Tools, Sites, Apps and Stuff you have to read w/c 17th March 2012

Each week my Flipboard app, Twitter responses and Google reader deliver a collection of new web tools, apps, books and must read articles.

Here is this weeks Stuff I have seen:

Bible Buddies App

I love Puppet Pals and have enjoyed using it to bring play scripts alive this year. By chance the boys and I discovered Bible Buddies, which is made by the same people who brought us Puppet Pals. Bible Buddies is basically Puppet Pals but with Biblical Characters, though it should be said most of these are in-app purchases. Here is Leo and Charlie’s versions of Jonah and the Whale made with the app.

Jam with Chrome

If you have seen digital music in action on Garageband on iPad but you don’t have iPads, then Jam with Chrome maybe a viable alternative. You have a broad range of instruments, collaboration with others, autoplay and funky effects all via Chrome. Another reason to ensure your school machines has Chrome installed as well as Internet Explorer.

Whitecap – Visuals for your Disco

Last Saturday, I helped a friend out by resurrecting my old DJ skills and DJ equipment. Though things have moved on since my hey day behind the decks. You can see in the picture what my set up used to look like, last week the CD players were replaced by 2 iPads, Spotify playlists and a laptop running Youtube. I had a projector to show video clips, but when these were not running we used Whitecap. I had not seen this Windows download before and I was really pleased with how well it worked. Essentially Whitecap produces visuals in response to music it detects via your computer microphone. Think the fractals you get from Windows Media Player visualizations, but with more control by you.

Hackasaurus Video from Ian Addison

I love Hackasaurus and the more I use it with classes the more risks they and I take with it. If you have not seen it before then take a look at Ian’s video which gives you an idea of how to use it. Hackasaurus works as both an insight into html and an uber writing frame, which is how I have been using it, presenting children with a BBC News web page and asking them to change the news to fit in with a local or topic based story.

Anyway here is one of Ian’s under ten minutes videos which make tools like this more accessible.

Raspberry Pi and other unofficial Manuals

Makeuseof.com have created another one of their fantastic free help guide/manual thingys. This time they have created a guide about the Raspberry Pi. Aside from this guide you can find a range of other helpful guide on their site including Google Analytics, Gmail and Evernote.

Related articles

• Tools, Sites, Apps and Stuff you have to read w/c 11th March 2012 (antsict.wordpress.com)
• IPad supporters tout student engagement, but effect on achievement unclear (islandpacket.com)
• Puppet pals 2 (ipadschurchdown.wordpress.com)
• Puppet Pals 2 (engagetheirminds.wordpress.com)

Bomb Sight

Our current topic is World War 2 and it is an area the children in Year 6 are really motivated by and are keen to research further. They are at their best when they the able to make connections between where thy live and the events of the war. There was a reverent silence and some poignant questions during a recent talk from a local resident who described his experiences as an evacuees. Our visitor described how during the Blitz many bombs landed on London and some even landed near to our school. Thanks to Bomb Sight we can now look these up and begin to question why some parts of London seemed to have suffered more than others.

Alongside the site, I have noticed the start-up creators of this concept have also been building an augmented reality app too. Currently this is only on Android, but let us hope it comes to IOS too.

Create a hyperlink within your history planning now ready for next term.

Related articles

• Bomb Sight: Mapping the WW2 Bombs that Fell on London (infosthetics.com)
• Bomb Sight Map Pinpoints Each of the 50,000 Bombs That Fell On London During The Blitz (fastcompany.com)
• Bomb Sight Map Of The Blitz Unveils Scale Of London’s Darkest Hours (huffingtonpost.co.uk)

App of the Day – iPhone Text Meme – What would Charley Bucket text?

Today’s app is a tool that could be used either on a PC/Mac based browser or on your iPpad. The iPhone Text Generator reminds us of all those funny examples of text conversation “fails” that you might see on facebook or other sites.

