iPad Apps for School

The Best iOS Apps for Students and Teachers

free apps

Two Apps to Help Children Learn to Write the Alphabet

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Screen Shot 2012-12-13 at 11.15.31 PM Even though children today are growing up in a digital world, they still need to learn basic handwriting. When you and I learned to write it was on paper that had extra large lines to help us form our letters. Today, that same concept is applied to many apps in the App Store. I recently tried out a bunch of these apps and found two that I like.

Alphabet Tracing is a free app that shows students how to draw uppercase and lowercase letters and allows them to trace on the letters on the app. The app also shows children how to write numbers one through nine. Alphabet Tracing uses little toy trains and caterpillars to show students which way to trace each letter and number. It’s a simple app that lacks sound, but I like its simplicity.

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ABC Writing Zoo Animals is the other alphabet app that I like. The app has two basic modes; writing letters and writing words. In the writing letters mode students see an animal whose name starts with the same letter that they have to trace. In the writing words mode students see a word and hear it read then trace the letters to spell the word. ABC Writing Zoo Animals is a freemium app. Up to letter “H” is free. For the full alphabet the app costs $1.99.

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Turn Pictures Into 3D Models on Your iPad

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Screen Shot 2012-12-12 at 1.59.19 PM 123D Catch is a free iPad app from Autodesk. The app makes it possible to turn your pictures into a 3D model that you can manipulate on your iPad. To create a model with the app select a physical object that you can photograph with your iPad. Then take a series of pictures of that object as you either walk around it or rotate it slowly as you take pictures of it. Then select the best images from those that you took (20+ images works best) to let Autodesk process and turn into a 3D model for you. Completed 3D models can be shared to the Autodesk community where others can view and use them.

123D Catch could be a great app for creating virtual manipulatives to use in a math or science lesson. The app could also be used to create 3D models of interesting landmarks that you visit during a vacation, but that your students would otherwise only see in 2D pictures.

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A few tips about using 123D Catch based on things that I messed up the first time I tried the app. First, make sure your object is stationary when you take pictures of it. I tried to make a 3D model of my dog, but he kept wiggling which made many of my images usable. Second, if you do not capture pictures from all sides of an object your 3D model will look like it was cut in half. Third, processing of images can take up to ten minutes depending on your wi-fi connection and how many images you have. Click here for Autodesk’s official tutorials.

123D Catch is a free app. Students of all ages can access and manipulate the public models. To create a model you do have to have an email address.

Play the Classic Game Oregon Trail on Your iPad

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Oregon Trail was the first game that I ever played on a computer in school. Back then we had to run it from a series of 5.25″ floppy disks. Today, students can still enjoy the Oregon Trail games just as much as I did 20+ years ago. The difference now is that students can play the games on their iPads and they wouldn’t know what to do with a floppy disk.

Oregon Trail is an iPad version of the classic game. Players move westward by overcoming obstacles like river crossings, wagon break-downs, and illnesses. To keep the journey going you need to manage your food and other supplies.

Oregon Trail American Settler picks up where Oregon Trail leaves off. In Oregon Trail American Settler you have already reached the frontier and now you need to build your settlement from scratch. As you build your settlement you need to consider which types of buildings you want to build, where to place buildings, and where to play farm plots. Of course, in order to keep yourself and your family alive you still have to deal with illnesses and other surprises.

Oregon Trail costs $0.99. Oregon Trail American Settler is free. Both games offer in-app purchases, but you can enjoy the games without making any in-app purchases. The games are appropriate for students in grade 4 (age 10) and higher.

Germ Blaster Offers a Fun Way to Learn About Germs

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Germ Blaster is a fun iPad and iPhone game developed by Rice University’s Center for Technology in Teaching and Learning. By playing Germ Blaster students learn about six types of pathogens and the “weapons” used to fight them. Before starting the game students review each pathogen and what makes it different from the others. Then they review the methods used to fight those pathogens.

In the game students fight off the pathogens by selecting the appropriate weapon to kill the approaching pathogens. If they get stuck and can’t remember which weapons fight which pathogens, students can pause the game to look up information about the pathogens.

This game is appropriate for grades 5 (age 11) and higher.

Thanks to Jen Deyenberg for suggesting Germ Blasters. 

Create Music Videos With Video Star

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Video Star is a fun and free music video creation app. To create a music video on Video Star just select a song that you have stored on your iPad then start shooting live video. The music will play for as long as you record or until the end of the song. You can also import images from your iPad to create your video. Video Star also lets you apply special effects to your video. Some of the effects that you can apply include text boxes, title boxes, frames around images, transitions, and split screens.

Your completed Video Star video can be exported to YouTube or sent to anyone via email.