The list of Apps and how we arrange the first page. We only use page one as you can see. These are the list of apps as of 14th November 2011. Page 2 and 3 will be handed over to Year 1 and 2 later in the year as we figure out how to release them to the other classes.
The Doc below has all the links to iTunes for every app apart from a few. If the link directs you to a review then it's because I either didn't have the time or couldn't find it again in iTunes!
Please comment if you wish to on any app we use. Thanks.
KinderTown is a newly launched app store for parents which offers a curated collection of kid-friendly applications. What makes the store unique is that it only includes apps which have been deemed to have “substantial educational value” for kids three to six years old. In order to evaluate the apps’ quality, each app is first reviewed by early childhood educators, then tested by parents and kids before admission.
At launch, KinderTown’s app store is available as a universal app that works on the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. When you launch KinderTown, you can filter the app selections by platform (iPhone, iPad or Universal), recommended ages, subject matter (e.g., math, language, art, science, etc.) and price (free or paid).
Apps that match your search filters appear on screen, and you can tap on them to see descriptions, screenshots and pricing information. A tap on the “get the app” button will then pop you over to the iTunes App Store to start the download.
The KinderTown staff includes two former teachers responsible for the app reviews. Kay Welch specializes in early childhood education and has more than 20 years of experience teaching and writing curriculums for school districts. Carolina Nugent spent five years as a kindergarten teacher and received recognition for her integration of technology and apps in the classroom.
The concept for the KinderTown itself comes from serial entrepreneur and DreamIt Ventures co-founder Steve Welch. Steve previously founded Mitos, a global company in the biotech-manufacturing field, which was later sold to a Fortune 500 company. He says that the idea for KinderTown emerged from his own frustration in finding good educational apps for his own 4-year old daughter.
As a geek parent myself, I know that feeling. Although my child is only now pushing two, she’s already madly addicted to the iPhone and iPad, shouting “monkey!” (thank you, Monkey Preschool Lunchbox) every time she sees either device. In a home filled with many beloved gadgets, it’s only a matter of time before she’s completely sucked into the iOS gaming world.
But with an App Store that now boasts over half a million applications, it’s beyond challenging to find appropriate, functional, and hopefully not entirely brain-rotting apps these days.
Although Apple could one day upgrade its own “Genius” offering to allow for more granular filtering and searching, that day hasn’t yet arrived, allowing KinderTown to step in and serve this need. For now, the app will support itself through the App Store affiliate program, but it may offer premium subscriptions for additional learning products in the future.
Self-funded KinderTown is now available as a free download here on iTunes.
Today we made a great start on the use of two apps to make a mini project.
What you need: Toca Boca's Paint My Wings App ($0.99) found here
and The Free Art App Clear Painting from Digital Brain Wash from here.
The Art App allows you to take a photo and import to the app then edit it to make your own Butterfly wings.
You can see from the images how the lesson progressed from using Paint My wings to making their own butterflies on their own photos form the front facing camera. It took several attempts to get the images just right with nearly half the children needing a wing to be done first for them.
What I would take form this is remind the children to use the camera ONCE! the number of ties they reverted back to the camera once they worked out how to use it properly was astounding.
Which brings me to informing what works: anything with a camera app! The engagement from the children was astounding especially for a class that is generlly very high EAL with only one native English speaker in each class.
Since the beginning of the year we have rolled out the iPads to the Reception teachers, assistants, specialist teachers and EAL suport staff.
What I had to do was figure out which apps would be suited to them all initially and prompt them all to go on the hunt for verified apps in the App Store. This has taken some doing as time is a great factor and hindrance. During the week the TA and the teachers dont have the time to sit and plough through blogs, sites and tweets about every app that could be useful.
So, after we got the cash (in the blog post) and purchased the iTunes cards, I spent about £100 getting books, apps and films for the iPads so that there would be plenty of scope for even the quickes to users. £100 pounds may sound a lot but really, when you get spending and really digging deep it is a bargain when spread over 13 machines.
So, where did I look. These links provide the sources of my finds.
the rest came from Twitter, YouTube and very basic searches.
So, which came first. The Free ones obviously!
This is the list of free apps that I began with to get a taste of the apps I thought the staff amy enjoy in part due to the fact we have such a convuluted method of iTunes credit purchase.
1. Lady bug count by Joe Scrivens (these 3 say that the app is $0.99 but they were free)
14. Nash Smasher by Crab Hill Press LLC ($1.99 usually)
The Usual list of apps for teaches to upload and share the files with the classroom computer rather than trying to find a way to connect to the local intranet.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 2:53PM 
