Playful Minds App

Heard of Playful Minds? It's a cool little app that focuses on teaching Math to kiddos ages 5-8 or in grades K-2. It has a Multiplayer option to play with other kiddos online or in the neighborhood. Options include easy, normal or hard and you even have an option of switching grade levels during the game. Before you begin the adventure, you will have to set up the profiles for your kids. You have up to 5 accounts that can be created so if you plan to use this in the classroom, you'll need at least 5 iPads which I know some schools/districts have in place.

Parents will have to subscribe and verify their subscription. With that subscription, you can manage your profile and follow your kid's result (which must be unlocked by completing levels or purchasing coins which range in price of 2 bucks all ht way to 100 bucks). I learned about this app via Smart Apps for Kids blog/facebook page which also states that after a year of using the app, the creators want you to pay for a subscription which costs 7 bucks a year. If you're not interested in the yearly paid subscription, you can always enjoy it for a year and then press that delete button afterwards. I think it will be well worth your kiddos using it for at least the free year! :-)

Please support my friend Ron over at Smart Apps for Kids by using this link to access the app. And while you're at it, check out his spot on the web and participate in some of the giveaways to win some paid apps.

ABC Mouse

ABCmouse.com is a subscription-based website that is currently offered to U.S. and Canadian
public schools. Public school teachers and librarians qualify for free public school classroom accounts.

With that said, quickly go grab this offer and get you students involved in a journey of online learning. Teachers can customize up to FIVE learning groups. There is no advertising or links to other sites, which is rare for a free educational site and it the company does not ask for or require personal student information.

With 2000+ Activities and a Learning Path with 6 levels, your kids will be excited about using this great program. Best of all, kids will learn while having fun!

Also check out there mobile apps! The Grand Canyon App is FREE and the others apps are under a dollar.

Apps in Education

I stumbled across this blog a few days ago. It's called Apps in Education. This Visual Arts teacher has some pretty interesting posts. A friend and colleague asked me yesterday about Dropbox (a free service that lets you bring your photos, docs and videos anywhere and share them easily) and coincidentally this blogger wrote a post about Dropbox today. 10 Tools for Getting the Most from Dropbox

While you're checking out his Dropbox post on ways to use this tool, check out some of his other post as well. You'll find yourself learning a little something and becoming more techie too. He has them all catergorized into Math, Science, Social Studies, English, Music, Art and even Physical Development and  Teachers and Special Needs.

Watch Know Learn...Just Got Even Better!

Just a day ago, I briefly mentioned WatchKnowLearn as I blogged about a wonderful FREE product available for educators and parents to use to assist with phonics learning. Today as I browsed a couple of blogs that I adore, I ran across the post from Richard over at Free Technology 4 Teachers on WatchKnowLearn Classroom pages. It's a service where you can set up a page on the WatchKnowLearn site and direct your students to that page and you decide what videos appear there (there are over 30,000 to choose from and you can add more for approval). The layout can be edited, you can edit the color theme and add your logo for example, and you can set up classroom accounts for your students to login.

I must say it took a moment to get it going but really, it's fairly simple. I suggest looking at the Getting Started Video. You will have to have your account approved to get the classroom edition but it took about 10 minutes for me to receive the confirmation email and there are 2 (one to let you know they received your application and one to confirm your account). The video tutorial gives a few pointers because the setup can be a little tricky. Even Richard said it didn't work for him but I kept at it and got it to work. Patience, patience. I switched over to Google Chrome from Firefox after it gave me more trouble than I felt like dealing with and that helped but then I switched again to Internet Explorer because I still had some trouble and it worked perfect. It could be the server where I am so I suggest switching browsers if you run into trouble.

I added videos so I could take a snippet of what my page looks like for you to view. I'm totally excited about this resource. I see great promises!

Once again, click this for the video tutorial, click this for the main site to set up an account (make sure you get the contest account) and click this to see/visit my classroom page. Enjoy! I know I will.

Media 4 Math: Math in the News

Math in the News looks through stories that make today's headlines, extract the mathematical story underlying it and provides its online visitors with up-to-date educational material all at the same time.

