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26th August
I think that Padlet could be used to link different parts of the curriculum together. For example, a child could use the storyboard application to help create a diary or story describing how a Roman soldier feels when he first arrives in Britain. This would link a history project together with creative writing. Regarding the KWL chart, this could be used for helping KS2 children to organise their thoughts by helping them to identify what they do know as well as what they don't.
With respect to Popplet, I can see multiple uses for this application. For example, children could use Popplet to write up a science experiment or to create a recipe. It also could be used in history to record historial events in chronological order.
Finally, with regards to Thinglink, I think that it is a good way of introducing a lot of facts to children in a varied and interesting way. Ultimately, this will help the information to become memorable.

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Negatives of internet

Families spend lots of time on internet devices lack of interaction.

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Global communicarion

Access to information and ability to share that information

Faster, up to date communication

Ability to communicate with parents

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Connect with other professionals and share ideas.

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Negatives of the Internet:
Cyber bullying
Children are always on it!
Too reliant on it
Unsociable
No communication skills

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Accessible to everyone in some form

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Negatives of social media - grooming, cyber bullying, false identity, easily accessible, unsociable, unfit.

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Access to teaching resources and sharing
Connecting with people
For children - developing computing and IT skills
Sharing ideas for activities

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Cyber bullying
Dishonesty
Grooming
Access to personal information

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Not being physically active, a substitute for being actively social.

Increase in inappropriate activity on the Internet e.g inappropriate photographs, grooming (especially on social media websites)

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Security Issues- online bullying
Reliability issues
Sometimes Overused

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You don't know who you are talking to. Become over reliant on it. Limits face to face interactions. Encourages laziness. Desensitises you to terrible things as you are always aware of them happening.

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The negatives... Irrelevant information, false information, children may become vulnerable online, security, personal info at risk

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The negatives... Irrelevant information, false information, children may become vulnerable online, security, personal info at risk

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Wealth of knowledge
Connections with friends and family
Ideas for lessons and displays
Connections with different cultures
Buying and selling
Sharing of ideas
E books
Update information
Research
Confidence boosting
Use for interactive whiteboard
Educational programmes
Catch up tv
Skype other classes around the world

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-Able to carry out research for homework or projects
- More upto date than books..
-Increases your depth of knowledge
- Accessible
- Can stay in contact with friend and family who live far away

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Information at your fingertips!
Can discover new ideas, make contacts and expand your knowledge

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Use social media less now then five years ago! Only have Facebook with small number of friends as you can become too dependent on social networking and miss out on actually living your life!!

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Didn't use it until a few years ago. Now use Facebook, Twitter, Linked in and Pinterest. Facebook socially but have taken myself off it twice and the other three I try to use for teaching ideas and to create an online cv and collect testimonials.

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Can be a positive use for communication. (Skype,what's app,messenger) previously only text and email was  available

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Used MySpace and Bebo, now use Facebook and snapchat

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It's addictiveeeeeee

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We didn't really use it 10 years ago but we feel it has evolved. It has changed from using instant messenger to using it to find out the news.

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Didn't use social media at all until about 3 years ago when my children got it!

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Use different sites - no MySpace and Bebo anymore! Access social media on mobile phones instead of computers. Take and post more photos. More aware of privacy settings and what I put on it.

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ThingLink
This is a tool to create multimedia images and to add content to make the images come to life.

ThingLink could be used across the curriculum but it would work really well when introducing a topic area. It enables you to embed different types of media onto a picture and create something that is more interactive than a standard picture. ThingLink could work brilliantly in a lesson where you want to explore something with them - I thought something like exploring a Celtic roundhouse - hearing the sounds, having them select parts of the image to explore etc. Additionally, you could use ThingLink as a way of the researching the topic collaboratively and recording information on to the image.

Post-It Plus
Post-It Plus is a tool to transfer and organise your paper based Post-Its onto a device.

Post-It Plus would be useful across the curriculum but it would be particularly useful when using them with a 'working wall'. The app allows you to take Post-Its and convert them into a digital version. This would work well with a numeracy or literacy wall where you could evidence ideas from children and create images of their ideas all in one place.

The Post-It Plus images could then be used for referral during a topic or to share ideas between students for peer feedback.

Padlet
Padlet is an interactive wall that can be accessed and edited by a number of users to display different media content.

Padlet is a great way for teachers and students to share ideas and would work well throughout the curriculum. It could be used by a teacher to pose a question and for students to reply either during class time or at home. Padlet would be useful for collaborative tasks between students and allows for instant feedback to be given by a teacher or by their peers.

Other interesting tools: MSQRD - facial recognition/augmented reality app - it morphs your face into different things, for example an astronaut, fairy etc. Can then be recorded and exported - could be used as an interesting intro to the lesson etc.
Prezi - Prezi is a presentation tool that is quite similar to Popplet. It allows you to zoom in/out on things and you can create some unique presentations!
Morfo - Morfo is an app that allows you to create a face to which you can apply different features (think fancy dress face paint without the mess) which you can then record your voice onto. You could introduce a character - might be useful for topic work or telling a historical story.
Plickers - Plickers is another app similar to Socrative or Kahoot! where you can get feedback/assessment instantly from students. Instead of using a mobile device you can print off QR codes for each student/groups to hold up and the app reads the information and collates it.
Sway - Sway is a presentation app/software available on Microsoft Office 365 and is quite creative in its design. You can embed images, video and sound onto a presentation.

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I have looked at ThingLink and I love the fact that it is almost like a talking picture. Stimulating the children's senses. Especially if you want them to get inspiration to write a piece of work. You could turn it round and get them to annotate a picture themselves what do they think a specific area sounds like? Could be used over the curriculum easily.

Also I love Padlet, very easy for the children to access and share their ideas. Kind of like a modern version of writing evidence onto big sheets of sugar paper. I think the children would love to write something onto the padlet, engaging them in a very positive way. It could also be used to show group learning/idea sharing at parents evenings or any other information sharing event

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Thinglink – seems an easy to set up method of providing a virtual learning tool. It is a tool that could be used across the whole curriculum, within a variety of subjects. It provides a great interactive tool for learning to access information. Children will use it to learn visually by accessing images/video/text and also can learn auditory be listening to information or videos. Information embedded could easily be differentiated to suit your whole class’s ability range. Children with SENs or EAL could have the information tailored in order to match their needs and interested. The tool also allows students to be able to access the information as a whole class, in small group and even independently.

Popplet - another great tool that could be used to mind map across the whole curriculum.
It is a great of sharing ideas/information with children and for children to share their ideas. It can easily be referred back to by pupils in order to recall and go over information. Popplet could be used as a pre-assessment tool within a new topic as children could use it to give information they already know as well as asking questions about things they would like to know. It could be a really good way to record important information when delivering information or content heavy lessons; the key points of reference could be recorded on an IWB for students to access throughout the lesson.

Padlet – a great way for teachers and pupils to collate information and share information, both in and outside the classroom. The fact that all kinds of media (text, image, music and video) can be published via the tool means that it as applicable across numerous subjects. The tool could also be accessed at home as well as school if pupils wish to access information or share thoughts. Padlet would provide a good platform for less confident or more introverted pupils to share ideas and thoughts which they might not have done otherwise.

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Thinglink → interactive images. Tag content. Good way to introduce a concept and also to give as part of a big project e.g…

Map of a country - tag content like videos of certain cities and relevant information. Allow students to edit and customise images for example give them certain places for which they must find information for.

Padlet → Build a wall which can be modified. Can be used for interactive presentations which students can easily contribute to can also be used for tasks requiring collaboration. Requires students participation thus is more active than passive learning.  Students can access this app from anywhere as there’s an independent url.

