REQUEST: There are many people out there who now know what I have been up to this year. People are beginning to send me links, ideas for apps, articles about the iPad – LOVE IT! There is nothing better than having more ears and eyes out there than my own. Life becomes so busy that sometimes my time is limited and I can’t do the searching and mucking around that allows me to find the gems that are waiting out there to be found. If you, in your cyber travels, find anything you might think would be useful – please don’t hesitate to send it along. I am by no means an expert. I am a teacher trying to find her way through a year of having iPads in the classroom. Any and all links, suggestions, articles, and apps would be of great use to me. AND, thank you to those who already send me things. It is greatly appreciated.

“The Jet Pack” – Perhaps the most practical space aside from my “Roving Apps”. This day is designed to address what to keep, what to throw out, what is working in the classroom, what is troublesome or not worth the time, effort, or logistics. It will also the place where I might pose questions, problems, or puzzles encountered with the hope that readers out there might chime in with comments, ideas, or solutions.

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FOR a very informative 3 1/2 minute tutorial on YouTube: click here.

If you happen to have an unlimited budget, “There is an app for that.”
Tutor for Pages for iPad
By Noteboom Productions, Ltd.
IT is 3.99 and features 17 different tutorials for you to watch and get the most out of Pages. There’s plenty of free stuff out there for you, but if you were to use this application for work, or to formally publish, it might be worth the expense for you. Click here to see a sample tutorial.I have to admit, it appears to be very well done.

ONE really nice benefit that has been wrapped into Apple’s iWorks suite is the capability to export the document in a variety of formats. So, even though your laptop might support Word or Open Office, but not Pages, the documents you create in Pages can be exported as Pages, PDF, or Word documents. Is it possible they thought of everything?

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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From Apple:
Things are about to get pretty twisted. Photo Booth takes snapshots of you and your friends in ways far from ordinary — from funny to artsy to really bizarre. Make a few faces, snap a few snaps, and see your wacky side.
Make a face. Snap a photo.
Photo Booth uses the front-facing camera, so hold up your iPad 2, smile, and snap yours truly like crazy. Before Photo Booth captures your photo, it flashes bright white to add light to your face. You can see a preview of yourself before you snap away. And if you think it’s fun for one face, wait until you squeeze in a few.
You with a twist.
Sure, taking snapshots is just plain fun. But for the full fun effect, add an effect and see eight new versions of you. Twist up your face, double your head, or make yourself look like an alien, a comic book character, or an X-ray. On the big iPad display, there’s big fun in your face. And lots of quirky and freaky, too.
Share the weirdness.
Send twisted photos to your friends in Mail. Add one to a contact. Everything in Photo Booth is automatically saved to your photo library, so you can turn your silly snapshots into snazzy slideshows.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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TIP: When recording video with the iPad, make sure the volume is all the way up and students are a close as they can be. This is also a great opportunity to talk about the value of projecting your voice when performing! In the videos we created, those students who naturally projected their voice could be heard clearly on the video.

TIP: When producing polished video creations, allow extra time or after school time for multiple recordings. Once students get a hand on their first try at video, they very much are motivated to anything and everything to improve their product. It would be good to factor this in ahead of time.
“The Jet Pack” – Perhaps the most practical space aside from my “Roving Apps”. This day is designed to address what to keep, what to throw out, what is working in the classroom, what is troublesome or not worth the time, effort, or logistics. It will also the place where I might pose questions, problems, or puzzles encountered with the hope that readers out there might chime in with comments, ideas, or solutions.
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THE two interactive whiteboard apps in question are ShowMe developed by Easel and Educreations developed by Educreations. Here’s Cassidy’s run-down:

I think that the Educreations whiteboard app is better than the original app because you can write with more colors
and it looks better when you write. My teammates also tried it out and liked it as well. The original app, ShowMe,
and the Educreations app are similar in many ways. For example, the format in which it writes in and how you write. But the big difference is you can erase quicker and erase one stroke by one stroke. There’s a back button. Showme makes you use the eraser. That is why I think we should use educreations instead of the original one.

Thanks for the time and the review, Cassidy. Management will take this under consideration. AND, with both apps being free, this is a distinct possibility!

“Space Walks” – Unlike Monday’s interaction, my students will reign over this day’s content. This is where learners can contribute content either in the form of information or comments about their experience with the iPads. This is also space where guest bloggers can contribute and parents can offer their feedback.

