Writing Your Own Apps - Codea

Today we will be taking look at a general way to introduce yourself into programming for apple IOS.

In general, to make your own apps, you will need the IOS device you are writing for, a mac computer with operating system Mountain Lion, and an apple developer license for $99.

Today we will be looking specifically at a cheaper way to get a feel for app writing.

Ironically I am referring to an app that allows us to make apps. Codea is an app where if you have an idea, you can put it to code. Codea uses a language called Lua, an objective-c language that is easy to pick-up. When you download Codea you receive an app that allows you to type code and when you hit play, the code executes on your iPad only.

My first experience with Codea was really nice. In minute I had an object following my finger on a screen. In a week I had my first game made entitled "Square Wars". Within a month, I had my first version of my math app in place, in which I later transferred this to my new mac computer and produced the app WileD Math.

Codea has a lot of "tutorial"-like help where you can click on various categories and see how the code works and executes. Codea also has an amazing community. I have received a lot of help as well as given a lot of help when possible. If you have a situation you are stuck at, the forums are a great place to go to get help.

Codea Forums - Check it out


Codea of course has its downsides. There is a lot more work in transferring the code to the mac computer later on and the language provides limitations on what you can do from the iPad until you transfer to the mac and work on it via xCode. Still, I have never felt restricted on what I wanted to do for my app(s) and anything extra I wanted to add, I have been able to do eventually with some frustration and time.

Regardless, Codea provides an amazing opportunity to write some basic programs on your iPad. The makers of Codea have done an amazing job with updates and they are pushing to have Codea do more and more with every update.
Watch the power of Codea here

To all the schools out there:

Have a cart? Download Codea and let your imagination go!

Programming is a logical, mathematical process. From a personal experience, I have never actually applied half the math I have learned in high school except for in programming, such as using trig to determine the angle from a point, and using functions to determine whether or not two objects collide. Math is the key component to code and I really want to encourage schools to see that if you focus on a programming course that perhaps math abilities will improve do to the nature of programming, not to mention the problem solving and the ability to make truly make your own ideas come to life on a screen. If you already have an iPad cart, why not get Codea and have a little iPad programming course to get students interested in computer science.

iPad Math Apps - Middle School

Searching for quality elementary school math apps are rather easy. It always appeared to me that finding quality apps for the middle school is better described like a black-hole, you know they could be out there, but no matter how hard you look, you can never find them. Today we will be taking a look at several math apps that can be used for multiple lessons or topics. I will go over what topics it can cover, nice perks to the app, as well as anything special such as why should you choose this app over that app.

 WileD Math - I designed this app intentionally for teachers to use in the classroom to motivate students to learn to answer questions correctly. The app covers 36 topics including algebra, geometry, graphing, inequalities, algebraic properties, percent problems, fractions, and many other categories. As you answer questions you can earn credits to play little mini-games as a reward. Students love to compete against each other in the mini-games to see who can score the most points. A lot of the topics feature technology enhanced topics such as plotting the inequality, shading, and determining an open or closed point. Another technology enhanced topic involves picking two angles that meet a certain geometric definition. My students love using this app and enjoy the days we get on the iPad. Students are asked to complete so many questions correctly for credit for the day in class or take a "mini"-quiz on it then earn the credits. The app also features a variety of options, including a tag mode that allows the user to e-mail their tag score to a teacher or someone else. This app is currently free for download on the app store.


Numbler - This is a really neat app that works on the orders of operations scrabble style. Working on number sense, this is an app to try. Note there is still some orders of operation improvements needed for this app.

Math 7 and Math 8 -These games are made for that particular grade level in which your goal is to move a monkey as high as possible up the screen. As you move up the screen you earn more points. After so much time you must answer some math questions on some more basic middle school math, after answering correctly you are given more time to move your monkey higher up the screen. Simple, but effective!



My last App I am going to share tonight seems more like a fun app, but I am going to provide some uses with respect to geometry and mathematical observations.

LestTans Cls - This is a wonderful tangram app. Now tangrams in itself can help students recognize how perimeter can change even if the area doesn't. I challenge all of you teachers out there to do an activity where students investigate this concept by using the same shapes but build different objects. Afterwards students add up the perimeter (perhaps give measurements of all sides of each tile on the board). Afterwards you can have a discussion about their observations of area and perimeter!

With Tangrams, the objects you can make are endless!

Stay Effective!

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iPad Math Apps - Elementary

Looking for some top notch math apps for elementary schools? Today we will be taking a look at some apps that are free and some that are worth the money.

