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37 of the Best Apps for Kids in the Fourth Grade

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Spread the loveAt last count, there were over 80,000 educational apps available to teachers. There are apps for everything: literacy, STEM, productivity, audiovisual, etc. There are apps which improve accessibility for students with different learning challenges, i.e. text to voice, voice to text, etc.

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In the digital age, electronics no longer provide only classroom distractions, but also fantastic educational tools. Perhaps this holds truest within the special education realm. Equipping your child or student with the right iPad and iPhone apps can enhance his or her learning process. Determining the correct app might seem overwhelming, but fear not! Below are several popular and practical apps to consider.

Speak It!: A text-to-speech app, Speak It! can help your learner read or speak. Simply copy and paste selected text and Speak It! reads the words out loud. The app highlights each spoken word so that kids can more easily follow along with the text. This $1.99 app gives a non-verbal child a voice so that he or she can interact with classmates. Just type what you want to say and Speak It! does the rest. The ability to save countless phrases adds convenience by eliminating the need to type the same phrases over and over again.

Read2Go: Read2Go corresponds with Bookshare, a digital library that makes books available to students with reading-related disabilities such as dyslexia and vision issues. The app costs $19.99 but allows you to access Bookshare's expansive library featuring over 170,000 books via your iPad or iPhone. While Read2Go requires a Bookshare membership, an award from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs offers free memberships to schools and students who meet certain qualifications.

Dragon Dictation: Students who have difficulty writing due to disabilities can benefit from the free Dragon Dictation app. This voice recognition technology app enables a student's iPad or iPhone to capture and document what the child says. Users rave about the app's accuracy.

Notability: People learn differently and the note-taking app Notability embraces this notion. Kathleen H. McClaskey, a digital learning consultant and reoccurring guest on the special education-focused The Inclusive Class Podcast, noted during her September 14th 2012 appearance on this program that Notability works especially well with visual learners. Additionally, those who excel through listening will certainly find the $1.99 app's audio recording component useful. Given Notability's versatility and low price, it's no surprise that Apple named the app 2012's bestselling note taker.

Talking Calculator: If a visual disability makes using a calculator difficult for your child or student, the Talking Calculator app could become your ideal solution. Talking Calculator features large colorful buttons, creating an easy-to-use interface. Plus, as the app's name suggests, the calculator talks. Put your finger on the screen and Talking Calculator tells you what button your finger hovers over. Perform a calculation and the calculator vocalizes the answer. At $1.99, Talking Calculator can change math from a dreaded subject into a fun and enjoyable experience.

Virtual Manipulatives!: Another math-related app, Virtual Manipulatives! uses visuals to effectively teach fractions, decimals and percentages. Virtual Manipulatives! ranks among the top 50 free educational apps and received honors as an Apple staff favorite.

Draw Free for iPad: When a school project entails an artistic element, consider Draw Free for iPad. General education teacher and Learn It In Five website creator Mark Barnes specifically notes that the Draw Free for iPad works well for students with fine motor skills issues. Barnes has personally seen students with disabilities succeed inside his mainstream classroom using this free app.

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Assistive Technology - Top Apps for Students with Special Needs

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In the digital age, electronics no longer provide only classroom distractions, but also fantastic educational tools. Perhaps this holds truest within the special education realm. Equipping your child or student with the right iPad and iPhone apps can enhance his or her learning process. Determining the correct app might seem overwhelming, but fear not!

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Introducing Multiplication Nation

Where All Kids Are GUARANTEED To Learn Their Times Tables

Created by California Teacher of the Year, Alex Kajitani.

Say good-bye to flashcard drudgery and math anxiety.

Say hello to confident kids who succeed in math and life.

The first-of-its-kind, interactive, online times tables training system.

I'm a parent. Tell me more. I'm a teacher. Tell me more.

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Introducing Multiplication Nation Where All Kids Are GUARANTEED To Learn Their Times Tables Created by California Teacher of the Year, Alex Kajitani. Say good-bye to flashcard drudgery and math anxiety. Say hello to confident kids who succeed in math and life. The first-of-its-kind, interactive, online times tables training system.

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A required part of this site couldn’t load. This may be due to a browser extension, network issues, or browser settings. Please check your connection, disable any ad blockers, or try using a different browser.

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Cool Math - free online cool math lessons, cool math games & apps, fun math activities, pre-algebra, algebra, precalculus

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Cool Math has free online cool math lessons, cool math games and fun math activities. Really clear math lessons (pre-algebra, algebra, precalculus), cool math games, online graphing calculators, geometry art, fractals, polyhedra, parents and teachers areas too.

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160+ Chrome Apps and Extensions for Teachers and Students

I have put together a Google Chrome App and Extension Database for Teachers hat is loaded with apps and extensions for productivity and classroom integration. In this post, you will find 160+ Chrome Apps and Extensions for Teachers and Students! This database is searchable and filterable by category, subject area, and grade level!

