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Monday, March 25, 2013

App Review: Coin Math

Students LOVE learning about money....but unfortunately money is one of the most difficult math concepts for children to fully understand, especially in the upper elementary grades. Because of this, we feel it is extremely important to expose students to the basic concepts of money and give them plenty of exploration time.  As teachers we really enjoy teaching the students about money, it has its own built in attention grabber and it lends itself so nicely to many independent working activities. A great way to incorporate technology with concepts of money is with the terrific Coin Math App by Recession Apps. Here's a few reasons why we are liking this app:
1~Whats tricky about starting to learn about money is all of the different coin designs that are out there now. This makes money identification much more difficult for our students. This app uses up to date images of the various heads and tails of coins, making the What the Coins Look Like and Match the Coins portions of the app very applicable and helpful to our students. We really like that the interface is easily understandable by Kindergartners, but yet still appeals to older students who need this practice (perfect for EL students too!)
photo.JPG2~For $1.99 you get a wide variety of money activities that reach a range of ability levels. We love that this app lets you work on not only coin identification, but counting coins, shopping, and making change. The advanced options gets you a longer time frame of use for this app, working for students Kindergarten through Middle School (and even longer if someone needs some practice working with money) A fair price for a great app, now that make CENTS! (sorry~couldn't resist the lame coin pun)

Not only do we love this app, but our students do too! So we created a iPad Activity Extension Pack that goes along with this app. It lets our students continue with some great money math practice even away from the iPads. Check it out at our Teachers Pay Teachers store by clicking the picture link below!



Friday, March 22, 2013

Display

If you have a projector and an iPad you are set.
There are a few different ways we can display our iPad screen using the projector wirelessly
http://www.airserver.com/  and http://www.reflectorapp.com/ . I have used Reflector personally and love it. How to use Reflector

  1. Open Reflector on your computer
  2. Make sure your iPad and computer are on the same WiFi
  3. Double tap your home button on your iPad
  4. Slide your finger to the right
  5. Touch the icon that looks like a rectangle with an arrow coming out
  6. Touch your computer name
  7. Turn "on"
Now your iPad will reflect onto your screen. This is a great way for students to share the neat things they are doing with the rest of the class or present their Keynote presentations.


Check out http://www.splashtop.com/splashtop2 to turn your iPad into a portable SMARTboard. It is an app you download in the App Store that allows you to control your computer from your iPad.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Summer Professional Development!

Hello,
Summer is right around the corner, even though it doesn't feel like it! Here is a link to view the catalog for Resource Training and Solutions. We will be leading a few classes. http://www.resourcetraining.com/Articles/Images/2013SummerCatalog.pdf
8/5 8:30 iPad Basics
8/6 8:30 Teacher Apps
8/6 12:30 Kid Apps
8/14 8:30 QR Codes

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Mailing list!

We have added an email list for you to sign up on. When you sign up we will share important information with you such as when we add new materials to Teachers Pay Teachers or add professional development sessions you can attend!
Enter Here!

Sunday, March 10, 2013

App lists

Ever find yourself wondering which app to use for a project you are doing with students? We have been compiling a list of places to look when you are in need of guidance for app choices. Check out our latest page on our new website https://sites.google.com/site/thetechieteachers/useful-links. The latest app list I have added is shared with us from a new friend I met while out at Google for Google Teacher Academy  Naomi Harm. If you find any apps you have used please share in the comments below!!

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

It's a Caribou Coffee kind of day!

Which for Normoff means 7+ hours of hard work during a snowstorm at our favorite local Caribou! We had an amazingly productive day filled with contacting app developers, updating our products & creating our new website to coincide with our 6 iPad/technology classes we'll be teaching this summer! If you are close to central MN & want to join us check out what we'll be teaching about at our google site and sign up through Resource Training & Solutions (our classes will be offered in their Summer Learning sessions). We can't wait to share our love for education & technology with all of you in person too!