Each week, Math in the News brings a new fresh topic in a variety of formats which include PowerPoint Presentations, Slideshare presentations (that you can embed on your website), a YouTube Subscription Channel and the All-New Full-screen flash videos.

Check out M4M blog and their videos below.

| Get your SlideShare Playlist

Monkey Around with Math and More

Are you an elementary teacher looking for online math resources that are grade specific to your students? Math Chimp may be what you're looking for so click on over and check it out. It has each grade level from first to fifth, a description on the game and ratings that teachers have given the game.

Another favorite of mine is Interactive Websites by JC Schools which has tons of links for grades K-12 and it has.

My all-time favorite is Internet4Classrooms which I used for years with my classroom students and my lab students. I just can't say enough about this jewel which not only has math links by grade level, skill and topic area but it also has other subjects areas which include: arts, ESL/ELL, Language Arts, Science, Social Studies/History, Holidays and Apps for iPods/iPads.

Math Chimp

JC Schools

Internet 4 Classrooms

Salman Khan - Changing Education

Khan University -

A free world-class education for anyone anywhere.

If you haven't heard of Salman Khan then you need to google him. You will run across several important things. To sum him up...he's taking education to a whole new level with his phenomenal vision.

Educators must watch the video. It inspires, it educates, it sells the service and the service is completely FREE.

His story is amazing. He started out tutoring his cousins via video conferencing. He turned those lessons into You Tube videos and his journey took off from there. Kids all over the world are learning math the way they learn best...at their own pace while incorporating with technology. With over 1 million members, Khan University is the future of education. As an educator, you can track your students and work with those that are struggling or have their peers who have mastered that skill tutor. You can also become a coach and tutor kids yourself. There are tons of videos and new features have been added to enhance the learning experience and keep students motivated. To learn more about Khan and Khan University, click this!

Get your Bootstrap On!

Bootstrap is a standards-based curriculum for middle-school students, which teaches them to program their own video games using purely algebraic and geometric concepts. I learned about Bootstrap at the Region IV Technology Conference I attended last week. There will a training on November 19th in the Houston area. The cost is only $20 and it includes lunch. Check it out and register soon, November 19th will be here b4 you know it!

Virtual Math Manipulatives...Yep, it's an App!

Virtual Manipulatives...MEET the iPad!  Check out this cool app when needing math manipulatives to work with your kids. Need fractions, decimals or percent manipulatives...this app has you covered! And yes, it's FREE, woohoo!

Arcademic Skillbuilders

Arcademic Skillbuilders is probably on my favorite TOP 10 list of sites that I just adore. When I first introduced my lab students this site a few years ago, they went crazy and so did I. We were just tickled to death. My students competed with other students in the lab and around the country. They loved beating their own classmates. Best of all, they were learning. Learning + Fun! Now that’s a combination.

Arcademic Skillbuilders has Math and Language Arts activities. When I looked back at the site today, I noticed more new games and to my surprise, they now have games optimized for the Wii. Kuddos to their creators. You really outdid yourselves with this awesome, FREE kid zone site.



Edheads

Need activities in science, math and critical thinking? Then check out Edheads! The have activities designed to meet both state and national standards. Educate your brain with Edheads!

Fuel The Brain

Fuel the Brain is a free and inexpensive resources site for elementary educators. The website has numerous games, printables, interactives and more. The site currently focuses on kindergarten-third grade math objectives.

Expresso Elementary

Espresso Elementary is a cross-curricular, multimedia educational website for grades Pre-Kinder to grade 5. It’s packed with thousands of interactive, video-rich classroom resources right at your fingertips and ready to motivate your students. Since 1997, Expresso Elementary have proven to engage students while helping them to achieve educational outcomes. Their specialty is taking educational concepts and intertwining them with “real-world” context.

Check out Expresso Elementary for an opportunity to grab their free 30 day trial and get your students motivated in learning.

Manga High

Manga High has quality math games including Intermediate, Middle and High School math games. Free to play online now.

Success Maker App

SuccessMaker Speed Games is a fun and focused math practice app for the Apple® iPad® that extends and enhances learning while providing a game-like experience for students in grades 1-6.

 Best of all, this app is FREE.