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"Learning through discovery can help children of all age levels gather information and get excited about a new topic. Sound Uncovered is an awesome free app that lets kids explore this concept. They'll interact with different activities as they begin to make connections to the world around them.  A great choice for station work in classrooms with just a few iPads!"

"ChatterPix Kids lets your students put their voice to any image whether it's a historical figure, a character from their favorite book, or a photo of a friend.  Try having students use this app to demonstrate their understanding of the main character of a book or what they learned during a research project."

"A very cool solution for getting videos in the hands of students, JuniorTube (formerly YoouKids) helps parents and teachers curate and share a YouTube playlist.  Users can pick out educational videos for kids to watch remotely and safely so they can easily be viewed on children's iPads and iPhones. JuniorTube makes it simple to put quality content on their devices without worrying about navigating YouTube by themselves. Parents and teachers can suggest to each other their own YouTube playlists that they curate, so they can forward to their kids other recommended safe playlists and videos to watch."

"I'm very excited about the new learning journal app Seesaw which can help teachers and parents connect with students and keep track of their school work.  Seesaw is a simple way for students as young as 5 to independently document what they are learning at school.  It empowers students to take more ownership of their learning."

"I spend a lot of time sharing the benefits of scannable technology with teachers.  QR codes and augmented reality triggers make it easy for students, teachers, and school visitors to find a web resource by using a scanning app on their device.  Another option for quick website sharing is a URL shortener like goo.gl or bit.ly."

"I've shared some of the reasons why I think News-O-Matic is a great choice for integrating informational text into your everyday instruction.  Not only is nonfiction reading an important skill, but students can learn how to become informed citizens by interacting with news stories on a daily basis.  News-O-Matic has developed a list of different ways to use this tool in the classroom, check out their top seven:"

"Science4Us is a web-based science curriculum for students in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. It teaches science using a fun, interactive approach. In addition to digital games and online activities, there are offline experiments and hands-on projects. Teachers have access to detailed lesson plans, automated student reports and session guides to help prepare and plan."

"On the first Wednesday in March each year readers from around the world come together to share their favorite stories.  Started by LitWorld, World Read Aloud Day or WRAD is an amazing opportunity for students, teachers, parents and community members to come together for a read aloud.  You can Skype with another class from around the world, invite a guest speaker to your classroom, or have students read aloud to one another."

"Students can now show every line of their math work on iPad and other tablets, writing all their steps by hand on screen. Mathspace digitizes each handwritten line and grades it automatically, giving students immediate, formative feedback at every step of the way - like having a teacher at their side. This is a huge step forward from multiple choice or single-input response math questions that most students and teachers are used to seeing on digital platforms."

"Science Today is a terrific free app for iPads that brings quality informational text to the fingertips of your students.  Kids can read about a variety of high interest topics.  They'll interact with a wide range of content while building their skills as nonfiction readers.  This app could be used to enhance a science lesson, provide background knowledge, or just give students a space to read about animals, ecosystems, or any topic that grabs their attention."

"Interactive Science Glossary: Earth Science and Interactive Science Glossary: Life Science are two fantastic resources for the science classroom.  These completely free interactive science glossaries are a great tool for teachers and students.  With videos, diagrams and flashcards, you'll find that these apps are great study tools.  The tutorials can also be shared with students straight from your device during whole class instruction or for small groups that need extra help."

"One of the fantastic parts about using mobile devices in your classroom is giving students the ability to explore locations that might be difficult for a field trip.  Children can access informational text, images and videos to learn about new places and inspire them to think beyond the walls of their school building."

"Giving students access to high-interest topics is a great way to engage them across the content areas.  If your school is in session during this year's World Cup or you want to revisit an exciting summer event when your students arrive in September, check out the official 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil app for the iPad.  Here are a few ideas of Common Core related activities that can be tailored to different grade levels using the informational text and statistics within this app."

"This year at ISTE in Atlanta, I shared with teachers one easy way to add QR codes to three-dimensional shapes.   The app Foldify lets users create a template for a variety of three-dimensional shapes.  Instead of drawing a picture or adding family photos, I used a QR code generator on my iPad, saved the pictures to the Camera Roll, and placed them on my Folidify creation.  They are easy to assemble after your print them out and great for having students roll a dice for a mystery writing prompt or math problem."

"YouTube is a terrific resource for teachers looking for content to share with students. There are tons of videos that will reinforce key concepts and help kids get excited about what they are learning in the classroom. Since there are plenty of videos on YouTube that are not kid-friendly, YoouKids has developed an iPad app that helps teachers organize which clips they want to share with their students."

"Primary source documents, especially photographs, are powerful tools for grabbing the attention of students.  Sometimes it's challenging to find the right picture to connect to a historical fiction literature circle or to support a Social Studies lesson.  I'm a big fan of Google Image searches but another option is to check out the LIFE photo archive hosted by Google.  You can search over a hundred years worth of photographs by typing in a keyword or choosing a specific event or time period.  This is a terrific resource for teachers who work with students of any age!"

"Chalkup is a powerful tool for changing the way you teach and interact with students. This online platform lets teachers take their classes to the next level by providing a way for teachers to engage their students. Classes of students can collaborate on shared files to complete projects and study in groups. Both teachers and students can track upcoming assignments and participate in discussions on course material."

"Many teachers ask me what to do with just a handful of iPads. Whether you are in a second grade classroom with two iPads, or a library with five devices you can create stations for students of all ages. Here are a some of my favorite apps for creating stations in your classroom - add your favorites to the comments section!"

"Informational text is so important in the elementary school classroom. Students should have opportunities to read high quality, interesting articles, and News-O-Matic lets them do this straight from their tablet. In addition to providing access for students, News-O-Matic gives teachers easy options for assessing student reading comprehension. "