Volume 1 Issue 17 May 2013

Test Taking Tips and Strategies ~Mrs. Cook

Mrs.Linda Cook~Mason County Schools special education TIS

lncook@access.k12.wv.us

The Latest News on iPad Apps for School

Easy Portfolio: This is ePortfolio tool for students and teachers. It is the easiest and

most powerful way to create an electronic ePortfolio for creating portfolios of your work

and or your students work. You can create multiple portfolios containing pictures,

videos, links, notes, documents, and audio recordings. It is designed for both iPhone and

iPad. It costs $1.99.

Story Wheel: This is an app for the iPad or the iPhone. Story Wheel is designed to

promote audio storytelling. Spin the Story Wheel on your device and when it lands on an

image, dictate a short story based on that image. When you are finished recording, you

can play your story back with animations generated by Story Wheel. You can try the basic

Story Wheel app for free. To get the most out of the app you will probably want to get the

full version of the app for $2.99.

Bitsboard: A Super iPad App for Spelling and Reading Practice. This app is designed

for elementary students. It is a free app that provides word games, memory games,

spelling games and reading practice activities and dozens of other activities in one place.

On this app students can learn new voc words, how to tell time, how to count money and

learn basic geography.

GoClass: This is a cloud enabled teaching application tool for innovative teaching

and inspired learning. It is another free iPad application for creating short lessons and

delivering them to your students. It gives teachers tools for creating class rosters that

they can use to keep track of which students are using the created lessons and when.

Teachers can ask questions to their students and poll their students with using this app.

http://ipads4school.com

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Sarah Wolfe~ Mineral County Schools school based county TIS sbwolfe@access.k12.wv.us

Everyone enjoys summer vacation, especially teacher s. That means that your mobile devices are going with you. I did some research on what apps would be most helpful in making this summer vacation memorable and safe.

App Link and Icon Name Cost Compatibility Description

http://tinyurl.com/by9463t

iSunBurn $0.99 iPhone, iPod,

iPad

This provides the predicted UV index for the location you enter. It also tells you the UV level, exposure category, and exposure description is given. This can help you determine when the most harmful UV rays are during the day.

http://tinyurl.com/ay57fts

Pack the Bag Free iPhone, iPad

Choose from over 26 categories to help organize your packing list. You can customize your list and check off each item as it is packed.

http://tinyurl.com/bzxc3vk

Around Me Free iPhone, iPad

Quickly find information about your surroundings anywhere. Choose from various categories including; hotels, restaurants, groceries, movies, parking, pharmacis, and many more.

http://tinyurl.com/azs9g4a

Beach Safety Free iPhone, iPad,

iPod

Be safe at the beach this summer with the app that covers many areas of concern. It will help you identify a rip current, what signs show that a shark may be around, how to heal jellyfish stings,, and to perform CPR.

http://tinyurl.com/b7ocne4

Trip Journal $2.99 iPhone, iPad, iPod

This is an amazing app and I can’t wait to use it this summer. This app will allow you track every aspect of your trip. It has GPS to log your travel, and you can make note of your favorite stops along the way. You can store any photos or videos that you take during your trip and place them into your journal later. It has a note taking feature and can be synced to Facebook.

This newsletter was developed by Technology Integration Specialist candidates as part of certification coursework. Reasonable efforts have been made to ensure that the material presented is accurate, reliable and in accordance with current copyright regulations.

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Regional TIS Meetings~ Chris Ware

Chris Ware~ special education TIS chware@access.k12.wv.us

The tech lady trio of Bodie Buford, Lori Whitt, and Valerie Wilson braved the elements,

traveling around West Virginia to hold regional TIS meetings this year. RESA VII meetings were held on

January 5th

in Bridgeport at Bridgeport High School and March 15th

in Fairmont at the Robert H.

Mollohan Research Center.

The regional meetings are of great resource to TIS and TIS candidates. Specialists share ideas,

provide suggestions to colleagues, and take in all the resources the trio has to offer. Be sure to mark

your calendars when next year’s dates are shared.

During the January meeting, the team led the attendees through Symbaloo links which

contained the items for the day. Bodie discussed issues with schools and YouTube access as well as

mentioning that WV TIS can now be found on Facebook. Valerie and Lori walked small groups through

the West Virginia Acceptable Use Policy which brought on much discussion. The policy can be viewed

at: http://tinyurl.com/alcqyg9

Some of the resources shared during the meeting included:

• Thinglink: http://tinyurl.com/4xvkpnj- allows you to add links/ points to a picture

• News in Levels http://tinyurl.com/cpkvxet Shows a news story in 3 different reading levels.

