iOS and Android

iOS or try Deck on Android

iOS or try VidTrim on Android

iOS and Android

iOS or try Animoto on Android

iOS, Web and Android

iOS and Android

iOS and web

iOS or try Small Planet on Android

iOS, web and Android

iOS or try Stick it Notes on Android

iOS and Android

iOS or try Explain Everything on Android

iOS and Android

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;  

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. 

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. 

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. 

·       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. 

·       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

 

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. 

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. 

 

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. 

 

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.

 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!

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.

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

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

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

 

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. 

 

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. 

 

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. 

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

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.

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.

Roll on September!

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. 

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. 

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. 

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.

Access to information and ability to share that information

Faster, up to date communication

Ability to communicate with parents

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