Apps for Teachers and Students

Comment by Rebecca Penina Simon on October 4, 2012 at 11:56am

Between being an Early Childhood Teacher and having a son with high-functioning ASD PDD-NOS, I am pretty well-versed in the area.  I am in touch with various app developers and I write a blog for the Maryland Learning Links, which is the Special Ed website for the Maryland State Department of Education.  www.marylandlearninglinks.org/6325  In my blog, I focus on technology for children with special needs, specifically educational apps.  In addition, I am a guest writer for the highly acclaimed website Teachers With Apps which we review educationally sound apps for a wide range of academic groups and abilities.  We field test apps by allowing students (our real teachers) and teachers to play around with the apps.  We only write about apps that we have found to be of high-quality.  So for me to post a whole list of great apps right now would take a very long time! :)  There is an over-abundance of apps in the App Store so teachers must make sure to evaluate the apps before using them with their students and they must ensure to put their curriculum goals ahead of the apps.  Here are a few of the many great apps that I have used in the past couple of years:  Multiplying Acorns HD for multiplication, WordFlex Touch Dictionary for vocabulary skills, The Social Express for social skills, Dexteria, Letter Reflex, and LetterSchool for fine motor skills.  The Toca Boca apps are great for social skills and imaginative play for young children.  Faces I Make (by Imagine Machine) is a great app for instilling creativity within your students' learning.  And recently, SMART Technologies has released their SMART Notebook app to enable Notebook lessons to be used on the iPad. Just bear in mind that Flash based items and the Activity Builder is not compatible.  Please let me know if this is beneficial.

Comment by Cindy Zemel on October 4, 2012 at 1:35pm

Amy and Friends,

Hi, I just wanted to let you know that I am mezmorized by the iPad too. My school just recently invested in three iPad carts that hold a total of 75 iPads. One of my jobs is to install meaningful educational apps for my students from pre-k to 5th grade for both Judaic and English studies. Please check out the wiki below. This portfolio has helped me tremendously with the set-up process of iPads and also provided me with a plethra of engaging instructional applications that my students LOVE!! I am so excited that I stumbled upon this invaluable resource. I am hopeful that this site will assist me when creating my own portfolio. Check it out!!

http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/ipad+apps

Comment by Amy Bond on October 4, 2012 at 9:28pm

Wow...thanks ladies. I felt like I am savvy with technology until I started my class. I feel like I am not doing much in comparison to other people. I never went to school for technology or even thought about Mac stuff until my school bought MacBooks last year. My principal asked me to be in charge of our one cart for iPads and now I have learned more about the tech side of technology and seeing what everyone else is doing is overwhelming. Thanks for the links. I briefly looked at them and them added them to my useful links to remember that I will eventually add to my portfolio.

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