Explore Science on the iPad

If you're a budding scientist, or even just mildly interested in the world around you, the following apps may help you get even more out of your iPad. 

One of the best things about these apps is ...they're all (currently) FREE! 

Just click the title or icon to download any of these apps and give it a try...

Rough Science
Three fun and interesting videos from science educator, Sean M Elliot, each with a creative challenge activity that you can complete using your iPad. Topics are: Layers of the Earth | Liquid, Solid & Gas | Adaptation & Evolution. All material is aligned with the new Australian curriculum for Years 5 and 6, which may not bother you so much but will make your parents and teachers very happy indeed! There's even a free teachers' Handbook available for iBooks.

Rough Science

NASA
NASA's official app lets you learn about the latest space missions, view amazing NASA space photos, learn about objects in the sky and more. Discover the latest images, videos, mission information, news, feature stories, tweets, NASA TV and featured content.

NASA

Star Chart
This is my particular favourite - awesome for anyone interested in astronomy or star-gazing. Point your iPad to see what stars you’re looking at, even those on the other side of the planet. You also can view our sky 10,000 years into the past or future.

Star Chart

HudsonAlpha iCell
iCell gives you a 3D view inside three different types of cells: animal, plant, and bacteria cells. Learn about the various parts of the cell with information from the HudsonAlpha Institute. Use your finger to tap on parts of the cell to select and zoom in on that particular organelle. Each organelle comes with a name and a short description of its function in the cell. For a better view of each cell, hold down one finger on the screen, and drag to rotate around the cell. You can zoom in and out by pinching or flaring with two fingers at once.

iCell

Rocket Science 101 (by NASA)

NASA's Launch Services Program (LSP) launches real rockets and exciting spacecraft missions every day - now it's your turn! Select your favorite NASA mission and build a rocket to send the spacecraft into orbit. This simulation app will teach you about thrilling missions and the various components of the launch vehicles, how they are configured and how they work together to successfully launch a NASA spacecraft. 

Rocket Science 101

EarthViewer

A powerful app from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Discover what Earth’s continents and oceans looked like 250 million years ago, or even 1 billion years ago! Find out what we know about the climate back when our planet formed. This app is like a time machine for exploring Earth’s natural history.

EarthViewer

Field Guide to Victorian Fauna
For animal lovers all over Australia, this app features detailed descriptions of over 730 species of animals: birds, fishes, frogs, lizards, snakes, mammals, freshwater, terrestrial and marine invertebrates, spiders, and insects including butterflies. You will also find maps of distribution, and endangered species status with stunning imagery and sounds to provide a valuable reference that can be used in urban, bush and coastal environments. The content has been developed by scientists at Museum Victoria, Australia’s largest public museum organisation. 

Field Guide to Victorian Fauna

Cargo Bot
Not strictly "science" content this one, but a good app for any budding or aspiring computer programmers. A series of puzzle games based around a robot character moving crates, lets you practice the logical thought processes necessary for programming skill.

Cargo Bot

Have YOU got a favourite Science app? Please tell us about it in the comments!

Morphing with MORFO

Sensai would like you all to have an app called Morfo 3D Face Booth. It's only 99c but please don't buy it yourself. The school will be able to buy it at half price so we'll do that and send you a link to your school email address.

Please watch out for that email so you can have Morfo ready to use before your next Japanese lesson. Maybe you'll come up with some ways that you can use Morfo in other areas of your learning...? Have fun with it!

Morfo 3D Face Booth

Apps for Japanese Lessons

Our wonderful Japanese teacher, Sensai Amy Flynn, is very keen to continue making the most of the iPads as learning tools during her LOTE lessons. Sensai has asked that you please check you have installed the following apps as soon as possible (they're all FREE):

Japanese - Hiragana (by hk2006)

Japanese - Kanji -18 kanjis version (by hk2006)

Sock Puppets (by Smith Micro Software)

Fotopedia Japan (by Fotonauts)

Boot Camp Followup: Digital Citizenship Tool Kit

Through the Innovative Learning programs at St Catherine's, it is our aim to have your children engage in the powerful, participatory learning experiences made possible with mobile digital technologies. Ideally, today's learners are not simply consumers but active participants in knowledge creation. In order to participate safely and responsibly in the digital world, your children must be equipped with a suite of "digital citizenship" skills.

