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ClassDojo

Start out your school year with ClassDojo, a FREE & fabulous tool that helps improve classroom behaviors. Teachers are using it in different ways: to give feedback in real-time, to track behavior, and to generate reports. Reward good behavior in real-time – all it takes is a click. You need one device (computer, smartphone, a laptop, or a tablet) and an internet connection. It is very easy to set up with your class list. Each student is assigned a cute, monster-like avatar. Kids earn points for positive behaviors and lose points for negative behaviors. ClassDojo is also fully customizable so you can delete behaviors from the original list and/or add your own behaviors. As you use it, it automatically logs any data that you input. This data can be used to generate behavior reports to share with parents and administrators. How awesome is that? You can go into a meeting/conference with reports in hand!

If I were still in the classroom, I would enter my class list twice – once for data on work/study habits and the other for data on behaviors. I would make my habits/behaviors match exactly what was on my report cards. Then as I used the app, I would also be gathering data for my report cards. At the end of the grading period, I would just print out the date and enter it on the report cards – how easy!  I would also have the data (in a printed report) to be able to back up any grade on the card.  “As you can see Mrs. Doe, Jane only turned in her homework 56% of the time.”  Instant data would also be available for the RTI process, IEPs or any other team meeting on a child. Wow – a fabulous educational app!!

Check out the website for more information: www.classdojo.com

Highly recommended !!

ClassDojo - Class Twist Inc

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Apps for Shark Week!

It’s Shark Week – a week of TV programs dedicated to sharks on the Discovery Channel now broadcast in 70+ countries. Here are some FREE educational apps that I found about these creatures who capture the interest of so many people – young and old! Education is about teachable moments – take advantage of them when you can!

Shark Goes to the Doctor

 

SeaWorld: Ruckus Reader presents – Shark Goes to the Doctor, an engaging story that follows a sand tiger shark as it is checked by vets. Kids learn interesting facts about sharks’ lives.

Download link for SeaWorld: Ruckus Readerhttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seaworld-ruckus-reader/id515220048?mt=8&uo=4

Shark tank

Sea TV is a collaborative effort between Adobe and Monterey Bay Aquarium (a highly ranked U.S. aquarium) to bring its Open Seas Exhibit to your mobile device! The Open Sea is a million gallon exhibit with a 90-foot window. You may see sharks speed past, sardines swimming in glittering schools, and/or sea turtles on the live video stream. You can also watch videos on demand.

Download link for Sea TVhttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sea-tv/id530529039?mt=8&uo=4

shark track 1

shark track 2

Global Shark Tracker lets you follow the navigational pattern of sharks that have been tagged with satellite tracking technology.  The purpose of this tracking is for shark conservation and the collection of data on the health of sharks. Very cool!

Download link for Global Shark Tracker:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/global-shark-tracker/id570772231?mt=8&uo=4

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KIDS DISCOVER – Constitution and Galaxies

Constitution

Galaxies

2 more Back to School Specials: Constitution by KIDS DISCOVER and Galaxies by KIDS DISCOVER are FREE for a limited time! KIDS DISCOVER has been creating award-winning content for kids for over 20 years. Get the interactive, digital versions of these books for FREE. 🙂

Download links:

Constitution  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/constitution-by-kids-discover/id668593395?mt=8&uo=4

Galaxies  https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/galaxies-by-kids-discover/id593605368?mt=8&uo=4

 

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KIDS DISCOVER – Cells and Ancient Greece

Cells

Ancient Greeece

Educational apps – Back to School Special: Cells by KIDS DISCOVER and Ancient Greece by KIDS DISCOVER are FREE for a limited time! KIDS DISCOVER has been creating award-winning content for kids for over 20 years. Get the interactive, digital versions of these books for FREE. 🙂

Download links:

Cells https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cells-by-kids-discover/id593624778?mt=8&uo=4

Ancient Greece

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ancient-greece-by-kids-discover/id643330967?mt=8&uo=4

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Teach Me Toddler

Teach Me Toddler

FREE again today – Teach Me Toddler, a fabulous educational app for teaching your little one letters, numbers, shapes, colors, phonics (letter sounds), and counting. The app includes parental controls so that parents/teachers can choose which areas they want their child/children to work on. Up to 40 players can be entered and the topics for each player can vary – it’s fully customizable by individual! And… the app keeps track of each child’s performance – perfect for a preschool or kindergarten classroom. Teachers could start by assigning general practice for all then reset the players and customize it to meet individual kids’ needs  – AWESOME!!