If you have followed this blog for any length of time, you probably know that I love the Google Chrome web browser! Google Chrome is the learning environment for all things Google and allows you to customize your browser to fit your needs. Better yet, Google Chrome can be customized to fit the needs of our student learners.

The magic of that customization comes from the Chrome Apps and Chrome Extensions available in the Chrome Web Store.

I encourage you to explore the Chrome Web Store periodically for new apps and extensions to bring to your classroom. On the left-hand side, you will find categories, including a category for education.

Check out some of my previous Chrome posts:

What are Chrome Apps?

Apps are often enhanced shortcuts that optimize the website or app within the browser. Some require additional installation and set-up. Chrome must be running to access these applications. Below are a few of my favorite Google Chrome Apps.

What are Chrome Extensions?

Extensions are installed in the browser and give you added features and abilities to customize your browser.

Warning! Running too many extensions at once can slow your computer down. This list is a great place to start, but pick and choose what ones you need or want to try. And be sure to grab the Extensity extension so you can turn extensions off when you do not need them.

The Chrome Apps & Extensions Database

For a while, I have kept a list of my favorite apps and favorite extensions on this site, but my list just keeps growing! It has grown so much that a list just doesn't cut it anymore. I needed to find a way to help teachers find the best Chrome apps and extensions to fit the needs of their students, classrooms, and their own productivity. Thus, the Chrome Apps and Extensions Database was born.

The database includes 160 Apps and Extensions and is searchable and filterable. I do not recommend every app and extension for every teacher. Rather, use this as a guide to find what works for you, your classroom and your students. There is something in here for everyone.

BTW, Did you know that Shake Up Learning has it's very own Chrome extension? Get it here and stay up-to-date with all of the Shake Up Learning posts.

Right now, you will find this database is heavy in productivity tools. This is where I need your help. Help me make this database even better by sharing your favorite apps and extensions for your grade levels and subject areas. Please share with me and I will continue to add to this database so that it is loaded with resources for all educators. CLICK HERE to submit your favorite Chrome Apps & Extensions.

Please note that the database below was created with Awesome Tables. If it isn't loading, it could be your school filter causing the issue.

Permissions: You may link to this page. Embedding will violate the copyright policy of this blog.

Permissions: You may link to this page. Embedding will violate the copyright policy of this blog.

© Shake Up Learning 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kasey Bell and Shake Up Learning with appropriate and specific direction to the original content on ShakeUpLearning.com. See: Copyright Policy.

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160+ Chrome Apps and Extensions for Teachers and Students

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I have put together a Google Chrome App and Extension Database for Teachers that is loaded with apps and extensions for productivity and classroom integration. Google Chrome can be customized to fit the needs of our student learners. The database includes 100+ Apps and Extensions and is searchable and filterable.

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There's no shortage of mindfulness and meditation apps these days, promising to help you combat anxiety, sleep better, hone your focus, and more. In fact, the Wall Street Journal reports that more than 2,000 new meditation apps launched between 2015 and 2018, and offerings have only increased as a result of higher demand during the pandemic-according to the New York Times, mindfulness apps surged in 2020. We took the overwhelm out of finding the most valuable and easy-to-use meditation apps that are available free and narrowed it down to these four apps.

4 Free Meditation Apps We're Happy We Downloaded

Available for iOS, Android, and web

Entry price: Free

Insight Timer has a huge library of content: over 80,000 free guided meditations from over 10,000 teachers on topics like stress, relationships, healing, sleep, creativity, and more.

Right from the beginning, the app feels like a global community-the world map on the home screen shows a collective of 18 million meditators, and announces, "741k today, 7k now." After you finish a meditation, you'll learn exactly how many people were meditating "with you" during that time-and by setting your location, you can even see meditators nearby and what tracks they're listening to.

Once you find a teacher you enjoy-like Jack Kornfield, Tara Brach, Sharon Salzberg, or Rhonda Magee -you can follow them to make sure you don't miss any new content. You can also tune in to free talks for life advice and inspiration. For those craving real-time interactions, Insight Timer offers live events every hour of the day to join on a whim or plan into your schedule.

You can even sign up to Circle for Teams, one of their newer offerings, which allows you to create circles (read: groups) to meditate in real-time with friends or colleagues.

If you prefer a quieter meditation, however, you can simply set a timer and meditate to intermittent bells, calming ambient noise, or soothing music.

Depending on your preferences, Insight Timer's extensive collection can be either a blessing or a curse-an endless list of choices that leave you overwhelmed or a buffet of tempting options to sink your teeth into.

Paid option: For $60 per year (with a 30-day free trial), you get access to courses with well-known teachers, the ability to download meditations and listen offline, and advanced player functions like repeat mode and fast forward and rewind.

Available for iOS, Android, and web

Entry price: Free

Smiling Mind hits the sweet spot for a free mindfulness app in so many ways.

