Teaching with Maths Apps

There are loads of Maths apps available, mostly as games for independent maintenance. But there are also a few that can be used in teaching sessions.

One example is 'Thinking Blocks'. There are several apps in the series and they are all free.

All of the Apps present problems to be solved and the solving of them is done in several parts. Mirror the app to a TV  or a projector  and use it in a group lesson. When I demo this I like students to have their maths books or a small whiteboard, plus a device i.e. an iPad where they can use other apps to solve/record the problems and their learning.

Pull Data from Spreadsheets

Marama from Clevedon School came up with a great idea of creating a spreadsheet where each sheet has individual student's assessment data. She then wanted to share each student's sheet to them. With normal sharing options you can not share just one sheet, sharing allows you to share the whole spreadsheet. This poses a problem, as she doesn't want the other students or parents to see each others results. There is a hide option in Google Spreadsheets where you can hide the sheets you don't want others to see, but anybody could un-hide them if they are spreadsheet savvy. After a little research  we found an old solution that didn't work but it gave us a basis to work from

You may need change permissions on your original class doc to 'Anyone with this link'.

Calendar Art and Photo Montages

Jane has some fantastic art created by students in her class. I have just discovered a great Photo Montage app called Juxtaposer, so I suggested to her that we could superimpose the children onto the art work. She has decided this would be a great way to do their 'Calendar Art' this year. Calendar Art is a fundraising activity that schools do where they take the children's art and make it into individual calendars that family and friends can buy.
The examples below show how it can be done. Jane is going to get her children to dress up as Medieval Characters, take their photos and then superimpose onto photos of their artwork.