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"There has been plenty of hand-wringing in recent years about the "overscheduled child." With after-school hours increasingly dominated by piano lessons, soccer practice, and countless other planned activities, many of us have a nagging sense that kids are missing out on something important if they have no time for unstructured play. New research from Germany suggests these fears are justified. It finds people who recall having plenty of free time during childhood enjoy high levels of social success as adults."

"Today while I was browsing through my Twitter feeds I came across this fabulous Bloom's Taxonomy wheel of apps shared by Anthony. If you still recall, some previous versions of this wheel have already been featured here in Bloom's Taxonomy for Teachers section . As you can see, the wheel outlines a wide variety of verbs and activities related to each thinking level of Blooms taxonomy coupled with iPad apps that go with it. These apps are supposed to help teachers and students better cultivate these different thinking levels in their use of iPad apps. And because the the visual is not hyperlinked, I went ahead and provided the links for each of these apps in the lists below. Enjoy"

"Here is a chart I have been working on over the last couple of days. The chart features some of the best iPad apps for digital storytelling. This selection is created in such a way that teachers can find in it apps for any grade they teach. Also the chart features the most updated versions of apps. If you want to download and print this chart, use this Google Docs link. Enjoy"

"I'm not usually the type of person who tells other teachers what they MUST and MUST NOT do. This post is pushier than usual, because I'm more passionate about this topic than usual. Being a connected educator has transformed my teaching and added so much joy to my life that I want every discouraged and overwhelmed teacher to know: You can become energized once again. You can love your job! Being a connected educator means creating a personal learning network or community (often called a PLN or PLC.) The people in your personal learning community are those you connect with to share ideas and encourage each other. Some teachers have a lot of people like that in their own schools, but many teachers don't, and they reach out to like-minded individuals online. Through Twitter or Facebook or blogs or whatever medium they choose, the build a community of people they can share success and failures with and enjoy growing together."

"The science is clear: If you get kids moving throughout the school day, they will do better academically. That's the case being made in the article "Building a better brain" just published in the Globe and Mail. The article quotes Harvard Medical School's John Ratey, an internationally recognized expert in neuropsychiatry: If you want to raise test scores, we have documented evidence - big time evidence - that the key is to include fitness-based activity in the day. Not only do schools need to start incorporating physical activity into every school day, they need to make sure that their students are physically literate, so they have the skills necessary to participate and enjoy that activity. And we know that kids who are physically literate have the confidence to move and will seek out opportunities to be physically active."

"Following the post on iPad Apps for Music Education I received a couple of requests to feature a post on  iPad apps for  teaching and learning piano. And because I don't know any that I would recommend I crowdsourced the topic on my personal learning network and got a lot of feedback from music teachers. Based on these responses I compiled the list below for other piano teachers to consider. I hope you will find the list helpful. Enjoy."

"If you ask me about the best iPad apps for creating and sharing presentations and slideshows the five listed below are what I would highly recommend for you. Yes this is  a personal view and I know there are tons of other apps out there that can be used for this purpose, but from my own experience of app reviewing and based on my actual use , the apps I have handpicked for you have all the features you need to create a powerful and visually appealing presentation. Check them out and as always leave us a comment if you have other suggestions. Enjoy"

"Math is a core subject and one used in everyday life, especially throughout the K-12 years. Students who enjoy and generally perform well in math classes will have their choice of an amalgam of apps to aid them in both study and enjoyment. There are, however, a fair number of students who simply don't like to do math at school and who certainly won't easily be tempted to do extra math at home. Luckily, there are a series of apps available to help math averse students. Some of these are geared towards students who need visual stimulation such as colors, patterns, and graphics to remain engaged in general math concepts. Other students, those who are geared toward auditory stimulation, will be interested only if sound and music come into play. In addition to focusing on multiple communication preferences, some math apps disguise learning in the form of game play. Students who have fun while learning can greatly benefit from these math 'games', especially if they are in the younger grades."

"Whether presenting to a class or audience, for most, interactivity is appreciated. One technique I enjoy is to ask participants to discuss an issue with colleagues. I generally leave the presentation platform to access the timer and countdown music, then come back to it.  But that can get annoying and sort of glitchy.  I thought there had to be a better way. There is. The trick is that you embed a timer that has been turned into a YouTube video. YouTube is used because it can be embedded into most presentation platforms. Then you use a picture in picture technique to indicate time is running out with game show music and follow that up with a  "time is up" sound effect."

