Monday, April 30, 2012

iBooks

I was able to go into the iBook app and find free children's books to download. Some of the titles I found were: Digger the Dinosaur, Garbage!Monster!Burp! and Pookie and Tushka.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

FREE - Comparative Adjectives App

I just downloaded the FREE app called "Comparative Adjectives". It provides kids with pictures of various objects/items and they are instructed to touch the item described. It uses words such as fast, faster, fastest, good, better, best, big, bigger, best and so on. It provides a visual for students to grasp the concept of comparative adjectives and is fun at the same! Click the link below to download it.

http://itunes.apple.com/app/comparative-adjectives/id506997421?mt=8

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Dropbox! Get it!

You need to download Dropbox. I'll wait while you do so..... Great, now that you have it you can do so much with it. In simplest term it is an online filing cabinet. Take a photo or movie on your ipad and upload it to Dropbox then access the video from your computer. It's great for files and papers you view often. You can also share folders. I have made a couple yoga videos and clips and have made them available through Dropbox to a couple teachers already. Now they can view my files and do yoga with the kids in the classroom. If their was a video they wanted of a student performing an activity then BOOM, I can put it in a shared folder and they have it. It is really great and I use it everyday for class.
Bad news is our district will not allow access to the Dropbox website :( so you will have to set up your account through another internet provider (I recommend the McDonalds on Brieil).
Check out the site and the tutorial video.

Thanks,
Chad

Dropbox

Friday, April 20, 2012

I use the Ipad for recording kids more than anything for 'self evaluation':
Stuttering
Articulation
Classroom social skills

I have junior/senior high students so they love being recorded and seeing themselves.  After I record them in class,  they get to watch it and  I have a 'checklist' of skills for the student to 'rate' their skill  from 1-10 and then they make a 'goal' that they need to do the next time.
An app for cause/effect or a motivator as well as entertain young and old is 'I love Fireworks' Lite

It was free...even better.
Anyone looking for a free visual timer app?  Try VisTimerFree- it's not perfect but hey, it's free!  I think I found it on edtechteacher.org.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Rewards Wanted...

I've used a number of fun apps as rewards for students when they complete their work. I have one student who is very interested in dinosaurs so I downloaded an app for him to learn more about the dinos. I also have a student who enjoys playing family feud, who doesn't. So when we have a break or after our class he will want to play that. Where's my water is another fun one that the kids enjoy.

I've used Facetime a couple times with kids at other schools and in the same school. I think that's an app that should be used more often.

Chad

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Mobile BINGO

This is another Freebie! Students can use the pictures of road signage and vehicles to mark what they have seen along an O&M lesson. If they see a "For Sale" sign, a speed limit sign, a car, a bumper sticker and an intersection- they can mark it by pressing the buttons and getting 5 in a row for a BINGO. This is especially good for my low vision cane users. I am always saying, "Let the cane do the work- eyes up". With the BINGO game, the students are motivated to look around and be aware of their surroundings...something that all travelers need to do in order to be efficient.

Skitch

Skitch is an app allows you to annotate, edit and share screen shots. I use it in O&M with students who have low vision. I can take a photo of a hallway, intersection, store entrance, etc. and have the students circle a landmark or clue for figuring out their travel route. We can also analyze an intersection and make notes right on the picture. It is free!