1) Math Grade 1-4: kids practice fun - trainer for elementary school. This app provides a lot of wonderful visuals when practicing your operations of multiple digits. There are a variety of math problems included in this app including money arithmetic, reading and interpreting time, as well as fun mini-games that you can play. The mini-games are earned after working out so many problems and are considered a fun reward. This app is free to download, but the in-app purchases allow you to buy what grade levels you would like to use, so if you are using it for only one grade level, you can pick and choose what math to buy.

2) Math Adventure with Fast Facts: This app is currently free (for a limited time) and provides some entertaining ways to practice your math operations. There are multiple levels to choose from and a parent mode that is to provide some wonderful bonding with your child as you can compete together. This app also has in-app purchases which opens up various levels of the math facts for $1.99 each.

3) The Motion Math Series: I absolutely love the motion math series. This series provides a free version and then a version you can pay for that unlocks everything.

    Motion math has the following games available.
    a) Hungry Fish - Feed the fish by putting number bubbles together to get to the number the fish wants to eat. As you feed the fish, it will get bigger until it is so big that the game is over and you move to the next level. If you don't feed it fast enough, the fish will shrink and shrivel out of existence.

b) Zoom - This is an extremely interactive way to use the number line. I love it for my students as well, because it really requires students to understand how numbers are lined up in order. As you zoom in and out, various animals are between the numbers, the more you zoom in the more the animals are naturally smaller to get you the idea you zoomed in. As you progress in levels you start with integers and can eventually move into more challenges such as decimals and negative numbers. Filling in the number line has never been so much fun!

   c) Wings - Wings is an expansion on one main operation, multiplication. I abosultely enjoyed using this as it provides not just one way, but multiple visuals to multiply numbers together. I feel this app would have a lot of potential in showing students why we can multiple, how grouping works. As you answer questions you can earn feathers to customize your bird's wings. The different visuals of multiplication that this app provides are: rows of dots, clusters of dots, groups of dots, a grid, a labelled grid, and through the use of symbols.


As a middle school teacher, I really appreciate apps that help students understand what a fraction represents. To this day, I feel most students are afraid of fractions and try to put everything to a decimal. Well, when teaching various degrees of math such as slope, a decimal would be a lot harder to work with than a fraction, so I always look for apps to help students relate better with fractions.

4) Pizza Fractions: Beginning with Simple Fractions - is a wonderful way to start. The idea of the app is that you have only so much of a pizza left and you have to count how many slices are there out of how many slices were originally there. After completing a round you are given an overall score which is based off of how long it took to answer the questions as well as how accurate you were.

5) Fraction Math - is an app that allows students to practice each step of the problem until you get the correct answer. This is a wonderful idea, because it holds students accountable for showing all of the steps along the way for the problem. 

6) Motion Math HD - Fractions!: This is another one of motion maths great apps that involve fractions. This app for $2.99 has students placing fractions on various parts of a number line...what an amazing application to fractions and have number sense. Students see shapes falling to the ground and need to put the shape in close proximity to where the fraction would belong. There are a variety of levels and difficulties to challenge even the top students. Some levels require you to determine if a fraction is less than, equal, or more than another fraction!




As always, we will continue to provide you more apps for math in the coming days, our next post will feature math apps for the middle school, then for the high school. Want some apps for your subject? Post a comment and perhaps your request will be the next series of posts!

Stay Effective!

iPad Math Apps - Math Operations

I sometimes get overwhelmed when it comes to finding math apps, there are a lot of apps out there, but I can never find what I am looking for. What makes a math app usable? What are cheap options that students will enjoy?

Typically when it comes to looking for a math app, you either want an app that covers one topic extremely well or an app that covers multiple topics that students can practice and work on.

We will be spending the next few posts discussing various types of math apps that are available for all grade levels. If you want your subject to be next, post a comment below and I will be sure to include your subject next.

I have more math apps downloaded than anything else. Every time I see a math app that has gone free, I must download it! Here is a list of some of my most used apps, along with the specifics of each app.


Basic Operations

Hungry Fish - Basic operations math app that can challenge even the best of the adults. Combine number bubbles together and feed the fish the correct numbers, but be careful if you put bubbles together and the number is to big then you lose those bubbles. As you feed the fish it slowly gets bigger, but over time begins to shrink out of existence.

Math v Zombies - what is better than shooting zombies? Well shooting zombies and instead of killing them, they turn back into humans! In order to transform the zombies back into humans you must answer math questions before the zombies catch up to you.