Popplet → Concept mapping - central idea from which you move outwards. Can insert both text and images. Helpful mnemonic device. Allows collaboration i.e. 2 or more authors can work on same mind map. Media rich and can easily be used for group work.

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Pocket Phonics is an educational app which is great if the user needs help with; letter sounds, first words and letter formation. The letter sounds are useful as the user can hear certain sounds which they then need to produce on screen. When writing the letters on screen the user would use touch screen and follow an arrow on the letter given. This then links in well with short words the user can form using the letters they have just learned about. This is a great cycle of phonics in a small app.

I tried the app on my iPhone, I also think it would work well on a tablet. However I don't think it would be suited for a classroom activity as a whole, although certain parts of the app may work well when used in small groups with an adult leading the work.

Dashna Patel

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Popplet

Popplet has many features which will be very useful in numerous ways in all subjects. The mind mapping tool can be used to gather ideas to put into a chronological, colourful and visual guide for students to use and learn from. This tool is a great way to help students plan a creative writing (Intro, Build-up, Crisis, Resolution), it can also become handy for revision too. Popplet also has a timeline which can be used for History or even have a timeline for self-targets and goals. Last but not least popplet gives a great chance to interact creatively with students through a visual presentation where it allows you to embed your own videos and pictures! This great feature will help students learn visually and enforce creative ideas in their learning.

Padlet

What a great tool to have for students to express their thoughts and ideas about the work you have set them! Moving from the traditional of asking a question and waiting for students to put their hands up to answer (usually it’s only some students that will participate not all) this tool will mean all students must participate and will help all teachers to understand every individuals answers and their thoughts on the topic. This tool can be useful to set quizzes too! to see how much the students have learnt.  Teachers can use this tool to see how much students already know about the topic in the begging, before starting and then again in the end, this will show which students need more guidance and help. It is also great platform for students to share their answers and ideas to help one another.

PicCollage
I have used this app many times before to put pictures together from special events or outings to post on social media. With this app children and teachers are able to put educational images together to put on classroom displays or even in the students’ work books. I personally would find this app very useful for science to capture different plants or even insects; I can then turn this into a picture collage for revision or to have it as memories. Students can also use this for creative art, where they can draw their own pictures and set them in different backgrounds of other pictures they have found or created. PicCollage can also be used as a story board to give hints for their creative writing or use the collages to match what they have written. Teachers can also ask children to use a PicCollage to put a picture of them and the things they like such as food, toys,  books, tv programmes etc and share this around the class for students to get to know one another, this can then be displayed on the wall.

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I had never used Thinglink before, but I think it could be a really useful tool and a great way of bringing computing into the classroom across the curriculum. It would be a fantastic interactive starter activity to a topic. Using a suitable picture as a base, learners can research the given topic online and add the relevant links to the websites and videos they find. At the end of the session students would be able to share what they had learnt.

Thinglink could also be used as an interactive way of introducing ‘key/ wow’ words into a literacy lesson. For example, learners could be given a key word and research the meaning for themselves, adding links to online definitions, or even recording a sound clip of the pronunciation.

I particularly like Thinglink as it could be used independently by the learners or when working on a collaborative task.

I think Kahoot would be a great tool to engage children in a topic. They enjoy working with technology such as the iPads and I have found they also enjoy being competitive with their peers when doing quizzes in the classroom. A Kahoot quiz could be tailored to any subject area, but I feel it would be highly suited to a subject like mental maths.

In a similar way to Thinglink, I think Kahoot would also be a enjoyable and engaging way of introducing a topic across the curriculum. A Kahoot quiz could be created and presented to the whole class on the interactive whiteboard. As a class, you could answer and discuss the questions.

It’s also a handy way of checking understanding on a topic and a great short starter to a lesson, acting as revision from the previous session.

I like the idea of Post- it plus, as it is a good way of sharing a learner's ideas with the whole class. The app is also a great tool to facilitate group work across the curriculum. For example, when learners are working in group, with each researching a different topic, the post it note could be digitalised and then shared with other groups.

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Louise Blake
Padlet is a great tool for encouraging collaboration within the classroom and outside the classroom. It allows students to share ideas or engage in discussion with others. It would make good use as a starter activity to share initial ideas or create a collaborative mind map. This tool can also be integrated into all subjects. Students can upload photos and videos, possibly videos of them presenting something to overcome public speaking barriers.

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Louise Blake

Popplet is resourceful tool in any subject. It can be used as a mind mapping tool which learners can use for revision or a way to express their own ideas. It could also be used as a timeline to record their progress in different subjects. For example, they could create stepping stones out of the popple’s which they can highlight when they reach a target.

My favourite use for Popplet in the classroom would be as a presentation tool. Learners are able to create presentations effectively where they can embed videos and images with ease.  These can be presented as a group and students will learn from each other. It is also a good tool for teachers to use to create structured lessons and make it as interactive and imaginative as they wish. These online tools are great for developing student’s technology skills which is fundamental in the 21st century.

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Louise Blake

ThingLink allows users to create interactive images by using tags to add information, videos or links. It can be used independently or collaboratively. For example, a learner could independently create a ThingLink at home and present it to the rest of the group to share what they have learnt. The group can then work together to add extra information to the image.

ThingLink is a great way to make simple exploring interactive and engaging for all learners. It can also be used across all different subjects. For example, map images can be used to learn about different locations in geography and used as a labelling tool for the parts of the body in science. I would definitely consider using ThingLink in my teaching practice.

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Sophie Richardson

This app is a mindmapping tool that provides a visual representation of the ideas collected in the classroom.

The app is a quick and easy way to gather ideas and provide a visual guide for children to use to help them learn. All ideas are collected in one area which are separated using boxes and lines that can be grouped together through colour. This would be beneficial throughout the curriculum, such as science, as a specific topic could be chosen and as a class ideas are shared relating to this using questions like 'how does it work?' Or 'where could it be used?'

I personally find mindmapping a really useful tool so found this app rather helpful. The colour coding and use of images can easily link ideas which will also encourage children to share ideas and provide a layout that will help them remember specific facts.

Using Popplet will allow teachers to gather all the ideas in one place and neatly display these ideas around the classroom for children to refer back to. It would also be useful to carry this activity out at the beginning of a lesson and then refer back to it afterwards to see what has been learnt and if anything can be added.

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Sophie Richardson

Puppet pals would be a really beneficial app to use to encourage learning and development in children. It allows children to create their own ideas or characters that represent them, providing them with an opportunity to express
themselves through animation rather than speech which some individuals may find easier.

The app will allow children to choose their own background, make different characters and record their actions, which all in turn tell a story. This can be used in different subjects such as literacy as children could read a story, gather ideas and then use the app to either retell it or create their own story.

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Sophie Richardson

Post-it notes are a successful resource used in classrooms as they are a quick and simple way for individuals to write down their ideas and then display them as a way of sharing information.

Post-it Plus allows teachers to digitally store the ideas providing children with the chance to refer back to ideas and incorporate them in their learning. The app is an easy way to share ideas and individual copies can be printed so that the children can regularly add to them when they learn more about the topic.

The app is an easy way to share ideas which would be beneficial in many subjects across the curriculum and would be a simple tool to use at the beginning of a new topic to determine how much or how little is known about it.

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Lee Petchey

While I don't currently have a Pinterest account (I might have been scared off by my other half planning our wedding with it), I can certainly see how it can be used as a great tool for sharing ideas. I won’t pretend to be an expert on an app I’ve never used, but I’ve been sold by some of the recommendations I’ve read.

Roll on September!