• Schoology: http://tinyurl.com/yama6vp

• QR Voice: http://tinyurl.com/76dugeu create QR Codes for non-readers

• Museum box: http://tinyurl.com/8wht7b

During the March meeting, the team introduced the online magazine Tech and Learning and

discussed the current trend of bring your own device (BYOD) in schools. Tech and Learning is a free

digital magazine which is sent to email, though previous issues are available online.

Lori inspired oohs and awes with her presentation of tips and tricks to searching with Google.

Utilizing the Search Tools option when searching with Google images helps get exactly what you are

looking for.

Some of the resources shared during the March meeting include:

• Keeper app: http://tinyurl.com/6rnfjqg can store hints for passwords

• Rubrics: http://tinyurl.com/a6ustrt can send teacher rubric information to parents without

an account

• Share my lesson: http://tinyurl.com/7un3483

• Send voice messages with Voki: http://tinyurl.com/2qk6q2

Preparing Technology for Summer Storage~ Yvonne Tannous

Mrs.Yvonne Tannous~School based county TIS Lewis County High School

ytannous@access.k12.wv.us

It’s almost that time of year again when we have to start preparing our rooms and

schools for summer break. Here is a small checklist to help you get electronic

devices ready for the storage.

• Don’t forget to make sure electronic devices are turned off and unplugged.

• Remove all cords and external hardware from computers, projectors,

and/or white boards. After you have removed cords, place them in bags

and label the bags as to what the cords are for (especially if they are not

stored with their devices).

• Remove the paper from any printers or copiers in the building and make

sure paper is stored in a location where it cannot absorb moisture. The

moisture changes the nature of the paper which can cause it to jam printers

and copiers. Both laser printers and copiers rely on heat to set toner, the

heat generated causes steam if the paper is damp. This can cause rollers to

become sticky and add to jamming issues.

• Back up any information you would not want to lose on external hard drive

or jump drive. This is something that should also be done periodically

throughout the school year—you never know when a hard drive may crash

or if files may become corrupted due to viruses.

• Cover computers, monitors, and printers with large trash bags to keep

moisture and dust out.

• Ensure that all smaller electronics (net books, IPads, IPods, etc) are locked in

carts or other secure locations.

• Label everything possible with its location (room number) in case it ends up

in another location during summer cleaning.

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APP ICON NAME OF APP APP DESCRIPTIONS

Sky Map Shows the locations of constellations, planets, meteors, and satellites in the sky.

Space Images app from NASA's Jet Propulsion

Laboratory

Images taken by spacecraft studying planets, stars, galaxies, and weather on Earth.

Graphing Calculator by Mathlab

The app has most of the features of scientific/graphing calculators with the ability to save graphs as images and tables as csv files.

Andie Graph TI-82, TI-83, TI-83+, TI-85, AND TI-86 emulator.

Practice English Grammar 1 & 2

Both apps feature interactive grammar exercises; English Grammar 2 has the ability to work offline.

Dictionary.com Defines words and provides a thesaurus; word of the day.

Spanish/English Dictionary

Contains translations and usage examples, audio pronunciation, verb conjugation, translator, phrasebook , and a vocabulary quiz tool.

U.S. Presidents Facts about the U.S. Presidents with quiz option.

EdLine Mobile Allows students to log into their EdLine accounts to see basic calendar and grade information.

AP Exam Prep Gives students the ability to practice the types of questions they may find on the AP exam with questions for most of the AP subjects taught.

Study Droid Flash Cards 2.0

Has the ability to shuffle the decks, turn the deck over, and create more than one set of flash cards.

150+ Brain Teasers Problem solving type questions written on a middle school level; could possibly be used as problems of the day.

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Educational Android Apps~ Yvonne Tannous

Mrs. YvonneTannous ~School based county TIS Lewis County High

School ytannous@access.k12.wv.us

Hoping to find a way for your students to use their phones for “good”? After searching through Google’s play store, I was able to come up with a list of FREE applications that could be helpful for high school or middle school students in varying subjects. Some of the apps I have used and like; the rest have very good reviews from their users.