Draw, Tell, Share

Mobile App Monday

I know many teachers and students use Chatterpix as a tool for students to share with others what they know. Draw and Tell is another app from Duck Duck Moose that lets students draw and then narrate their drawing. This app can be used to explain a math problem, talk about historical locations and people, tell an original story about a frog that demonstrates its life cycle, or rewrite and tell a story from another point of view. The options are endless. 

This app is great for all ages and includes so many free and easy-to-use features.  The app comes with quite a few choices for backgrounds, color options (crayons, paint brushes, and color pencils), stickers, and stencils. Even better students can group drawings and recordings in order to create their own mini-movie. 

While looking into this app, I found some interesting news. Duck Duck Moose is now a part of Kahn Academy. That means all Duck Duck Moose products are free and without ads. 

Here are a few other Duck Duck Moose Products that you might want to try out: 

Moose Math
Musical Me

Fish School HD

Duck Duck Moose Reading

AutoDraw

Website Wednesday

Don't draw well? No problem.  😀

AutoDraw started as an AI experiment from Google, "simple experiments that let anyone play with artificial intelligence and machine learning in hands-on ways." Check it out because it's pretty cool.  

AutoDraw uses machine learning to guess what you are drawing. 

Using the program is as easy as 1,2,3. 

1. Go to the website or app. 

2. Draw

3. Click share, and you can either copy the link or download the drawing.  

You can add shapes,text and color to your drawing. Need help? Check out the How-To tutorials.  

AutoDraw is not only a website, but is also an app. This program or website can be used on any device. And better yet, there's no log in required. 

Interactive Whiteboard Apps:Show What You Know

Mobile App Monday

Let students show what they know with these 4 easy-to-use interactive whiteboard iPad apps.

All of the whiteboard apps gives students the ability to: 

• Record what is happening on the app 
• Record Narration
• Add images and graphics
• Draw
• Format text
• Share with others

Explain Everything: While it does have a price tag of $4.99, it is one of our favorites. You can check it out for free for 30 days. Read about all the cool things this app has to offer from a past blog post: A Fun Way to Explain Everything

Doceri: Students can easily screencast record one or several slides and then load to their Google Drive. Teachers can easily screencast record lessons on one or several slides and then load to their Google Drive or their SAISD YouTube Channel. 

IPEVO: I think math teachers will love the tools that come with this app. Read all about it from a past blog post: Free Interactive Whiteboard App for iPads 

Educreations:  Explain any concept with this simple and fun interactive whiteboard. Students can create instructional videos and share with others instantly. *This app does have an $11.99 monthly fee that is required if students want to take the video out of educreation. Teachers can log-in for free with their SAISD GSuite account and send the video to Google Classroom. 

Google Arts and Culture

Forgetful Friday

Driving home yesterday and reflecting over the awesome technology ideas discussed and planned at Alta Loma, I realized that I didn't send out a Website on Wednesday. And now I notice that I missed Monday, too. I apologize to all our Blog readers out there. Better late than never. Right?

This cool tool can be accessed as a mobile app from the itunes store or google play store or from the Google Arts and Culture website. Whether on a screen, big or small, art from over a thousand museums across 70 countries are a click away.

In Projects, pick a topic and immerse yourself in art work, articles, stories, videos, online exhibits and 360 virtual tours. Here's a few that caught my eye:

• Day of the Dead
• First World War
• Second World War
• Space Exploration

In Experiments, explore art with machine learning created by coders and artist. 

• Free Fall uses mathematical formulas to place pieces of art into a 3D environment. *Cannot be used on phones. 
• T-SNE Map uses Machine Learning algorithms that lets you explore an interactive 3D landscape of art work. *Cannot be used on phones
• X Degrees of Separation uses Machine Learning to connect 2 random works of art by analyzing features, finding patterns, and creating a chain of art work. 
• Curator Table lets you search a topic, compare works of art and see how they've evolved over time all in a 3D setting. 

