Tony Vincent shared a lot September 18-20, 2007 at Tilles Elementary School in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Here are some notes about Palm applications, lessons, and resources.

Quizzler

Students take multiple choice, flashcard, or true/false quizzes. Teachers can download pre-made quizzes and share them with students. Or, teachers and/or students can make their own quizzes using these directions.

MathAce

Great program for increasing "fact power." Here are some ways to use MathAce with students.

Proofreading Concepts. Apps: Docs To Go & Dictate
4th grade Literacy Class/Emfinger's Class

Students edited example sentences beamed to them in the word processor Docs To Go. Then Dictate was used to give dictation sentences to students. At the end of the dictation session, Dictate gives students a score and allows them to see their mistakes. Dictate may be somewhat complicated to use at first. See Dictate's User Guide for help.

Acute, Obtuse, and Right Angles and Estimating Angle Measures. App: Angles
4th grade Math Class/Sutherland's Class

Students reviewed three types of angles: acute, obtuse, and right. Instruction included strategies for estimating the measure of an angle. To practice, students played the Angles game. The game presents students with an angle. Students estimate the angle's measure and enter it. The correct angle measure is given and the student's score is how many degrees their estimate was away from the correct number. After 10 rounds, a final score is given. The lower the score, the better.

Order of Operations and Problem-Solving. App: MathWiz
6th grade Math Class/Hartman's Class

Students reviewed the order of mathematical operations: parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. MathWiz gives students four numbers and a target number. MathWiz has students answer the question, "How would you use the given numbers to achieve the target number?" In order to solve the problem, students must use the Order of Operations.

Adding/Subtracting and Probability. Apps: TicTac15 & X-Num
4th grade Math Class/Edwards's Class

Students reviewed mental math concepts and then learned to play TicTac15. The objective of TicTac15 is to complete a column, row, or diagonal so that three numbers add to 15. Play can be against the computer or against another person (on one handheld). Players take turns revealing a random number 1-9 and then placing that number on the grid. Since each number is used only once, smart players take note at what numbers have already been used and consider what numbers remain. Read more about TicTac15.

Students also learned to play X-Num. X-Num is a number game where the rows, columns, and diagonals must equal certain numbers.

Prepositions & Prepositional Phrases: Apps: Docs To Go & Beamer
6th grade Literacy Class/Ming's Class

Students reviewed prepositions and prepositional phrases by color-coding them in the word processor Docs To Go. They also memorized as many prepositions as they could.

Students then played "Cross-Talk" with a partner. The game uses Beamer, a free application that allows students to beam words back and forth. Start with Player 1 inputting a preposition and tapping the Beam button. Then Player 2 inputs a different preposition under Player 1's word and beams the document back to Player 1. Play continues back and forth until one player cannot think of another word to write, repeats a word that has already been used, or uses an incorrect word. "Cross-Talk" can be played with a variety of topics from the teacher, including synonyms and antonyms.

Place Value & Rounding. App: Note Pad & Rounding
4th grade Math Class/Edward's Class

Students reviewed place value and rounding using Note Pad. They practiced the skills and reviewed instant feedback using the Rounding application.

Mental Math and Problem-Solving. App: Summing
5th grade Math Class/Triplett's Class

The "fact power" students practiced with MathAce helps them play the mental math and strategy game Summing. Summing is a one-player game. The object is to clear the screen of all tiles. You clear the screen by placing the next tile in a blank spot. If a tile is placed in a position where the number on that tile is equal to the digit in the one's place of the sum of all tiles that are touching it, all of those tiles are cleared from the screen. (Touching includes sharing a side or corner.) Summing is very challenging! The current lowest score ever reported to Tony is 18.

Review Parts of Speech. Apps: Silly Sentences & Idea Pad
5th grade Literacy Class/Wilhelm's Class

Students reviewed some of the parts of speech by sorting words in the concept-mapping application Idea Pad.

Using Silly Sentences, students input nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases. When the "Make Sentence" button is tapped, the words are mixed together into crazy sentences. Be sure to use the help menus for information about the parts of speech and which forms of nouns and verbs work best. Tip: Don't let students tap the "Make Sentence" button until there is at least one entry in each category, otherwise the handheld will crash.

Spelling: Apps: Quizzler & SpellIt
4th grade Literacy Class/Emfinger's Class

Students reviewed the spelling rule for a set of word and used Quizzler to identify the correct spellings in a Quiz made by Tony. Students then used SpellIt to enter the spellings of words and to receive instant feedback on their answers. Students then learned how to enter their own weekly spelling list and quiz themselves over the spellings.

Writing Crazy Narrative Stories. Apps: GoneMad!
6th grade Literacy Class/Ming's Class

Students reviewed parts of speech before learning to use GoneMad! GoneMad! is a silly word game where students fill in story templates to make crazy stories. Students can make their own templates by taking a paragraph and replacing keywords with a description of the kind of word in brackets. These story templates can be beamed to others to complete and enjoy. Click for resources and tips for using GoneMad!

Mobile Web

Palm TXs have Wi-Fi Internet access. Learn about using websites designed for handheld-sized screens here.

Palm Software

Tony has cataloged free and inexpensive Palm software into subject area categories.

Tony's Palm Blog Posts

Tony periodically writes about software, uses, news, and strategies for Palms in education.

Soft Reset Podcast

Tony Vincent and Mike Curtis host this podcast for those using handhelds in education. Each episode is filled with tips and cover a variety of topics.

Photo Essay

Read a photo essay by Taylor, one of Tony's fifth grade students, to see how handhelds can be incorportated into instruction and routine.

Contact Tony

Email him a message or post in the Learning in Hand forums.