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Lee Petchey

Although I hadn’t heard of Padlet before our course introduction day, I was instantly impressed with what is a very simple but versatile platform. I think that it would be an excellent way to exhibit children’s work in a way that is instantly accessible at the front of the classroom for all to see.

In terms of drama within English, video diaries could be written and filmed before being uploaded to Padlet and shared via a smartboard. Also, evidence from maths or science with regards to diagrams could be easily shared by the class teacher to display on a much larger screen as a good example to others.

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Lee Petchey

I have seen how Kahoot! can be used in a ‘reward time’ setting and can see great scope for it being transferred in to an educational environment, providing that the technology is widely available.

With children so attached to technology from a young age, the application seems to be incredibly easy to use and can be tailored to quiz pupils on virtually any subject. This could be implemented as a ‘ninja’ assessment tool, informing teachers of gaps in progress while taking away the pressures of much more formal tests.

In a group situation – possibly where access to 30 iPads/tablets is not possible – teams of mixed abilities could work together to answer questions, which would promote healthy competition and teamwork skills.

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Popplet is an online mind mapping tool that could be used widely throughout the classroom. It allows the children to arrange their idea’s in one place using text and pictures, which enables them to organise and make links between their idea’s. It could be used within English when writing a story to create a storyboard where the key moments of their story is mapped out. This is a great resource for this as each of the idea’s/pictures can be easily moved around and added in, allowing more flexibility in the planning stages of writing. Also this resource could be used in Art and Design to create a mood board for different projects. Furthermore, popplet could be used across many of the curriculum subjects to summarise the key points within a topic and children can then add to these throughout their learning journey as they discover more. I like this app as when a child is finished creating their popplet you are left with a rich display of their ideas and knowledge, which the child is free to revisit at any time.

Socrative is an app which allows you to create quizzes, using three different question types, that children can complete by connecting to the app via a tablet. This is a great app as it allows the teacher to control the questions within the quiz and the difficulty. Furthermore, it can be used across the curriculum to assess the knowledge a class already has on a subject/topic before starting it and also throughout the subject. The teacher can then use the results from the quiz to identify any areas in which the class or individuals are struggling, allowing them work on these areas with those children and ensure they understand the topic. It could also be used to jump back to a previous topic to ensure children’s knowledge on a topic is maintained. I like this app as it makes tests seem more exciting by incorporating them with technology and a ‘quiz’ aspect which children may find more exciting rather than a standard paper test.

Thinglink could be used across many subjects within the curriculum. It is a great tool for adding more depth and information to a picture and getting children engaged in computing as it allows for the use of different types of media (e.g. pictures, videos and audio). This resource could be used within different subjects to promote independent learning or group work by asking children to research a chosen topic and upload the information they find onto a thinglink, either individually or in small groups. Furthermore, this resource is good as their work can then be easily shared with others, allowing them to share the information they have found and receive feedback on their work quickly. Additionally, it could be used by the teacher as a starter activity where a thinglink is shared with the children providing them with key information and links on a new topic which children can explore and then add to as they find out more.

Amy Dodds

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Jacqueline Westgate

I tried this app because I have seen post it notes used in lessons before, which seem to be an effective way of sharing and collaborating information.
This app is good because the post it notes can be photographed, and printed off to put on working walls or in childrens' books. The children can then refer back to these post it notes to help them to consolidate their learning when they need to.
Post it plus also allows the post it notes to be edited, meaning that more information can be added when the children learn more about the topic.
The post it notes can also be organised and grouped by colour, which means that children can easily use them to access information. As well as being useful to childrens' learning, this app could also be useful for teachers. The teacher could use one colour post it notes at the start of a topic, and then use a different colour towards the end of the topic to assess learning.

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Computing task

http://www.phonicsplay.co.uk/PicnicOnPluto.html

This website link leads to a phonics game. This web tool should support children to develop their knowledge of phonics as well as alien words. It enhances their learning by encouraging the students to recognise whether the word is real or made up.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks1/science/growing_plants/play/

This website link leads to an educational science game called garden guru. The game is from the BBC bitesize website and is appropriate for KS1. This game will enhance the children’s knowledge of plants, fruit and vegetables, as the children have to identify particular plants they have been asked to by Molly.

Maths champions- fun brain games

This educational app provides the opportunity for 9-11 year olds to practice their mathematic skills through a variety of different games. This is an extremely useful tool for SAT’s revision as it aids with the development of symmetry, addition, multiplication, subtraction and division.

Websites and apps such as these are very useful for a starter or a plenary because they are short, fun, engaging and support with the development of new skills and knowledge.

C Marsh.

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I have used Pinterest for a few years now and I go on it every day!  I have created a fairly large teaching board now which contains all the ideas I have seen and like. I also follow other people’s collections on Pinterest as it is a great way to share resources. By saving the ideas up into a folder it allows me to go back later on and get some idea for a current classroom theme.  Pinterest is also good if you would to create a visually stimulating classroom with bright and engaging displays. More recently I have started to collect a few ‘pins’ around a Reggio Emilia themed classroom and how layout and access to resources is so import in terms of children’s learning.

Jessica Arnold

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Jacqueline Westgate

I found Padlet was a useful tool for collaborating and sharing information. I thought Padlet could be used in many subjects across the curriculum. For example, the teacher could use it to introduce a science topic, and then the children could work in groups to add what they already know. To extend their learning, the children could then research further information, which they could add to the Padlet using the attachment features.
The teacher could also use this to assess the childrens' learning, as it would be easy to see what the children already understood, and what they have learnt from using the app.
I found Padlet quite simple and easy to use. This means it should be suitable for children to use, and the app shouldn't be a barrier to their learning.

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Alpha blocks is a hit TV programme which aims to help children to read. The app is very simple just tap the alpha blocks to hear the sound and a song line to help the children remember it. It aims to give children a boost in key phonics. Unfortunately the app only contains the sounds made by single letters and does not put the sounds together making the app more suitable for use in the early years. However if children are struggling with a few particular letters this app could work a reminder.
Jessica Arnold

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Games, activities and information around all of the curriculum subjects. The website follows the National Curriculum and pretty much has everything you need.  Two games which I have found to be useful in the classroom are the number pyramid where the children learn about addition and subtraction to get to the next level in the pyramid. Another game on BBC Bitesize is Balloon Joining words. This aids the children learning by allowing them to figure out the correct words needed to finish a sentence. The activity is a problem solving task which is necessary to allow children to resolve conflicts.
Jessica Arnold

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Jacqueline Westgate

Popplet is a mind mapping tool which I thought could be useful in several lessons across the curriculum.
This website would be a good way of sharing ideas with children, and encouraging the children to make an input. Children could refer back to the mind maps when they need to access the information again, therefore the children could see their inputs being used to help others in their learning.
Popplet could be used when introducing a new topic as a way of assessing how much the children already know, and then adding to throughout as a way of continually assessing the childrens' understanding.

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Rosie Reid

When thinking about which apps to look at, I wanted a range which could be used by a variety of both ages abilities and hopefully enhance both teaching and learning in the classroom:

MyStory- A really lovely simple app that can be used in EYFS right up to the top of KS2, it allows children to create their own storybooks by adding text, pictures, drawings and links.  They are then able to keep them in individual 'libraries'.  I can definitely see this being useful particularly for EYFS to introduce computing design with art or English projects and handwriting, either as group or individually.  It may be a little bit simple for KS2 children but could still be great for them to create and present small projects.