You can also search Arts and Culture by

• Artists
• Mediums
• Art Movements
• Historical Events
• Historical Figures
• Places

Keep up with the latest and greatest that Google Arts and Cultures have to offer at their YouTube Channel.

*This is not a site that I would let younger students just explore on their own. As with all things online, it is always best to preview before allowing access in a classroom. 

Whiteboard Apps

Mobile App Monday

Here are two easy-to-use whiteboard apps for the iPad: Doodle Buddy and Whiteboard - Nothing more, Nothing less. Whiteboard apps are the perfect tools for students to share what they know with others. 

Doodle Buddy - is a free drawing app. It's a great tool for students to take notes and share information. They can add a background image and write or draw over the image explaining what it is or what the object in the image does. This app includes 4 font styles and the ability to resize the text. Draw tools are also available to make it easier for students to highlight or emphasize what is important. The completed activity will save to the ipad's photo album. From there students can quickly move the file to their Google Drive. 

Whiteboard - Nothing more, Nothing less - is a super simple, free whiteboard app. This app is great for taking notes, brainstorming ideas, sharing the steps of your math problems, labeling an object, or drawing the perfect play. This app is so cool is can be used in the classroom, on the field, or in the gym. Backgrounds included are various sizes of graph paper, football field, soccer field, basketball court, or add your own image. The pen tool comes in three different sizes and a variety of colors. You can write with just one finger. To erase what you've written or drawn, touch two fingers gently to the ipad. A three-finger touch clears the entire screen. The completed activity will save to the ipad's photo album. If you're using the app on your iphone, just shake the phone to save. From the photo album students can quickly move the file to their Google Drive. 

Next Monday, we'll share three interactive whiteboard apps that also allow students to record their voice and what they are drawing.

Repost: Write About This

Mobile App Monday

Write About This is a visual writing prompt & creation platform. Students can select from hundreds of images and prompts to create that perfect writing passage. 

Write About This has three levels of prompts so students can start of with level one move up to level three. There is an option for voice, so the prompt can be read to the student. There's even a place to record your voice if that works best for students. Students can save their completed work to the Camera Roll on the device or share through email.

This app isn't free - it has a price tag of $3.99 for iPads and $2.99 for android devices, but it's well worth it. There is a free version you can download if you want to try it out first.

I-nigma QR Code Reader

Mobile App Monday 

I-nigma is a QR code reader for a mobile device. I'm sure there are others out there that work just as well, but I've been so satisfied with this one that I have no need to look elsewhere.
Here's what I love about this app - 

1. It's free.
2. It scans a QR code quickly (I mean it's really fast). I barely get the phone in front of the code and it's scanned.
3. It keeps a history of all my scans. If I need to go back and look at something, I don't have to worry about where it is. I-nigma keeps track of it for me.
4. I can add any scan to my favorites. This way I can find things quickly.
5. I can share my scans through text message, another QR code, Facebook or Twitter.

I encourage you to take a look at I-nigma as your QR code reader. You won't be disappointed.

Capture, Communicate and Share

Mobile App Monday

Today's devices make it so easy for students to take or download a picture, write or draw on it, and then share with others. Here are some terrific tools that can be used in the classroom that get students capturing information, communicating what they know, and then share that knowledge with others. 

Skitch is a free annotation app that uses text, shapes and drawing tools. It gives you the option to annotate on photos from your photo album, a picture you take with a camera, a map, website or PDF file. 

Paper by 53 is a free app. Students can sketch and write on a photo they take or download.  Another great feature is that students can have more than one page and share it as a presentation. 

Chrome Extension and App

Awesome Screenshot can capture or clip a screen area or the entire screen, can annotate using shapes and text and can be sent to your Google Drive. 

These are great tool for students to draw out a process, show their work on math problems, draw pictures to illustrate a book, label a diagram, draw on maps,and so much more. 