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FROM Apple Store:
HD Video Recording. Lights. iPad. Action.
Your life would make a great movie — or a whole bunch of small ones. iPad 2 comes with an HD video camera. So all those characters and stories you find wherever you go? Now you’re ready to film them.
You’re always ready to roll.
The HD video camera on iPad is great for spontaneous, you-can’t-believe-it-actually-happened moments. You never know when, you never know what. You might be in the middle of reading a book, surfing the web, or typing an email. And when you look up, a funny, surprising, or entertaining film subject finds you. Quick, roll the camera. Capture audio as you shoot. You can even trim your clips and create your own mini-masterpiece right on iPad, right on location. Then share your HD movie with an audience via YouTube or Mail. And take all the credit.
Shoot all day and into the night.
Bring on the candles and little white lights. Go find fireplaces, sunsets, or a sky full of stars. You can get the full effect on iPad without a big flash. The advanced backside illumination sensor lets you capture great moments even in low light.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.
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TIP: Check out “Apps Gone Free” daily postings of paid apps that are free for a short period. This would only apply if you have your own iPad. School purchased iPads wouldn’t be able to accommodate such a quick purchase. Sometimes it’s just that day, sometimes for a few days, but a great way to save money. Many are games, but there are some other kinds of apps every now and again. Check our their website click here.

“The Jet Pack” – Perhaps the most practical space aside from my “Roving Apps”. This day is designed to address what to keep, what to throw out, what is working in the classroom, what is troublesome or not worth the time, effort, or logistics. It will also the place where I might pose questions, problems, or puzzles encountered with the hope that readers out there might chime in with comments, ideas, or solutions.
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From the App Store:

Educreations turns your iPad into a recordable whiteboard. Creating a great video tutorial is as simple as touching, tapping and talking. Explain a math formula… Create an animated lesson… Add commentary to your photos… Diagram a sports play…

With voice recording, realistic digital ink, photo imports, and simple sharing through email, Facebook or Twitter, now you can broadcast your ideas from anywhere.

TEACH WHAT YOU KNOW

• Help students with homework by working through an example problem.

• Put your lessons on the web so students can watch them before and after class.

• Tutor someone from afar.

• Showcase your video tutorials on educreations.com and share your knowledge with the world.

• Add your commentary to famous works of art.

• Diagram football plays, John Madden style.

FEATURES

• Record and replay your voice, handwriting and drawings

• Add photos from the iPad camera, Photo Albums or Dropbox

• Animate images by dragging them around while recording

• Pause and resume recording anytime

• Create multiple whiteboard pages

• Undo and redo your actions

• Choose from 10 different ink colors

• Create a free account on educreations.com and choose who can view your lessons

• Share your lessons via email, Facebook and Twitter

• Embed your lessons on your blog or website

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.
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IF you have been a regular Roving App follower, you might remember an app I reviewed called Neu Annotate HD. I would classify this app as a bit simpler in its ability to annotate, but has some very practical uses for the classroom environment. Diagramming, finding important information on a website, fill in the blanks, etc.. would all be considered in this app’s wheel house.

FROM the Apple Site:
Express yourself with fewer words, emails and meetings…with Skitch for iPad!

Use shapes, arrows, sketches and text annotation to get your point across fast. Mark up photos, screenshots, maps, and webpages then share them with anyone you like.

Skitch lets you:
- Annotate: Add arrows, shapes and text to existing images
- Create: Draw something new
- Edit: Reposition, recolor and remove your annotations at will
- Share: Send your sketches and annotations over Twitter and email
- Present: Show your work in real time via AirPlay on Apple TV
- Remember: Save everything to Evernote for later

Use Skitch to:
- Sketch and share
- Point out objects and locations in a photo
- Brainstorm design ideas with your team
- Identify a point of interest on a map
- Annotate a screenshot of your awesome high score
- Have fun!

Skitch is part of the Evernote family of apps designed to help you remember everything.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.
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FROM the App Store:
*** Save 50% – one more week since being named TiPb.com Pick of the Week *** More than just a word find game, Word Tumble combines the non-stop action of an arcade game with the mind bending challenge of a puzzle. Slide your finger across the letters in any direction to build words. As words are created and letters are used up, more letters come tumbling in. Race the clock, challenge your friends, beat your high scores.
Fast paced and addictive. Easy to learn, impossible to put down!