HaikuDeck- A really useful app for creating both visually exciting and interactive lessons and collating student projects.  The best thing about this app is how easy it makes uploading projects to social media pages and websites which would be great, for example, a class report on a school trip that can the be shared with parents and carers and other members of the school. However, a major downside is although it has an extensive image library searched using a hashtag which you can put a child filter on, it has a 12+ rating on the app store as this is not always well regulated.

Pinterest-  Brilliant for simple image collection and research: a great way of collating ideas like a traditional mind map and scrapbook.  A good launch pad for starting topics of all kinds, but particularly image based art or geography projects.  Students can create a class or group page and, as a homework task so no need to necessarily be in the classroom, 'pin' a certain amount of images which they would like to explore further and discuss in class the next day.  Links and images from other webpages and from equipment in the classroom can also be 'pinned' to create a board that can be easily reviewed and changed.

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Stuart Young

Padlet is an excellent collaborative tool. It could be used in the classroom for group learning, providing an environment for the children to share ideas freely and learn from each other. The fact that posts can be made anonymously is a huge bonus as it means that the children will feel safe and comfortable in sharing ideas, which is key for the less emotionally robust students.

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Stuart Young

There are a variety of ways to use this app as a vehicle for learning. The use of the app could be driven by the teacher or student in the following ways:

1) Teacher to create interactive topic or lesson board. The popups could then contain information, directions for a learning journey or questions as a form of AFL.

2) Students to respond to a task by using Thinglink to create a cohesive, coherent guide to a topic or a particular idea. They can link to sources of information instead of the usual 'copy-paste' that most students seem to gravitate toward. They can also think about different ways to convey information or ideas using the multitude of media sources that can plug-in to the app.

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Max Longhurst

Who hasn't wanted to be an author at some point in their life?

This app is so simple and easy to use that it is possible to create a short book in time.
This would be perfect creative writing in English - turning what could be seen as boring words on a page into a fun, flippable virtual book (with sounds and pictures!)
It is just as well suited to making pamphlets and leaflets on holiday locations and areas or natural or geological importance in Geography.

I can also see it being used to create all sorts of comics and picture books, or information booklets and leaflets in all manner of subjects.
As well as creating one large book as a whole class project, where each child works on their own page or sub-topic.

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Eleanor Toms

Padlet is a simple and effective way of showcasing children's work. In a less specific way, Padlet could be used to display fantastic pieces of work on a 'star of the week' page.

More specifically, Padlet could be used to assess reading comprehension. By uploading a table with a series of questions as a background, students could add their answers into Padlet. Students could also add evidence by taking and inserting pictures directly from the text.

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Eleanor Toms

Thinglink is a slightly more complex app, so perhaps better suited to Key Stage 2. I like the way you can create an interactive page, inserting audio clips and url links. I think Thinglink would work particularly well in Art. For example, children could create an interactive page on O'Keeffe and her work.

I also like the way Thinglink provides statistics about your page, including image views and time on image. This could be linked to Maths, in particular handling data. Children could create and test a hypothesis using the statistics section and present this data in a simple pictogram, tally chart or block diagram.

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Eleanor Toms

I thought Popplet would be a great way of comparing before and after knowledge. A mind map could be created as a new topic is introduced (such as The Great Fire of London in Key Stage 1), and again, at a later date when the topic has come to an end. This would be a good way to see what the children have learnt since the topic was introduced.

Popplet would also work very well in phonics. Children could use popplet to create their own 'sound families', adding sounds and examples as they learn them.

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Gemma Brockwell

Popplet is a great tool for making mind maps and arranging ideas in the classroom. It can be used by both teachers, when presenting a new topic, and by students, as part of a lesson.
It provides an exciting alternative to Powerpoint, where all ideas can be seen in one place or viewed individually in the presentation setting.
I particularly like this tool as it is easy to navigate, making it perfect for children to use. All media can be uploaded onto the Popplets so that there is no need to find video links separately during a lesson.
I think Popplet would be perfect to use when children are carrying out a research task, in subjects such as geography, history or science. It is a good way for them to collate their ideas easily and then share them with others.

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Gemma Brockwell

Post-it Plus can be used within the classroom to display, arrange and group different ideas easily.
Post-it notes are used in the classroom all of the time to note down children’s ideas, different interpretations and descriptions of topics and stories. Once written it is often difficult for the children to see them on a wall and for teachers to record what has been said.
Post-it Plus allows these notes to be photographed and then displayed on a larger screen for children to refer to and arrange. I also like that you can add post-it notes on the app and write on them virtually, as well as editing any that have been uploaded.
This app could be used as an introduction to a topic, when finding out what children already know, or as a way of gathering ideas before setting a written task. They can be transferred easily to different documents or printed when necessary to use as evidence.

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Gemma Brockwell

Socrative is a great and fun way to assess children’s knowledge and understanding of different topics, and can be used across the curriculum.
The quiz-based nature of the tool allows students to be assessed individually, with the option of randomised questioning, or as part of a team competing in a game-style quiz. This format of assessment is both fun and enjoyable for the children, whilst it can be extremely informative and useful for the teacher using it.
Socrative can be used to enhance children’s learning due to its ability to create ‘question specific reports’ based on the quiz completed. This allows the teacher to see what areas/questions students found difficult and highlight where further support and teaching may be required.
The tool can also be used at the end of a lesson to assess how much children have learnt. This gives students the opportunity to give feedback and highlight any areas of concern that they may have.
I particularly like this tool as it is not restricted to Ipads and tablets, and it can be used within a computer room as well as in the classroom.

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Georgia Coulson

I’ve done a bit of research around some education apps of teaching websites. From the vast variety that had been recommended, I have isolated these three as the most useful, in my opinion: Popplet; Creative Book Builder; and Vittle.
Firstly, Popplet is an app that provides a basis for setting up mind maps. This can be utilised in the processes of planning. For example, an original mindmap can be constructed for the lesson aims and objectives, another for the resources that will be needed, and another for the teaching approaches or differentiation ability between the pupils. Additionally, another mindmap could be used reflectively, so that you could assess how the lesson went, and if the aims and objectives were achieved and if all of the required material was covered. This provides a basis for either re-assessing or progressing further with the lesson planning and the children’s development. These mindmaps could be completed for a group basis for ability appropriateness. However, these could also be utilised for individual assessments, to ensure that every child’s development has been assessed, monitored and tracked to ensure that any required help is available. (http://popplet.com/)

Secondly, the Creative Book Builder app allows children to construct an electronic book within the classroom. This way, the children can test their grammar, spelling, punctuation and comprehension skills, through an individual and updating story book project. A child can use their imagination, or reflect upon a life experience such as a holiday, to build up a story. This can then be shared with other children within their classroom. Thereby, the children are observing and learning skills from each other’s work, as well as sharing their experiences. This is done through the children developing their reading skills from the work produced by children of a similar ability. This project work also allows a library for original stories, that could be interesting for the children to read and learn about, alongside library books. Additionally, as they are electronic, their stories can be continually updated as they establish and build up their literacy skills and knowledge, to create a finished project upon which a finial assessment of their English skills and ability could be analysed. (http://www.appsinclass.com/creative-book-builder.html)

Finally, Vittle is an app that can be utilised to support a school-home link. This program is an interactive whiteboard, from which teachers can annotate. For example, a process or method of solving a mathematics sum could be explained using the Vittle recording device, that included visual and audio information, which can then be uploaded to a network that families can join from home. On this app, videos, audios and pictures can be annotated and personalised then shared through the sharing service of choice, such as DropBox or Yoututbe for example. Thereby, when homework is set, and parents or carers need assistance in supporting their children with their homework, they have a tool to use so that they can successfully help their children at home. (http://www.qrayon.com/home/vittle/)

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Max Longhurst

This is such a great tool to create all sorts of fun little quizzes in any subject or topic. It is bright and colourful and instantly demands attention.

