Last summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

The app Shakespeare’s Sonnets features all 154 poems performed by an all-star cast, background analysis, and shareable videos. Users can “dig deeper with commentaries by the Arden Shakespeare and Don Patterson. In addition to the performance videos, there are expert interviews that take closer looks at Shakespeare and the sonnets.”

Read this review of the app from Common Sense Media, or preview the app with this detailed review here.

Level: High School
Platform: iOS
Cost: $13.99

Watch this short video to get an idea of how the app works:

Last summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

Quizizz is “a game-based tool for class review or assessment. It provides class and student level data and works on any device with a browser. You can find quizzes made by other teachers or create your own, and you can conduct “live” quizzes or assign a quiz as homework. Students play together but each at their own pace. The app has gamification elements like avatars and memes.”

Level: All
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: Free

Read a detailed review of the app from Teachers First that also includes several examples of ways to incorporate the app into your classroom. This article from Common Sense Education does a side-by-side comparison between Quizizz and the Kahoot! app. And check out the Quizizz website for testimonies from teachers that use the app.

Watch this video to see how Quizizz works:

Last summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

Goldilocks and Little Bear is an app that tells the familiar story but with a twist. It also tells the story of Little Bear, who ends up exploring Goldilocks family home. “Enjoy each stories in parallel, individually, or however you’d like – you can toggle between the two at any point. The app includes beautiful artwork, stunning animation, ingenious, playful forms of interactivity, original music, voice work and sound effects, and more.”

Tech for Kids has a review of the app you can read here, and School Library Journal also reviewed the app. Their article includes this link to a video by Steve Burke, who created the music for the app, which gives viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the process!

Level: Elementary
Platform: iOS
Cost: $4.99

Watch the trailer for the app here:

This summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

The app National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a story driven app. It allows the user to experience the museum virtually through images, audio/text transcripts, and video clips. “Designed to be used during a museum visit, students can virtually experience the museum by viewing the exhibitions online and seeing artifacts like Harriet Tubman’s shawl, James Baldwin’s passport, and a segregated railway coach.” For questions and activities that can be used with students, check under the “For Families” section.

This article from Clearly Innovative gives a detailed description of the app and its capabilities. For videos and to learn more about the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, check out their Youtube channel here. 

Level: Elementary +
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE