Early children educators have a big job ahead of them, and even the most organized teachers can use some help every now and then. If you have an iPhone, then you have access to thousands of different apps that can help you in the classroom. The 10 apps below will help you run the classroom, organize notes and plans and they will make your job much easier.
1. iBlueSky
This is a brainstorming app that allows you to make a large and complex map of different thoughts and events. For example, you can build a map based on lessons you plan for the month, or you can build an even larger map that can help you organize everything for the entire year. This ensures that you hit every point that you need to while teaching young children.
2. TeacherPal
This iPhone app is made specifically for teachers. It has some basic functions like the ability to take attendance without needing an attendance sheet, and the ability to track grades. While you can do this with paper, it is much easier to correct grades and records with an app. TeacherPal also has a section that enables you to track food allergies so that you can prevent children from eating foods that are harmful to them.
3. Teacher’s Assistant Pro: Student Behavior
While a kindergarten teacher’s job is to facilitate learning, another important function is to watch everyone’s behavior. This allows you to tell parents about potential behavioral problems that might be serious. This app makes it much easier to track and record these observations.
4. Teacher’s Helper
It can be difficult to find new activities and skill sheets each and every year, and you can spend hours just looking around for these. The Teacher’s Helper app is designed to make this task much easier. You will be able to access 30 new sheets every month, and you just need to pay an annual subscription fee to get new activities.
5. Toddler Flashcards
It goes without saying, but flashcards are very useful for toddlers. You can show toddlers objects and words at the same time, and they will quickly learn the association between the two. This app gives you access to a large number of flashcards, and you don’t have to worry about children crumpling or throwing the cards around. Considering the small size of the iPhone, this would work best if you show the images to a small group of children.
6. Motion Math: Hungry Fish
This is a special math game that is fun to play and simple to look at. This is perfect for teaching children simple addition. There is a fish with a number on it, and students must add up smaller numbers to equal the exact same number on the fish. This will not only teach the child how to add, but it will also teach him or her motor skills because you need to carefully move your finger to properly play the game.
7. Art in Motion
This art app for the iPhone is the perfect alternative to finger-painting. Children will gain a better understanding of color because there are hundreds of colors that children can choose from, and children will also learn about geometric shapes by moving them and painting with them on the screen.
8. TeacherTool One
TeacherTool One is a powerful app that has all of the basic functionality you need to run a classroom. This comes with a grade book, attendance tools, calendars and a journal function to keep notes about students. You can also backup the information to a PC or Mac so that nothing is ever lost.
9. DropBox
Teachers have been carrying fewer paper documents due to flash drives and other technological advances, but DropBox puts an end to all of this. You don’t need to carry any documents because you can easily access files from your computer through the cloud with this app. Just load the files in your special DropBox folder, and your iPhone can quickly access and download any of the files.
10. Numbers
Spreadsheets are always useful for early childhood educators. You can use spreadsheets to make custom forms for remembering grades, notes, lesson plans and many other things. The best thing about Numbers is that it has almost limitless data storage. You can save a lot of information in one spreadsheet, and this enables you to really get everything down as a teacher.
There are many apps for early childhood educators that can help you keep track of the classroom, remember allergies and attendance and to teach children with new technology. If you have an iPhone, then make sure you download at least a few of these apps. They will prove very useful, and you will wonder how you ran a classroom before utilizing the full power of your iPhone.
