Pros and Cons of Using Apps in the Classroom

Pros
Instant feedback
Access to information is immediate and current
Supports student engagement, differentiation, and collaboration
Apps are abundant
Apps are free or low cost
iPods are cheaper than laptops
Single tasking (students cannot have games, etc. running in the background)
iPods and iPads take up less space than desktops and laptops
iPods and iPads are easily portable
Students can listen to music while they work so as not to be distracted by other students
Can be used as a communication tool for low functioning students

Cons
Possible management and theft issues
Breakable
Costly to update school with wifi
Some apps may be difficult for students with fine motor difficulties

How and why should we use iPods and iPads in a classroom?

Here is a short YouTube video briefly explaining what an iPod is, why we should use them in classrooms, and how we can use them in classrooms. It is a great introduction for people new to the idea.

iPad in Literacy: Using iPad in the Classroom

This is a YouTube video of grade one students improving their literacy skills using the iPad. What is great and unique about this video is that it is all demonstrated and narrated by the students! Watch as they practice thier sight word recognition with Digital Flash Cards app, practice their reading fluency with Dr. Seuss's "The Cat in the Hat" app, and improve their writing, expression and speaking with the Puppet pals app.

Apps to Support Writing: Primary to Grade 2

Dexteria: Fine motor skill development

Feature activities to help improve fine motor skills to get kids ready for handwriting. It helps build strength, control and dexterity. It is very engaging and easy to use. Progress reports can be e-mailed right from the app.

iwritewords

Cost-$2.99 (There is a lite version.)
Award winning app for hand-writing letters. YouTube has a demo.


Intro to Letters
Cost - $4.99


This app utilizes sight, sound and touch to help children learn their letters, while also learning the correct way to form their letters. It teaches the phonetic sounds of the alphabet, as well as consonants and vowels. Based on the Montessori method.

ABC Tracer

Cost - Free
For lower level mechanical skills. A tracing app with upper and lower case letters. Good to develop alphabet, fine motor skills, eye to hand coordination.

Letter Tracer

 

 

Cost-$0.99
For emergent writers to practice letter writing. Trace the letters, then write them without the guide. Voice over is a new feature. Can change pen size, voice, volume,
upper or lower case and numbers.

Story Kit

Cost - Free

Create your own stories by either drawing on the screen or using a picture from the camera roll. Can add voice recording or sounds to the story. App uses four public domain children's stories and you can re-order them, add text or voice recording.

abc Pocket Phonics: letter sounds and writing + first words

Cost - $2.99

For emergent writers, abc Phonics introduces letter-sound relationships. As they learn the sounds, they follow the arrows to trace the letter. The app also does letter combinations such as /ch/ and /sh/. You can shut off the letter guiding arrows and the app will judge the accuracy. Bright colors, interactive. Not a great app if a student does not have good fine motor skills. Enhances eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, letter-sound association.

YouTube has a demo of the app.

Word Magic

Cost - $0.99

A fun game for children. Combines pictures with learning to spell. Children have to find the missing letter to complete the word. There are different levels to choose, depending on level of child. Can have letter missing at beginning, middle, or end of word. There is positive verbal reinforcement as well as rewards. Shaking the iPod will allow you to go to the next problem.

Chicktionary

Cost - Free

Spell as many words as you can, using the letters the hens are holding in the roost. When you spell words correctly, the words go into the egg crates. You can move the hens around to see if you can see different words forming. prizes and achievement levels.

 

My Story Maker

A great app to use in creating a story. It is very interactive, allowing you to choose characters, objects, scenery and settings.

Apps to Support Writing: Grade 3 to Grade 6

Flat Stanley

Cost - $1.99
Very cute app kids will enjoy. You pick a "Stanley" character, put him in a picture from your camera roll and make up a story. Good for sequencing, language development, triggering of ideas. Fun and engaging for students. Can e-mail finished product.

Story Kit

Cost - Free

Create an electronic story book. Draw your own pictures right on the screen or use photographs. Add your own text and record sound effects. Good for any age.

iThoughts


Cost - $7.99
A graphic organizer app to help students organize their thoughts. Similar to Inspiration with concept maps, bubbles and links to the bubbles. Easy to navigate. Can export to a pdf file. For lower level content skills.

