A summary of our first Appy Hour meeting.

1. Thank you for
joining us
Next Appy Hour will be in January!
For those who couldn’t join, here is what you missed…

2. Reason behind Appy Hour – if we
as teachers get used to using apps
in and out of the classroom, then
the technology will disappear for
our students and it will become all
about the learning.

3. Bloomz – a classroom/parent app that
resembles a facebook like settting.
You can schedule conferences, ask for
volunteers, keep a calendar, post
pictures, and share links to videos.
This could be used in a flipped
classroom setting easily. Takes many
of the questions, emails, and phone
calls away by sharing information.

4. Powtoon – a computer based program that
allows you to make media presentations on any
subject you would like to teach. The free
version allows basic slides, 5 minutes of
playing, and some music. Here is a link to one
I did for my classroom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkFfdTB7N
0Y
This is a great tool to help you teach and it is
fairly simple to use.

5. Kahoot – a online tool to create formative assessments
on any subject you want. You can also take any of the
thousands created by other teachers, save a copy, and
make changes to make it your own. You have to save
the site to the homescreen of your device from
https://kahoot.it/#/. Then you have to create the
assessment at https://getkahoot.com/. Afterwards,
you play the quiz on your whiteboard and have the
students answer the question using the devices. You
can print reports for assessment information. This
video is a short tutorial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFFv6_6was4.

6. Declara – app to store articles that you want
to read but don’t have time. You just hit the
save arrow when the article is up on your
device and save to it (must enable the app
in settings). You can also create categories
in the app such as recipes, school articles,
etc…
You can also go online at
https://declara.com/ to load content. This is
a lifesaver for someone who is reading
articles for school or having to use them in

7. Class dojo – An app and computer based
program to keep track of discipline in the
classroom. The parents can see instantly
how their children are doing and any notes
that you input throughout the day. It is
great for intervention documentation and
they have added a class story feature where
you can share happenings in your classroom
throughout the year! See
https://www.classdojo.com/ to set up class.
There are also some how to videos on their

8. We also discussed using Twitter to get out there and
learn from people all over the world by engaging in
Twitter chat discussion. Some of the most
innovative people in education are out there leading
these chats. The next page is a list of hashtags that
will help you find some interesting chats going on.

10. Then the group shared apps that they use both at home and school
to make their lives easier.
• Dora uses and app called My Binder to keep track of her shopping
and to input spiritual readings for her days. This seems like an
invaluable tool for the person on the go to stay organized.
• Patti uses the app Lose It to aid in weight loss and keeping track
of eating. Several of us also use My Fitness Pal for the same
purposes.
• Dora also uses an app called Just Remind to stay on top of “Life”.
• Several teachers use My Running Record Toolbox to help figure
out guided reading ratios and percentages.
• Angelica has used Speak and Translate app to various degrees of
success to translate for the monolinguals that some of us may
have. They do have to speak clearly to use this.

11. Next month, Ana and Shelby are going to
attempt to get into the Plickers features. We
are also planning to Blab or Periscope our next
Appy Hour. If you have any great apps for
home or school and you would like to
participate in our awesome discussion (with
snacks of course), please join us in January
(date TBA).