The not-for-profit app features hundreds of meditations, enough to keep you engaged without overwhelming you with choice. They are organized into structured programs like Mindful Foundations (35 sessions), Sleep (6 sessions), Digital Detox (8 sessions), and Stress Management (10 sessions), but you have the flexibility to choose where to start and to easily jump between programs. Most meditations are in the five- to fifteen-minute range, with a few practices up to 45 minutes for advanced meditators. Smiling Mind also offers bite-sized meditations between 2 to 5 minutes for moments when you're in need of a quick, mindful pause in the day.

Downloaded by over 5.5 million people, the app also has a variety of specialized programs for families, children and teens of various ages, healthcare workers, and educators (including curricula they can use in the classroom); all developed with the help of psychologists and health professionals.

While you could use a meditation app as a temporary break from your hectic life, Smiling Mind wants you to take your mindfulness practice off the cushion and into the rest of your day. Interspersed with some of the meditation programs are instructions for "activities" like Journaling Exercise, Go Offline, Where Did My Food Come From, and Count Your Senses. In the Count Your Senses activity, for example, the audio prompts you to bring your attention to your senses by counting things that can be seen, felt, heard, smelled and tasted.

Smiling Mind was originally created for kids, so they offer a robust selection of kid- and youth-appropriate mindfulness sessions.

Created by a nonprofit by the same name, Smiling Mind is entirely free-so you don't have the distraction of paid content that's inaccessible to you as a free user. The app wants to put a "smile on your mind"-and it might just succeed.

Paid option: None

Available for iOS and Android

Entry price: Free

If all the research on mindfulness has persuaded you that you need to meditate, the UCLA Mindful app could be a good place to start.

Developed by the Mindful Awareness Research Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the app features about a dozen meditations of different types in English and Spanish. You can learn to focus on your breath, your body, or sounds; work with difficult emotions; and cultivate loving-kindness in sessions ranging from 3 to 19 minutes long.

If you're new to mindfulness, you might choose to take advantage of their Getting Started section, which offers information on what mindfulness is, how to choose a meditation, which posture is best for your practice, and what research-backed benefits you might expect from it.

As a bonus, the app also offers longer meditations that it calls "podcasts." These are half-hour audio recordings of meditations that include talks, typically by UCLA Director of Mindfulness Education Diana Winston, before and after the meditation, as well as plenty of silent practice time.

If you're looking for an app that is heavily grounded in the science of mindfulness, you can put your trust in UCLA Mindful.

Paid option: None

Available for iOS and Android

Entry price: Free

The Healthy Minds Program app wants to help you develop the skills for a healthy mind-by strengthening mental focus, decreasing stress, and growing resilience, compassion, and better immune health.

Founded by neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson (who also founded the research institute Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison), the app integrates neuroscience and research-based techniques with meditation training to increase overall well-being.

The framework of the app's mindfulness and well-being training is organized into four pillars: Awareness, Connection, Insight, and Purpose. Each pillar consists of three to five parts, and each part contains three series and multiple sessions within. For the Connection pillar, for example, the Innate Self-Worth series includes five sessions packaged to foster self-worth (think sessions like Practice Seeing the Good In Ourselves, and Learn Negativity Bias). You have a choice of either a Sitting or Active type of practice-"active" practices include guidance for being mindful while you exercise, or during your commute-and you can customize the length of time (five minutes to 30 minutes).

The app offers a collection of 27 meditations outside their four-pillar wellness framework, including one-minute Micro Practices for when you're in need of a brief respite.

At times the podcast-style app may encourage more thinking compared to typical guided meditations, but for the listener who is seeking guided meditations with the greater goal to increase awareness, cognition, and well-being, Healthy Minds Program app may be just the ticket.

Paid option: None

When we meditate, we inject far-reaching and long-lasting benefits into our lives: We lower our stress levels, we get to know our pain, we connect better, we improve our focus, and we're kinder to ourselves. Let us walk you through the basics in our new mindful guide on how to meditate. Read More

Practicing gratitude has incredible effects, from improving our mental health to boosting our relationships with others. Explore ways you can be more appreciative in our mindful guide to gratitude. Read More

Mindful writing can lead you on the path of inner discovery. It can be the place where your experience meets your mindfulness practice, a place to encounter the twists and turns of your emotional life-and a bit of solid ground to stand on. Read More

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Free Meditation Apps Worthy of Your Attention

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We scoured the app stores to find the most popular, educational, and easy-to-use free meditation apps available.

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Flip is a video discussion and sharing app, free from Microsoft.

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Flip (formerly Flipgrid) is a video discussion and video sharing app, free from Microsoft, built for classrooms and beyond. Learn more.

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Storybird - Read, write, discover, and share the books you'll always remember.

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Become a better writer with Storybird's creativity tools. Online courses, challenges, and reader feedback will help you improve your writing.