I LOVE Mo Willems!

I have to say the pigeon is one of my most favorite characters to read about in grade one.  It just so happens that my own children have that pigeon passion as well.  These wonderful books teach so much expression and voice when reading.  It does not take long and these books have become memorized.  Emerging readers see themselves as "readers of REAL books",  and then I bump it up a notch and turn them into authors of their very own Pigeon book!

So when I stumbled across the pigeon app for $6.99, I only hesitated for a moment and then clicked buy!  I have to admit I have never spent $7 on an app before but I don't regret it for a second!


The app has a few features....
1.  Mo Willems teaches a step by step lesson of how to draw the pigeon.   I have his paper instructions and have always done a good job of teaching it myself, but there is nothing like hearing right from the illustrators mouth!  The downfall of this is once you are done you can take a picture of your pigeon but the app only saves 1 picture.  So with multiple kids it just does not cut it.
2.  There are 3 story modes where the bus driver walks you through creating your own pigeon story.  SOOOOOOOOO cool!  My kids have created numerous books.  Some of the stories even allow for your own voice recording which is super simple for young children to do independently.  The downfall here is I can not seem to figure out the saving procedure.  Sometimes the bus driver comes on and just saves it for you, other times the bus driver pops on and reads you your story once then when the book closes, your story is gone.

I am hoping these kinks will be worked out in some upgrades but my recommendation is if you love the pigeon, you will love this app!

Valentine's Day Apps

I like to find a few apps that are thematic for the kids to use just for fun.

Biscuit is an absolute hit with my kiddos so the Valentine Story was a must have on my list.  It's $2.99.  It has all the same options as the other Biscuit Apps:  Read to Self, Read To Me, Auto Play.  It also has a coloring book, sticker collection, memory game and puzzles.



Valentine Memory App - free

It's your classic memory game.


Cooper's Big Bear Hug App - free  An interactive online story with puzzles and games.



I have a few others as well that I have not yet checked out.  I just simply searched Valentine's Day in the app store and chose apps that were free.  Here is what my organized folder looks like:

Lots of time to get these organized before Valentine's Day.  If you have any favorites, feel free to share.

 

Snow Apps

I absolutely love this blog.  Our class theme this month is snow so guess how excited I was when I read today's post??????  She created a website linking to everything SNOW!!!!!!  How perfect!

I quickly went to the site and pasted it to my wiki, that saved me hours of work!  Then I went back to explore the site.  She has a link of just snow apps!  Even more exciting!  I just might need to add to those January apps.  Here is the link to the apps just for you!

Enjoy!

January Apps!

January will be a month of trials and tribulations with the ipads... we are learning to live without the pod! What will this mean in our grade one class??????   I am not sure just yet!

I talked with the class and we decided that it means ipads can not be part of our guided reading time any more.  We still want to use them, but we need to figure out a way to schedule them in to the day so we can all have access.

I do know I will be using the ipads to modify the learning for some of my students on adapted programs. We are working at scheduling that in too.


Since we are down to 2 ipads, I was not going to worry a whole lot about what apps were going into my folder this month.

BUT... today I discovered a 1/3 of the class got an apple device for Christmas, so I might as well push the academic apps for them to try at home:)

We once again kept some old favorites:

Teach Me Grade One
Teach Me Kindergarten
Spelling City
Mathletics
Monkey Word
Kindergarten Arithmetic Invaders
Max Doodle
Hungry Guppy

And the new educational ones are:

AB Math Lite (free)- the full version is 99 cents


Math Bingo - 99 cents - totally worth the money!


Kissing Hand book - this app is STILL currently free.  Get it now!


And then since the ipad will be used for some free time, I threw a few just for fun apps in this month:

Lego Fire Hose Frenzy - it's free search for it in the app store (I am having trouble linking this app)


Lego - Creationary - free


I'll keep you posted on how the ipad schedule goes or we might go borrow the resource room's pod:)  I have not shared that bit of inside information with the class yet! shhhhh......

 

SonicPics App

As I was enjoying my coffee this morning, thinking about all the prep work I have for back to work tomorrow, I stumbled across a blog entry that really caught my eye.  I am resisting my urge to stop everything right now, download the app and give it a whirl myself - only because my to do list for the day is longer than anything I will ever complete!

However, this app will be at the top of my check it out app list!

If you check it out - let me know!  It looks like it might be worth getting excited about!  The full version is $2.99!

Link to app review

 

Top 5 Apps From a 9 Year Old's Perspective

So of course because I asked my 6 year old, I had to ask my nine year old for his favorite apps.  His picks are even LESS educational.... must be all that Christmas sugar corrupting his brain!

Clash Of Clans - Clash of Clans is an epic combat strategy game.  In this game you build a village by collecting money and elixer.  The game has the ability to play online, however, my son uses it himself and does not join with others players.