Aspects of digital citizenship education

At the Cyber Safety Boot Camps this week, we presented information about two of the aspects of participation in a digital society: 

• Connectivity - what are the implications of having the world at our fingertips and what are appropriate behaviours in a digital society?
• Digital Identity - how we are perceived in the digital world is becoming increasingly significant so how do we shape and protect our online presence?

We then conducted three small group sessions with brief activities based around:

1. Cyberbullying
2. Information Security, and
3. Email Etiquette

The resources below may be useful in following up the experience at home and will hopefully allow you to share the learning with other family members. Please feel welcome to use the Comments function to share further resources or ask questions. 

Introduction to Digital Citizenship

·     Video Trailer: Wild About (Online) Safety with Timon and Pumbaa (3 mins)

·     Video: Common Sense Online (3 mins 22 secs)

·     Video: Playing & Staying Safe Online (1 min 46 secs)

Cyberbullying

Talent Show video (50 secs)

Common Sense Media video: Standing up to Cyberbullying (1 min 7 secs)

Things to talk about:

• What is cyberbullying?
• What do I do if it happens to me?
• How do I help someone else who is cyberbullied?
• How can I be an upstander, not a bystander?

Information Security

Video: Lee and Kim (8 mins 36 secs)

Parents, you may have also viewed the first 90 seconds of a video made in the UK by CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection) for 8 - 10 year old children. We did not show the entire video as we feared the content may cause undue anxiety in a few of our students. It is an excellent video with a strong and important message. We include the link below so that you can watch it yourselves privately and decide whether it may be appropriate to watch it with your child. The video is 8 mins and 34 secs in duration.

Things to talk about:

• What information should I keep private?
• Why do I need to guard my privacy online?
• What should I do if someone keeps asking me to tell them my private information online?

Email Savvy & Etiquette

ThinkuKnow website resource: CyberCafe Game

Reminder: Cyber Safety Boot Camps

Dear Year 5 Parents (2014),

Welcome to the new school year!
...and welcome to your new blog space.

Please take a moment to subscribe to this Year 5 Padwise blog by completing the "Follow by Email" field in the right hand column. This online space will be the main avenue of communication about your child's 1 to 1 iPad program in 2014.

If you are a Year 6 parent in 2014 receiving this post via email, you can use the email footer to unsubscribe from this Year 5 blog space. Then please subscribe instead to Year 6 Padwise, our Year 6 blog space for 2014. 

Event Reminder (for Year 5 parents in 2014):

We kick start Term 1 with a focus on Digital Citizenship, in particular, the online safety of your children. With internet-enabled devices in their hands, your children have ready access to a world of learning opportunities. Alongside these opportunities lurks a world of risk. It is crucial that the safety and privacy of your children is never compromised through their online behaviours. In order that parents, students and teachers share an understanding of the potential risks of internet activity we aim to establish a consistent approach digital citizenship at school and at home.

This is a quick reminder about the Cyber Safety boot camps scheduled for next week. November 2013 seems like a long time ago. You will hopefully remember this post from last year's "Launch Pad" blog about the boot camp events. Hopefully these important events will be marked in your calendar already but if not, we hope this reminder allows you time to make the necessary arrangements to attend. If you are in contact with any fellow Yr 5 parents who may not yet subscribe to this blog, please help us spread the word.

Attendance at ONE ONLY of the two events is compulsory for all Year 5 (2014) students, accompanied by at least one parent. 

Please arrive at 6.45pm for a look around your child's new classroom, ahead of a prompt 7pm start. The events will conclude by 8.30pm.

We look forward to seeing you all at EITHER:

Boot Camp 1

Tuesday 28th January, 2014

7pm - 8.30pm
Year 5 classrooms, A block

OR

Boot Camp 2

Wednesday 29th January, 2014

7pm - 8.30pm
Year 5 classrooms, A block

Using Google Drive

In 2014, students in Years 5 and 6 will be using Google Drive for document creation and storage. Here is a collection of resources that might be useful if you wanted to get a head start with Google Drive over the holidays. We will certainly need a few student "experts" as we all start to use it next year...