It is fast, simple and easy to use, making creating new quizzes a breeze. Not only that, but the finished result is a fun and engaging way to see what the children already know at the beginning of a new topic and/or what they have learnt by the end.

And its simplicity means that the children can have a go at showing off what they have learnt by creating quizzes of their very own to share with the rest of the class.

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Mia

What a fantastic way to beat the (sometimes) tiresome PowerPoint. By using this app, children can make their very own professional looking non-fiction texts. It is so much easier to position text boxes and photos on the page in a book format, than on something like Microsoft word. The fact that it is so simple to add your own photos, allows children to use pictures that they have captured themselves, perhaps during a science experiment, so it really is all their own work. Adding sound clips eve allows those who are left confident at writing, to join in when creating fact files within a group. This app can be used for any fact files, so has great cross-curricular links for art, science, history, geography, R.E etc

It is also a great way to write up stories into a book format, complete with children's own illustartions and book covers. Additionally, this app would be a great way to share th work with other classes and parents.

I love the comic strip option (although you have to pay for it) which I think will especially appeal to boys. However, it would be a useful tool for working on story sequencing and structure, as well as being really fun. (I'm thinking adding sound clips for actions such as POW particularly entertaining).

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Pic Collage - not just for holiday snaps

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Pic Collage - not just for holiday snaps

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Mia

Pic collage seems to be an ideal app to help children of lower ability in their descriptive writing. Visual aids are always great at providing prompts for those that might struggle to remember their ideas, or generate them. But what I love about this app is that the child themselves can "design" their own visual aid for a given subject matter, and take more ownership from the ideas it generates, instead of being given a print out picture from a teacher. I think this method would also help any reluctant writers, as they become proud of what they have created and actually want to use their creation to assist them in their story, poem or letter writing etc.

This app especially made me see how something which I would have just used to display my holiday photos on Facebook, can actually have so many other uses in education!

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Mia

Many times in the classroom I have recorded children's ideas on post it notes, or there has been a class discussion with their ideas post noted to the board.... Then having to transport what's left of the "sticky" notes to the working wall or into children's books. Well this app seems like a much more sensible idea! I love the way how you have the option of recording ideas virtually, direct on the iPad (without having to take a photo of existing sticky notes) and that you can print this off to tick in books as evidence - which would work well with individuals or groups, regardless of ability.

I also like how you could use this as a whole group task, to organise and generate ideas. For example when describing a character, different groups could have physical sticky notes for looks, sounds, smells, behaviour. Once collated together on the board and photographed using the app, individuals/pairs could then use this app to sort the post it notes back into different groups, but also narrow down the choices to their favourite descriptions to use in their writing.

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Sophie Bray

As the other reviews have suggested, Padlet is a great teaching resource with wide application. I think Padlet works particularly well because every child in a class can be invited to respond either to a question, a photo, a video or a particular piece of music and every response is posted and shared. This provides a great opportunity for those pupils who are less likely to be the first one to put their hand up to voice their opinions in class, to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding to not only their teacher but also to their peers.

In addition, the format in which the posts appear (alongside one another) lends itself to comparisons across the children’s posts, allowing key themes or key words that recur to be identified as well as differences of opinion. This could form the basis of discussion or even a class debate.

It could also work well as a platform for self-assessment perhaps asking the children to post at the beginning of a topic about what they know already and what they would like to know by the end of the topic. They could then review their post and assess and document their progress.

As a side note, I also think that the fact that when using Padlet it will be very evident who in a class has worked hard on a task and who has produced very little should also hopefully help to motivate the children to get their heads down!

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Sophie Bray

Book Creator, as many other reviews here have already pointed out, is a hugely useful app across the curriculum. What I really like about Book Creator is that it allows the process to be a collaborative one in which each member of the class, either individually or perhaps in groups, can be delegated a particular section of the book in order to ensure that everyone contributes to the end result. In addition,  by providing the facility to draw within the app, the children still get the pleasure of designing the book itself and illustrating it.

Book Creator could be used to produce a kind of interactive newspaper from a particular time period including articles about the latest scientific inventions and significant individuals, advertisements for the current fashions, as well as including contemporary music potentially linking to videos of traditional dance. It would therefore be perfect for drawing the subjects of the curriculum together.

It could also be used to create a class book of poetry written by the children. The voice record function would allow each of the children’s poems to be accompanied by their own recorded reading of the poem. This would give the children an opportunity to work on expression in their reading and learn to perform their poetry.

Book Creator would naturally work well as a way to combine the children’s art work together in a portfolio for the class. Photograph could be taken of the pupils work and integrated into the book, as well as the pupils drawing directly into Book Creator.

It could also be used to document a class project which could become a kind of revision source including photos and information the children have written about what they have learned, alongside videos of the children investigating and discovering the new information.

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Sophie Bray

Similarly to Lauren Eglite, Adobe Spark really appealed to me.  It makes video creation so simple and allows for engaging professional results in such a small space of time. It is also great because it has an impressive collection of music, photos, background themes, font styles and so on for you to choose from, whilst also enabling you to include your own images and music.

I think this app shows great potential both as resource to be used by both the children and teacher alike. Like Lauren suggested it would be perfect for creative writing, but across the curriculum it could prove useful. Working together as a class, the children could put together explanatory videos, on a particular science topic for instance, that could be shared with other classes or even aimed at younger years. Through reproducing their knowledge in another format like this, the children can demonstrate their understanding and any misconceptions can be highlighted and corrected.  It will also make the information more memorable to the children.

Equally, for a teacher, the app would create an interesting and exciting introduction to a topic, or work well simply as a lesson starter. The video format is incredibly engaging and would be perfect to draw the children in and provide a jumping off point. Equally, it is an ideal storytelling app. With the ability to make your own voiceovers, you could, for example, tell the story of a significant historical figure including images of the person, the time period and the clothing.

The possibilities for this app are amazing and I definitely want to incorporate into my lessons.

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Max Longhurst

I really enjoyed playing around with Popplet, and can see myself using it in a wide variety of different lessons.

For starters, it's really simple and easy to use, and takes almost no time to understand and start using with confidence. Making it perfect for children!

English was the first subject that  entered my head when I starting using this - it's a great little tool for creating mind maps of characters (their appearance, characteristics, motivations), as well as settings and entire story arcs. And they can look interesting and visually appealing, with hand(mouse)drawn pictures or clipart and photos.

Similarly, with History - it could be used to create a bright and colourful, illustrated timeline of events from important periods of history.

As well as a different way to produce and show off group projects in any subject.

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Lauren Eglite

Adobe Spark stood out to me because like popplet, it can be used for many different lessons. However, I think it would be best suited in an English/Literacy lesson where the focus is creative writing.

The teacher can facilitate this lesson by posting a series of images either on Adobe or in a StudentShare, and asking the pupil's to choose a minimum of 5 images, and create a story on Adobe Spark that links all of the images.

It engages the children by letting them use technology, choose their own images and use their imagination.

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Lauren Eglite

Popplet is a brilliant app for either group work or presentation work. It is a simple yet effective way of getting the pupils' ideas down, and linking them to others. Unlike mindmaps on sugar paper, its easy to delete ideas that don't work, and enhances children's creativity as it allows them to explore tangents with regards to their ideas, with the ability to add pictures and youtube links to back up or enhance their ideas.

I think this app is a multi-curricular app, but I believe it would best be used in science, history or geography, where the children are given a topic, and told to explore and present back on the topic, as long as they are given a basic brief on what you are expecting to find, they can create their own popplet with facts, pictures and even links to youtube videos. Which not only engages them, but they are learning not only their topic knowledge, but IT skills at the same time without realising.

