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Which iPad Apps work best in my classroom?

2/6/2014

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I won't lie.  It is REALLY difficult to find QUALITY apps for Social Studies.  I don't settle for just so-so Apps and if it's just a novelty, I won't use it in my classroom.  Let me guide you toward a few favorites that will provide MEANINGFUL learning experiences in the classroom.

Here are the main Apps I use in my 6th grade classroom.  They all provide meaningful classroom experiences for Social Studies and benefit my 6th graders in various modalities.  I recommend taking a serious look at all these.
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Edmodo is an absolute treasure trove!  It is a secure social learning platform that facilitates online student discussion and collaboration in a Facebook-like setting.  I also use Edmodo as an online student planner, for turning in homework, taking online quizzes, and communicating between teacher, student, parent, and other teachers around the globe.  There are VAST teacher communities with easy access to amazing lessons as well.  To be a teacher in the 21st century, this App is a MUST.

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Comic Life is a visually pleasing comic/photo strip application allowing students to tell a story in the most quirky, fun, and bold way imaginable.  Exciting fonts and templates bring colorful life to any story with a variety of thought and speech bubbles, captions and panels.  The final product is a PDF file easily turned in to Edmodo, or other Apps with Open In, and it can be printed for full effect. 

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Socrative is a very engaging student response system.  Think about instant checks for understanding and quizzing your students with a minimum of teacher planning and setup.  Socrative is easy to use, increases student engagement and will even graph student scores for you.  A quick and easy way to find out what your students know;  digital student assessment doesn't need much selling, make sure and download it! 

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NoteLedge is a juggernaut.  It is a ROBUST note-taking app that you don't hear much about.  In a beautiful interface, students have a huge variety of realistic coloring/ writing/drawing/typing options.  They can also record audio or video right into their notes.  Sounds like Notability right?  Wrong.  There is a patented web browser, so students can add photos from the internet and crop them with ease.  The result is astonishing, my students are incredibly engaged, bringing the curriculum to life with every creative bell and whistle imaginable.

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    Mr. Nelson is a National Board Certified 6th grade Social Studies teacher at Thurston Middle School in Laguna Beach, CA.

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