There are literally thousands of apps for the iPod Touch and many of those we are using are free to download from iTunes. All of our apps seem to fall into three broad categories:
1. eBooks - stories the students can read, listen to and often interact with by touching 'hot spots' on the screen.
2. Drill and Skill - games or interactive activities to practice numeracy, word building or spelling skills.
3. Open-ended or Creative apps - which allow the students to organise, create, record or present their own ideas such as story books, photo journals, comics and mind maps. These are the apps that can be used in many different ways across all areas of learning. In fact, these apps are the reason iPod Touches have such potential to be exciting learning tools for us.
This page will record some of the apps our year 3 classes use each week, in their focus areas of Literacy (in 3F), Numeracy (in 3W) and Unit work (that's basically everything else - science, history, RE etc - in 3S). Keep in mind that next term we will rotate the focus and possibly discover new apps and new ways to use them. We are learning all the time.
Week 1
Spelling Cat - FREE
In Spelling Cat we can enter our own spelling list and play games to practice our spelling words. The voice does sound very funny and is hard for us to understand so we can use another app to take our spelling test:
Homework - FREE
In this app, our teacher can enter the words and record her voice saying them clearly. There are no games but it is a much better way to practise spelling our words.
MathTappers' Find Sums - FREE
We choose the total (e.g. 13) then practice finding the missing part of an addition sum (e.g. given 6, we must choose the missing part - 7). Red and green apples in a grid can help us visualise the sum, or we can select to only see the numbers: part + part = whole. This game can be played in pairs, where children take turns selecting a part and have their partner match the number to find the given sum.
Story Chimes - Noah's Ark - FREE
We can choose to read along (so the words light up as they are being read)
OR
Cute Kids' Stories - Noah's Ark - FREE
This version has much more difficult text and we have to touch the pictures to reveal the images for different parts of the story. We can turn the speaker on or off to either hear the story read aloud or read the text ourselves.
We look at the two stories, sharing one iPod between 3 children. We compare and contrast the different Noah stories and retell the story in our own words.
Week 2
Camera - already installed - part of iOS
We have used the camera to take photos of shapes in our environment.
Martian - $1.19
We used this app to design our own martian. We then sat back to back with a partner and systematically described our martian's features. Our partner had to create a matching martian by listening very carefully to the description. We took a screen shot of our martian (by clicking the 'Home' button and the 'On' button simultaneously.
Comic Touch - $3.99 (free version available)
We used this app to add captions and speech bubbles to our shape photos and martian pictures.
Story Kit - FREE
Homework - FREE
In this app, our teacher can enter the words and record her voice saying them clearly. There are no games but it is a much better way to practise spelling our words.
MathTappers' Find Sums - FREE
We choose the total (e.g. 13) then practice finding the missing part of an addition sum (e.g. given 6, we must choose the missing part - 7). Red and green apples in a grid can help us visualise the sum, or we can select to only see the numbers: part + part = whole. This game can be played in pairs, where children take turns selecting a part and have their partner match the number to find the given sum.
Story Chimes - Noah's Ark - FREE
We can choose to read along (so the words light up as they are being read)
OR
Cute Kids' Stories - Noah's Ark - FREE
This version has much more difficult text and we have to touch the pictures to reveal the images for different parts of the story. We can turn the speaker on or off to either hear the story read aloud or read the text ourselves.
We look at the two stories, sharing one iPod between 3 children. We compare and contrast the different Noah stories and retell the story in our own words.
Week 2
Camera - already installed - part of iOS
We have used the camera to take photos of shapes in our environment.
Martian - $1.19
We used this app to design our own martian. We then sat back to back with a partner and systematically described our martian's features. Our partner had to create a matching martian by listening very carefully to the description. We took a screen shot of our martian (by clicking the 'Home' button and the 'On' button simultaneously.
Comic Touch - $3.99 (free version available)
We used this app to add captions and speech bubbles to our shape photos and martian pictures.
Story Kit - FREE
We will use Story Kit to make a book - adding text, sketches and audio recordings to our shape photos and Martian pictures. We can have lots of different pages in our book.
Week 3
I Can Animate - $3.99
We have to take a series of pictures which will be turned into a little animated story, like a "claymation" or "stop frame animation". This app uses 'onion skinning' to show us what the previous picture looked like and make it easier to place the subsequent images to show movement.
Puppet Pals - FREE
This app allows us to pick our own characters and backdrops to tell a cowboy story. Once we have put our characters onto a backdrop, and moved them around the way we want, we can record our voice to tell the story.
Tangram Fun - FREE
We will use several tangram puzzle apps for our rotating maths activities.
Camera - already installed - part of iOS
We will use the camera to collect photos of living and non-living things from around the school.
Week 4
Epic Citadel - FREE
We explore this virtual world to use as a stimulus for writing descriptions or narratives.
Sonic Pics Lite - FREE
We create stories about our growing bean plants by taking photos with the camera and typing what is happening. We can also record our voices to tell the story. We also make "books" about shapes in the school grounds by taking photos and typing the shape names or recording our voices describing the shapes.
Grammar Jammers - FREE
We use this to learn about parts of speech
Rory's Story Cubes - FREE
We roll the little cubes on screen (by shaking the iPod) and use the pictures that turn up to tell a story. This really takes a lot of imagination. Sometimes we can only use 4 or 5 of the objects in a story but if we take turns in a group it is easier and more fun! Some of the stories are very funny. This app helps us get ideas and helps us think creatively.
Week 5
Doodle Buddy - FREE
Use the iPod to paint, draw and stamp with the amazing range of tools.
Week 3
I Can Animate - $3.99
We have to take a series of pictures which will be turned into a little animated story, like a "claymation" or "stop frame animation". This app uses 'onion skinning' to show us what the previous picture looked like and make it easier to place the subsequent images to show movement.
Puppet Pals - FREE
This app allows us to pick our own characters and backdrops to tell a cowboy story. Once we have put our characters onto a backdrop, and moved them around the way we want, we can record our voice to tell the story.
Tangram Fun - FREE
We will use several tangram puzzle apps for our rotating maths activities.
Camera - already installed - part of iOS
We will use the camera to collect photos of living and non-living things from around the school.
Week 4
Epic Citadel - FREE
We explore this virtual world to use as a stimulus for writing descriptions or narratives.
Sonic Pics Lite - FREE
We create stories about our growing bean plants by taking photos with the camera and typing what is happening. We can also record our voices to tell the story. We also make "books" about shapes in the school grounds by taking photos and typing the shape names or recording our voices describing the shapes.
Grammar Jammers - FREE
We use this to learn about parts of speech
Rory's Story Cubes - FREE
We roll the little cubes on screen (by shaking the iPod) and use the pictures that turn up to tell a story. This really takes a lot of imagination. Sometimes we can only use 4 or 5 of the objects in a story but if we take turns in a group it is easier and more fun! Some of the stories are very funny. This app helps us get ideas and helps us think creatively.
Week 5
Doodle Buddy - FREE
Use the iPod to paint, draw and stamp with the amazing range of tools.
