Picasa

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I liked that it was easy to crop photos in Picasa. It had preset crops or you could crop the photo yourself. I liked the effects that you apply to the photo. It was also easy to upload a photo.

Game-based learning

The first game I played was McDonald's game. It this game you have farm what is needed for McDonald's. You had to grow the food to feed the cows. Feed the cows, run the restaurant and the corporate headquarters.  I did not do very well in it. I could not figure out how to play even after I went through the tutorial.  So I then played the Game Goo. It was a spelling game. You made up you name for the game by choosing from two list of words and then adding a number. In this game I was a skate broader and if I spelled the word correct I got point that could be traded in for new stuff. With each level the word got harder. 

Apps

Doodle Buddy
The first app I played with was Doodle Buddy. It works by using your finger to draw on the iPad. I allows you draw pictures on several different backgrounds. I liked it because it could keep a child's attention for a while. They could change the color and what they were drawing with when ever they wanted. This app would be useful for a child to express what they are feeling, or to just have fun if there is any down time in the classroom.

Find Sums
This app works by giving a sum and you had to find way to make that sum by using only two numbers. This app teaches addition. I liked the find Sums app because it gave students a visual as they learned addition. This would be a good way to teach addition in the classroom. Students could practice while feeling like they were playing a game.

Pile Up The States
This app put learning your states and geography into a game. The app asks questions about states, and then gives you choices as to the answer. If you answer the question correctly it puts the answer in a bubble that you must pop to go on to the next question. You try to stack the states up to the full line to win the game. If you answer it wrong then it tells you the correct answer. I could use this when teach the 50 states. It would be a good visual for students to learn the shape of each state.

Delicious, Google Reader, Library Thing

Delicious
I found that it was very easy to set up a Delicious site. At first it reminded me of Pintrest, and it is a little like that but you are bookmarking sites. When searching the word cloud I found a cool place to make graphics using words, and a link to portable apps.

Google Reader
I did not find the Google Reader very helpful. I was unable to find most thing that I typed into the search box. The few thing that I did find was nothing that I would want to read. I would not use Google reader again.

Library Thing
I like the idea of having an online library, but I would not keep it up to date. I liked the different ways you could search for books. This could be helpful in the future when searching for books to use in the classroom. 

Gmail, Calendar and iGoogle

I have used Gmail for several years. I knew there was a way to add a signature, but never could figure it out. This is one feature that i learned how to use tonight. I did not know that you could have your replies sent to a different address, and have your Gmail show as the mailing address. This would be nice to set up so that you don't have to check different email accounts everyday. The last thing that I learned was that you could add events into your Google calendar from your email.

I have never used google calendar, but I think I start using it. I liked there were different ways to share your calender if you wanted to. I liked that I could integrate it with my Blackberry's built in calendar. I use my Blackberry calendar for everything. I also thought that it was neat that you could send invitation using Google calendars.

I have seen iGoogle before but never really used it. I like that it had tabs, and that you can add as many as you like. It's an easy way to find out information by only going to one site. I liked that you could chat while on this page which made it great for doing many tasking at one time.

Browsers

The first browser I looked at was Sea Monkey. I liked that you could do a Google search in the address bar with out going to the Google website, but if you hit the search button in the tool bar it took you to the Google site. However, it is not user friendly to open a new tab.

The second browser I look at was Safari. I like how you can set up your favorite sites and can pull these up by hitting one button. I thought that it was much easier to open a new tab in this browser than in Sea Monkey. It has an address bar and a search bar. I really liked the reading list button.

Over all I feel that the Safari browser was much easier to use than Sea Monkey.

Keyboarding Skills

I tried out 3 different typing skills website. The first  was http://www.speedtypingonline.com/typing-test on this cite you can play games and test your speed. It gave you a quote to type and you would have to type it as fast as you could with few errors. This cite is good for increasing speed. The next cite I played on was http://www.typingstudy.com/lesson/1/part/2. This cite had lessons that ranged from basic beginner typing to more advance typing skills. I liked that in the beginner lessons it showed you where your finger should be and if you typed the right key the key on the screen would turn green but if you typed the wrong key it turned red. This would be very helpful for someone who is learning to type or for younger children. The last cite I tried was http://www.how-to-type.com/touch-typing-lessons/how-to-type-home-keys/. I liked that this cite divided the lesson up into rows of the keyboard. The lessons started out easy but became harder. They also focused on one had at a time before going to both hands. This might also be easier for young children or someone who is leaning to type.