Book Apps

I love to read books, but my purse is not big enough to take them everywhere. It wouldn't even hold an ereader if I happened to own one. I do have an iPhone, though. With the free Kindle and iBooks apps I can take books with me everywhere. I don't read new books on it. I like the feel of books and being able to look at my bookmark and see what fraction of the book I have read. I do like to reread the free classics on my iPhone. I have now read books by Alcott, Austin, Burnett, and Dickens while waiting at the doctor's office, drive thru, and hair salon.

Color Splash

Another fun app for everyone is Color Splash. It takes a photo and changes it to grayscale. You use the tools to zoom and restore color where you want it. Whatever you decide to recolor is given emphasis and drama against the black and white background. Color Splash is a fun and easy tool. This picture took me less than five minutes to change!

Names in a Hat

A lot of us have a cup with popsicle sticks on our desk. Each stick has a student name or number so we can randomly and fairly pick someone. What if you are not near your desk or want a more interesting way to choose students? The app Names in a Hat will do this for you. With a shake of the device, a name will be chosen until you go through the entire list. It will even keep track of the order drawn. Another feature is that it will divide the names into two or more teams. When the groups are chosen, you can set the device under your document camera for everyone to see. Try that with a cup of popsicle sticks!

Go Stargazing

With the sun setting earlier and school not yet begun, it is the perfect time for the app Star Walk. With newer devices, you just hold it up and the app tells you what you are looking at: stars, planets, compass direction, and even constellations. You can still use it with older devices, too, just take a compass out with you. For a good part of the summer, I thought that bright planet after sunset was Venus. Thanks to Star Walk I discovered it was Saturn! So often we use technology inside by ourselves. I love it when I find something that can be shared outside.