Your BCE student account gives you access to Google Drive and 30GB of storage space. Firstly, make sure you have installed the FREE Google Drive app on your iPad:

You can learn more about the Google Drive app for iOS here:

https://support.google.com/drive/topic/2429901?hl=en&ref_topic=2375071

Now, log into your Google Drive app using your myBCE email address and password. You can create and share documents right on your iPad. You can also use Google drive in a web browser on any computer. Your files will sync to any device where you are logged into your Google drive.

Here are some places you can find more information:

Richard Byrne has put together an easy-to-follow guide for using Google Drive on your iPad:

Google Drive for iPad by richardbyrne

Google's Support page for Google Drive:

Video Tutorial (duration 14 mins) on using Google Drive from a computer 

(using Google's Chrome web browser):

The Last Post

If you are a current Year 4 parent and have followed a link in the Contact newsletter 

to this 5Padwise blog, this will become YOUR space in 2014. 

Information about the compulsory

  CyberSafety Boot Camps 

can be found in the latest post

here on your iPad Launch Pad blog.

Apologies for the confusion everyone - we have 3 separate blogs now, one each for the three year levels who need information on Learning Innovations with iPads. This time of transition between year levels can be a confusing time for everyone!

---oOo---

Dear Parents of current Year 5 students, 

This will be the last post for you on this 5Padwise blog!

It's been a wonderful year of learning for your children and as they continue learning with iPads in Year 6 in 2014, you will have a NEW space to follow their news. Currently it's a blank space but you may wish to set up a subscription in readiness for the 2014 school year:

Click here to link to 6Padwise, the new Year 6 blog for 2014!

New App Required for 2014:

Morfo 3D Face Booth

Next year, your children will require a new app for LOTE. Our lovely Japanese teacher Mrs Flynn has asked that her students install Morfo 3D Face Booth. Although there is a free version of this app (simply called Morfo), Mrs Flynn advises that the paid version offers much better performance and added features and it is her preference that all students purchase Morfo 3D Face Booth, at a cost of 99c.

Due to the minimal cost of Morfo 3D Face Booth, we are hoping that you will not mind arranging this purchase for your child. The app may have uses for other learning areas as well as LOTE. You can provide this app for your child in several ways:

1. By gifting it to your child. You can do this by purchasing the app from your own Apple ID as a gift. Select "Gift this app" when you purchase and you will be provided with a redemption code to email to your child so they can install it under their own Apple ID at no further cost.
   
2. By temporarily adding your credit card information to your child's Apple ID account. Do this on the iPad in the App Store app > Featured tab > scroll down > click Apple ID: > View Apple ID > Payment Information or in Settings > iTunes & App Store > click account name > view Apple ID > sign in > Payment Information. As soon as the purchase is made you should remove your credit card details by selecting "None" in Payment Information.
3. By adding an iTunes Gift Card to your child's Apple ID account. If there is no existing credit on your child's Apple ID account, iTunes cards can be purchased in packs of 3 x $10, 2 x $15 or individually in $20, $50 and $100 amounts. This can be a useful stocking filler. Stores often offer discounts on iTunes gift cards. Keep your eye on the Gift Cards on Sale website for information on current iTunes card offers.

Please email Maria if you have any difficulty with this request for 2014:

mmead[insert 'at' sign here]bne.catholic.edu.au

Have a great break and don't forget to keep safe online. If you are unable to supervise your children during their iPad use over the holiday break, turn off wifi or use "Airplane Mode". You may also use Restrictions to turn off Safari, YouTube etc.

Remember, it is NOT an invasion of your child's privacy to check their sent and received emails occasionally, including attachments. This is what we call "appropriate supervision" for children of primary school age. By monitoring email use regularly you are helping to keep this method of communication a safe and positive experience for ALL of our students, and helping to educate your child in good digital citizenship.