Brain Pop Jr. for iPad

While I was teaching Kindergarten and First Grade, Brain Pop Jr. may have been my lesson planning best friend (other than Courtney and Trish, of course).  Brain Pop provided an easy way to integrate technology through the use of colorful, animated multimedia that closely matched many of the concepts I was teaching at that time, whether it was for math, reading, health or history.  I could not envision my classroom without it. BPJr. follows Annie and robot Moby through a vast array of learning topics.  Each video lasts only about 5 minutes which gives you, the teacher, ample time to set up an activity (or clean up one!).  Using the videos also provides transitions in the lesson.

Here's what you need to know about Brain Pop Jr.

Like Brain Pop (Sr.), it requires a subscription to get full access.  This means all the videos on MLK, counting by 10's, nouns, George Washington, and exercise are neatly tucked away until you're willing to shell out some cash.  If your school has a subscription already, take advantage of it!  It's worth every penny and may not be there forever.  While the cost is not unreasonable, its impractical for a teacher to pay out of his/her own pocket.  At the very least, you can use it for upcoming holidays and historical events, which are typically featured for free during the week of the event. 

Pros

• Short, engaging videos
• Easy Tech-integration tool
• Follow-up quizzes (easy/hard)
• Topics familiar to Kinder-2nd Grade curriculum
• Catchy music, corny jokes
• The App is Free...

Cons

• Paid subscription needed for full access
• Post-video activities are weak
• Students can print scores from Quizzes, but cannot send digitally to teacher
• Catchy music, corny jokes

In closing, I feel without a subscription, this app will be quickly forgotten due to its limited features.  However, since it doesn't take up much space on the device, it's worth keeping if you have a few iPads in the classroom to use as a holiday lesson.  

Book Creator for iPad

Become a Self-Published e-Book Author!

In January 2012, Apple released a beautiful free program called iBook Author, which allows you to create rich and beautiful e-publishable books to upload to an iPad's bookshelf.  Despite being a free download, the program has its drawbacks:

• MAC device-only 
• steep learning curve
• EULA (End User License Agreement) concerns 

This PC-user was disheartened, especially knowing that a similar program (i.e. Adobe InDesign) could cost as much as $500.  A little iPad App Store search brought me across this gem, Book Creator.  While I normally like to keep my app purchases below $1.99, I took a leap of faith and picked up this $4.99 treat.  So far, I am not disappointed.  Book Creator allows you to create digital e-Pub books to upload to your iPad Library.  After a quick tutorial, I set out in full pace.  5-10 minutes of playing around should make you a Pro...or at least comfortable enough to use it.  The features are limited, which helps minimize the learning curve, but I was still impressed by how much I could do!  Here's a quick list of features available on my current version of the app:

• Font editing (size, font, color)
• Change background colors
• Adding images
• Hyperlinks
• Embed video clips
• Add/Remove/Reorganize pages
• 3 Layouts (Portrait, Landscape, Square)
• Animated Page-turning features
• Import to iPad Library, send to Printer (app required), Email, or send to Google Drive (app required)

What drew me to this app is how easily I imagine using this with a group of students.  They can quickly learn the features and create their own work adding interactive content.  I quickly saw limitless potential with a group of students.  My first brainstorming lesson ideas were:

• Demonstrate a process/steps for a task
• Short story
• Informational Book using Web-search images
• Reinforce writing process (Publication phase)

Alas, this app is not all gold.  As stated earlier, this app sells at a mid-range price ($4.99) that can really add up when downloading to multiple devices.  The features are limited, which means for some (like myself) this hinders creativity and what you can do, but that is at the sacrifice when making a very user-friendly app.  Also, typing long expositions using the iPad keyboard is tedious.  I would recommend copying and pasting from another document or using a Bluetooth accessible keyboard for lengthy works.  Red Jumper Studio seems to take care of this app and provides regular upgrades and maintenance.  They have created something fun, imaginative, and inspiring.  Time to put all those great novel ideas to pen! 

To learn more about this app and its developers, visit the Red Jumper Studio website.

Introduction

I'm a former classroom teacher in kindergarten and first grade who loved using technology to improve my teaching abilities and student engagement in learning.  I have degrees in Elementary Education and Educational Technology.  What I enjoyed most about technology is the creativity in how it can be used to enhance an average lesson plan.  After leaving classroom teaching, I found myself wanting to hold on to elements of the life I left, and as such, this blog was developed. 

I plan to use this blog to review and continue to produce creative options for teachers that use shiny toys in the classroom as well as other cost-friendly and widely available solutions that are available to teachers with ideas in how to use them for your own teaching.  My hope is that my readers (elementary teachers being my target audience) will find this blog informative and helpful, providing you with both ideas and resources that will enhance your classroom efforts.  If you like this, please share it along.  I'm also open to feedback, so if you would like to leave a comment, please feel free to email me at kennedy.patrickkeith@gmail.com.  I look forward to your thoughts on how to continue to improve this blog to meet your needs.