Foreign Language (K-6)
Curriculum App Reviews - Foreign Language (K-6)
Title: American Sign Language Mini Dictionary
Publisher: Everyday ASL Productions
Available For: iPad, iPhone, iTouch, Android
Cost: $1.99
Review: This is an excellent app for ASL! There are thousands of words that you can look up to learn the sign. When you click on the word it will show you a video of someone doing the sign which is very helpful! I highly recommend this app if you would like to learn ASL.
Submitted By: Sarah Distler, Hamilton City Schools
Title: American Sign Language Ultimate
Publisher: Zoosware
Available For: iPad, iPhone, iTouch, Android
Cost: Lite version is free, Ultimate version is $4.99
Review: This app gives you 15 different categories of words and gives the ASL sign to go with the various words. You can only see a few words in the free version because the majority of them are in the $4.99 version. This app is nice if you need a quick reference to sign a word, but the word list is limited and it isn't always easy to see a sign through a picture. There are better ASL apps out there, but it wouldn't hurt to download the free version.
Submitted By: Sarah Distler, Hamilton City Schools
Title: Book Creator
Publisher: Red Jumper Studio
Available For: iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: $6.99
Review: While a little pricey for an app, this gem can be used for a variety of purposes in any curriculum area which makes it worth the money. Create your own iBooks right on your iPad using text as well as photos. Once finished, the books can be opened in iBooks or other similar apps on your iPad. It's so easy to use that your students will be creating books right away! Stand back and watch the creativity flow!
Submitted By: Deb Tschirhart, SOITA
Title: BrainPop Featured Movie
Publisher: BrainPop
Available For: iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: Free
Review: BrainPop is an oldie but goodie when it comes to educational videos on the Internet. Tim and Moby bring educational videos and quizzes to you in this wonderful app. Each day, there is a new movie. You will not have access to all of the BrainPop movies but one per day is pretty cool. Great app.
Submitted By: Jonathan Smith, Canton City Schools
Title: Caster: Mobile Studio
Publisher: Gregory Maculo
Available For: iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: Free version available, Full version $4.99
Review: Caster Mobile Studio allows teachers and students of all content areas to create podcasts. Podcasting is an engaging way for students to explain what they know through easy audio recordings. This app makes this even simpler with the use from either an iPod Touch or iPad. Podcasts can be shared via email, Dropbox, or your own school's server. Tired of giving the same old paper and pencil tests? Have your students create a podcast instead!
Submitted By: Jonathan Smith, Canton City Schools
Title: Cloud On
Publisher: Cloud On, Inc.
Available For: iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: Free
Review: Cloud on is a free app that allows you to create, view, and modify Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files directly on your iPad. There are many other apps out there that allow you to do this but I have not seen one that is free. The documents you create are easily shared to a Dropbox account (which you will need to set up). This is also free. This app could be used in any class that creates documents. Awesome app for creating those digital portfolios.
Submitted By: Jonathan Smith, Canton City Schools
Title: eClicker Host
Publisher: Big Nerd Ranch
Available For: iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: $9.99
Review: eClicker Host is a wonderful app that turns iPods into a classroom performance system. Students will beg to take tests on their iPods. Students will get instant results after each question. Teachers can create their own questions that correspond to their own curriculum. You will also need to download the eClicker app (free) for each iPod. This is a wonderful app and one of my most used and highly recommended apps. I love it. Kids love it. You will love it!
Submitted By: Jonathan Smith, Canton City Schools
Title: Google Earth
Publisher: Google
Available For: iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: Free
Review: Wish you could take students on a field trip to see historical places? Don't have the money? Well, Google Earth could be the answer for you and your students. Google Earth will take you on a virtual field trip to any location on earth. This is a great app for social studies and science class but can be used in all subject areas. Are you learning about the pyramids? Take your students to see the pyramids. Want to visit the birthplace of a famous writer? The possibilities are endless.
Submitted By: Jonathan Smith, Canton City Schools
Title: iResponse
Publisher: TATE, Inc.
Available For: iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: $.99, the Pro version is $4.99
Review: iResponse is another classroom responder system. Unlike other classroom responder systems, iResponse works in conjunction with your own laptop. Using the wireless network in your school, iResponse allows teachers to create quizzes on the computer and "push" questions to their students immediately. I also like the fact that teachers can create questions on the fly and push them to their students. iResponse works seamlessly and the students love taking quizzes. I have used this app many times to do quick comprehension checks during the teaching of the lesson. This is wonderful for students who are afraid of answering out loud for fear of being wrong. No one knows if a student got the answer correct except the teacher and the individual student. NOTE: the teacher laptop also needs to download the free iResponse software from their website.
Submitted By: Jonathan Smith, Canton City Schools
Title: Keynote
Publisher: Apple
Available For: iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: $9.99
Review: Keynote is Apple Inc.'s version of Powerpoint. Keynote on the iPad is so user friendly you won't want to make presentations on any other device again. Take pictures and videos from your iPad2 camera and add them to your presentations just like that. Simple is the key phrase here. Kids will love making presentations on the iPad and sharing them with others. This app can be used for assessment in every subject area.
Submitted By: Jonathan Smith, Canton City Schools
Title: Word Lens
Publisher: Quest Visual
Available For: iPad2, iPod Touch, iPhone
Cost: Free
Review: Word Lens is a cool app that allows you to instantly translate from one language to another using your iPhone, iPad2 or iPod camera. This app is free until you want to use specific languages. Each language pack is $9.99. Translate from English to French and Spanish. Translate from French or Spanish to English. If nothing else this app is cool for demonstrating the power of an idevice.
Submitted By: Jonathan Smith, Canton City Schools
Title: World HD Atlas & Factbook
Publisher: Opicury Software
Available For: iPad, iPhone, iTouch
Cost: $2.99
Review: The World HD Atlas and Factbook has the best of both worlds: access to lots of maps and the largest world fact book. So while you are looking at any map you want to access, questions that come up can be answered with the fact book. The interface is animated and interactive so navigation isn't a problem and student's can use this app for geography lessons. All maps are high resolution, so the detail on each map is amazing and easily readable.
Submitted By: Scott Dickerson, Hamilton City Schools