It could best be used to introduce a topic, or at the end of a topic to show what they have learned.

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Lauren Eglite

I think kahoot is a brilliantly engaging app. It is available for most subjects and would work great on the interactive whiteboard if children are able to have an individual iPad. It encourages competition but also quick thinking, and can truly embed the knowledge that they have been taught by repetition and practise.

I believe this app would best be used in a maths lesson, as it is easy to find topics that are quick-fire, and can be used as a solidifying but also assessment tool, as the teacher is able to determine what the pupils have acknowledged and what needs to be built on without giving formal assessment.

I believe this is a very beneficial tool, as it engages children and consolidates learning, and helps teachers with their understanding of the pupil's progress alike.

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Lydia Cartwright

Socrative is available as a website and an app. It is a method for assessing children's knowledge using an online quiz format. It could be seen by children as a less formal way to assess than a written paper.

The teacher creates the questions and answers (multiple choice or space for an answer) and they decide how long the children have to answer each question or whether they can take as long as they need. The chance of cheating(!) can be minimised by the software randomising the order of the questions and answers.

The main advantage appears to be that reports can be generated quickly for the teacher to see either students' performances or problem questions for the whole class which could be useful for busy teachers, saving them time manually doing this. It also means that problem areas could be addressed in the same lesson rather than coming back to it at a later date when the topic may have moved on.

Another feature of the app is that the class can be split into two teams to compete to answer questions and their progress can be shown on the board as a race. This could be fun as it encourages children to share their ideas in an exciting environment.

This obviously relies on a class having a set of iPads to use which is not the case in every school, and I still have my personal views on assessment.

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Lydia Cartwright

The Book Creator stood out to me having seen many children in Foundation make books from paper using key words they have learnt from a topic, and I see this as a positive alternative.

It can be used easily by children of various ages as there are many elements to the software that older children could explore such as creating and inserting sound.

It stands out to me that this tool could be used in Literacy for creative writing as an alternative to using paper. It additionally means children can edit their work which may encourage them to be more creative in the knowledge that they can go back and change their piece of writing. It could also be used when teaching writing instructions as the class could collectively make a recipe book or similar by each writing their own instructions and incorporating them into an electronic book via the Book Creator.

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Lydia Cartwright

Popplet is a mindmapping device that is available on a laptop/computer or as an app. As someone who uses the mindmapping technique a lot in order to show information, I really connected with it.

It can be used to show an overview of a topic/subject area, combining pictures and text to suit individual children's learning styles in individual 'popples' joined with lines.

Each popple can be colour coded which could be particularly useful if a Popplet was being used to demonstrate to a class different elements of a topic and how they connect.

It could be used by children to illustrate the results of a research based project, or even before the start of research to show what they already know or what they would like to find out. It could be edited as a topic progresses which is an advantage of using it over paper.

The benefit of Popplet within the classroom is that each Popplet can be saved and therefore shared with the whole class or between pupils on a table. It can also be viewed methodically as each popple can be numbered and viewed one after the other which could aid children in presenting their ideas back to the class.

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(Emma Aldridge)

Socrative is a fun way of assessing pupils understanding within any lesson. It could be used at both the beginning and the end of a lesson to show change and progression in understanding. For example, you could split the pupils in to small groups and ask them to work together as a team to provide an answer. This is a more engaging way of assessing pupils as it is in disguise as a competition/game, which is ultimately far more appealing to young children than a formal written assessment. Moreover, children can also be assessed individually, which would allow the teacher to gather who is struggling in what area, and whether a further lesson is needed to re-consolidate what has been learnt so far.

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(Emma Aldridge)

Pic Collage would definitely be useful in helping children to gather information independently. In Science for example, children could use Pic Collage to capture nature close-up, particularly when working on topics such as plants and insects. Once the children have captured the images, they could then return to the class where they would able to share and discuss what they have found with one another.

Moreover, Pic Collage could also act as an icebreaker when meeting a new class for the first time. The children could capture images of themselves and also attach photos of things they enjoy doing outside of school. This is a creative way of letting children portray their interests and allows the teacher and the children to gain a greater understanding of their fellow pupils.

Lastly, Pic Collage would most definitely be useful when trying to cater a lesson for more kinaesthetic and visual learners. The task of taking photos is likely to be far more appealing for these types of learners as they are able to physically gather information, whilst also creating a visual representation for them to learn from.

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(Emma Aldridge)

This is a brilliant app that can be used across a multitude of subjects - For subjects such as English, Popplet enables pupils to bring all of their ideas together in one place. For example, when asking the children to feedback on particular themes and ideas within a text, the children can use Popplet to express themselves creatively, by using images and key words that they have gathered.

Another advantage of this app is that it allows children to work together as a team, as they are able to develop their understanding via the app whilst doing something creative and fun (often far more appealing than just setting a written task!) Moreover, I also love that the app enables pupils to display their understanding of the lesson in a visual way – as some children can find having to give verbal feedback uncomfortable.

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9th August
Although I have reviewed three of the suggested apps which are new to me already, I just thought I would share my experience of iMovie for anyone who hasn't used it yet. We gave the children in year 5 some well known children's book titles and asked them to imagine that they were going to be made in to films and to create trailers for the movies. They worked in groups of 4 or 5 and used images from the internet. The activity took a week to complete in English lessons and then the trailers were shared on the final lesson. All of them absolutely loved this and there were some really professional results, I would definitely recommend this!

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9th August
Charlotte (1st August) summed this app up really well, and I agree it is very versatile and easy to use  and I created a really simple book in a matter of minutes using photos I already had in my camera role and creating my own drawings. I also feel that this is a suitable app for use across the school and it is easy to set differentiated tasks according to number of pages/words etc according to ability. As Charlotte said, this has its place in a range of subjects and expanding further on her 'learning log' suggestion, it could be used as an idea for a home learning activity for those families who have access to an iPad or tablet at home as an alternative for recording in books. I'm sure children will enjoy becoming journalists while on holiday and recording their activities in a diary! For those schools where children get the chance to take the class toy home each week in Foundation Stage and record where they go, this could be a fun introduction to technology, (with parental support and guidance!) and may also encourage some not so confident parents to have a go and begin to feel more comfortable in supporting their child's learning.
It could also be used in the school library for children to add to if they want to write a book review, photographing the front cover and adding their review underneath. The book could then be saved and printed out each half term and displayed in the library.
We recently asked the children in one class to create a booklet about different shapes in maths, describing their properties. Again, this could have been a way of incorporating technology in to a maths lesson and the books could have been printed and shared more easily.
I also like the opportunity to add sound to the book, a feature which I think will appeal to children of all ages!

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9th August
I absolutely love this, so simple but so effective! It has the potential to be a really 'cross curricular' resource, not only combining technology in the use of the iPads and taking photos, but also in the number of topics it could link to.
I was involved recently in a year 4 English project where the children created an information book about our Wildlife Garden for the rest of the school to use. Although really successful, they used pictures downloaded from the internet to accompany their text. Having seen this app, I now think it would have really enhanced this by asking the children to take their own photos of the garden and then add drawings and sketches which they had made to make the book even more 'real'.
The app could also be used on trips or activities where children are asked to make notes about what they see to write a recount on their return to school. This would be a good visual reminder for new to English (N2E) and special needs (SEND) children who would struggle to make quick, effective notes. They could then create a collage back in class and write key words which could then be photographed and added to the collage.
I have used role play for RE/PSHE activities quite a lot and have taken a photo to go in to the children' books as a record, however, it would be nice to get a few 'action shots' and create a pic collage of each group.
Finally, where appropriate, children who respond to visual prompts such as word mats or N2E children who are learning the basics, could be encouraged to create their own using this app. with key words then photographed and added. I am sure that if the children have created their own resource, it is more likely to work!
Although I have only given a few of my thoughts here, there are endless possibilities and I am sure that we will all have a few 'lightbulb moments' during our training where we think "I know, I could use pic collage here" and I for one will definitely be using this versatile, easy to use app!