Writer's Hat
 
Cost - $0.99
An ideas generator to inspire creative writing, oral literacy, and imaginative thinking. Provides random ideas for four basic elements to include in a story: who, what, where, and when. Use the Word Box to generate nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs to use in creative writing.

Writing Prompts

Cost - $4.99
Has over 600 creative writing prompts. Uses different scenes, current events, words, sketches, colours, genres, and writing types.

Grammar Prep: Subjects and Verbs



Cost - $3.99
Tutorials, quizes, test, and progress checking to help improve your writing skills.

Pow!

Cost-$2.99
Strip Designer app to create comic strips using pictures from camera roll. Captures pictures and sequences. You can add symbols and balloons with text. You can make a comic journal for many subject areas. Good for visual learners and relunctant writers. Good app to instill creativity and imagination. Sequencing skills.

Writing Tool Kit

Cost-$3.99.
For emergent writers who do not know where to start writing a story. 14 sections with questions to trigger ideas for a story with various story elements like plot, characters, setting, etc. Good for writers block. Reminders for mechanics. Can also take notes.

WritePadCost-$3.99

A unique app for handwriting recognition. You write on your i-pad or i-pod touch and it translates it into text. Good for students with problems with mechanics of writing and spelling difficulties. Increases speed of input. Can store files in folders and e-mail document. Exports to a pdf file.

Apps to Support Writing: Grade 7 to Grade 9

Grade 7 to Grade 9:

Notes Plus

Cost - $4.99
A note-taking tool that supports handwriting, typing, and audiorecording. Can write with your finger and text shows up small and neat. Has a shape-auto detection function. Easy to edit, organize, erase and recover material.

Pages

Cost - $9.99
Lets you create great looking letters, reports, flyers, invitations, reumes, posters and projects. Lots of templates to choose from. Write in your own words or speak them and they appear on the screen. Add photos, movies, and graphics. Automatically saves as you go so you won't loose your work. Can easily add header, footers and page numbers. Spellchecks your work.

Audionote

Cost - $4.99
A note taking app that synchronizes notes and audio. Each note has a direct link to when it was recorded to make it easy to find later. Has a pen mode to handwrite notes, and highlights notes during playback. Notes and audio can be e-mailed. Great for students who have trouble taking notes in class.

iThoughts


Cost - $7.99
A graphic organizer app to help students organize their thoughts. Similar to Inspiration with concept maps, bubbles and links to the bubbles. Easy to navigate. Can export to a pdf file. For lower level content skills.

Story Kit


Cost-Free
Create your own stories by either drawing on the screen or using a picture from the camera roll. Can add voice recording or sounds to the story. App uses four public domain children's stories and you can re-order them, add text or voice recording.

Writing Prompts

Cost - $4.99
Has over 600 creative writing prompts. Uses different scenes, current events, words, sketches, colours, genres, and writing types.

A.I.Type Tablet Keyboard

Cost - Free
Will help you type faster and better. Has word prediction, auto-correction, auto-learning, undo/redo/navigation capabilities and cool skins that you can customize. Here is a YouTube video of the app in action.

Storyteller


Cost-$1.99.
Good app to trigger ideas. You can pick a scenario using pictures from your camera roll. Easy to use with thousands of ideas, plots, etc.

Storycubes


Cost-$1.99
Easy to use app. Put pictures together in sequence to make up a story. You can e-mail the finished product. Decks of pictures to sequence. Helps with triggering ideas and sequencing a story.

Language Builder

Cost-$3.99
You choose a picture from your camera roll and record your voice to create a story. Picture-based story telling. You can e-mail the recording. Can help with sequencing, improve expressive and receptive language. Good to get ideas going.


StoryBuilder
Cost-$3.99


Records your voice based on a picture. Sequencing. Triggers ideas. E-mail your story with the voice recording.

WritePad
Cost-$3.99

A unique app for handwriting recognition. You write on your i-pad or i-pod touch and it translates it into text. Good for students with problems with mechanics of writing and spelling difficulties. Increases speed of input. Can store files in folders and e-mail document. Exports to a pdf file.

Speak It

Cost - $1.99
A basic text to speech app. Easy to use. You type in the text and it reads it back to you. Good for editing.