Scanning Apps

Mobile App Monday

I found myself needing to take a photo of a paragraph from a book, convert it to a PDF, annotate, and then share. And I did not want to spend any money to do it. Here's what I found this weekend: 

Tiny Scanner: Free to install to iphone or android. I took a picture of a page from my book, but would have to upgrade to pro ($4.99) to add to my Google Drive. 

CamScanner: Free to install to iphone or android. I took a picture of a page from my book. For free, I was able to quickly and easily install InNote which gave me the capability to annotate, highlight, and add watermark text. The InNote annotations instantly saved in the CamScanner app. For free, I was able to share either as a PDF or image (JPG) into my Google Drive. 

Office Lens: Free to install to iphone or android. I again took a picture of a page from a book. I opened in the OneNote App and was able to annotate, save to my Microsoft OneDrive, and share with others. 

If you have another app that you use, please post it in the comment box below. 

Free Math Apps from Math Learning Center

Math Learning Center provides a variety of MATH APPS for elementary students including Fractions, Geoboard, Number Line, Pattern Shapes, Number Pieces, Number Pieces Basics, Number Frames, Number Rack, Money Pieces, and Math Vocabulary Cards. 

Each app is available for ipads and chromebooks and uses a similar toolbar so moving between apps is easy for students. Just go to the App Store and search for Math Learning Center. All of the apps will show in the results list - install one or all of them! They're FREE!

Quick Assessment with Plickers

Mobile App Monday

Wanted to share the following information on Plickers in case you weren't able to attend our recent training. 

We don't always have time to or need to give our students a test to do a quick check of the class -- that's where Plickers comes into play. 

Plickers is a simple app that allows teachers to collect formative assessment data without student devices. Use the Plickers.com site to create a teacher account, set up your classes, assign your students a plickers card and create questions. You will also print your cards from the website. Once you have everything set up, install the plickers app on your mobile device (any mobile device) and use it to scan student answers. 

Plickers has a great help section to get you started or you can go this Plickers playlist on YouTube for additional help. 

Apps for the Science Classroom

Mobile App Monday

Two weeks ago, I stumbled upon some Science websites that I found to be interesting and shared those on our Website Wednesday blog. Today, I wanted to share a few Science Apps that I found interesting and fun. *All apps can be found for free on itunes or in the App Store for ipads and iphones.

Plum's Photo Hunt: This app is part of PBSKIDS and Plum Landing. To get kids excited about the outside world around them, students are sent on a mission to take photos of awesome things they see outdoors such as plants, bugs, or weather. They can save the photos and add them to their field journal or send photos to the Plum Landing website to be added to their online gallery.  

Libby's Lab: The objective of this app is for students to complete experiments to get the equipment Libby needs for her lab. What's even better, is that the students, with adult supervision, can actually complete the experiments for real. 

Science360: This app is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and provides breaking news, images and videos from around the globe.

Atom-Builder:  Warning - app may cause addiction to chemistry class. Students can acquire the skills needed to count protons, neutrons, and electrons in an atom. Students can race the clock and tweet the results. Practice in practice mode and students can tweet the atom they design.

Classify It: Collect "creature cards" by classifying correctly different items. Comes with three levels and is lots of fun.

CDC Solve the Outbreak: Your mission: Save Lives! How? Collect and analyze data and make the right decision. Start off as a trainee and end a Disease Detective.

Virtual Bacteria ID Lab: This app is designed for biology students.

Ready Set STAAR Test Practice App: This free app provides practice questions for the Texas STAAR Science exam. Questions are grouped for grade levels 3, 4, and 5 and are available in both English and Spanish. 

Quiet on the Set! Action!: Video Creation Apps

Mobile App Monday

Students can show what they know with these fun, easy-to-use video apps. 

Tellagami: Students can quickly create a short video in 3 easy steps: 

1) Choose and customize your character and background. Use your own image and background to bring learning to life.

2) Record your voice or type your message or doodle. 

