Tablet Talk

A new survey finds that high school seniors are buying more tablets and using them for schoolwork; they expect their tablet usage to increase in the future.

• Tablet ownership among high school students quadrupled in less than a year from 4% in March 2011 to 17% in January 2012.
• More than 6 in 10 high school seniors agree that tablets help them study more efficiently (66%) and help them perform better in classes (64%).
• Nearly 7 in 10 high school seniors (69%) say tablets will effectively replace textbooks within 5 years.
• The number of high school seniors who have used a tablet to read a textbook has increased from 41% to 58% in the past year.
• 84% say tablets make learning more fun.

Source: Pearson Foundation's Survey: Students and Tablets, March 2012

New Apps for the K-5 Classroom

Miss Spell's Class  This word game lets players test their spelling skills against the most commonly misspelled words on Dictionary.com.  Free

Read Me Stories  This app provides a new talking picture book every day, teaching students new words and how to say them, along with new concepts.  Free

Rocket Math  More than 50 "math missions" help students with telling time, money, shapes, multiplication, square roots, and more.  This app makes students want to learn about math.  $.99

Motion Math: Hungry Fish  Kids can practice mental addition and subtraction with this math game.  Free

Video Science  These two- to three-minute videos demonstrate the steps of simple science experiments.  Free

Project Noah  This app lets students share their encounters with wildlife and document the world's organisms. Free

iLearn Solar System: Making Science Fun  Explore the solar system in 3D.  This app teaches kids about the galaxy, our solar system, each planet and moon, and more.  $1.99

From Scholastic.Administrator.com

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE EDUCATIONAL/PRODUCTIVITY APPS?