Hay Day - You start by building a farm.  You then raise your animals and buy and sell the products you need to run a farm!


Minecraft -  I honestly have no idea what this game is even about, when I asked my son he replied by saying "I don't really know how to explain it mom!"  When you read the reviews it says Minecraft is about placing blocks to build things and going on adventures. hmmmm..... still leaves me wondering!  So when I googled it, the response I got was "Minecraft is a sandbox game which allows players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D world.  At night monsters come out, make sure to build a shelter before that happens."  It is an expensive app $6.99, but my son spends hours in this virtual sandbox!



Monster Life - Raise, train and fight along with the cutest and fiercest monsters ever and embark on a thrilling adventure to save the world of Numa! 



Skylanders Battlegrounds - Skylanders is a video game craze that has now found its place in the iworld!  Skylanders Battlegrounds is an action packed adventure where you can play with two Skylanders at the same time. Unlock new powers and weapons to help you in the battle against Kaos and his warlords.  You can connect a portal using bluetooth technology or use the codes that come with your skylander's characters and enter them to unlock your skylander collection.  This is also a $6.99 app that has been on sale for $4.99 for the last month.



So after all this battling and creating fictional worlds I pushed him to tell me something educational, he came up with Waldo... lol!

Waldo - Like the famous book.... you search for Waldo through the app.  There is a free lite version and the full version that my son loves is $1.99!

Where’s Waldo? The Fantastic Journey is the ultimate search and find adventure for all ages, as players scour the virtual globe in search of Waldo and his friends Wizard Whitebeard, Wenda and Woof, and Waldo foe, Odlaw. In addition, there are hundreds of cleverly camouflaged items to find within the 12 different magical worlds. 






I guess when vacation is over and we are all back in "school mode", I'll have to ask "my firsties" what their top 5 apps are!
 

Top 5 of 2012 From a 6 Year old's Perspective

So I asked my own 6 year old what her favorite apps of 2012 were.  Keep in mind we are on Christmas vacation and her brain is trapped in a sugar fog with visions of academic apps far from her head!

This was her response:

1. Perfect Tree - We love to play this one in chain mode, always striving for the longest chain.  I think we got 26 as our highest.  It is a bit of a mindless game but I must admit I am addicted too! I justify it by thinking you also have to think while you play and we take turns back and forth.  There is a free version that gets you 15 levels, by then you are hooked though and want the $2.99 upgrade for all 200 levels.  I know we did!  There are also many games just like this one with other themes... Fishdom being one of them.


2.  Curious Zoo - We got his one for free on one of those free app days!  Then we purchased the other zoo areas for 99 cents each which ends up costing about $5.  George gets the keys to a zoo.  He goes in and feeds and washes the animals.  You learn a bit about animals and have a little fun.  I like the game, not sure if its worth the money in my opinion, maybe for preschoolers it is!  Keep your eyes peeled for freebies with this one.


Pet Hotel - This is one of those apps like farmville on Facebook.  You build a hotel and look after the animals that come to stay in it. You raise the babies, party with the pets and learn about animal breeds.  It's free but there are in app purchases of coins and food etc.  I just shut off the option of in app purchases and she has to wait to get the coins by performing tasks etc in the hotel.
 

Cookie Doodle - This fun educational app allows you to make cookies without the mess.  There are tons of options and its excellent fine motor practice.  The app is 99 cents and was rated 2011 parents choice of the year app!  You follow recipes, bakes and decorate.  There are over 200 cookie cutters - hours of fun!


Magnetic ABC - This app comes with about 10 other in app purchases allowing you to buy other magnet themes to create stories etc.  There is also a lite version if you want to check it out.  The app is on sale today for 1.99.  We use it to practice spelling words and just to have some fun!


So these were "my girls" picks!   Wishing you and "Appy New Year" !
 

My December Apps!

Seven days into December and I finally have my app folders ready on 4 of the 5 ipads in the pod!
Yup, a pod is a lot of work!

What have I got going on in December?  Some old faves hung around for another month and now that we finally know how to add I threw in a few exciting math newbies!

What's hung around?

Letter School
Teach Me Grade One
Teach Me Kindergarten
Spelling City
Mathletics

What's new?????

Monkey Word


I posted about this great find in early November I believe.  The kids were so excited to see it in the December work folder.  It works on Spelling and High Frequency words in all kinds of fun ways.  Definitely worth the $1.99 in my opinion!

Hungry Guppy


I have used the Hungry Fish app in the past which is for kids who know their addition facts.  This game is the precursor to that introducing numbers and joining sets of numbers.  It's $3.99.... a little pricey in the app world, but if your kiddos are into math they'll love it, especially when the fish gets bigger and bigger!