3) Save and share. 

Telestory:  To show what they know, students can create and star in their own TV show. 

Get started in just a few easy steps - 
1. Pick a theme.
2. Select the first shot to use in the story - students can have multiple shots in one story. 
2. Create a script from one of the cue cards provided or have students write their own.
3. Dress up in 50 different digital costumes with face tracking.
4. Perform and record your own show with animated settings and special effects.
5. Broadcast your show by exporting it to the camera roll.
6. The saved broadcast can be shared in the classroom or posted online. 

Shadow puppet: Students can explain and share their ideas and knowledge with this super simple video app. 

1) Choose photos or videos from the web or camera roll. 

2) Add music or record your voice. 

3) Add animated titles or draw with emoji wands

4) Save and share. 

These apps would be great to use for Digital Learning Day on February 23rd. Show others around the world how you and your students are using digital tools in the classroom to strength a student's learning experience. Students can use the video creation apps to explain a math concept, vocabulary words, or a science experiment.They can share details about a fictional or historical place or character. 

The possibilities are endless!

Do you have a favorite video creation app? Share your recommendations in the comment box below. 

Adobe Spark Post

Mobile App Monday

Create Professional looking Graphics in Seconds!

Adobe Spark Post is a free app for your iphone or ipad. The graphics you create can easily be posted to your social media application. Graphics can also be used in a video or a slide show.




It's easy to create a graphic from one of the many templates provided using the remix option.

• Pick a photo. 
• Add some text. 
• Apply a new theme or add an animation. 
• Resize graphic to fit your needs. 
• Press Done and Export.

It's that easy. 

Or create a graphic from scratch. 

• Click the +sign and select your background to get started. Backgrounds range from solid colors to a wide selection of photos provided by Adobe or choose a photo that you took. 
• Choose a size.
•  Enter Text, Themes, or Animations.
• Export it. 

Free Money for College

Mobile App Monday

An Opportunity for ALL. 

Everyone knows that paying for college is expensive. As many high school juniors and seniors are finding out, the process to find and fill out scholarship paperwork can be extensive and time consuming. 

Scholly is an app and website to help students find scholarships for college. With a free Scholly account, student can access scholarship-winning essays, tips, and advice. For a small fee of $2.99, students fill out a form that will create a personalized list of scholarships that best match the student's needs. It also offers resources that assist students with scholarship  essays, tracking, and deadlines. As of today, Scholly has awarded students $50 million in scholarship.

Fun Way to Explain Everything

Mobile App Monday

The Explain Everything app is a must have for all classrooms. This app is a collaborative interactive whiteboard that can be used to literally explain any and everything. 

Explain Everything is an easy-to-use collaborative tool that gives students the opportunity to share their knowledge and understanding of curriculum concepts. Students can annotate, animate, narrate, record and then share.

Here are just a few of the features in the app - 

- Writing tools - draw, shapes and text

- Laser pointer

- Insert images, videos or audio files

- Create math equations

- Edit (rotate, move, scale, flip, copy, paste, clone) any object

- Record everything you do within the app

- Record yourself with the front facing camera

- Export projects in numerous formats

- Post projects to Evernote, OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox, YouTube and more.

It's well worth it for the low price of $5.99 in the app store or google play store. 

Explain Everything is also available for Chromebooks for $2.99 per user. 

Click HERE to view ipad tutorials from Explain Everything on YouTube. 

Digital Citizenship

Mobile App Monday

With Digital Citizenship Week around the corner, here are a few resources to help your students be more responsible and conscientious of the digital footprint they leave behind. The apps provide students a chance to make decisions and see the outcomes in a safe environment.  The following resources  from commonsensemedia.org will give students a chance to learn and practice 

the Nine Elements which all users should be familiar with when it comes to being a member of  and participating in a digital society. . 

