From iTunes:

The new Bee-Bot App from TTS Group has been developed based on our well-loved, award-winning Bee-Bot floor robot. The app makes use of Bee-Bot’s keypad functionality and enables children to improve their skills in directional language and programming through sequences of forwards, backwards, left and right 90 degree turns.

The app has been developed with 12 levels encouraging progression. Each level is timed and the faster it is completed the more stars you get! The levels are set in an engaging garden scenario and will appeal from age 4 upwards.

The app is for iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®.

From iTunes:

CODDY FREE is an original educational tool with the MAIN OBJECTIVE of creating a sequence of steps so that the pencil Coddy can draw a pattern you have chosen from the menu or created by yourself.

DO YOU THINK IT IS EASY?
There are max. 220 rows to be filled in and there are 7 basic commands to be used. NOW, CAN YOU MAKE IT?

Excellent for KIDS to practice and learn their programming skills. See if your child has the talent for one of the most wanted jobs of tomorrow.

The game also encourages LOGICAL THINKING.

There are already 10 PREPARED FREE LEVELS waiting for you.

Buttons and all small elements were created from the real plasticine – in order to give you the touch of something familiar, something we all have experienced as children while materializing our first visions.

…and of course – we use the plasticine to give the feeling of the real 3D 🙂

From iTunes:

KineScript is a visual programming language that children can learn a code and share it.
It’s easy to make a scene with built-in sprite characters, stage images and sounds library.
Drag a script and build the script block to control the flow and to change the behaviour.
You can build animations, games and stories easily to share them by email.
Designed for children, but for all the ages who want to learn a code.

KineScript is inspired by Scratch by MIT Media Lab and other open sources, specially cocos2d-html.
The library contains many other artist’s works; free sound clips and clip arts specially from openclipart community.

Features
1. Built-in characters, stage images and sounds library.
2. Support user defined variable.
3. Built-in script palettes;
Character controls and animation functions, stage controls, if/while conditions, sub-routine,
math operations, sound controls, coloured-tracing and particle effects.
4. Script inspector to change the number, colour, math operations and change a sprite or sound easily.
5. Dragging a script to easily to attach or detach to build block to work.
6. Support full screen player window to run or to edit the scene.
7. Export to email and import from it.
8. Include easy how to guide.
9. Sound recoding.
10. Sample project included.

This week we celebrate Computer Science Education Week.  Many schools will be participating in the “Hour of Code” project, “a one-hour introduction to computer science, designed to demystify ‘code’ and show that anyone can learn the basics to be a maker, a creator, an innovator.” To learn more check out the site below:

Brainpop is also celebrating with a movie on computer programming:

Happy tech trails Blue Devils!

Tiny Chickens Learn Rounding

From iTunes:

★ Join Tiny Chicken in His Latest Math Adventure! ★

★ This game is now free for a limited period of time! ★

Tiny Chicken needs to open a vault to remove some documents but it is protected by a secret combination which can only be unlocked if he knows how to round numbers correctly. Clues are given at each level and Tiny needs to use these clues to determine the combination of the safe to get it open in this super exciting game.

The game uses interesting mechanics to help children practice rounding numbers to the tenth, hundredth, thousandth and ten-thousandth places.
An exciting gameplay with great sound and art will keep children engaged for a long time.

The app not only teaches children how to round up numbers but also helps understand some more basic problems such as the place value of a digit in a number. Enjoy the concepts that are critical to building your understanding of mathematics without getting bogged down by building visual tools to do the same thing.

With infinite practice problems to solve our young learners can definitely polish their “Rounding” skills.

★ FEATURES ★
✔ Infinite problems to solve.
✔ Great sound and artwork makes the game engaging.

★ KEYWORDS ★
math games, tiny chicken, place value, whole numbers, digits, rounding decimals, rounding off, learn how to round numbers

Toca Builers

From iTunes:

If you can imagine it you can build it with the six Toca Builders!

