Friday, February 14, 2014

"Thing Twenty-Three"
   As I reflect on what I have taken away from this experience besides meeting and connecting with other Media Specialist from around the state some of whom I will continue to talk to and use as a sounding board. I have learned I am not alone in the Media Specialist world. This has been helpful considering I am the only Media Specialist in our district and have no one who understands some of the difficultly I run up against.
   The one app I was surprised I actually have been using is Flipboard when I first chose to try this app I thought I don't have time to do more reading just to see if something interests me. I have been using this app everyday after I downloaded it for thing four.. great just what I need another addiction. 
   I shared many of the apps I reviewed and some others reviewed with other teachers in my district. The teachers were all excited to see what I had next to show them. They also asked me when I was going to take a class like this again.
''Thing Twenty-Two"
For this thing I chose Apps Gone Free-This is a pretty straight foward app..if you see an app you like download it...it's that simple. For your personal iPad this app is great, but for cart model iPads it doesn't work as well. These apps are only free for the day. In order to get them free you would have to use the Apple Configurator and put them on the iPads that day. Our district does not have a dedicated person who would be able to download requested app the same day. Maybe when we go to 1:1 iPads we can have the kids download the app right away. Several Apps Gone Free apps I have used in the classroom they have been stories with animations. I reflected them onto the smart board the kids really enjoyed listening to and watching them.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

"Thing Twenty-One"
   For this thing I chose T-Zero it is a straight forward app that you can use as a countdown to anything of your chose. It asks for a title for the countdown then it asks when the event is to take place. The app will then start the countdown in days, hours, minutes and seconds. Above the countdown it says counting down to the time you chose and on which day. It will ring when the countdown reaches 0. My countdown ring won't happen for 135 days when I leave for 14 days in Europe.
"Thing Twenty"
   For this thing I chose Word Abacus, partly because I wanted to stay away from Candy Crush I have heard how addictive that one is so I though Word Abacus would be a good choice. Now I'm not so sure I have spent about an hour a day playing this game. It is set up like an abacus the balls have letters on them. The object of the game is to make as many words using as many letters as you can. Every time you reach a certain score you advanced to the next level. There are special balls when you use these you get extra points. The longer the words you make the more points you earn. 
   This would be a fun app for the kids to use if they would get their work done early, or if they couldn't go outside because of the weather.
"Thing Nineteen"
   The thing I chose was ESPN SprortsCenter app. It has a twitter feed you can follow,  a news feed with video highlights and scores from around the country. On the bottom of the app is a favorites tab to access all your personal favorites. There is also a search and inbox notifications place. This is a very user friendly app, a very easy way to find up to date scores for any sport you might be following. 

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

"Thing Eighteen"
First I picked Duolingo as my thing then I decided I really wanted to do "The Science Guy" so....for this thing I picked Bill Nye the Science Guy. I remember watching Bill as a kid, I can still sing the theme song. 
   Before I start with The Science Guy I want to tell you a little bit about Duolingo I like this app, I have been using the Spanish language. The app shows pictures and words in Spanish and there is a person that speaks the words or phases in Spanish. After a series of words and phases the program asks you to type the words. If you or your children want a fun way to learn another language this is it. It is self-paced and will go back and review if you aren't sure about the words.
   Now on to Bill...After you open up the app you are presented with a  number of objects sitting on a desk. If you click on an object it takes you to a game and information about space. If you tap on the television you are asked if you would like to buy more lessons. I think this would be a fun way to learn about space, I also think this would be more appropriate for grades 6 and lower. I showed it to the 4th grade teachers they excited to try it out.
"Thing Seventeen"
   For this thing I picked City of Mankato 311. I found this to be an interesting app. People can report issues, most of the issues on there right now are pothole sightings. The app has a place where you can take pictures of the issue. You can share the issue on Facebook, Twitter, and email just to name a few plus about 50 other social bookmarking sharing button widget. I think this is a really good app to have, people feel better when they have voiced their problems whether they get taken care of or not.