Who knew?????

I have not had time to check this out but certainly plan to as it sounds SUPER cool.  Who knew your ipad could control your PC!!!!!  http://teachinghappilyeverafter.blogspot.com/2011/06/control-your-desktop-computer-with-your.html

Check it out!

Accessories

Here's my next trial. I'm going to order one of the Digital AV Adapter's. Here's the Apple Store Overview:

Use the Apple Digital AV Adapter to mirror whatever’s on your iPad 2 screen — apps, presentations, websites and more — on your HDTV or HDMI-compatible display in up to 1080p HD (movies play at up to 720p).

Watch slideshows and movies on the big screen in up to 720p by connecting your iPad, iPhone 4 or iPod touch (4th generation) to an HDTV or HDMI-compatible display.

The Apple Digital AV Adapter routes digital audio to screens that support it.

Connect the Apple Digital AV Adapter to your iPad, iPhone 4 or iPod touch (4th generation) via the 30-pin dock connector and to your HDMI-compatible display using an HDMI cable (sold separately).

A second 30-pin connector built into the AV adapter lets you charge and sync your device while it’s connected to your HDMI-compatible display.

We're also going to try out a new LCD projector which has HDMI. The review for this chord is better than the VGA chord and it allows for a lot more interactivity. It even charges the ipad at the same time. We'll see if it's a good choice.

Strip Designer - Kids Write

So my thought with one Ipad and 22 kids is........ I create the comic leaving the speech balloons blank for the kids to fill in with their pencils.  Today we started our camping theme as well as visiting the zoo.  I thought animal thought bubbles would be super cute.  What were those guys thinking?

Great Googles

Isn't Google just the best. All I did was searched Grade 2 apps and here's the first bit that came up. I didn't have a chance to check them all- go figure. Technology information changes so fast, too. I bet by the end of the summer there will be tons of additional reviews.

Here's some helpful sites to check out reviews on those endless number of educational apps.
http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/Grade+K-2+Apps#Social Studies- many preschool-K-1 apps but it does go up to Grade 5

http://www.iear.org/
This site is beyond fantastic and a must to check out. Their subtitle is: A Community Effort to Grade Educational Apps---WOW. They even have suggested uses for the educational app. There's also tags so you don't have to search endlessly for specific topics.  It's geared for K-12.
OK gotta go--I may not be able to find time to go to bed tonight!

Shutting Off your Apps

Soooooooo apparently hitting the lovely little button to take you home is not the way to actually shut an app completely off... who knew?  Now it is not a problem until your children have so many apps continually running in the background that your battery life is being sucked out of your ipad faster than your internet connection.... well not quite but you get my drift.  Here's a link to show you how to really get them to quit running.  any other tips on shutting apps down are greatly appreciated!

http://www.theiphonemom.com/how-to-turn-off-apps
Christine

Textropolis

THE CHALLENGE IS ON!!!!!!!! Mrs. Jedele's Grade 5 class challenged our Grade 2 class with a hearty game of textropolis. OK so I have to say it's one of my favorite apps. They give you the name of a city and you have to find the hidden words. The more words you find, the bigger the city gets. Can you believe there are 351 words in Singapore? You may think it's not a fair challenge but our class is allowed to use the hints and their class isn't which seems to have evened things out. The app sends postcards telling how many words you've found every now and then which really keeps the competition going--that and the students taking turns checking out the scores down the hall!! It's great for thinking of word patterns.We're up to 167 but I think the Grade 6's are ahead of us----hmmm. Maybe we'll just play Textropolis tomorrow!

Strip Designer

Oh the possibilities......... I can see it's uses now!  Strip Designer is an app that cost $2.99.  You use your own photos to create comic strips.  I have only played for a few short minutes and already have a project running through my mind... maybe I can do it in the next 2 weeks of school if I book up all of Lois's (our tech helper) time and we play with Ipad...... I think she'll be in!  check out my trial run!

Bump

Here's a great app for sharing  apps, photos, music and contact info. with your friends along with free texting. Yes, they claim it is private and safe. Basically, you each have to download the bump app and gently bump or shake your iPads together to share. I haven't had much experience with it other than discovering with Christine that you need a strong internet connection or it doesn't work. Here's a tutorial for those many hmmm-questions I'm sure we'll run into.http://bu.mp/faq