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9th August
Like Mandy (29th July) I too had been introduced to Padlet before. When I started my BALT top up course at Northampton, a former student kindly created a padlet to share information and tips from her experience of the course the previous year. Again, as with Mandy, I was in awe of how someone could produce something like this, but now I too have created my own! I haven't done much with it yet, but I would like to do a similar thing and collect helpful hints and ideas for future students.
As far as the classroom is concerned, we have been trying to create a blog or something similar as part of our computing lessons in years 3 and 4 in my current setting, but it never really took off. I think that the whole design of this resource and the ease of use (if I can do it anyone can!) would really inspire the children to get involved. We could create one for different areas, for example a library padlet, where children can post book reviews. Or maybe a school council one, making it easier for children from all years groups to contact their representatives. The possibilities are endless and I may poach Mandy's idea and create a staff one too!

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Musical Mysteries (http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/schools/4_11/music/mm/quiz.shtml) is designed as one big quest in which a child and his dog help their grandfather find the music for his concert, however it does not have to be completed in one sitting. I think this resource works better as a whole class activity as there is lots of room for discussion and it’s important to listen to the sounds (this could be difficult with individual devices all playing music at once). There are four different sections and a final quiz, and each of these could form the basis of one lesson.

·       The ‘sound’ section introduces the idea of sounds with a steady beat and those without. It has a jigsaw puzzle where you listen to some sounds, identify what they are and whether they have a beat or not. If using an interactive whiteboard volunteers from the class can have a go at putting the sound in the correct place in the jigsaw. You could also ask the children for suggestions of sounds that do/do not have a steady beat that aren’t already listed. There is also an exercise to match sounds to words in a story and again volunteers can match sounds and words on an interactive board.

·       The ‘rhythm’ section introduces the concept of long and short sounds. The first part of this section can be done as a whole class activity, asking children to identify and describe the sounds that they hear. There is then a sound pattern activity where you can compose a piece using the sounds available. There is an example which can be discussed as a class, and then the class could split into smaller groups to make their own compositions using the website. These could then be played to the rest of the class through a speaker. As a follow on activity the children could carry out a similar exercise but with real life sounds in the classroom and do a live performance.

·       The ‘mood’ section lends itself to a discussion on how music can change our feelings. It provides some sound clips and asks you to choose from a selection of faces as to how it makes you feel. Before choosing the appropriate face on the screen you could ask the children to show how the music makes them feel by pulling a face and ask them why they chose it. This will hopefully help them to really engage with the music and identify happy/sad characteristics etc.  A similar exercise could be carried out in a hall where children are asked to move to reflect the music (for something fast and upbeat they might run, for something quiet they might tiptoe and for something slow and in a minor key they might walk at a slower pace).

·       The ‘orchestra section’ has a really fun instrument match up game that makes a great introduction to the different orchestral instruments. You hear a short clip of the instrument and then have to put it into a family. This might be fun to do as a class as the children could vote for which family to put the instrument in and explain their choices which can lead to a discussion about the timbre of and technique used for different instruments. As a follow up exercise, children could select the instrument they liked best and design a poster about it based on research that they have done. >_"���q

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This app is a fun and engaging way for younger children to practice maths. Each level is represented by a different animal and focuses on a different area of maths (counting to 10, sequences & patterns, basic shapes, place value etc). This makes it easy for the teacher to select activities on the app that match what the children have been studying. Each level has a number of different questions. Some are written out as simple sums (1+4=?) and you have to select the correct answer. Others involve placing numbers in order or identifying the number of animals in pictures. This app can be used as a whole class exercise, for individual study, or in small groups which would be good for teamwork and communication. It could be used at the end of a lesson or topic as a fun way to assess and apply the knowledge that the children have gained, the promise of a game on the iPads at the end of the lesson might help keep the children’s focus a little more! The app could also be used as a one to one activity for those pupils who find maths more challenging than others. The pupil can explain their working out to the teacher as they go along, thus enabling the teacher to spot any misunderstandings. The nature of the game makes it more exciting practice than simply writing down answers on a sheet of paper, and for those who struggle the sense of progression when reaching the end of the level would be very rewarding.

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Popplet seems to be a really simple and effective way of noting and displaying/presenting facts and ideas. It is very easy to use both for pupil’s individual work and for teachers working on a display screen/interactive whiteboard. The availability of different colours makes the creation visually exciting and makes it easy to distinguish between different ideas and sort similar ideas into categories. Popplet can be used to make neat and clear cycle diagrams which would be valuable for science and geography:

·       A diagram created on Popplet could be a good final presentation of a study into the life cycle of a plant. Science lessons leading up to this could be spent looking at individual stages of the life cycle of a plant, hopefully with an experimental/practical focus (perhaps this might include growing a plant in the classroom or some sort of outdoors observation). Ideally children would make brief notes on each stage which could then be transferred and added to when creating a diagram on Popplet. A great feature of Popplet is that you can add images, and these could either be photos that the children have taken or pictures that they have found on the internet.

·       A similar activity could be carried out with the water cycle.

The fact that Popplet is so easy to use means that a teacher can make a mind map for the class on the spot. This is useful for recording ideas in whole class discussions and then saving them for reference at a later date. This could be used when looking at visual sources in a history lesson:

·       A historical image could be distributed to the class. Pupils could offer suggestions as to what they can see in the image, each of which could be added to the mind map displayed on a projector or interactive whiteboard (this would hopefully encourage the pupils to look really closely at the picture). If there is enough variety, the teacher (with input from the pupils) could colour code different categories (people, food, buildings, furniture etc). This mind map could then be saved and used as a reference in a follow up task such as a creative writing exercise from the point of view of a figure from the past. This whole activity could also be carried out individually.

Popplet would be a good way of noting down facts and ideas during an outdoor task. It might be more practical than using pieces of paper which could get wet or blow away, however it would probably be sensible to ensure that the devices had some sort of protective cases.

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This app could be used at the start of a topic. Children can use one colour pencil to write on a post it note to say what they already know about the topic. Then using another colour they write on a new post it what they would like to learn about linking to the topic. The post it notes can be moved on the app to link together so it is easier to see any similar comments. This could also be stuck into children books at the start of a topic, as post it notes do tend to fall out of books. As with the Kahoot app it gives children the opportunity to have a voice in their own learning, whilst also being used as an assessment for learning tool.

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This appears to be a great tool to use for assessment for learning. In particular the quiz section. Children are naturally competitive, so you could split them into mixed ability groups, either at the start of a topic or as a plenary. At the start of a topic this can facilitate Where to focus the children's learning. Although can also be used for a plenary to show children's progress which can facilitate assessment and also the future  lessons, because it may indicate that children need to consolidate  their learning on a particular area.
The survey part could be used to create child initiated learning and allow the children to feel they have a voice in their learning, thus keeping them engaged in the topics.

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Puppet pals would be a great app to use to enhance children's learning in particular focusing on closing the gap groups. This would be a fantastic tool to engage boys in story writing and create a stimulus for their stories. It is very easy to use and would give typically boys the chance who don't typically like writing a chance to create a fantastic story.
Another group it would be beneficial too is EAL children. many EAL children struggle with story writing in English, however through puppet pals they would be able to create a Story, not based on their knowledge of the English language but their ability to use their imagination and ICT to create a fantastic piece of literacy work.
It could also be used to check children's understanding on particular topics, for example, in history the children could easily make a show to demonstrate their understanding of an event. This can be stuck in their books to present evidence in an alternative way.

