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"A few months ago I took a survey of my elementary kids to see what kind of mobile technology they had at home and it turned out that 53% of my students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades had iPads and 82% had iPods! With over half of my students having iPads, there is no doubt that soon they will be bringing these devices to school - so it go me thinking…"

"There are certain apps that just make your day easier. These are apps that I have been using regularly as part of my daily workflow. There is a nice variety of apps here, some are for use at school exclusively other I like because it gives me the freedom to just come home and continue with my lesson preparation. Have a look and see if any of these might be useful for you."

"I've started a list of educational iPad game apps for parents. I've got a special affinity for these games as I originally started my career in technology as a first generation educational software designer. The list contains casual, fun games to use at home. They don't necessarily help you master long division or prepare for an upcoming geography test. The accent is primarily on having fun. If your child isn't going to enjoy playing then the app won't make the list. The second important criterion is that time spent playing is productive and that something of value is learned while playing the game."

"Imagine students' artwork hanging in your school's hallway and beside each masterpiece is a QR code. When parents, students, and other teachers scan the code using a mobile device, they hear the student telling about themselves and the relevance of their art… Or what about a QR code in the back of a library book that allows you to hear a student's review of the book? Or a QR code sent home to parents that allows them to listen to their 1st grader reading or telling a story? Sounds difficult, doesn't it? Well, don't worry - it really isn't hard at all! I'll give you two options for recording the audio files and will show you a couple of ways to "embed" them into QR codes."

"Guided by research, educators at Cochrane Collegiate have homed in on ten top teaching methods, and teachers receive weekly PD to help them implement the practices"

"Sometimes it's the little things that can prove to be powerful. The quick and easy action of taking a screenshot can transform how you use technology in your classroom. A screenshot is simply a picture of what is on the screen of your device. On the iPad, users press the home button and power button at the same time, and a snapshot of the screen is sent directly to the Camera Roll. Taking a screenshot is the perfect way to capture student work on mobile devices."

"The Elements in Action is not just a notable new iPad app - it's also one of those 'wow factor' apps that make us remember what the iPad is all about. The sort of app that just feels like the iPad is The perfect home for. It's a science focused app and I'm a guy who never especially enjoyed or exceled at science, but it has gripped me from the moment I opened it. I don't know my elements from my elbows, but I've now learned more about quite a few of them in just a short time with the app than I ever took in back in my school days."

"Many have noticed that iOS 7′s overall appearance is largely dependent on the devices wallpaper, and a good or bad wallpaper can make or break the look of things along with general usability, particularly for the home screen. It turns out that some of the best looking wallpapers on iOS 7 are very abstract, multicolored, blurry images, and that's what we're going to focus on making here. I've sort of perfected a quick formula for creating nice wallpapers in iOS 7 directly on an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, using an excellent free photo editing app called Snapseed. Snapseed is really great at making very nice professional looking photo adjustments on the go, but we're going to use it to go the other direction; make a bad photo look even worse, thus creating an abstract blurred image that actually makes an excellent wallpaper."

"This isn't just for people with traditional careers and family lives. It applies to all families regardless of how busy your schedule or important your job, In her book "The Obamas," author Jodi Kanter highlights the President's commitment to having dinner with his family five times a week. Unfortunately in the hustle and bustle of today's digital world, the art of the family dinner has been drained out of many homes with device interaction replacing face-to-face connection. During a panel discussion hosted by Common Sense Media that focused on raising caring kids in a digital world, Howard Gardner of the Harvard Graduate School of Education shared that many families are not even sure what to do at dinner time if all are free of digital devices. If this applies to your family, don't despair. Below are ideas for dinner time activities for each day of the week. These suggestions should serve as a helpful way to ensure dinner time is a valuable experience for families."

"If you frequently purchase apps and games on your iPhone or iPad, you may find yourself running out of space or cluttering up your Home screen with icons you barely launch anymore. Most people say they don't delete apps and games in fear of not being able to get them back. Luckily, thanks to iTunes in the Cloud, part of iCloud, you can easily re-download any apps or games you previously purchased whenever you'd like at no additional cost to you."