Meet Biscuit Book App


By December in Grade One most of my kiddos really see themselves as readers and are excited to read "other books" instead of our classroom pm book collection.  I always introduce them to Biscuit, they love this puppy and they love to take home my extensive collection of Biscuit books.  When I discovered there were all kinds of Biscuit book apps I was thrilled!  I was lucky enough to get this book for free, but it is now $2.99.  There are many more Biscuit titles ranging from 99 cents to $2.99.  You can see not only is it a book, it has coloring pages, a sticker collection, memory games and a puzzle!

Math Invaders Kindergarten



This app is loads of fun... well worth the $1.99!  It's like the old school video game where you are shooting at alien spaceships before they get to the ground.  I have the kindergarten and grade one versions of this app and find the kindergarten to be at a more appropriate level based on our Manitoba curriculum.  It begins with counting forward, then backwards and then basic addition.

Max Doodle


We use Max Doodle to practice our spelling words.  It's an alternative to Doodle Buddy and is a fun interactive way to spell.  I have posted about both of these apps in the past, but have just put Max Doodle in our folder for the first time and the kids are THRILLED!

And since it is December I decided we needed some Christmas Apps too, but I made a special Christmas folder instead.......

Toca Christmas Hair

There is absolutely nothing educational about this at all but the kids think it is hilarious to give Santa a new style.  Last year I had a special needs child and this app was EXTREMELY calming for him.  Toca apps are a favorite in my house, unfortunately we have almost outgrown these preschool apps.

Talking Gingerbread


Again nothing educational, but you can dance and play music with the Gingerbread man and record your voice.  It's another freebie for a little Christmas fun!

Draw Santa


Learn to draw all sorts of Christmas characters, then color and select backgrounds!

How The Grinch Stole Christmas - app book

I blogged about this one already!

Jolly Jingle

This festive sing a long app is great for learning Christmas Carols.  We have yet to use this in our classroom but look forward to it:)

And that is all..... I am sure there are many more Christmas apps out there, let me know what you find that's worth while!

December is my last month with the pod, but guess what I am getting for my classroom....... 1 more ipad!  I almost have a pod of my own:)

Monkey Word School Adventure

He's back............
that favorite little monkey that my kiddos love has a new game  Monkey Word School Adventure  It's an educational app for reading and writing.  There are spelling games, phonics games, word seaches and sight word reading games all intermixed.  While playing the games you earn creatures to store in your terrarium.  There are customizable settings and the difficulty increases as your child plays.  

The game is advertised for children ages 3 - 6, but in my opinion it is perfect to reinforce most grade one skills!  The games is priced at $1.99.

I can't wait to introduce it to my kiddos!




Thanks to Carrie for recommending it to me and you might want to check out the site that she follows Smart Apps for Kids.

My November Apps

A new month means a new folder with some new apps and the return of some old favorites.

My system seems to be going well.  I have had only 2 students venture into the "off limit folders" and because I know my apps well, I quickly heard they were where they were not supposed to be and redirected their learning.  Everyone else is just very excited to use the apps in our monthly folders.

What's new this month?

Mathletics (what I've said about it previously)
 
If you have not yet got this free app - get it!  All the kids in our school have user names and passwords to access it.  It is excellent practice that meets our Manitoba Curriculum.

Spelling City - a class favorite from September.

  
Another freebie that has word list personalized by ME!  Search my name "Christine Williams" to find the word lists.

Monster Squeeze


This app is $1.99.  I was lucky and got it for free.  The kids love it, but I don't think I would pay that price for it.  Watch for a sale instead.

Mo Willem's Pigeon App


For 4.99 we will have hours of fun with this app.  We will draw the pigeon, create our own stories and listen to each others stories.  It is kid friendly, easy to use.  Kids ALWAYS love it!

Doodle Buddy



It's free and it's FUN!  We have almost all had a turn using Doodle Buddy with our idress app project.  We have also learned how we can use Doodle Buddy to practice our spelling words.  I think this month we will be creating our own art work with Doodle Buddy.

This is my last month with the pod.  Not sure how I will live without it come December.

October Apps

Well September blew by, and now its October....eekkk!  Where does time go?

We worked hard on the September apps and I can honestly say ALL grade ones know how to use their Teach Me Grade One profile.  The favorite app of the month had to be Spelling City.

I kept a lot of the September apps in my October folder but added a few new ones.  What's new???

Puzzle book: Mickey's Spooky Night (interactive story) 99 cents


Patterns App - free


idress -  $1.99 (Part of our morning calendar time)




Counting Game 99 cents


Phonics $2.99 lots of great features when you get this app set up!


So that's our October focus along with a few of September's favorites!  Happy ipadding!