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Pic Collage 

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Pic Collage 

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Charlotte Withers

1st August 2016

I really like this app because there are so many uses, very simple to use and it is free! ‘Pic Collage’ allows you to quickly arrange pictures, video, text, and stickers into collages.

There are many ways in which you can incorporate ‘Pic Collage’ into lessons. Below are a range of ideas.

Children can use this app to use as a visual introduction of themselves to new classmates. Ask the children to take pictures of their favourite things and build a collage using the app.

Ask the children to use this app to complete a visual blog to summarise what they have done at the weekend.

Children could benefit from creating a photo collage about events before a writing task. (This could be a guide to support the child throughout tasks).

In Science if the children are studying mini-beasts they could take pictures of the lifecycle and record it in a collage to show the main steps.

Using pictures from the internet each child can choose an animal. Children to choose 6 parts on the animals and zoom in on the aspects of the animal they wanted to describe and then add in their descriptive vocabulary to create a visual plan.

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Puppet Pals

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Puppet Pals

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Charlotte Withers

1st August 2016

Puppet Pals HD is a brilliant app to get all children involved and allow the children to use their own ideas. The creativity of this app appears to be endless and is incredibly easy to use. A quick look on google search will show you hundreds of videos which have been created using the ‘Puppet Pals’ app. Here is a simple video from youtube.

https://vimeo.com/32920373

To explain briefly, Puppet Pals allows you to set up a ‘puppet show’ using a background, and populating it with characters. The app will then record your actions, allowing you to tell a story. The backdrop and characters can either be chosen in-app or created from photo’s from the photo roll.

This App really is simple to use and will not take long for the children to get used to. Puppet Pals can enhance a child's speaking and listening whilst using the app. Puppet Pals is not only used to tell a story you can use this app throughout different subjects within lessons. Below are a few examples.

In Maths Puppet Pals can be used to give drama to a real life problem, created either by yourself or during the lesson. Because Puppet Pals is so easy to use you can create great looking animations which can be used to explain how the children solved a problem.

Telling stories is very natural to Puppet Pals and because the results are so quick it can be used within other subject areas, retelling dilemmas for PHSE – creating mini e-safety video’s for Anti-Bullying Week.

History you can bring together props and actors to create stories. As the app lets you photo characters, just take a photo of the prop as a character.

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Book Creator

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Book Creator

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Charlotte Withers
1st August 2016

Most schools are likely to have a number of Ipads throughout each key stage, or lucky to even have more. Book Creator is an app for Creating Books. However, it can be used for far more than that. It is an app that can be applied to any subject. It is also very simple to use.

This app allows you to insert existing pictures or videos from your camera roll onto all pages of your book. You can also access the camera directly through the app and take further pictures or videos. This enables you to collect pictures and videos through the build of your book rather than collecting them beforehand. With most books you require text to read. This app allows you to add text throughout and you can even use the pen to use your own handwriting throughout. Lastly this app allows you to add sound to your book. You can either use sounds clips within your Ipad library or record through the Ipads microphone.

This ‘Creating Books’ app could be used across the curriculum perfectly to enhance learning. Here are some examples;

Creating stories

Information books

Story boards

Leaflets

Learning logs

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Glogster

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Glogster

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Mandy Campbell-Marshall 30 July 2016

This evening I reviewed Glogster which can be accessed at edu.glogster.com

There are a number of you tube videos which explain how to utilise glogster including this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ij7KTcl0QEk

Glogster is a virtual poster board.  The package provides templates to help you present information in fun and interesting ways.  It allows you to add audio, graphics, images, hyperlinks and text.  Once saved it produces a link which you can send to others.

This would be great in primary school for children to build fact files, create presentations, write reports.

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Popplet

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Popplet

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Mandy Campbell-Marshall 29 July 2016

I also spent some time Investigating Popplet.

https://popplet.com

This web tool and app allows collaborative mind mapping and brainstorming. It is very visual and you can include content from social media.  It can be shared with several pupils at the same time in the same way as a google doc.  To do this you select share and then add a collaborator.

These you tube videos explain its uses and how to use it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxLDsWHsQ1g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGPS4Dps7S4

Uses in primary school might include:

Brainstorming topics / subjects with what the pupils already know and what they would like to know.

Creating mind maps to demonstrate their learning (as they research they update the mindmap).

Reflection after a lesson to detail what they have learnt.

Word walls - images and vocabulary can be placed on here with explanation of meanings to form the basis of discussion and pupils can be encouraged to add their own vocabulary and to research its meaning / find synomyms and antonyms.  An alternative to the display boards.

Matching activities where children have images and text and they have to match the correct image to the correct text.  Endless possibilities here could be used in many subjects

It could also be used to display success criteria perhaps?

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Padlet

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Computing and the Wider Curriculum - Padlet

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Mandy Campbell-Marshall 29 July 2016

Today I started to play on Padlet and have become a bit addicted.  I set up a pre-course progress page and have distracted myself playing adding what I have done towards completing the pre-course work.  Hopefully however, this is improving my technology skills as I have come across this app before and have steered away from having a go as I am at the age where technology is a little bit frightening. Computer studies in my day was a room with fourteen Spectrum 48k machines (ahem).

As for its use in the classroom... I wonder if it could be used for a plenary where students could upload what they have learnt.  It might also be useful at the start of a topic for pupils to add ideas on what they would like to learn about a topic.  Or even during a lesson for children to build on their knowledge of a particular topic uploading information, images and websites.  The children's work might then be able to be shared on school social media subject to confidentiality protocols. When the wall is complete this can be downloaded as a pdf (not that I have worked out how to do that bit yet) and printed off and stuck in books as evidence. This is arguably a more interesting way of evidencing work.

Additionally, it might be used by teachers to keep a list of resources that tie in with the planning.  The possibilities are endless...

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I like this app and feel that it is fun, engaging and allows for children to become independent learners. I think that this app can be used across the curriculum, from science to history.
- Children can take an image and attach links with information surrounding that particular element of the picture. This allows for collaborative learning as all children can take part and add different pieces of information.
- Children can also attach recordings; for example, children may have a question to complete in Maths, and children can share their way of working it out which may be different to another's, allowing for differences to be explored, especially for questions that do not have a wrong answer but instead have various perspectives.

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I have had a look at the Popplet app and feel that this would be a valuable tool used within the classroom across many subjects in the curriculum. I think it would engage the children and would allow for them to share their ideas and work collaboratively.
- Popplet could be used in English to describe characters and ideas using an image and creating a mind map of ideas from it.
- It could also be used within other subjects to allow for children to create mind maps as a way of researching new topics which can then be shared with the class. This would allow for children to share and exchange ideas that they have found out. For example, children can create mind maps of ideas about a new history topic to show what they might already know. Through research, they can then build on to this mind map with new facts and those shared within the class from their peers.

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Both Socrative and Kahoot look like fun, engaging and inclusive apps that can be used within the classroom and I think, across the curriculum.
- They could be used as ways of assessing what children may already know about the topic before teaching occurs and vice versa, could be used to assess what the children have learnt at the end of a topic.
- They could could be used to engage children in mental maths quizzes, making it fun and exciting.
- Lastly, either of these apps could be used at the end of lessons to gauge how much the children have learned from the lesson and whether the topic needs to be revisited to ensure mastery of that area.