The Flat Stanley Project is "The international literacy and community building activity for students of all ages, teachers and families." It started as an exercise of writing a letter and sending a "Flat Stanley" cutout to a friend or family member, sometimes asking them to send it to someone else with a letter and so on. There can be a notice that says  "after this date please send back to" the student. There are many opportunities to teach writing with a purpose when engaging in a pen pal type activity, but recently teachers have begun to introduce new ways of conducting a Flat Stanley project. I have seen it done with email, on blogs, and even on a shared custom Google map.

I'm not sure how old the app is, but I think they must have just done a big update because I saw several people tweeting about it. There are a bunch of fun features for creating Flat Stanleys (and Stellas), taking pictures with a Stanley overlay, and sharing the pictures and text on a variety of social media platforms including Facebook and Twitter.  The app is a great example of taking something that was grounded in solid learning intentions and then integrating technology to enhance and expand the possibilities of that learning experience.

This free app from Microsoft allows you to create amazing panoramic photos with 360 degrees of lateral viewing and close to 360 degrees of vertical viewing. This is an amazing TED talk from one of the creators of this application. Using the iPhone camera, you take a series of pictures that are stitched together. Within the application and the Photosynth.net website, you can change the perspective of the view (see sample below).  The application can also create flat panoramic images that can be used in other programs.

CamWow is a free iPhone app that simulates some of the effects available in PhotoBooth for Mac/iPad. The free version puts a CamWow watermark on the corner of any images captured in the tool (of course can be cropped out post-production).  For $1.99 you can get the paid version which will take pictures without the watermark.

FatBooth is really just a bit of silliness. You can take a photo of someone and then the app will 'compute' what that person might look like having put on some extra weight.  What I am most interested in is a feature I have not yet seen in other apps. When aligning certain markers with features on the photo (eyes, mouth) a finger would normally obscure the photo and thus make it difficult to be precise. In FatBooth, a zoom window appears above where your finger is placed and as a result you can align their markers with the photo with pretty good precision.

This is a quick look at the 8 iPad apps which I was able to download for free from the publishers of Everyday Math, a spiraling mathematics curriculum (1st-6th) which is used in many schools.  The apps are mobile versions of games that had already existed as desktop and/or web-based activities.  Many of these games have versions that use physical manipulatives (paper, dice, playing cards, etc) and therefore can be played without a computing device.  These apps are available for free until April 16th (I think).

Here is a link to the iTunes store page for McGraw Hill.

My main problem with the games so far is that there does not seem to be any indicator for what age/grade the activities are most appropriate.  All the games have audio narration in addition to some written instruction.  Some of the games also have the option for "Guided Play" where the narrator gives prompts along the way.

Several of the games are for two players (pass and play).

Players are dealt two cards each and are asked to add the values of the cards and then compare the sums. The cards only have one digit making the addition rather simple.  This game is definitely for early adders (K, 1, 2).

Like Addition Top It, players are dealt two cards each and are asked to compute the difference in value and then compare them.  The numbers on each card are two digit values, so this game might be better suited for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.

Players roll two dice and then try to eliminate the numbers 1-10 on their side in as few turns as possible.  Numbers are eliminate by choosing 1 or more numbers that add up to the dice total.  The "Add 1" chips are kind of like lifelines if you have no other moves. The game does have some good strategic potential, and I think that it could be good for kids in grades 3,4,5, & 6.

Players click on the pitcher to get two numbers.  The product determines the type of hit. An incorrect response results in a strike, three strikes and you are out.  There are also some moments where you randomly get an out (fly out?) after clicking on the pitcher.  The game play is a bit choppy, but younger students (2nd, 3rd grade) who are just learning their multiplication facts should find the game to be engaging, especially if they like baseball.

This game is a pretty direct translation of the playing card version that is part of the EM curriculum. You eliminate cards from the pile by selecting equivalent fractions until no more matches are possible.  This game is well suited for 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students.

This game asks users to compute single digit multiplication facts within a given time limit (20 seconds).  I think the time limit is rather generous, and in general the game really doesn't have much to do with beating any computer. It could be good for 3rd or 4th graders who need practice with their multiplication facts, but I could also see the students getting bored very quickly with the interface.  This is my least favorite of the apps.

This game requires the user to arrange numbers and operations to form an expression that is equivalent to the target number.  More points are awarded when more of the cards are used.  This game is definitely for 5th and 6th grade students who are exploring order of operations

A divisor is provided, and users must put together as many 2 digit numbers that are divisible by the current divisor. The balls disappear in a "Bejeweled" type manner when correct combinations are made. Incorrect pairs become metal orbs that build up into a stack. When this stack reaches the top, the game is over. This is good for 4th and 5th graders who are learning about divisibility patterns and rules.

I recently met with a dance instructor to look for iPad apps that might serve as useful tools in her instruction.  We found some interesting apps based on projects she was doing. The two coolest ones we found were Mannequin Dancers and FREE Sound Effects!

This simple app lets you change the positions of the mannequins' heads, arms, and legs in different keyframes, and the program fills in the motion in between.  You can add extra keyframes for more positions, play background music, and even import a background image (as I did in the screenshot above).  It takes a little time to get used to how to position the two mannequins, but once figured out I think the program has a lot of potential for demonstrating and designing a series of poses and movements.

This app has several negative reviews and I'm sure there are many better alternatives, but we found that the interface was easy to navigate and one of the best features was the ability to quickly make up to 3 custom sound effects.  The dance instructor has a unit where her students design movements based on sound effects so it seemed like this tool was appropriate for her needs.

Given the events unfolding in Egypt, exploring this tool might give students the chance to get a sense for the type of on-the-ground reporting that has emerged during the unrest.

Cinchcast is a service that allows you to call and leave a voicemail message on a machine which will then get automatically posted to a website.  Text and an images can be added to the post afterwards.  This service is similar to GCast (which I can't find anymore!) but one of the nice features is that the setup is front loaded.  You set up an account, register your phone number(s), and generate a public URL.   Once that is setup, you simply call the Cinchcast phone number and leave your message. There are no special PIN's or robo-menus to navigate.  Below is a test recording (there is an option to embed recordings on other sites).