Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Free Civil War apps!

Who likes free? 
Me! Me! :) 
I was doing some research last night... my 5th graders are learning about the Civil War. It has been
 A LONG time 
since I learned about the Civil War. We also happen to live in a state that has some Civil War history - which makes this ten times cooler {for me anyway.... }

I was planning on using Google Earth to zoom into some of the battlefield sites so they could gain some  perspective.... where the battles happened... terrain... proximity to important cities or military outposts...
since we can't actually go and see any of these things IRL...
I started looking through the app store...
there are a heck of a lot of games about the civil war - which might be interesting to play after we have done some research....

But. Then. I. Found. Free. Apps!
Free battlefield apps - 
with maps 
lists of generals and militia
timelines
AND
videos and photographs!
JACKPOT!
These apps are all affiliated with civilwar.org 
This is a Civil War Trust trying to preserve acres of battlefields. 

I went a *little* crazy. Here is a picture of my phone after downloading - oh.... 15 apps or so... 
:D


I was up until at least midnight last night touring Gettysburg. 
Warning - Some of the pictures are graphic - they show dead soldiers on the battlefields, horses, houses that had been attacked... full of primary sources!
{interviews, first hand accounts, pictures}
SO PLEASE - PREVIEW!

Okay - Ready for the bad news? 
They are only on the iPhone right now. 
:(
BUT - if you have a VGA cable - you can hook your iPhone to your projector... and TADA - everyone can see! :) 

There is ONE app for the iPad... I am in the process of downloading and installing now. 

The Gettysburg app had a tour that needed to be downloaded (these are originally meant to be walking tour guides...) 
But I went ahead and downloaded all the information so that I could wander blissfully through the app. 
{DORK}


Okay - so - if you grab these - let me know what you think! So far I am pretty amazed at the quality since it is free.... jus' my two cents. :) 

What other resources do I NEED for teaching Civil War? Anything you use and love? Help a girl out! I've spent most of my teaching career in first and second - so I'm at the edge of my comfort zone here! :) 


OH MAN - 
I almost posted without including links! Whew, so happy I caught that! :) 






YES  - I am missing a few battles... I am working on adding those now! :) 
There is one I would really like - Love Letters from the Civil War - could it be any more romantic! :) 
Maybe another day! ;)
Have a great night!


No comments:

Post a Comment