"Need a little lift to get you through the day, the week, and propel you through to the end of the school year? I've so enjoyed the videos from Kid President, I wanted to check out some other content from Soul Pancake. I was not disappointed. These folks are putting out so many great, fun empowering clips! This is just a small collection of what they've produced. You and your students are sure to find some inspiration (and humor) in these videos."

"Math needs better PR. When it comes to coolness math really should be up there with the new iPad, the latest X-Factor winner and whichever color is fashionable this season. Often people actually think that it's cool to not be able to do math! As part of Maths Insider's mission to make math cool I've pulled the best math quotes from the Twitter stream @Math_Quotes, and used my limited artistic skills to add them to some nice backgrounds (Powerpoint templates in fact!). Enjoy and do share them with your friends and family! Math needs all the PR it can get!"

"I am on spring break this week. It has been such a luxury to linger over coffee and the newspaper in the mornings. That has been about all of the luxury I've been able to enjoy because even though I'm on spring break from my job, I am not on spring break from doctoral classes. I have been immersed in scholarly articles on early literacy. So, while this is all fresh on my mind, I am going to share a few work samples from some of our recent literacy activities on iPads."

"When Sonja Khan started college, she'd never thought of studying computer science. But when she heard from friends that the intro class was good, she decided to give it a try - and then ended up majoring in it. Four years later, she has just graduated with a computer science degree, is pursuing a master's degree and is headed to a summer internship at Facebook. "I didn't even know anything about the field before; I had never considered it," she said. "I signed up for it pretty much on a whim and really enjoyed it." Ms. Khan's story reads like a dream for universities and technology companies - where only about 15 percent of computer science graduates and technical workers are women. The industry has been under pressure to recruit more. The difficult question, though, is how to encourage more women on paths like Ms. Khan's"

"We really enjoy it when a developer takes advantage of the fantastic technology we have today while still grounding an experience in our own physical space. Osmo does just that and does it nicely. The Osmo system uses an angled mirror clipped over the front-facing FaceTime camera alongside a stand, and coupled with free iPad apps to make the area directly in front of the iPad an active virtual and real-world play space. The combo is a very simple way of going about it, but the results can be magical."

"Below is a selection of some good text to speech iPad apps that you can use with your students. Text to speech apps can be used for teaching all the four skills: listening, writing, reading, and speaking. They are also good for language learners and for special education students. You can also access the web version of text to speech tools here. Enjoy"

"The pace with which technology is developing makes it really impossible for anyone to predict what kind of classrooms we will have in the next few decades. What is apparent, however, is the fact that new ways of learning are mushrooming here and there as a direct impact of the embrace of this technology in education. Mobile learning, blended learning, flipped classroom, to mention but a few, are some immediate examples that come to the surface when talking about this interactional relationship between the digital and the educational. This excellent graphic below sheds more light on how classrooms have been transformed by technology and draws clear comparisons between several learning modes. I invite you to have a look and share with us your thoughts about it. Enjoy"

"This is the first time I would share such a list of apps. These are iPad apps that can help you and your students in your research and classroom projects. They are also important elements in the digital toolkit of a life long learner. They are reference apps and range from dictionary apps to encyclopedia and search engine apps. All of these apps are popular and have been around for quite some time now. I invite you to check them out and share with us what you think of them. Enjoy."

"In response to some of the requests I received this week regarding iPad apps for early literacy. I decided to arrange apps into different categories and in different posts. Today's list features apps to help your kid or student temper with the notion of words. These are basically word games and puzzles that scaffold vocabulary and grammar learning. Enjoy"

"Welcome to the third post in this series. I cant't think of a better thin then summer to check out some new edtech tools and possibilities. I have a goal every summer to bring you at least 40 new tools… maybe more… that you may not know about.  I am sending out ten new ones in each post. Remember, I am picking these from thousands and I am trying to find those sites that are up and coming and might just be the next big edtech hit. You might also notice I am also including a few sites that have been around for awhile.  They include ones that I feel educators might want to be a little more aware of. I hope you enjoy and try some of these out during the summer months. It is my way of saying happy summer!   First, t"

"Below is a collection of some very good iPad apps to help teachers with  classroom management. Some of the tasks you can do with these apps include: conduct instant formative assessments in class, create seating charts, record class attendance, randomly pick students for classroom participation, create and share permission slips, visualize and assess students understanding, set timed tasks in class, improve students behaviour by providing real-time feedback, poll your students and many more. The apps featured in this list are among the best titles you can find in the category of classroom management. Enjoy"