- TiPb.com Pick of the Week: “… the game is addictive!”
- apptudes.com: “… will delight lovers of lexicon regardless of skill level.”

Game Modes:
Five modes of play allow you to tailor Word Tumble to your style.

* One Minute and Two Minute modes: Race the clock to beat your high score. Bonus time is given for words of 4 letters or more

* Fifty Tiles and Hundred Tile modes: Start with no time limit and try to achieve the highest score possible using only a fixed number of tiles. Clear all tiles, and receive a Bonus Board.

* Free mode: No time limit or tile limit – play until you can’t find any more words. Great mode for completing achievements.

Achievements:
For an even greater challenge, complete achievements by finding groups of related words. The Achievements screen gives you a clue about the types of words in the list (Farm Animals or Deck of Cards for example). As achievements are completed, the graphic associated with the achievement is unlocked.

Scoring:
Each tile has a point value. These are added together as the base word value.

Multipliers are then applied as follows:
3 Letter Word – No Multiplier
4 Letter Word – x2
5 Letter Word – x4
6 Letter Word – x8
7 Letter Word – x16
8 Letter Word – x32
9 Letter Word – x64
10 or More – multiplier keeps doubling for each letter

Additional multipliers are applied for the number of diagonals in your word. 2 Diagonals = x2, 3 Diagonals = x3, etc.
Example: a 6 letter word with 3 diagonals would be worth:
(base value) x 8 x 3

For timed modes there are also time bonuses — the longer the word, the more extra time is added.

Word Tumble also keeps complete detailed statistics of your game play to compare with family and friends (lists of all words you have found, Average Word Length, Total Words, Unique Words, counts by Word Length and more…).

Word Tumble will provide endless hours of brain twisting fun for the whole family.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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I reviewed this app a while ago and was thrilled about having a place where I could track individual student progress in the area of grammar, punctuation, and sentence structure. I had lofty plans to differentiate – almost to an individual level – within my classroom setting. My students took the diagnostic test and when I went in to get results I encountered a few bugs in the system. I was not thrilled. Sometimes the information would report out, sometimes I wouldn’t get any at all, and sometimes I got mixed information – meaning the test stated that Jimmy got 10 right and 5 wrong, but when I went to the breakdown of the scores, it reported that Jimmy got everything correct.

SO what did I do? I wrote the software developer, a group called Tap to Learn, and asked if there was anything that they could do. I was VERY impressed with how quickly they responded to my concern and they requested that I send them a screen shot of my problem so they could identify what was going on in the program. I did this and they wrote back within a day stating that yes, there was indeed a bug and that when they updated the program, this would be fixed. I was thrilled. Now I just needed to wait for the update.

WHICH arrived about a week ago. I was very excited, updated my iPads, and set my students into grammar groups for some more in-depth study of concepts that they needed to review. Grammar App HD also added a couple of new games for the kids to use as well as integrated the “School House Rock” videos as tutorials the kids could view. Life couldn’t be better.

UNTIL I went to enter my students as individuals in the program. The profile page requests a parent email address – so on my first student I used mine – definitely thinking I would use mine every time so that I would get the results. I collect data, it informs my instruction of my students,  and I then in turn continue to guide their learning experiences. On my second student, the program wouldn’t let me put my email in again. Tried again. Denied. Not thrilled.

AGAIN, I tapped a feedback to Tap to Learn and explained my problem, explained about the data, and asked if there was any way around this problem short-term. And AGAIN, they wrote back very quickly expressing that they understood my issue and this should be worked out in the next update. Until then, I should just have my students log in as guests and email me their results. Thrilled again.

NOW it seems a matter of time as to whether the next update will solve my problems and the story will end happily ever after. I’ll certainly blog when I have more to report.

UNTIL the next installment, however, I can say without a doubt that I am extremely impressed with the software developer Tap to Learn and their willingness to receive feedback and respond in such a quick and timely manner.

TAP to Learn has several other apps, you might want to check them out. Click here.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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MY research through several different text-access apps resulted in finding a compliment of books usable for my students. However, if I have limited myself to just Google Books, or the Kindle, I would not have had the selection I was looking for.

IN this world where there are MANY apps that do the same thing, the general thinking is to find the one that works for you and go with it. I would argue that in this case, as many as you can have the better – you never know what you’ll find!

