If you have a smartphone and like to find great deals, then maybe you should check out the "GeoQpon" app. It's got tons of great coupons and daily deals that you can use at a wide variety of stores. Simply show the coupon to the cashier and they scan your screen! It's pretty slick. I haven't actually ever tried using it, but I've heard of people who have. Get savings up to 40-50%! Or more! or maybe less (like I said, I've never actually used it.) Simply enter your zip code and the app will generate a huge list of stores in your area that having coupons on this app. You then scroll through the list and select the stores for your "Favorites" list. Then, let the hunting begin! I know people who have spent hours staring at this app looking for deals. So there must be a lot of stuff to look at! (Again, I've never used it.)
Add to your spring wardrobe at Old Navy or buy that new tool you've always wanted from Ace Hardware or buy your favorite zombie video game from Best Buy or get that pair of bedazzled jeans you've always wanted from Justice or feed your dog the good stuff for a change from PetSmart.
Happy Shopping!
Sight is an iPhone app that has powerful potential. It is an app that can greatly increase your efficiency as a human. With this app, you can take a "screenshot" with your iPhone and sight will save the article, not just the picture of the article. While browsing the internet or news outlets, there might be an article you want to read, but don't have the time. So you want to save it for later. There are a number of bookmarking sights, or you can email to yourself, etc. but with "Sight", simply take a screen shot and the app saves the article in your account, so you can easily access it at a later time to read it, or just something you want to save. It's free on the apple app store. If you have an iPhone, check it out!
The majority of the time our iPads are being used for the internet. They are great for that since they are mobile, easy to handle, and fast. Kids can walk around with them (if they are near the wireless signal) and have the internet at their fingertips. The iPad is more than just the internet, and even though I am not a fan of the iPad in education, there are some apps that make the iPad more meaningful, more dynamic than simply an internet device. 'Strip Designer' app allows you to create comic strips on your iPad or iPhone. This app allows the user to use pictures from their album or the internet and upload them into your comic. The user can also add speech bubbles to give it a truely comic strip look. This app is $2.99 but could have many benefits for kids creating, writing, reading, and sharing.
Application for Education: Make comic strips for your students! Invent a character and have that character help you teach the class important concepts. Put the iPad in your students hands (when available and have them do the creating. Have them show a particular sequence of events in a story, the steps to solve a math problem, any topic of the social studies, or the steps of a science experiment. The pictures and comic strip like speech bubbles produces a unique way to learn and review.
I discovered the Nearpod app a couple weeks ago, but only recently had the chance to try it out with my students. Nearpod is an amazing app that has so much potential, all we have to do is brainstorm and "think" in terms of Nearpod and I think we can come up with some very dynamic lessons using this app. Once we know what Nearpod can do, then we can start thinking about ways we can use it and start developing lessons. Nearpod comes with two apps: student and teacher. At BVMS, all the iPads have the student app, but iPad #1 has the teacher app, so that is the one the teacher would use. With Nearpod, the teacher can develop an interactive presentation and control it during class. All the iPads are synced with the teacher app (#1 iPad) so whatever the teacher is looking at within Nearpod, the students see on their screen. This is very useful to make sure students are on task and not going ahead. Whenever you change the screen and go on to the next slide or activity, the students' iPads change as well. The feature about NearPod that I like the best is the sharing feature. I think its great to have students share what they think and what they know. But when you call on a kid with their hand raised, they start talking and everybody else starts doing nothing. They just sit there, half paying attention/half daydreaming. With NearPod, all the students can share at the same time and have their thoughts and opinions shared throughout the whole class. For example, maybe the kids just read a story and you want them to think about what will happen next. You give them that task within NearPod and they type their answer. Once they submit their responses, you can see their answers on your own iPad. At this point, you can scroll through all of their responses very quickly. If you see a response that you want to share, simply touch the 'share' button and it instantly pops up on everyone's iPad. This is a great way to share thoughts quickly. The best thing for you to do is to check out Nearpod and simply play around with it.
Features of NearPod
-sync all iPads
-quick and easy sharing
-create interactive presentations that include:
**Pictures/PDF files
**Opinion/open ended questions students answer with text
**Quiz feature
**Q and A
**Drawing/Sketching on blank canvas or picture canvas
Socrative is an app for the iPad that turns the iPad into a instant responder. Socrative is a quiz/questioning tool that works great (and its free and already installed at BVMS!) With Socrative, the students use the iPads to answer questions either informally or formally (graded). With socrative, the teacher makes an account for themselves, which they will use to control their students. After setting up the account, Socrative will give the teacher a "room number" which the students will use when they log into the Socrative app on the iPad. From here, everything is controled by the teacher. The teacher can have all results emailed to themselves to keep, enter into gradebook, etc.
Features:
**Create custom quizes and assessments
**Formal quiz with score reports emailed to teacher
**Take the "pulse" of the class by asking a single question and getting immediate response. Example: "Who understands the layout of the Manor System?" (Socrative responses show only have the class understands, so the teacher would know to not move on, but to cover it again).
**Students do NOT see each other's responses.
**Quiz-type games.
**Multiple choice, T/F, short response.
Socrative on the iPad is much better than the Centeo SMARTboard responders. It is much simpler for the student and teacher to use, faster, more options and just plain cooler. :)