Join your new builder friends on an island far away and create a whole new world with blocks. Jump, walk, roll and rotate the builders to use their unique skills, and they will help to build whatever you can imagine!

Toca Builders makes it fun to drop, spray, smash and lift blocks to construct new objects – may it be a house, lamp or maybe a banana?
Let’s get started by putting down some blocks.

MEET THE BUILDERS!

Blox: Great at dropping and smashing blocks
Cooper: A fantastic painter
Vex: Amazing at putting blocks in stacks
Stretch: Specialized at placing blocks anywhere
Connie: Enjoys lifting and moving blocks
Jum-Jum: Loves to spray paint

The builders will guarantee that you’re having a good time when create your world! Toca Builders is a new way of creating and crafting things with blocks, that encourages both creativity and curiosity. With simple touch gestures and unique controls the builders come alive and help create a world only you can dream up!

To save your world, just tap the Back-button to go back to the main menu and everything you’ve made is saved. The snapshot feature makes it easy to take a photo of your construction to share with the world!

KEY FEATURES

• 6 super builders
• Build whatever you want – drop, spray, lift and smash!
• Color each individual blocks as you want
• Unique controls of the builders – spin, roll, aim and move
• Autosave guarantees your progresses is saved
• Use the snapshot feature to take a photo of your creation
• Easy-to-use, kid-friendly interface with incredible creative possibilities
• Incredible creative possibilities
• Beautiful original graphics
• No rules, stress or time limits – play any way you want
• No third-party advertising
• No in-app purchases

About Toca Boca
Toca Boca is a game studio that makes digital toys for kids. We think playing and having fun is the best way to learn about the world. Therefore we make digital toys and games that help stimulate the imagination, and that you can play together with your kids. Best of all – we do it in a safe way without third-party advertising or in-app purchases.

Today is the 150th anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. To celebrate the anniversary, documentarian Ken Burns, along with numerous partners, has launched a national effort to encourage everyone in America to video record themselves reading or reciting the speech.The collection of recordings housed on this site will continue to grow as more and more people are inspired by the power of history and take the challenge to LEARN THE ADDRESS.

Here is another  great site to help use primary sources and technology in your classroom. The U.S. National Archives Experience Digital Vaults  offers your class a good introduction to discovering and working with primary source materials. Digital Vaults focuses on a curated collection of 1,200 items. On the site, there are activities designed to help students discover important connections between primary sources. One activity  Pathways Challenges, provides quizzes that ask students to analyze a specific resource and then find the related document within the collection. You can also use the resources to create your own quizzes and students can use the resources for projects. Click below for Revolution sources:

If you would like to learn more about using primary sources, contact me.

Happy tech trails Blue Devils!

World’s Worst Pet

Help your students build a rich vocabulary of essential words! World’s Worst Pet exposes students to over 1000 Tier Two words at 6 different levels through four engaging games. Aligned to the Common Core, this app provides student-friendly definitions, a playful narrative, a fun reward system and thought-provoking writing prompts!

World’s Worst Pet is part of i-Ready— an award-winning, blended learning program published by Curriculum Associates. Learn more about i-Ready at i-ready.com/empower.

FEATURES

World’s Worst Pet is structured to provide repeated exposures to a cluster of conceptually related target words.
• Teaches more than 1000 words across five grade levels, from grades 4 – 8 with content available for students who are working a level behind
• Student-friendly definitions provide clear explanations with rich examples that illustrate how each word is used.
• Engaging narrative and reward system keeps students motivated
• Activities include word context, word sort, synonyms, and antonyms.
• Students see the same word multiple times in a single set of activities.
• Includes Spanish cognates
• Includes immediate feedback
• Uses a real human voice not synthesized robotic speech
• Aligns with Common Core State Standards
• Writing prompts provide an opportunity to use words in types of writing identified by the Common Core

