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!