Friday, June 05, 2009

An iPhone App-a-Day All Summer

Our school received a district grant and will be receiving 25 new iPod Touches this fall. So many possibilities for our students. So, I decided that my summer goal is to learn 50 new iPhone apps before school starts in the fall. That means about 1 per day if I take Sundays off. Over the course of the summer, I will share these applications. I figure that the more applications I find that are useful for me, the more possibilities I will have for students. I am looking for good, authentic applications. I'm thinking this is a good use of my summer--learning as much as I can and find ways that I authentically use apps and then figuring out what that means for kids. Just having the experience of researching apps, trying them out, thinking of ways to use them, etc. will be a great learning experience. I'll be blogging to share the new apps I find. (After today, I'll clump several together each week but since today is my kick-off of this summer fun, I thought I'd give my first app its own post:-)

Since it is officially the first evening of summer, I decided to try a "just for fun" application. Nothing too difficult for my first app. I was looking hard at "More Cowbell" and was ready to buy that but then I came across "100 Sounds". Yesterday, we had a clapout for our 5th graders on their last day. I was thinking it migh have been fun to have a loud sounding bell or whistle. So, I thought a sound application might come in handy someday.

I chose 100Sounds, downloaded it and played a bit. This app gives me 100 Sounds to use. Quick sounds such as an evil laugh, a burp, a trumpet, a gavel, a guitar and more. Many more. It was fun to listen to many of them and I imagine I will be driving people crazy with the new sounds I discover. You can have the sounds play once or loop and play over and over and over again.

I didn't download this because I thought it might be good for school. I just thought it sounded fun. But as I was playing, I realized that it could be great for kids who are creating slideshows, podcasts, videos, etc. A great, easy way to get a variety of sound effects. I imagine the kids will drive me nuts as they have as much fun with these new sounds as I do, but when the novelty wears off, this could be a great application for students to use in their own creations. It was well worth the 99cents!

If you have any great app recommendations, I am very open to suggestions!

10 comments:

  1. Hey- there is an on-line book club starting up at Bookclubs4kids.com.. thought you might be interested!

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  2. You are so lucky! What a great project and I hope you keep sharing out what you are up to with the itouch project.
    Kevin

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  3. I am moving to South Dakota to marry that guy who just won the lottery. Then I can buy myself an iphone and a Kindle.
    Carol

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  4. Anonymous9:08 AM

    Thank you SO MUCH for the purchase and the promotion!

    Don't forget about the hundreds of ringtones!

    Let me know if you need any help.

    Also since my wife is a teacher I'll provide free promo codes to other teachers while supplies last!

    Todd@ToddBernhard.com
    www.100sounds.com

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  5. I look forward to your reviews, particularly as I hope to get an iPhone soon.

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  6. Here is a great app: IndieBound- it lists all the hot new books out there- there is even a section for kids.

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  7. The other thing I was thinking about doing with my kids is have them respond to books on my blog: http://whatchareading-kerry.blogspot.com/ I think you can do that through the iTouch.

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  9. Hi, Franki-
    I love your posts about what you're doing in your library. As a library science student, I enjoy reading about how you have brought reader's workshop to the library.
    I have a question about the iPod Touches. How will you sync them? Can you sync all 25 to one computer with iTunes? (I'm thinking 'no.') So, how many copies of apps, audiobooks, ebooks would you have to purchase to get them on all 25 iPods? (Or maybe you don't want them identical.)
    Sorry for bombarding you with questions - I would love to do this if I'm in a library this fall, and want to know how it would work.
    Thanks,
    Sarah

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  10. Sarah-I think you can sync them all to one computer but I am not sure that's what we'll want to do. I think I'll try some things in the library and then figure things out as teachers find new ways to use them. I am quickly seeing how nice it would be for kids to have their own iTouch--the 1:1 iTouch schools that I have found online sound pretty amazing.

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