HERE’S a base-line list of apps for reading:
- iBooks
-  Nook
-  Kindle
- Google Books
- OverDrive Media Console
-  Stanza
-  Free Books

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.
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FROM the App Store:
★ Inducted into the Apple “App Hall of Fame”, NY Times “Top 10 Must-Have Apps”, Winner of the Best Mobile App Award from TechCrunch, Mashable and the Webbys. ★

Evernote turns the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad into an extension of your brain, helping you remember anything and everything that happens in your life. From notes to ideas to snapshots to recordings, put it all into Evernote and watch as it instantly synchronizes from your iPhone to your Mac or Windows desktop. See why millions of people worldwide use Evernote:

Key features of Evernote:
● Create text, photo and audio notes
● Auto-synchronize your notes to your Mac, PC, and Web
● Magically makes text within snapshots searchable
● Mark notes as “Favorite” for quick access
● All notes include geo-location information for mapping and search
✶ Premium Feature: File Synchronization – add, sync, access, and share files (PDF, Word, Excel, PPT, and more) among the different versions of Evernote you use

Here are some ways to use Evernote for your personal and professional life:

● For research and class notes
● To capture blog ideas and design inspiration
● To stay in-sync with your desktop notes, web clips, and files
● To snap photos of whiteboards and wine labels
● As part of your GTD system to help you stay organized
● To record voice memos

This version of Evernote works best when used together with our free downloadable versions for Mac and Windows.

TO read a review from a user, click here.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.
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From the App Store:

Read and annotate PDF documents. Annotate with drawings, highlighting text, text notes, photos and stamps. Annotations are compatible with Apple Preview and Adobe Acrobat!

PDF files can be opened in neu.Annotate from any application that supports the “Open with…” menu command. This includes Mail, Safari, MobileMe iDisk, Dropbox and many others. PDF files can also be imported using iTunes File Sharing.

Annotated PDF files can be shared via email as well as exported to iTunes. Individual pages can also be shared in PNG and JPG formats, in addition to PDF.

Features:

★ Read PDF files
★ Highlight text
★ Add text notes
★ Add free-hand drawing
★ Add stamps
★ Add photos
★ Fill out and sign documents
★ Insert Blank Pages
★ Delete pages
★ Rotate page orientation
★ Organize documents using tags

For a tutorial of neu.Annotate PDF, click here.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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TUNE in tomorrow for a blog about how to use this app in your own classroom.

FROM the App store:
Description
Turn your iPad into your personal interactive whiteboard! 

ShowMe allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. It’s a radically intuitive app that anyone will find extremely easy to use, regardless of age or background.

To see examples of smart, entertaining, fun, and inspirational ShowMe’s that other people have made, check out ShowMe.com.

INTUITIVE AND POWERFUL

- Begin recording your ShowMe as soon as you open the app—no need to navigate complicated menus

- Drop images from your photo library to write over or around

- Easily switch between drawing and erasing (as well as pausing and playing) to make your ShowMe flow from concept to concept

- You can make your ShowMe as long or as short as it needs to be, and record as many ShowMe’s as you want. Go nuts!

- Once you’re finished recording, upload your ShowMe to share with the community (or keep it private if you prefer)

- Discover awesome tutorials created by the community at ShowMe.com

A VARIETY OF USES

- Easily explain a range of topics from math to chemistry to music theory to basket weaving.

- Add ShowMe’s to your Do-It-Yourself blog

- Attach a personal message to any travel photos you want to share

- Diagram offensive and defensive strategies for sports

- Grade student work with commentary explaining the reasoning behind their performance

- Use ShowMe as an interactive whiteboard substitute
Implement a “flipped classroom”

- Showcase your ShowMe’s online at ShowMe.com and share your knowledge with your students, friends, family, or the world!

FEATURES

- Voice-record

- Multiple brush colors

- Pause and erase

- Import images

- Unlimited lesson length

- Free to upload to ShowMe.com to share your recordings with friends

- Easy embedding for sharing anywhere

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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THE only pitfall – there is only room for 5 students per device. I am 9 slots short of having a spot for each of my students. I have decided to rotate through my students every couple of weeks so that all students have equal opportunity to access this great APP.