"Summer and vacation go together like, well, two of the best things in the world. Parents have time off from work, kids have time off from school, the weather is nice, the sun is shining, and travel beckons. Whether it's a day at a local fun spot, a trip across country, or an adventure half-way around the world, memories will be made. Amazing memories, crazy memories, shared memories. No matter how great a vacation is, however, you can never be there forever, nor can you take everyone you love with you. What you can do is bring the vacation home for you and for them! With your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, not only can you take videos and pictures of those magic travel moments, but you can edit and share them right in iMovie, even right away if you want to. Best of all, for kids (of all ages!), iMovie's trailer templates make it incredibly quick and easy to put together something short, sweet, and fun!"

"Inside a classroom, opportunities to learn about common viruses arise when illnesses cycle through, like the cold, flu and some conjunctivitis. Those ailments often come and go with students spending a couple of days recovering at home. However, the types of communicable diseases that capture the nation's attention tend to be more deadly, such as Ebola. While students can learn about how these diseases affect the human body and communities through news, books and movies, another platform has proven itself useful as an educational tool: games. By playing games about how relationships and outcomes are tested by more deadly viruses, players are pushed to work together to ensure survival."

"Student A loves school. Student A thrives on the challenge of a test. Student A studies three nights ahead of every exam. Student A is driven by marks and grades. Student A is good at "playing school". School comes quite naturally to student A. Student A wants to be told what to do to get the grade. Student A participates in every class discussion and is proud of accomplishments. Student A answers every homework question as soon as student A gets home from school."

"Several teachers now have already stated using the flipped classroom model in their teaching and some are still thinking about how to do it. If you are one of those who are keen on applying this learning/teaching strategy with your students then this resourceful section will provide you with all the materials, tips, ideas, and tools to flip your classroom. A flipped classroom is a model in which the ordinary teaching activities which are done in class like lecturing or demonstrations are recorded in videos and podcasts for students to access at home. The in-class time is used instead for deeper class discussions, students projects, one-one-one interventions, peer collaboration, and many more."

"Some of the best games for learning aren't developed with schools in mind. But these more commercial games can be tough to wedge into a classroom. Even the most motivated teachers have to sideline these games because of scarce technology, budget, and/or time. Summer break presents the perfect opportunity for students to dig into games and build skills that'll reap huge rewards when they return in the fall. Game making can be one of the best ways to get students thinking creatively while cultivating useful technical literacies, and there's a ton of absorbing tools that students won't tire of over the long break. Here are three options to choose from depending on the type of technology students have at home."

"Project Ignite enables learners of all ages to gain practical hands-on experience with new software and hardware to build literacy in design, 3D, electronics, programming and more. Project Ignite integrates project content directly into Tinkercad and 123D Circuits, which are both free from Autodesk. Tinkercad is an easy to learn tool to create and print 3D models whilst 123D Circuits enables you to visualize and simulate circuits. These two apps provide a compelling combination to "make things real, and make them go!" Both of these tools are browser-based so there is no need to install anything. Children can carry on with their projects at home!"

"Though iPhone and iPad apps are generally very stable, sometimes you'll encounter an application that crashes at random. In iOS, a crashing app usually presents as an app that seems to quit itself immediately, returning back to the Home Screen of the device without user intent. An app crash can happen immediately upon launching the app, crash randomly in the middle of using the app, or sometimes a crash can even be triggered predictably by a particular action that is attempted within the application. Regardless of when the iOS app is crashing, we're going to review a few solutions that nearly always work to remedy the problem and should get you on your way to a trouble-free app usage experience again."

"Forget overpriced schools, long days in a crowded classroom, and pitifully poor results. These websites and apps cover myriads of science, art, and technology topics. They will teach you practically anything, from making hummus to building apps in node.js, most of them for free. There is absolutely no excuse for you not to master a new skill, expand your knowledge, or eventually boost your career. You can learn interactively at your own pace and in the comfort of your own home. It's hard to imagine how much easier it can possibly be. Honestly, what are you waiting for?"

"Parents who are uneasy about their own math skills often worry about how best to teach the subject to their kids. Well … there's an app for that. Tons of them, in fact. And a study published today in the journal Science suggests that at least one of them works pretty well for elementary school children and math-anxious parents."