Saturday, June 8, 2013

3 Favorite & Underappreciated Apps

I recently stumbled on an adorable blog called "Thirsty Firsties," and Kelly, the author, is hosting a linky party about iPad apps.


The rules are to share three apps - one free for classroom use, one paid for classroom use and one favorite app for personal use. She's also giving away an iTunes gift card as part of the linky, so be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

I've already shared many of the apps that I love and use in the classroom. See, for example, my list of favorite paid apps and my list of favorite free apps. So today, I'm branching out to share some of the apps that I've used and enjoyed this year that I haven't really talked about before.

Favorite Free App - Spelling City


Vocabulary Spelling City is a great app for teaching students vocabulary or spelling words. It has a variety of engaging games, and it can be used by students at all levels. The app itself is free and has a lot of functionality on its own. If you are a premium subscriber to Spelling City, however, it's a great complement to the activities you assign your students each week. I had my students doing activities on this app almost daily, and our differentiated weekly spelling tests were done entirely through this app (with the teacher premium subscription).

Favorite Paid App - Marble Math


Marble Math is a fun and challenging math game that addresses a broad range of math computation skills. I'll confess that I've even found myself playing it far longer than a typical "teacher test-drive" would require. The object is to navigate a marble through a maze by solving a variety of problems. It includes fractions, decimals, equations, and negative numbers, so this is probably best for grades 4 and higher. Of all of the apps on our iPads this year, this was the one that students seemed to gravitate toward most in their free time.

Favorite Personal App - Feedly


In the debate between Feedly and BlogLovin, I'm coming down on the side of Feedly for one major reason -- I LOVE the iPad app. It's really easy to flip through and navigate, it rotates, and it doesn't seem to crash as much as BlogLovin did. In fact, I've never had a single problem with it. I don't tend to comment on blogs as much from my iPad, so I can't speak to that aspect of comparing the two. Usually if I'm browsing blogs on my iPad, I'll mark the blogs that I want to comment on and comment through my computer later on. So for the sheer visual appeal of the app for reading blogs, I'm a big fan. This has become one of my favorite go-to apps on my iPad.

Now it's your turn. What are your three favorite apps? I'd love to hear about them, and be sure to link up with Kelly over at Thirsty Firsties if you get a chance. She's running the contest for the iTunes gift card through Monday.

And don't forget to link up with my Teacher Toolbox Trio celebration as well! I can't wait to discover more awesome classroom resources from TpT!



8 comments:

  1. Oh! I didn't know that Spelling City had an app! We are a long way off from having iPod or iPad access in our classrooms, but a girl can dream!

    Christine

    Leaping into Teaching

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love Spelling City, and the app has come a long way. I hope you'll be able to get some iPad access in your classroom because the kids love it. Maybe try Donor's Choose?

      Thanks for commenting!
      Alison

      Delete
  2. Thanks so much for your suggestions! I will definately try them. The link-up is working now. So you should be able to add you link. Thanks again!

    Kelly
    Thirsty Firsties.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kelly! I'm on vacation and it was a scheduled post, so it took me a little longer to get back to linking up. If there were any problems, I hadn't noticed. Thanks for hosting a great linky!

      Alison

      Delete
  3. Glad you mentioned commenting through feedly...I'm not able to do that on my iPad. Are you? I do like the organization of feedly.
    Brandee @ Creating Lifelong Learners

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. To be honest, I haven't even tried to comment with the iPad. I prefer typing on a keyboard, so I just mark posts and go back and comment later. I usually only read posts through the iPad when I'm in bed. This system has worked pretty well for me so far.

      Thanks for commenting!
      Alison

      Delete
  4. Thanks for sharing your experience with the Feedly app. I came across it a few days ago and couldn't figure it out, but I was on my phone. Once I read your post I went to my iPad and it does look a lot better. Using the app on my iPad also helped me navigate through the app on my phone. Thanks for sharing. More importantly, thanks for your initial comment on my blog, I've come across so many new ideas just from linking up with you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much for you comment, Monica. I'm glad the app is making more sense now. I haven't tried the iPhone version of Feedly yet. I generally prefer trying out the apps on the iPad first just because I like the bigger screen. Only when I'm truly desperate do I do a lot of reading on my iPhone.

      Thanks again!
      Alison

      Delete

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