Review from Top App Reviews 101:
Grammar App HD offers a new advance of an interactive Book with easy to learn format and also get step by step guide. In this application there are more than 100 tutorials and 600 questions by which you can learn and understand of English Grammar. Improve your grammar, word and vocabulary by using this app. There are various grammar topics included in this app such as parts of speech, future tense, articles & tenses, review of the articles, present tense, verbs, adjectives & adverbs and many more.

The description of the program from the iTunes store is:
The Grammar App uses a new approach, that of an Interactive Book with a easy to learn format and a simple step by step guide which also includes a quick check while taking a tutorial to test your understanding of what you just read.

Grammar App is the simplest way to learn and test English Grammar in the Appstore.
This version contains the most simple tutorials required to do an Initial Assessment of your English Grammar, take Category wise tests or test your mastery with complete Tests that test each and every aspect of your understanding of English Grammar be it related to understanding of the basics of Grammar, Punctuation and its usage or how to write sentences correctly.

This app helps you learn Grammar in the slickest user interface that is available.

We have built Grammar App in an easy to ready multiple choice format that provides you with over 100 tutorials and over 600 Questions

Grammar App can help improve usage of English Grammar, Word Selection and Vocabulary.

The Grammar App is designed to provide questions with a focus on improving scores on the Test of English proficiency test.

Grammar App is designed to help you retain and remember Concepts learnt while playing in a game like interface.

Grammar Topics

Parts of Speech
Articles and Tenses
Review Of The Articles
Present Tense
Past Tense
Future Tense

Verbs
Am, Are, & Is
Active Verbs With Passive Meaning
Phrasal Verbs & Prepositional Idioms
Modal Verbs

Adjectives & Adverbs
Gradable & Ungradable Adjectives
Adjectives & Adverbs
The Infinitive Without ‘to’
Large & Small Quantities

Prepositions & Pronouns
More Prepositions Of Time
Review Of Prepositions
Personal Pronouns ; Possessives
Countable & Uncountable Nouns

Articles & Determiners
A, An, & Some
To, At, & In – Expressing Place & Time
Tell, Say, & Ask
Determiners

Interjections
Confusing Words
Punctuation

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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THE camera app allows for camera recording in either direction – so you can take video of yourself looking into the iPad, but you can also turn the camera face by tapping a button in the corner and have the video facing out. I have used both directions – my students most enjoy taking video of their funny faces… I enjoy taking video of them as I walk around the classroom.

THE only drawback for this is that the longer the video, the harder it is to get it off your iPad and onto a laptop into a program like iMovie to edit it and use it for a project. Currently, in order to get video off the iPad longer than about 30 seconds, you need to sync with your computer. I’m definitely looking into other options and will continue to update progress on this front.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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You are Haruku, just an ordinary guy – except you’re also a Math Ninja. Use a combination of action, strategy, and quick wit to defend your treehouse against a hungry tomato and his robotic army!

Description from the app store:
Use your math skills to defend your treehouse against a hungry tomato and his robotic army in this fun action packed game! Choose between ninja stars, smoke bombs, or ninja magic – and choose your upgrades wisely!

✔ Works on your iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad – buy once, works everywhere!

✔ Action-packed strategy in the castle defense genre!

✔ The primary goal is to have fun – but you’ll also greatly improve your Math skills along the way!

✔ Choose your weapons – from ninja stars to fire magic – and upgrade their power along the way!

✔ Humorous story starring the ever-hungry Tomato-San, who is building a robotic army to steal your tasty math treasure!

✔ Math options are fully customizable – disable/enable operations, or even toggle number ranges to practice!

✔ Great for all age groups, from 7-99.
Say goodbye to boring flash cards – and hello to Math Ninja!

THERE is a free version of this and the full version is only $1.99. I don’t have dedicated time for this app, but the lite version is on the devices and when students have free time on the iPads, this app is where they end up.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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One of the attractive aspects of Keynote is the capability to embed graphics, video, and audio. We haven’t gotten that complicated yet, however there is great potential here for classroom integration.

FOR a more in-depth look at Keynote, click here.

“Roving Apps” – This space is dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews are based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

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I had initially attempted to use the video component of the iPad 2 to make audio recordings of students reciting poems for two voices.  (From Messing Around on the Monkey Bars and Other School Poems for Two Voices by Betsy Franco.) I was not impressed with the audio – in fact, the audio was so sensitive it picked up all sorts of extraneous noise in a busy classroom environment and made the recording less crisp and clear. As a result of this semi-failed attempt, I sought out Garage Band – and things have been dreamy ever since! The quality of voice recording – which is all we have used so far – is terrific.

