Dear Santa

 Oprah has her Favorite Things, Ellen has her Twelve Days of Giving, and I have my Santa Wish List.  Ok, Ok I know that they actually give you things, so, this list isn’t nearly as cool as Oprah and Ellen.  Here are five things I wish Santa would leave under my school tree or someone could shop for them during the busiest shopping season of the year. A girl can dream!

1.     Cellulon Magic Cube:  This is magic in a box.  With the increased implementation of ipads in the classroom this is a super cool addition.  It is a full projection keyboard and multi touch mouse.  It pairs wirelessly with your device and projects the keyboard on the table so that you can type away.  When it is in stock, this cool tool can be you’re for $150.00.

2.     Livescribe Sky Wi-Fi:  This is the next generation of the Livescribe smart pen.  It holds many hours of recorded notes and automatically and wirelessly sends your notes to your evernote account. I have used my livescribe echo pen in the past to be a “test reader” as a classroom accommodation.  It is also great for students to retell or share information that they are writing, retelling, or drawing.  If you are thinking about flipping a classroom integrating a livescribe pen is a great start.  The Livescribe  Sky is $199.

3.     Leap Motion:  Turn your computer into a device that recognizes your hand motions. It works similar to the Xbox technology with just a wave of your hand. This would be a great tool to have when using a drawing or painting program.  Drawing in the air seems much easier than trying to manipulate the mouse.  Another use…think about being a hand pilot on Google Earth.  There are a limited number of apps available, but the number is growing.  Leap motion is $80.00.

4.     Ion Audio Guitar: This one is personal.  I am musically challenged.  I took piano for years but I never learned to read music and my left hand doesn’t seem to listen to my brain when it says move.  I played flute all through middle and high school but my non-ability to read music had me writing the names of the notes on my sheet music for years.  Here’s my chance to find my instrument.  You pop your iPad into the guitar and the frets light up to teach you to play. It works with the All Star app and with Garage Band. At the current price of $56.69 it is the one thing that might make it under my Christmas tree. 

5.     Chrome book:  One day I hope that I am in a 1:1 classroom.  I have always been and continue to be an Apple girl.  I love my MacBook, iPad, and iPhone but for the first time something with android has peaked my interest. The reasonable price and the simplicity of use have put this near the top of my wish list.  It would be amazing to have the space made available by not having 18 kids fighting over 5 desktop computers.   

What’s on your wish list?

Have a great weekend and Thanksgiving Holiday!

Happy Thanksgiving

This week is all about my favorite Thanksgiving apps for school. Some of them are silly and some are stories but they are all entertaining.  You can make anything a learning opportunity if you just give it some thought.

 1.  A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving:  This is an expensive app at $5.99 but I am such a fan of the Peanuts apps that it was worth it to me.  It is filled with Charlie Brown’s antics and the usual troubles that the Peanut’s Gang encounters while sharing the true meaning of Thanksgiving.  There are hidden treasures that can be clicked on in each page.  It has the graphics and wording from the original   1973 TV special.  I use this app in a center.  When I assign an app as a center, I usually have a directions sheet that requires some type of accountability.  Click for the  document I’m using with this app. I also do something similar with the Berenstain Bears GiveThanks App.  It is another pricey app at  $3.99.

2.  Dress a Turkey:  In this free app students choose a turkey, add a shirt, pants, shoes, headgear, and accessories, and add frames and effects.  Students can save their pictures.  The picture can be the prompt for a writing activity.  They could write about their turkey and what the turkey is doing dressed in its outfit.  This is a fun activity for a reluctant writer. Although this is a free app, there are in app purchases available.

3.  Turkey Painting:  This free app is a coloring book for Thanksgiving.  It has preset colors and a chance to pick many other colors.  The brush size can change to fit the area you are coloring.  It has a puzzle feature that lets you turn your picture into a slider puzzle.  This can also turn into a fun writing prompt.  After students paint their picture they can save it and complete a writing piece to match their picture.

4.  Hand Turkey:  This is a fun free app for the younger crowd.  You place your hand on the ipad and it turns your hand into a turkey.  You can customize your turkey by changing its feathers and clothing.  You can also have your turkey rake a pile of leaves that you make or stampede the screen with other hand turkeys.  This is a great alternative to the Turkey in Disguise that many teachers do this time of year. I’ve seen several of the disguised turkey description forms that would be great to go with this app.(It’s even fun for the grown ups.)

5.  Just for Fun:  Here are two stress relief apps that can be for students or the teacher.  Turkey Talk is similar to the Talking Tom App that many have seen and used before.  It can be used to practice sight words and vocabulary or just to be silly.  Another stress reliever is the Turkey Rescue app.  You have to put the turkeys on the road to save them from the farmer, butcher, or bulldog.  How many Turkeys can you save?

Have a great week!