The website enables you to generate your own customised conversations/ exchanges of texts via the on-line form. However, rather than just seeing this as a way to create silly or rude jokes, why not see it as another great presentation and thinking tool. We could begin to ask if Charlie Bucket had an iPhone  what and who would he text when he discovered the golden ticket ? Or how about when Stig is discovered by Barney? What would Roald Dahl’s  Twits text to each other and what might a string of text on Alex Rider‘s phone say?

The site allows you to download your work as a PNG file , which is handy if the conversation stretches on beyond one screen. The only downside I can see is that the site carries ads and external links, which can not be vouched for and are worth just vetting before you show the site.

I am sure there are more possibilities and I ‘d love to hear them in the comments section.

You can find the text generator here.

Related articles

• Mememize! For iPhone Lets You Add More Than A 100 Memes To Your Photos Along With Captions (fashionely.wordpress.com)

Incredibox

Today’s App of the Day is not an iPad app yet, though I believe it is coming. Leo had a good deal of fun playing with this on my laptop today and I just know this would be ideal on a SMART Board. It could also tag on really well to a unit on digital music creation. Obviously, it could not be the used to cover the whole plan, but it could be a short added extra to show what is possible.  See Switched on ICT Year 4

Incredibox is simple a drag and drop choir, it includes nuggets of melodies, effects beatbox beats and some bonus elements. I guess if you are using this in school then you need to consider that this is sponsored by a popular beer.

Related articles

• Creative Break: Conduct a Band! (stranglingmymuse.wordpress.com)

Build with Chrome

A couple of days ago Chrome released Build with Chrome in collaboration with Lego. An online Lego set that lets you create buildings and structures using virtual Lego bricks in virtual Australia and new Zealand.

I have just taken a break from building my virtual home to post it here on the blog.

Ant’s house takes shape from the ground up

I was really excited when I saw the videos advertising this new tool, I was sure there would be lots of opportunities for creative expression and learning.

There is nothing to download and as it is web-based children could of course follow-up on their learning at home. Once a model is built it can be submitted and will appear on the map for others to see. There are a few things to consider before you launch into using this with your class.

• Anyone can create a building online with Build with Chrome, but you must be  over 18 or get parental permission before you can publish your building  see more of this on the House Rules.

• There is a limitation to the bricks you can use – I’d say these bricks, windows and door seem to be more from my era of Lego than the vast collection we see in today’s boxes. There are a choice of ten colours for your bricks, but due to the brick limitations you may find your creativity somewhat stifled. Let us hope more bricks are added.

• Every model is looked at and approved so there is no possibility of children encountering anything rude or anyone using the virtual Lego land as an advertising space.

• The controls can be a little fiddly but stick with them and you’ll be a pro in no time.

Related articles

• Kiss goodbye to your productivity: Google just brought 8 trillion LEGO blocks to Chrome (thenextweb.com)
• Google’s virtual Lego set brings new meaning to the phrase Not Safe For Work (digitaltrends.com)
• You Can Now Build Virtual Lego in Chrome (gizmodo.com)
• Google brings the Lego experience to Chrome browser (ubergizmo.com)
• There goes my day: Google brings Lego building to Chrome (venturebeat.com)

Springfield Punk and Labels

Class rules

I want to pass on a site that I have found invaluable as a source of contemporary and attractive graphics. I recently inherited a classroom part way through the year, I needed to redo many of the standard signs and labels that were either dog-eared or (worse still) created in Word Art.

A selection of classroom signs

I will never be a one for Sparklebox or Mrs Pancake or whatever. I ‘d like to have some individuality and originality, rather than have my space look like most other rooms. In my environment I’d rather use a simple rounded rectangle template in Powerpoint and create my own signage.I came across Springfield Punx blog around a month ago and Dean’s wonderful Doctor Who cartoons have now started appearing all over my labels, displays and regularly feature on the IWB.

It is not for everybody, but I do think these cartoonised and colourful aliens compliment and enhance my classroom.