Apps for Education

   If you, your family, or your child got an IPad this Christmas or have recently acquired an IPad, this link might be a useful link for you to check out sometime. A blogger that I follow as an educator has posted a great resource of IPad apps that he has personally tested and used and thinks could be good for other people. Not all would be great for kids, but many are good apps that your child could use to improve or practice their educational skills at home or away from the classroom. Take a look and try some of them out.

Richard Byrne Free Technology for Teachers blog post about Apps click here!

IPad Apps for Students on the Autism Spectrum or for Students With Learning Disabilities.

   I have placed a link to a blog post by the blog "Emerging EdTech" at the bottom of this post. The post is has some great information about using IPads with students with learning disabilities, especially in the areas of PDD (Pervasive Developmental Disorder) or Autism/Aspergers. IPads or similar devices can be great tools in the areas of education, learning, and communicating with students who may struggle otherwise. Having resources like this blog post contains is always helpful. I have also placed a link to a 60 Minutes story about using "Apps for Autism". The blog "Free Technology for Teachers" is where I found that link, but I know many parents in our area watched that episode of 60 minutes. Great to watch it again though. Enjoy the resources!

Emerging EdTech Apps for Autism resources click here

60 Minutes Apps for Autism video on Free Technology for Teachers click here

Common Sense Media's Summer Guide for Learning Activities for Kids and Teens

Common Sense Media's Summer Guide for Learning Activities for Kids and Teens

   Thanks to Richard Byrne of Free Technology for Teachers for alerting me to another great thing one of my favorite sites, Common Sense Media, is offering. If you remember, Common Sense Media is a great place for parents and children to go to find accurate and detailed reviews about the newest movies, books, TV shows, and now games and apps. Now they have added a summer guide to learning apps you could download to a device or games that can be played on certain video game systems. They are broken down into 3 age categories and into 5 learning areas. I noticed that I have already downloaded some of the apps for my own kids. And of course, each app or game is rated by Common Sense Media so you can see how educational or applicable it is for your child. Enjoy!

Common Sense Media 50+ activities for summer click here!

This brief blogpost was copy/pasted from another blog I write and operate, Wildcat Websites. Figured it was good info for both parents and educators who use technology. Enjoy!

Common Sense Media Now to Review Educational Gaming

Just a quick heads up about a great new route that Common Sense Media is going taking. While they will continue to give very detailed reviews of movies, tv shows, video games, and books for parents and kids so that we all know exactly what positive and negative messages are in these media options, they will now work to do the same with the many educational games and apps your kids get exposed to. As a parent of 3 young kids (soon to be 4!), I love the fact that I can use Common Sense Media for this purpose as well. My kids use our Ipod Touch and IPad a lot and I put many educational games on there. I also direct them to several online educational games. As a teacher, I think I know the quality of each game, but I also like knowing someone is researching them for me as well. To learn more, click on this link and please continue to use Common Sense Media to check out the media your child is consuming.

Common Sense Media's New Learning Reviews