Songwriter's Pad for iPad

Here is a YouTube of the Songwriter's Pad app in action. You are able to look up choice of words, phrases, rhymes and there is a dictionary. There is also a recorder option where you can record your own lyrics, phrasing and melodies. This is great for students who want to write songs!

Apps to Support Writing: Grade 10 to Grade 12

Keynote

Cost - $9.99
A presentation creating app with choice of style masters, animations, fonts and styles. Touch, tap and drag to arrange objects on your slides. Easily add photos and videos to your presentations.

Audionote

Cost - $4.99
A note taking app that synchronizes notes and audio. Each note has a direct link to when it was recorded to make it easy to find later. Has a pen mode to handwrite notes, and highlights notes during playback. Notes and audio can be e-mailed. Great for students who have trouble taking notes in class.

Notes Plus

Cost - $4.99
A note-taking tool that supports handwriting, typing, and audiorecording. Can write with your finger and text shows up small and neat. Has a shape-auto detection function. Easy to edit, organize, erase and recover material.

Pages

Cost - $9.99
Lets you create great looking letters, reports, flyers, invitations, reumes, posters and projects. Lots of templates to choose from. Write in your own words or speak them and they appear on the screen. Add photos, movies, and graphics. Automatically saves as you go so you won't loose your work. Can easily add header, footers and page numbers. Spellchecks your work.

Story Kit

Cost - Free

Create your own stories by either drawing on the screen or using a picture from the camera roll. Can add voice recording or sounds to the story. App also has four public domain children's stories and you can re-order them, add text or voice recording.

Writing Tips

Cost - $0.99
Great for both beginner and seasoned writers. Provides tips to improve your writing. Topics include the writing process, technique, how to read like a writer, developing plot and story, dialogue, dealing with writer's block, editing, and getting published. Includes over 300 excercises to get creativity going.

Writing Prompts

Cost - $4.99
Has over 600 creative writing prompts. Uses different scenes, current events, words, sketches, colours, genres, and writing types.

Essay Writing Wizard

Cost - $6.99
An excellent guide to support high school students with their essays. Has different sections for notes, outline, bibliography, and essay. Has step-by-step writing instructions for each section so you can concentrate on content.

High School Writing

Cost - $17.99
A little pricey, but worth the money. Helps you through any type of essay you would need to do for high school. Types of essays are: persuasive, cause and effect, compare and contrast, descriptive, expository, five paragraph, narrative (first person), narrative (third person), opinion, and reaction. Also contains a list of college prep essay types.

A.I.Type Tablet Keyboard

Cost - Free
Will help you type faster and better. Has word prediction, auto-correction, auto-learning, undo/redo/navigation capabilities and cool skins that you can customize. Here is a YouTube video of the app in action.

Instant Poetry

Cost - $1.99
Similar to the once popular magnetic fridge magnets to create poetry, it comes in an iPod app. Drag and drop words to create poems. Can import a background from iPod pictures. Can e-mail the document. Good to trigger ideas in the writing process.

iThoughts


Cost - $7.99
A graphic organizer app to help students organize their thoughts. Similar to Inspiration with concept maps, bubbles and links to the bubbles. Easy to navigate. Can export to a pdf file. For lower level content skills.

Voice Memo



Cost - $0.99
For students with problems with mechanical skills (ex: holding a pencil) or fine motor skills. You do a voice recording and it saves it. Good for students with really good ideas but written output is difficult. Can e-mail the recording. Easy to use.

DocToGo
Cost-9.99
Pricey app but you get word processor, Excel and Power Point on your i-pod. Use it as your computer. Send document via e-mail. 3 templates for Power Point slides.

Tiki Notes


Cost-Free
A good word prediction app. Has an alternate keyboard for those who find it too small. E-mail text. Supports spelling. Copy and paste document. For upper level mechanics issues.

Dragon







Cost-Free
Good app for students who have all the ideas and excellent verbal expression, but have difficulties putting it on paper. A voice to text app. You must have Wifi in order to send the voice to a server. Must have the skills to articulate, plan and oraganize ideas. Firewall must be opened to use this app. Easy to use. Can do editing, grammar, etc., E-mail text.