For example,

Directly from the iTunes store:
Garage Band turns your iPad into a collection of Touch Instruments and a full-featured recording studio — so you can make music anywhere you go. Use Multi-Touch gestures to play pianos, organs, guitars, drums, and basses on your iPad. They sound and play like their counterparts, but let you do things you could never do on a real instrument. Enjoy a full range of Smart Instruments that make you sound like a pro — even if you’ve never played a note before. Plug an electric guitar into your iPad and play through classic amps and stompbox effects. Use the built-in microphone or a guitar to record, or capture any performance. Then mix up to eight tracks to create a song you can share.

Play your iPad like a musical instrument.
• Perform on dozens of musical instruments on the innovative Multi-Touch keyboard.
• Tap out beats from the seat of acoustic and electronic drum kits.
• Recreate legendary guitar rigs on your iPad with 9 amps and 10 stompbox effects.
• Record your voice using the built-in microphone, and apply fun sound effects.
• Use the Sampler to create an instrument from sounds you record, then play them on a keyboard.

Sound like a virtuoso with Smart Instruments.
• Tap chords to instantly create keyboard grooves with the Smart Keyboard.
• Strum chords on acoustic and electric Smart Guitars, or trigger fingerpicking patterns for popular chords.
• Groove with an onscreen electric or upright Smart Bass by tapping on chords.
• Drag drum instruments onto a grid to create your own beats with the Smart Drums.

Create a song anywhere you go.
• Arrange and mix your song with up to eight tracks using Touch Instruments, audio recordings, and loops.
• Trim and place musical regions exactly where you want them to play.
• Use the Mixer to fine-tune each track’s volume – solo or mute any track, or adjust pan, reverb, and echo.
• Use over 250 professionally prerecorded loops as a backing band to your song.

Share your songs.
• Email songs right from your iPad (AAC).
• Export your song and add it to the iTunes library on your Mac or PC.
Send a project to your Mac and open it in GarageBand to continue refining your song.

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I have created decks for all of my social studies vocabulary on Quizlet and the Cardboard App allows me to load them onto the iPad very efficiently. If you subscribe for $10 a year to the advanced version of Quizlet, you have the capability to add pictures to your decks. These also translate to the iPad.

HERE’S the down and dirty about this app:

CREATE YOUR OWN
Create decks and edit cards directly on your iPad. Add photos and text to your cards, front and back. Drag rows to reorder your cards.

- Adjust deck order by title, date created, or date last accessed
- Cards can have text, photos, or both on either side.
- Pick from several background colors
- Pick a default font for cards to use
- Adjust front-side text size and alignment
- Adjust back-side text size and alignment
- Flip your cards over while viewing them in grid mode
- Use the slider to see a preview of each card as you slide over
- Memory match game lets you practice while playing
- Star the cards that are important to you
- Import flash cards from Quizlet.com
- Import your two-column Google Docs spreadsheets
- Paste image URLs in your spreadsheets; Cardboard downloads the image
- Create and edit decks and cards on your iPad
- Built-in help menu
Simple. Easy enough for anyone to use.

FOR full review, click here.

FOR a peek at an example of a Quizlet deck, click here.

Post 18 of 180

THIS site, Dropbox, is an online file syncing site that offers 2GB of free storage space tied to your email address. This is a terrific way to back up important files “to the cloud” that you have saved to your computer. Or, in the case of my classroom community, it is a place where I can store files, video, music, art, etc… that I want students to view.

THE way Dropbox works for more than one person is quite ingenious. There are folders in your space and one is labeled Public. Other folders that have files can remain private from anyone. By inviting others to a folder in your Dropbox, you can share information, work on documents, and download files.

SO, not only was I able to use Dropbox to assist in my lesson on types of maps (see Monday’s Blog), I only had to place those 12 maps into my Dropbox folder on my laptop – a one-step process. Without Dropbox, I would be faced with seeking out, downloading, renaming, and storing these images of maps FIVE times over… once for each iPad.

DROPBOX will be a key player in my future integration of the iPads into my curriculums this year.