RESEARCH BASE

World’s Worst Pet leverages best practices from Reading research
• Targets Tier Two words, selected from research-based lists.
• Also targets domain-specific words, including science and social studies words.
• Teaches words in conceptually related clusters
• Provides clear student-friendly explanations
• Provides multiple exposures and repeated practice across a variety of contexts
• Helps students make multiple connections between words and their experiences.
• Explores word relationships, including synonyms and antonyms
• Includes Spanish cognates such as vehículo for vehicle or numeroso for numerous
• Includes writing prompts focused on the target words in each cluster

ALIGNED TO COMMON CORE

World’s Worst Pet develops concepts, skills, and strategies as targeted by the Common Core.
• “The importance of students acquiring a rich and varied vocabulary,” write the authors of the Common Core, “cannot be overstated.”
• Tier Two words are central to understanding complex text, and World’s Worst Pet provides multiple exposures and repeated practice in these words.
• Aligns with vocabulary standards in these sections of the Common Core State Standards:
o Reading Standards for Literature
o Reading Standards for Information Text
o Language Standards: Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

Everyday Mathematics® Equivalent Fractions™

The Equivalent Fractions game by McGraw Hill offers a quick and easy way to practice and reinforce fraction concepts and relationships. This game runs on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Players try to match equivalent fractions on cards showing halves, thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, and twelfths. When cards are matched, they disappear and points are awarded. As cards disappear from the array, the cards behind them become accessible. The game ends when all cards are matched or no more matches can be made. Players earn extra points for making two or more matches in a row. To earn all possible points, players must clear the board!

Everyday Mathematics® Divisibility Dash

The Divisibility Dash game by McGraw-Hill offers a quick and easy way to practice recognizing multiples of a number and applying divisibility tests. This fast-paced computation game runs on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Players are presented with a target divisor and number globes in the playing area. They click the number globes to create a two-digit multiple of the divisor and eliminate the number globes. Players earn points for each correct multiple. When players can find no more two-digit multiples for the given target divisor, they click the target divisor button to get a new divisor and release more number globes into the playing area. If the player clicks for a new divisor when the number globes already reach the top of the playing area, the game ends. The objective is for players to earn as many points as possible as they clear and eliminate all number globes from the playing area. Players win by eliminating all 60 globes!

Everyday Mathematics® Beat the Computer™ Multiplication

McGraw-Hill’s Beat the Computer game offers a quick and easy way to practice and reinforce basic multiplication facts (0–10). This facts practice game runs on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Players have 20 seconds to answer multiplication fact problems and beat the computer. Players score points for correctly finding the product. The amount of time left on the timer after each correct answer is added to the player’s score. Solve 20 problems to score as many points as you can! Visual and audio reinforcement of correct and incorrect answers helps players master multiplication facts.

Everyday Mathematics® Monster Squeeze™

McGraw-Hill’s Monster Squeeze game reinforces number recognition and offers a quick and easy way to practice number line concepts and number comparisons. This two-player game runs on the iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch. Players take turns finding the secret number on a number line. In each round, the monster designates a secret number on a number line. Players try to guess this number by clicking one of the numbers. If the number chosen is larger than the secret number, that number and all larger numbers on the number line are covered by the monster. If the number chosen is smaller than the secret number, that number and all smaller numbers on the number line are covered by the monster. Players take turns clicking numbers until one of them identifies the secret number and wins the round. There are a total of 5 rounds in a game.

Spelling Fleas

From iTunes:

Help your child gain the power and confidence to read and spell with five unique games featuring The AmazingSpelling Fleas.

Beat the clock to gain more points or play in practice mode. These mini-games focus on the following expectations of the Language curriculum: spelling, vocabulary, reading comprehension and phonics. This learning App will teach your child to read without them realizing they are learning! They’ll be having too much fun. This game is designed for children ages 6-11.

About TVOKids
Ontarians rate TVOKids as the most trusted and most educational media brand in Canada when it comes to delivering content to children. TVOKids is available on-air and online at TVOKids.com, an award-winning website that’s home to over 160 educational games that help make learning fun. All TVOKids games and activities are based on the Ontario school curriculum, are student and teacher-tested and are developed in collaboration with TVO’s on-staff educator and other experts from across the province.