"Learning hAPPens in the Library" with Lori Heaton

IT Specialist Lori Heaton
TLA 2014, San Antonio

This past week at the Texas Library Association conference, I attended a session titled “Learning hAPPens in Libraries,” intended for school librarians but I think some of what I learned could be tweaked for a public library. The presenter, Lori Heaton, is a former school librarian currently working as an Instructional Technology Specialist in Arlington ISD.

Edgy Presentation Slides & Other Nifty Stuff with ScrapPad for iPads

I've been getting tired of the same old look of presentation slides even though I try to use a variety of presentation programs and apps - HaikuDeck, PowerPoint, and Google Presentation. Since I'm not a graphic design artist by any means, I really needed to look for some creative "cheats" to solve my dilemma. My solution: the ScrapPad app  by Album tArt, LLC. Yes, this app's intended use is digital scrapbooking but I won't let that stop me!

Tweetroot -- Word Cloud App for Twitter

Tweetroot App Icon

As I was looking around for word cloud apps to add to my iPad a couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across this little cutie. Tweetroot (@TweetrootApp on Twitter) is a free iPad app that allows you to search Twitter by username, hashtag or mentions and create word clouds based on the result of your search. 

Three E-book Publishing Apps for Parents and Teachers

I've been working on a project with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders in the library over the past couple of weeks. We are trying to make and publish our own e-books based on Doreen Cronin's Diary series. We've read Diary of a Fly, Diary of a Worm, and Diary of a Spider. We've talked about point-of-view and compared how life must be to a fly, a worm, and a spider compared to our lives. Then classes voted on which animal they wanted to write a book, and whichever animal had the most votes won. That was the easy part....

Why Flipping Instruction in Elementary Libraries Makes Sense

Librarians at the elementary level often have several classes a day that require a lesson, help with finding books, checking out, taking Accelerated Reader quizzes, etc. On top of that, librarians fulfill their roles as technologists, program administrators, student advocates, collection development experts, and so on. Librarians at the elementary level often feel overwhelmed with all these responsibilities. If anyone needs to be able to clone oneself, it would be an elementary school librarian.

App Review: Annie's Picking Apples 2

I am so happy to have the chance to share a math app with you -- Annie's Picking Apples 2 from RealFunLearning (@realfunlearning) -- recommended by the developer for ages four and up. However, I think it could be used for kids as young as three, especially if they seem advanced and are able to easily grasp new concepts. 

My Process for Reviewing Educational iPad Apps

Recently I kind of fumbled my way into reviewing educational iPad apps made by children's authors and indie developers, as I'm sure many of you have noticed the reviews I've posted on this blog. Whereas I'd never set out to do reviews for apps, I'm pretty happy now that I am. It's developed into kind of a hobby, if writing reviews could be considered a hobby. In any case, I thought it might be wise to share the process I go through when reviewing apps.

There are several steps to the process which I will list here, then discuss in more detail.

1. Acquire the app.
2. Test the app.
3. Read the About or Information section of the app.
4. Look for video reviews or demonstrations on YouTube.
5. Find the app on iTunes or Google Play.
6. Brainstorming ways to use the app in an educational setting.
7. Write the review.

Now, the details.

Storybook App: Grendel's Great Escape by Michelle Anaya

Grendel's Great Escape is a storybook app for both iPad and Android by children's author and creator of Blue Sandpiper Imprints, Michelle Anaya (@bluesandpiper).

App Review: Roxie's Doors by OCG Studios (Plus a Giveaway!)

A few weeks ago, I just happened to be in the right place (Twitter) at the right time (Sunday, 8:00 p.m. CST) and stumbled across #storyappchat. Like the description says on its website, #storyappchat is a weekly chat on Twitter for people who are interested in making interactive storybook and ebook apps for kids. One of the participants was Roxie Munro, author and illustrator of several children's books.

App Review: Boomer's Birthday Surprise by AlphaJade

Boomer's Birthday Surprise is the first in a series of  upcoming interactive story books from AlphaJade based on the Cheg and Boomer (@ChegandBoomer) characters. Best friends, Cheg and Boomer, are cute dinosaur-like characters, and we know how much kids love dinosaurs!