Common Core at your finger tips

I don't know if you are like me but there are times I just can't find what I am looking for... whether it's the handout that was given to me at a meeting, the document that was shared in my drive, or an email I know is still in my inbox.  

With the implementation of Common Core, I need to have the Common Core standards readily available at any time. I found a great app to keep them at my finger tips. The Core app by MasteryConnect, Inc. puts the standards right on your phone in and easy to find or look up format. This FREE app is available on both iOS and Android OS. 

This app is a great reference for parents, students, and educators. 

Download this app today and never be without your Common Core Standards. 

 

App of the Week - The Plague

Description:
Plague Inc. is a unique mix of high strategy and terrifyingly realistic simulation from developer Ndemic Creations. Can you infect the world?  

Your pathogen has just infected 'Patient Zero'. Now you must bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting against everything humanity can do to defend itself. 

"Brilliantly executed with innovative gameplay and built from the ground up for mobile, Plague Inc. evolves the strategy genre and pushes mobile gaming (and you) to new levels. It’s You vs. the world -only the strongest can survive!" Google Play

iPad: 0.99
Android: Free  (unlock full version in app 0.99)
Chrome: not available

Classroom Use: 
The Plague Inc. will be used by Muller Road Middle students to create a multi-media project that demonstrates the connections between the history of infectious diseases, their impact on the human body, and the application of statistics to the spread/outbreak of infectious diseases.

Just as epidemics infected our world years ago, Plague, Inc. spreads diseases through animals and international travel. This allows the lesson on Epidemics to come to life for the students. They can choose and name a pathogen to infect the world. Students will research 10 different diseases before deciding which one they will use in both the project and the game. Students will use the app parallel to their unit on Epidemics.

Also in Plague, Inc., students have to select a country where the disease will originate. This is a strategic way to begin the game. Students will apply what they are learning in Social Studies about countries around the world. They will need to be familiar with the geography of the country, its demographics, and its climate to recognize how easily the epidemic will grow. 

In Science, students will study the human body. Looking at the major organs and tissues as well as how organs and tissue are infected by each disease. They will also learn about the DNA associated with each epidemic. Plague, Inc. allows the students to collect DNA points and spend them to avoid detection. It also allows the students to create the symptoms of their disease and the strength of it. Just as humans in real life, the people in Plague, Inc. do everything possible to fight the disease by either slowing it down or destroying it. Students will have to be strategic in using their DNA points as they decide how to react to the government’s counter-attack.

Plague, Inc. supplies all the necessary data the students need as they plan their attack on the world. The app shows various types of graphs to describe the number of people infected etc. It uses line graphs, circle graphs, and bar graphs. The students will be creating their own graphs in math class with the data they collect about their epidemic. Plague, Inc. has great examples of how scientists and mathematicians use displays of data to compare what is happening in the world. 

A design team at Muller Road Middle School will be implementing a new unit on Epidemics at the end of February. This team includes Lakeshia Mitchell, Marquis Ardoin, Michelle Mauney and Christy Stokes. 

The team looks forward to the implementation of this unit and how Plague, Inc. will aid the students as they discover the effect of epidemics on the world. Not only do they expect it to be a fun addition to the curriculum, but also expect it to grab the students’ interest and make an impact on their learning!

*Christy Stokes is our guest blogger! Thank you for the information on how students at Muller Road Middle will be using this app!

App of the Week - Google Drive

Google Drive has been available for a while on Android devices and became available on iOS devices in the late summer. The updates from this summer truly made Google Drive more user friendly on a  mobile device. On both iOS and Android the ability to view presentations with speaker notes. Presentations could also be viewed in full screen mode with the ability to swipe through the slides. The app allowed the creation of folders and the ability to upload pictures and videos directly through the app. Additionally the Android OS allowed adding comments, replying to comments.This really changed the way you could use Google Drive on a mobile device.

Yesterday, Google released an update to the apps for iOS and Android. The main portion of the update is improvement to Google Sheets (aka Spreadsheets). Users can now edit spreadsheets, switch fonts, resize columns, and sort data. All of the edits are a real time in the mobile environment. This gives Google Sheets a very clean user friendly interface on a mobile device.

In Google Drive the update gave better editor functionality as a whole. Now 'Send Link' copy links on to a clipboard as a additional option to other sharing.

"The update also includes a slew of functionality improvements to the Google Docs editor. You can now edit the contents of tables in the Google Docs editor. The updated editor also preserves the formatting of content when copy/pasting content within Google Docs. You can also enter the ‘Edit’ mode in Google Docs by single tapping, instead of having to manually switch between the edit and view modes." - Tech2 Blog

Take a look at the new app today! It's available on iOS, Android, and Chrome OS.