ABC Magic

I have been using ABC Magic with my students. This app works on letter sounds. The students play a memory match game where they can either match letter to picture with the same sound or picture to picture with the same sound. The number of items to match can also be changed from 12, 16 or 20. The students that I have doing this enjoy it.

Letters and Numbers

Dot to Dot Lite is a great app! Students love connecting dots, and this one focusing on ordering numbers as well as alphabet dot to dots. My kindergarten students love it. There is also a sight word app called Lite 1-2 (Sight Words 1-5). The full version can be purchased. This includes sight words and writing the sight words. I love the Number Math For Growing Mind. There are a lot of options for this app when working with numbers. The choices are /=, , missing number, skip counting, before and after, rounding, and arrange in order. There are different levels you can choose and number of questions. Can be used with several grade levels. All apps mentioned are free!

Katie

OT/Writing Apps

There are a few writing apps that I use with my kindergarten students as well as my students who receive OT. The apps are free. They are called Easy Writer and ABC Tracer. They have letters and number tracing as well as cursive tracing for older students. Pocket Phonics has letter sounds and writing as well as a word game. Pre-K ABC is a great writing app for the young students who are learning how to form their letters. All apps are free with full versions to purchase. Enjoy! I use this as a center in the classroom.

Katie

Visually Impaired Clock

I like this App for allowing students to monitor and manage time. It is high contrast which is good for visually impaired kids too! There is a negative background- black- with white numbers for the digital time. It displays only the hour and minutes. The bottom of the screen displays a red bar that begins at the left beginning at the top of the minute and then moves to the right as the minute comes to an end. I've had students set the iPad beside them as they work. When they know that they have 2 minutes for a task, they can monitor whether or not they are successful. A few times the iPad goes to sleep if the students have more than a few minutes to work. Not sure how to work around this. Anyone have any ideas?

123 Writing

123 Writing is a counting and writing application. Students can count the number of objects, see the number of objects in number form, and see the number of objects in word form all on one card. At the bottom of the screen, they can trace (on writing paper) either the number or the word. They also get to choose which color they want to use to write the numbers or the words. I have been using this with one of my kiddos who needs to practice counting and practice writing legibly. She uses this app when she gets finished with her work early and we still have a few minutes. It's quick and easy practice!

GO MIDDIES!

September is coming to a close this week – please be sure to add a comment on the blog if you have not already done so for this month.  

Check out Jessica's note about creating folders for iPad, or  Tyler's note about Qwicki below. Both are great iPad tidbits.

Speaking of APPs – are there apps that you want for your students?  If so, please send me the  name, cost and how you would use it.  If you recently sent me an app request and haven't received them, send it to me again.  It's been a bit crazy around here and I've probably missed your email.

There is another training this Wednesday at 2:00 in the board room to distribute the next 20 ipads.  If  you want to attend as a refresher, please feel free to do so (it's a repeat of the session you attended for the new users).  I know that it usually takes me several opportunities to learn new information, so don't be shy about attending!

Creating Folders

For all of you who are proficient with technology, disregard this. For those of you like me, I was pleased to learn that I could create folders with my apps. Simply slide one app over onto another similar (phonics) app and the folder is created. The iPad does a nice job of naming the folder, but you may want to rename it. For example, it likes to call my folders "education". I need it to be more specific- "eye exams" or "navigation". This really was a an organizing, space saver for me! Hope this helps...

I am beginning to have fun with the iPad in my classroom. While I am still assessing to see what apps are going to work best for my two varied groups of students, there are two apps that have come in to very nice usage. One is called Speed Games. It is a simple app that has the students race against themselves in solving basic math facts. It has an "angry bird" technique to it as the students are trying to earn ribbons to open the next levels. I have been using this with students that are finishing word a bit earlier than the others. I have also been using Brain Pop. The students are enjoying watching the different movies in relation to their other subject areas. Plus, they like the quiz at the end of the movie.

I have a group of students that are in need of practice when it comes to counting. Any suggestions on quality counting apps that are not too juvenile?

Qwiki

There is a great app called Qwiki. You type in a word, idea, place, person, etc. and it provides a verbal explanation of the word you typed in. During the definition it will show clips of video, pictures, graphs and maps to further help you understand the concept. It is a great app for all students who may ask you what does that mean? The explanations are a little academic so they may be hard to understand for the students, so further break-down may be needed. I like using it with students and vocabulary words or to explain a concept. It is also good for educators to know their students. I have personally typed in some of the diagnosis's of students in my classroom to get a deeper understanding. This was created by I think the NY Times so it comes from a reputable source.

Bills and Coins

I have been using the "Bills and Coins" application for my third graders. There are about six different types of money games that they can play while practicing with money. I have been using the "Counting Money" section and we have only used the counting with coins section. There are three different levels of difficulty. The app. shows the coins and then asks them to enter the total amount of money shown. This provides excellent practice for coin identification and for identifying the monetary value of each coin (as well as addition). When they type in their answers, the app. tells them whether they have too much money, the correct amount, or too little money. They can try to answer the question three times before the app. tells them the correct amount. The kiddos love using the iPad! They don't want to share the iPad, so needless to say we are still working on sharing the iPad for partner work! : )