Digital Passport is an online app ($2.99) for Grades 3-5. It includes 5 games that teach students how to be safe and respectful in a digital community while on their mobile device or computer. It also offers offline activities for the teachers to use in the classroom and aligns with the digital citizenship curriculum from commonsensemedia.org.

Digital Compass is a free online app for Grades 6-9. It is a choose-your-own adventure game available in English and Spanish. Students choose from one of the 8 available characters and navigate through the ins and outs and ups and downs of daily digital life. This program aligns with the digital citizenship curriculum from commonsensemedia.org. 

Digital Bytes is an online experience for teens (13+). Teens can work individually, with a partner, or in a small group to complete a project that deals with today's digital issues. The program is designed to give students a voice and help impact and change for the better their digital community. Students will need to create a free account at commonsensemedia.org.

Digital Citizenship

Mobile App Monday

With Digital Citizenship Week around the corner, here are a few resources to help your students be more responsible and conscientious of the digital footprint they leave behind. The apps provide students a chance to make decisions and see the outcomes in a safe environment.  The following resources  from commonsensemedia.org will give students a chance to learn and practice 

the Nine Elements which all users should be familiar with when it comes to being a member of  and participating in a digital society. . 

Digital Passport is an online app ($2.99) for Grades 3-5. It includes 5 games that teach students how to be safe and respectful in a digital community while on their mobile device or computer. It also offers offline activities for the teachers to use in the classroom and aligns with the digital citizenship curriculum from commonsensemedia.org.

Digital Compass is a free online app for Grades 6-9. It is a choose-your-own adventure game available in English and Spanish. Students choose from one of the 8 available characters and navigate through the ins and outs and ups and downs of daily digital life. This program aligns with the digital citizenship curriculum from commonsensemedia.org. 

Digital Bytes is an online experience for teens (13+). Teens can work individually, with a partner, or in a small group to complete a project that deals with today's digital issues. The program is designed to give students a voice and help impact and change for the better their digital community. Students will need to create a free account at commonsensemedia.org.

Digital Citizenship

Mobile App Monday

With Digital Citizenship Week around the corner, here are a few resources to help your students be more responsible and conscientious of the digital footprint they leave behind. The apps provide students a chance to make decisions and see the outcomes in a safe environment.  The following resources  from commonsensemedia.org will give students a chance to learn and practice 

the Nine Elements which all users should be familiar with when it comes to being a member of  and participating in a digital society. . 

Digital Passport is an online app ($2.99) for Grades 3-5. It includes 5 games that teach students how to be safe and respectful in a digital community while on their mobile device or computer. It also offers offline activities for the teachers to use in the classroom and aligns with the digital citizenship curriculum from commonsensemedia.org.

Digital Compass is a free online app for Grades 6-9. It is a choose-your-own adventure game available in English and Spanish. Students choose from one of the 8 available characters and navigate through the ins and outs and ups and downs of daily digital life. This program aligns with the digital citizenship curriculum from commonsensemedia.org. 

Digital Bytes is an online experience for teens (13+). Teens can work individually, with a partner, or in a small group to complete a project that deals with today's digital issues. The program is designed to give students a voice and help impact and change for the better their digital community. Students will need to create a free account at commonsensemedia.org.

Do and Learn at the Same Time with Training for Google Apps

Late night working, assignment needs posting by morning, all help lines are closed for the night, and you need HELP.
You're not sure how to reschedule an assignment in Google Classroom, set an expiration date on a shared doc, or change the owner of a file. Don't worry the answers are an extension away.  

Training for Google Apps is a free extension that offers interactive lessons while you work on various Google Apps such as Classroom, Docs, Slides, Sheets, or Forms.



This useful tool is quite handy. It has answered many of my last minute questions. All you have to do is download the extension from the Chrome Web Store, open a Google App and click on the extension icon found to the right of the share button. A list of topics will pop-up, click on any topic and begin learning. It's that easy. Training for Google Apps answers many how-to questions through short, interactive, step-by-step videos. Now learning and doing at the same time is quick and easy.