Post 13 of 180

I went with the free version of Dictionary.com – Dictionary and Thesaurus – HD. I feel it is important for student to be versed in the use of finding just the right word – and having a dictionary/thesaurus at their fingerpads can only serve to help them – whether they are connected to wireless or not!

RIGHT from the iTunes App Store:
The free Dictionary.com app delivers trusted reference content from Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com. NO INTERNET CONNECTION IS NEEDED TO SEARCH WORDS. The app includes nearly 2,000,000 words, definitions, synonyms and antonyms. It also features audio pronunciation, voice-to-text search and Dictionary.com’s popular Word of the Day and Hot Word blog.

* Named as a top 10 app in the App Store’s High School Survival Guide
* Voted best app for college students – US News & World Report
* Recognized as a top 10 Back-to-School iPhone App – Time Magazine

Features:
* Dictionary and Thesaurus
* Nearly 1,000,000 words and definitions in our Dictionary
* More than 90,000 synonyms and antonyms in our Thesaurus

* Alphabetical indexing
* Spelling suggestions
* Phonetic and audio pronunciation
* Example sentences
* Non-standard uses
* Word origin and history
* Daily content, including Word of the Day and our new Hot Word blog
* Voice-to-Text search (for the most accurate results, please enunciate clearly and speak slowly)
* Favorite words list
* Custom backgrounds
* Shake device to see a randomly-selected word
* No Internet connection required for Dictionary and Thesaurus word look-ups
* Internet connection required for daily content, voice-to-text search, audio pronunciation and spelling suggestions

**Tip: To turn off the Word of the Day notifications go to More > Settings > Notifications and tap Off.**

Post 8 of 180

FOR starters, this is the only software I bought for my iPad2s from the iWork suite. I felt it was important to have a word processing application that also allowed for graphics, text manipulation, and communication. All of the other word processing apps that were free had limitations that wouldn’t allow me to accomplish what I wanted to in the classroom.

PAGES does cost $9.99 per download. It is well worth the money if your school, or you, are Mac compatible. My students can word process with this app and then my iPad2s are set up with the capability to email documents. Students can work and email me their responses or keep them right on the device.

ONE of the perks of the iPad is that once a document is created, it automatically saves. Students can’t lose or forget to save in the iPad. Pages has a full document page where templates can be placed for student access.

TOMORROW for “Docking Destination”, I will be sharing the integration of the iPad into my writer’s workshop in Language Arts class.

Post 3 of 180.

1) this gives my colleagues, my granters, my administration, and my classroom families with a window into my learning community,

2) it provides the outside community beyond my town in Natick, MA – educators all over -  a glimpse into the possibilities of extending their classroom communities, and

3) a consistent structure will provide quality data and information in an variety of ways.

WITH this in mind, the KMS Launching (i)Pad Blog will take on the following form:

MONDAYS:

“Take off!” – This will be reserved for students’ learning, curriculum being taught with the iPads, and actual student input – “Shooting Star of the Week Quotes” where students will contribute comments from the learner’s perspective.

TUESDAYS:

“Roving Apps” – This space will be dedicated to reviewing new apps, old apps, useful ones, and ones that might be better served remaining in the App Store. My reviews will be based on classroom use and my own exploration of what is out there and what I have found as more and more apps for the iPad are created.

WEDNESDAYS:

“Docking Destination” – Here I will dedicate thoughts addressing how iPads can assist in integrating technology within the classroom setting with current curriculum in both Language Arts and in Social Studies. Our social studies curriculum is primarily focused on the history of America – from Pre-Columbian civilizations through 1812. Our Language Arts curriculum reflects the Common Core Curriculum standards.

THURSDAYS:

“Space Walks” – Unlike Monday’s interaction, my students will have reign over this day’s content. My hope is that there will be learners who wish to contribute content either in the form of information or comments about their experience with the iPads. This would also be space where guest bloggers would be able to contribute and parents can offer their feedback.

FRIDAYS:

“The Jet Pack” – Perhaps the most practical space aside from my “Roving Apps”. This day is designed to address what to keep, what to throw out, what is working in the classroom, what is troublesome or not worth the time, effort, or logistics. It will also be a place where I might pose questions, problems, or puzzles encountered with the hope that readers out there might chime in with comments, ideas, or solutions.

AND with that, a week at a time, I will make my way through 180 days in the classroom and here on the blog. Hope you consider joining me on my expedition!