Kids are rewarded for correct answers with stickers or coins. Sticker scenes include the beach, reef, pirate cove, city, farm, and playground. Parents/teachers can set the number of correct responses needed for getting a sticker from 1 – 9. Completed scenes can be exported to share. 🙂

One of the BEST thing about this educational app is the appropriateness of the topics. It teaches numbers to 20, counting to 10, upper and lower case letters, 11 colors, 9 shapes, and letter sounds. I was so excited that it taught the hard and soft sound of c!! Download this one today – it is rarely FREE!

TeachMe: Toddler - 24x7digital LLC

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Pic Collage

Pic Collage

FREE with in-app purchases – Pic Collage, a fabulous app for creating collages! With PicCollage you easily create creative collages with your pictures and/or pictures from the internet. You can change photos into backgrounds, clip them into cutouts, apply filters, add borders, and more! You can also add stickers and text.  So many fun uses of this app for education – have students make a Pic Collage to introduce themselves at the start of the year, send students on a scavenger hunt of geometric shapes then have them make a Pic Collage of what they found, add a PIc Collage to a science report, Make a Pic Collage representing the main character of a book, etc. The list is only limited by your imagination! I LOVE educational apps like this – open-ended with great potential for creativity! WOW!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pic-collage/id448639966?mt=8&uo=4

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Cutie Mini Monsters

Cutie Mini Monsters

FREE again for a limited time – Cutie Mini Monsters, an iPhone/iPad app for preschoolers. This educational app introduces kids to number recognition and counting. Kids meet Blushy, Toothy, Golly, Taily, Blobby, Growly, and Snouty. They count the monsters’ body parts – tails, eyes, feet, spikes, etc. The app also includes 9 simple  jigsaw puzzles featuring the same characters. Cute for little fans of monsters!

Cutie Mini Monsters - Paul Smith

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Bingo Song

Bingo Song

FREE again- a cute interactive version of the popular children’s song – Bingo. This educational app would be fun for little ones to sing along with! The other features of this app (karaoke mode, farm animal cards, etc.) are available as in-app purchases. Try this FREE version to see if this app is something your child might enjoy.

The Bingo Song - Interactive Nursery Rhyme with Karaoke and Fun Activities for Kids - Kids Academy Company

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Learn with Homer

Learn with Homer

Released on August 1 and already listed as “New & Noteworthy” – Learn with Homer is an educational reading app for kids 3 – 6. The FREE download includes 30 stories and lessons (18 Learn to Read lessons/stories, 12 Discover the World lessons) as well as access to Homer’s Clubhouse and parent tools. Additional content is available through in-app purchases.

Homer, a gray pigeon, resides in an interactive world designed to help kids learn to read. The fun starts in the Hat Shop where kids have photos taken in the “thinking caps” of their choice. From there, kids can proceed to Story Time, Learn to Read, Discover The World, or Homer’s Clubhouse. The Story Time section includes 9 free stories representing 4 genres (rhymes, poetry, folktales, folk songs) as well as Homer stories.  The Learn to Read section teaches the phonemes (sounds) in sequence. Lessons start with sounds & letters, then move to words, and then to sentences. Discover The World is a series of adventures in science, history, art, etc. designed to increase kids’ basic knowledge and vocabularies. Finally, kids can go to Homer’s Clubhouse to draw and record what they have learned. And if that wasn’t enough… there is also a parent website to track your child’s progress and/or download printables  & book recommendations. This educational app seems to have it all – a well designed, comprehensive approach to learning to read with real kid appeal!!

For more information go to Homer: Parent Resources.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/learn-with-homer/id601437586?mt=8&uo=4

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Geo-Me!

Geo-Me

FREE for a limited time – Geo-Me!, a geography app for elementary-aged students. Kids are introduced to world geography by “Geo-Me”s (cute rounded avatars) who live all over the world! This educational app has music & animations to capture the interest of younger students but it also has multiple types of maps (normal, anthrome, climate, population, & elevation) and lots of interesting facts for older students. Using  the iPad’s location, the app creates a “Geo-Me” to represent the user. Children can then use their “Geo Me” avatars to compare and contrast their location on Earth to other avatar’s locations. There are many opportunities to use the information in this app for a variety of lessons – making a table, Venn diagrams, math word problems… the list goes on! This first version of the app introduces 6 residents of the “Geo-Me!” world – their video stories are included. More characters will join them in the near future. Check it out… Geo-Me! helps kids recognize their location’s uniqueness from and similarities to other locations!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/geo-me!/id654772729?mt=8&uo=4