, which has until now, only been available for the iPad, includes thirteen apps, eight of which are for the U.S. market and have story content in English and Spanish.  Other apps are available in UK English and in French. iPad apps for the books can be found at the iTunes App Store; Android apps, at the Google Play Store. If you haven’t tried these delightful apps, you’ll want to download the Wanderful Storybook Sampler to enjoy some very special pages from these very special interactive digital books.

Doodlecast Pro – Creativity

Doodlecast Pro ($2.99) is a fun iPad digital tool for teachers and students. With it, you can create learning media, such as this lesson genetics assignment by Grades 7 and 9 science teacher Jenn Corron. With the program, you and your students can share ideas, review curricular content, and create reports and projects. The app records automatically what you draw and what you say. It comes with a variety of backgrounds, but you can add your own photos and illustrations and put them where you want on your screen. Your Keynote files can be added to your Doodlecast videos, and Doodle pages can be saved within the program and/or shared in email, on YouTube or through your Dropbox. Watch the video to learn more about this easy-to-use tool.

iPad Mistakes to Avoid

Tom Daccord, in his Edudemic piece, warns us about five critical mistakes schools make when using iPads in classrooms. These include “Focusing on content apps”, “Lack of teacher preparation in classroom management of iPads”, “Treating the iPad as a computer and expecting it to serve as a laptop”, “Treating iPads like multi-use devices”, and “Failure to communicate a compelling answer to ‘Why iPads?’”. 

Although, many schools and teachers are eager to jump into digital device use with students, critical mistakes like these can ruin iPad initiatives.  Daccord suggests we think beyond content apps as we look to integration tools and strategies and content from sources other then apps. In other words, if an app for a particular part of course content cannot be found, that doesn’t mean iPads can’t be used effectively for that content. Essential ingredients in iPad initiative success are: providing time and guidance to help teachers with using iPads in the classroom; having enough iPads for 1-1 integration; and helping teachers, parents, and students understand that iPads are unique devices and not mobile computers.

iPads in Special Education

iPads in Neil Virani’s Special Education classroom at the Mulholland Middle School in Los Angeles are helping disabled students find success in learning.  Called his “secret weapon of accessibility”, iPads give his students the individualization they need. Virani’s using apps such as Day On (journaling), Popplet (mindmapping), and Toontastic (animation and storyboarding). For recording and sharing his lessons, he use Aver’s document camera software. To Virani, the iPad is a powerful classroom tool which helps his students “believe in themselves.”

Apps for Non-Verbal Students

The Tech & Learning Advisor Blog piece by Vicki Windman, Best Speech and Language Apps, offers suggestions for iPad apps, which will help students who are unable to speak, have speech disorders and/or have other communication problems. The apps are available at prices from $4.99 to $99.99. Examples of the apps are:  Avaz for Autism, with picture and text options; Speech Flipbook, designed to help children with Apraxia (problems saying what they want to say), and those who have difficulty with articulation, phonological awareness, and reading; and Is That Silly?, which helps children understand spoken and written word meanings.  Other apps appropriate for students with speech and language disorders include: URtalker Pro, Voice4u, and Speech Therapy Apraxia Words. All of these apps can be customized for specific student needs

Brain Parade for Children with Special Needs

Brain Parade’s See. Touch. Learn ™ garnered the “Mostly Likely to Succeed” award at Ed Tech Summit 2013. According to Karen Billings, vice president of SIAA (Software and Information Industry Association) Education Division, “Brain Parade shows tremendous promise for shaping the future of technology in education, especially for those with special needs.”  This innovative app gives those working with children the ability to create “personalized” lessons, which will help them with communication skills. Students use iPads to learn from high-quality images and lessons created by a behavioral analyst. You can download a free copy from iTunes, but if you’d like the full version with advanced features and over 4400 images and 2200 exercises, you’ll want the Pro version, which is priced at $34.99.

Story by Disney

Disney’s free app, “Story," lets you use photos and video on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch to create stories. It’s not a game or related to a Disney product; its purpose is to allow you to organize the media you have on your digital devices. Your stories, once complete, can be shared on social media and will look like a book complete with “fluid page turning and animation.” Leah Yamshon of MacWorld in her piece, “Disney Interactive Launches Story, a Non-Disney-Centric Photo App”, says that Story is “very intuitive to use with nice in-app editing features and a stunning final product.” This looks like a great app for schools using iPads in the curriculum.

Lighthouse Coalition

The Coalition of Lighthouse Schools is a group of educators, school administrators, and IT professionals who are working together to implement one-to-one digital learning in their schools. Coalition members, mostly from charter and independent schools, are integrating Apple mobile devices into their school curricula and are eager to collaborate with others who are also integrating 1-1 programs in their schools.  The networked educators work with Apple Computer representatives in order to better prepare their students for the future. The group is hosting its iSummit, July 24-25, in Atlanta.

The Flying Kids’ Bookstore App

The Flying Kids’ Bookstore is an app that sends children “soaring” with their reading.  The Bookstore is free; the books students can load on their personal shelves are priced at about $2 to $3 each. Brief descriptions of books that may be purchased appear when the book images are clicked. These interactive books are divided into categories for ages 2+, 3+, 4+, and all books are available in English, Spanish, French, and German. The Bookstore app is a nice way to introduce young children to good books, good reading, and fun literature on bookshelves online. It’s also an excellent way to help children learn to read in foreign languages.