Pictello


Cost - $14.99
A words to picture app with option of voice recording. An e-journal using pictures from camera roll. Good for story development, sequencing of ideas. Text to speech to create a read-aloud book. Can type in story of voice record. Can send e-journal via e-mail. Good for any sequencing type activity or for use in social stories.

StoryBoard

Cost - Free
Create your own cartoons with this app. Hundreds of characters and props to choose from for those who need prompts. Good for sequencing events. Free version lets you do two stories with ten drawings. Many options to show movement of the characters or direction. Can add pictures that can be moved around, re-sized, etc. Can add arrows. For background, can use a picture from your camera roll. Good for sequencing of events, show cause and effect, for reluctant writers. Can add text.

Reel Director


Cost - $1.99
Captures video and creates small films. Can include voice overs, text, editing feature. Can be exported.
Evernote

Cost - Free
Has many of the features other apps have, all in one app. It can do voice to text writing. Purpose is to save any notes via text or voice recording. Can add pictures with text and voice overs. Good for students who have ideas but problems putting in into text. Or students who have ideas at home or on the bus and with this app, you can quickly voice record an idea (for a story or project) and save it for later.

Private Journal

Cost - Free

A daily journaling app that allows you to keep track of daily events. Type in text and add pictures and music. Good for students going on a trip to keep track of events with pictures and save it as a writing project. Can also be used for science field trips, band trips, etc.

MindJet

Cost - $6.99 

More sophisticated looking than Inspiration. Can add neat symbols, arrows or rounded lines to connect the bubbles. Can be saved and exported. Good to organize ideas before the writing task or for sequencing of events. Works with MindManager program.

The Brainstormer

Cost - $1.99

This app allows you to develop story with prompts. Good for writers block. Very visual and engaging. It has three spinning wheels with plot, theme, and subject/location. By spinning the wheels you can develop story ideas or let the wheels take you where they may. Good for creative prompts for writing.

Whack Pack

Cost - $1.99
An app for the more advanced writer who has a serious case of writers block. This app has won many awards for creativity and innovation. There are 64 illustrated creative strategies to help writers develop ideas. Four themes. Based on the original Whack Card Deck. The cards that come up will be random that makes it fun. Can also be used as a problem solving app. Very unique.  
Check out YouTube demo by the creator of this app.

Mind Mash

Cost - Free
A brainstorming and note taking app for the i-Pad. You can generate ideas by combining text, pictures and drawings to generate ideas. Great for projects in any subject area. Can add these "bits" onto a sheet and use text, pictures and/or drawings or scribbles. Layout of the sheet is free form.

Mind Node
Cost-$5.99
A mindmapping app similar to Inspiration program. Easy and intuitive application to put ideas down and to organize them. Bubbles are called nodes in this app. You can drag and drop them on the screen which makes it interesting and fun. Save and export. Bright and colourful.


Simple Mind


Cost - $6.99
A mindmapping app for the i-Pod and i-Pad. You can drag and drop bubbles and lines. Bubbles can be color coordinated and lines can have various designs. Search topics for ideas. Scroll, zoom or rotate page. Final product can be e-mailed or saved in camera roll.

Idea Sketch

Cost - Free

Another mindmapping app that lets you convert your map to a text outline similar to Inspiration program. Good for brainstorming ideas and then having an outline already made into text. Facilitates the writing process.Maps can be saved. Easy to use. Enter the text and move the shapes around.

Popplet

 

Cost-$4.99.

Another mindmapping app to use to organize ideas or sequencing. What is unique about this one is you can add pictures from your camera/web or draw inside the bubbles. You can create vision boards for personal use or to visualize a project. Can re-size the bubbles. Drag across and it automatically creates another "popplet". Touch the screen to create a stand-alone bubble. All the connecting is made on the screen. Bright colors. Good for students who have the ideas and thoughts, but have difficulty organizing them. Can save your popplets. Can zoom in and out.
You can watch demo on YouTube.

Simple Mind 

Cost-$6.99

A simple mindmapping app to organize thoughts and ideas. Good for students who have never tried an app organizer. You can colour code the bubbles. Type in the text in the bubbles. Tap to make a connection between the bubbles. Check out the demo on YouTube.