5 iOS Apps for an Elementary Class
mLearning options
1. Videolicious
What it is: Videolicious is an app that allows someone to create videos using pictures and/or videos stored on the device (iPad, iPod, iPhone). Then the person can narrate the video if need be, and they can add music. After creating their video, they can share it to YouTube.
How I can use it: I could use Videolicious in a math class when I get students to solve a long math question--something like long division. The student could take pictures of each step, stitch them together, and narrate how they solved it using Videolicious
2. Socrative
What it is: Socrative is an app that allows students to answer questions using their personal, mobile devices. Teachers can post quizzes or quick questions and students would answer using the Student app on their device . The student can enter the teacher's "room" through an access code, and then can complete the quiz. The app corrects the answers and the teacher receives the students' answers.
How I can use it: I would use Socrative to do quick quizzes in the classroom. For instance, we can watch a Bill Nye video, and I could post a quiz based on what was in the video. I would use this to assess whether students were paying attention.
3. VoiceThread
How I can use it: I would use VoiceThread as a discussion starter for an elementary science class. In the building unit, I could post a video asking a question like, "What kinds of questions do you guys have regarding the Eiffel Tower?" to which the students would comment their answer (or question in this case) either in video or text format.
Image from http://itunesu.bluevalleyk12.org/apps/voicethread.png
4. Notability
How I can use it: I would encourage students to use Notability to take notes for a subject like English Language Arts. When I recite a quotation from a story we read, the students can record my voice and either type or write the importance of the quotation. I can also use Notability for assignments. I can send students a pdf of a few questions on the story and get them to work on it using Notability. They can type in or write their answers. It's a great way to save paper
Image from http://iphone.appstorm.net/reviews/productivity/notability-5-get-creative-with-your-notes/
5. Toontastic
How I can use it: Toontastic is a great app to introduce the basics of storytelling while also keeping it fun. I would use it in a English Language Arts class when we learn about the structure of the story: the exposition, the climax, the resolution. I would get students to create their own story by either using the stock characters in the app, or drawing their own characters.
Image from http://launchpadtoys.com/