WileD MathFacts - A simple idea of popping bubbles as they drop. The levels get progressively harder as students show mastery of the operations they are currently working on. Add negatives, remove the game timer, and compete for the high score. There is a lot you can do with this app.



Math Zoom - Great for number line practice. Zoom in and out of a number line and place the numbers in the correct spots, additional challenges are available as you unlock levels.

Card Clutter - An app designed to help students determine ordering in numbers. You are given 10 cards and tap them in the order from least to greatest. Simple and effective!


Stay tuned, follow this blog or sign-up to receive these posts via e-mail! The next series of posts will cover apps appropriate for elementary, middle, and high school as well as the topics they cover in mathematics!

Stay Effective!

Clickers in the Classroom

Today we are going to be taking a closer look at clickers in the classroom. There are a lot of types of clickers out there and we will go into the details of types of clickers at a later time, but right now I want to focus on the effectiveness of these great devices.

First off, clickers are a simple idea that provides many wonderful opportunities in the classroom. Clickers are designed to give the teacher (and students) instant feedback on his or her understanding of the topic(s). It is an amazing tool because students love being able to point and click to the receiver in the room and love to see if they are doing the problems correctly or know the information.

Clickers can be used for a lot of different ideas. Here are a list of the few main concepts for clickers.

1) A pre and post test that can be done in 10-15 minutes of class to see what students may already know before starting a unit and then be able to see the students' growth from the post clicker test. A bonus is that students don't feel that it is a test and will relax and really show you what they know!

2) Teaching a new topic? Why not incorporate your notes onto a powerpoint or other slideshow that works with the clickers, teach a concept and then have the students use the clickers after a new topic was taught to see if they are understanding. Perhaps provide an award idea that if you maintain an 80% over so many checks that they can earn a ticket towards the iPad time (See the 1 iPad Classroom Series).

3) Use for a review game...how great could it be for ask the audience?


I started using clickers as a way to engage my students longer on math problems. I teach for 90 minutes, middle schoolers and 90 minutes is a long time! When we bring out the clickers, it is like an amazing reset on class, where the students are refreshed and ready to do more problems even though 2 minutes ago they were burnt out.

I run a Funday Friday idea, where we review a previous topic and students receiving above an 80% are considered proficient on that topic and earn some time in our technology room, which features iPads and computers. Students not at that proficient mark work on a mini-lesson with myself that reflects the topic used with the clickers. It is not seen as a punishment, just as a reward which is really neat to experience, plus some topics you can cut your class in half!

Our next blog will feature how to effectively use the data from clickers to assess your teaching abilities and student growth.

The 1 iPad Classroom - Holding Students Accountable

My iPad is nearly used for everything now day. I order from Amazon, I check my e-mails, I connect to facebook. This is my convenience technology and I would hate having to enter in my login material every single time, because most importantly my iPad is an effective tool I use in the classroom.

Well there is an amazing solution to hold students accountable and keep them on the app you want them to be on, while leaving your personal apps safe. Apple has always made their products with features intended to be used in the classroom. One of the latest IOS updates in IOS 6 features a brand new teacher tool called "Guided Access".

We will first discuss what Guided Access is and then give you directions to set this tool up on your iPad. In short, guided access prevents a person from leaving whatever app is currently running. This means hitting home does nothing and multi-finger gestures are disabled. When you enable guided access, you simply have to triple click home and select guided access. You will already have a 4 digit code enter and only need to hit start, by hitting start the student is now restricted to that sole app. You can also disable touch capabilities and/or motion capabilities.

Using a calculator on the iPad, you can disable the extras

Now Apple has gone a step farther, suppose you have this great educational app, but not only does it have the material you want the student to go through now, but it also has very basic. In math, perhaps I want a student to work on algebra, but the app also has a choice on basic math facts such as 1+1. Well I can draw a circle over the area I do not want the students to use and a shield is drawn on top of that part of the app, thus preventing the student from doing anything other than what I want them to do. What an amazing feature to provide so much accountable and security for teachers that use their own iPad in the classroom.

To start using this feature follow these simple instructions:
1) Go to settings
2) General
3) Accessibility
4) Tap the Guided Access, enter a passcode and it is now enabled!


To use Guided Access follow these intructions:
1) Go to the app you want the student to use
2) Triple click home
3) Choose guided access
4) Circle anything on the app you also want to disable
5) Hit start

To exit Guided Access follow these instructions:
1) Triple click home
2) Enter your 4-digit passcode
3) Hit end.

More on Guided Access