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.
I have a lego crazy boy at my house! It was a Christmas full of lego kits!
Well lego has it's own Creationary app and it's free! The newest version has a 2,3 or even 4 player mode and you can play connected to apple tv! How cool is that? There are 4 different modes to play in. My son even likes to take screen shots of the lego creations and build them himself with his own lego!
Lego also has about 5 other apps that are all free for your "lego crazy" kids! I have never used any of them but they are all linked from the itunes page for Creationary! Enjoy!
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!
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" !
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.
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.
Browsing pinterest I came across a bunch of lists and a great new blog that recommends apps. Imagination Soup is a new blog I am going to follow as it recommended lots of great apps to me. We downloaded some freebies and gave them a whirl.
We enjoyed Chicktionary an app where you create as many words as you can in 3 minutes from a bunch of jumbled letters. It' free.
We also enjoyed Mad Libs. Just like the books you can buy, you fill in the blanks while learning parts of speech to create some silly stories. My soon to be 9 year old got a real kick out of this app!
I love that is gives you hints like the ones on the clip above! It's free for some, but then of course it wants you to buy more!
We're currently loading a few more but it seems that my wireless connection has S-L-O-W-E-D right down...... so we wait:)
Having my own little first grader inspires me in so many ways, it also "grounds" me. I can see when the burn outs are coming and the reactions to homework etc when it hits home. Fortunately for me, my little first grader LOVES everything about school. Locking herself in her bedroom and playing school is a regular occurrence at our house. So when she was balking at practicing her spelling I figured most others are too!
This weekend we played with 2 different apps: Doodle Buddy and Max Doodle. There was a lot of play involved but we also practiced those spelling words!
Doodle Buddy:
We played with the pens, colors and glitter options. I dictated a word and she spelled the word for me. This was lots of fun. Oh the potential I see in the classroom. No more dead white board markers!
Max Doodle:
With this app we got a little bit more adventurous. We chose a background picture just for fun, but did not play with pencil options. This time I was the recorder and she practiced reading her words, another essential part of spelling in grade one.
Our final bit of practice involved me writing again since I wanted to "learn" the app. We played with the pencils, highlighters, crayons and colors.
Through this whole process I taught my little first grader all about screen shots as well. Something we have been working on in my classroom. She was thrilled with this new discovery and I am finding screen shots of EVERYTHING saved to my camera roll!!!
Tip: In case you don't know what a screen shot is, it is when you click the home button and the power button at the same time. The camera takes a photo of whatever is on your screen at that time and saves it to the camera roll. How fun!
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
We have been using a pod of ipads for 20 minutes a day during math class for a few weeks now. Each student has a day of the week that is their iPad day. During this time they can play ANY game in my math folder I have created. After 2 weeks it seemed to me that all the kids were choosing the same apps all the time. They were great apps, but I had so many apps that no one was exploring.
One day we hooked the iPad up to the lcd and decided to try out 5 new apps together. Our great find was Arithmetic Invaders! It is a counting game arcade style. As you progress through the levels the counting switches to counting backwards, then to addition and eventually multiplication! The kids LOVED it!
In the hustle and bustle of grade one, life has been nothing short of cray -zeee lately! I have barely had a minute to breathe let alone search out new apps, and implement them into my classroom! However, last week I made it a priority!
We discovered this new app.... Curious Zoo. We only previewed it in class and the kids decided it looked like fun, especially for their home devices. It is geared at 3-5 year olds and lets them go on adventures with George feeding and washing the animals at the zoo. There are additional educational videos about the animals, a photo gallery and mini games to add to the learning experience. This app was free until May 1, I am not sure what the price is now. On May 2 a second area of the zoo opened up. I was sent an update and was not charged since I already owned the app - so that was very exciting!
We also discovered Patterns by iKidsPad. It has beginning and advanced levels and has kids extending patterns and filling in missing pieces of the pattern. I am using this as an assessment tool. We practice together on the lcd projector and I hope to give each of the kids the opportunity to play the game independently so I can assess their skill level and guide my instruction.
We created a Youtube video of our Roots of Empathy baby using the iMovie app. I have posted about how to do this in previous posts.
We have also been using the Skip Counting app on a daily basis and I must say I see a HUGE improvement in their counting speed. I also plan to use this app to assess their counting abilities to 30.
Finally my BIG news is, I am getting another Ipad2 in my classroom! I had $500 to spend on something for my classroom and that was my big purchase. I went with the iPad2 again even though the new iPad is out for a few reasons:
1. It was $419 - which meant I had left over money to spend! The new iPad was $519, which meant I would be investing some of my own money.
2. With the left over money I bought an AV adapter - yay now I can stop bringing mine from home to school every day!
3. When it arrives in its lovely little box engraved with my name from the Apple Store I will see how much money is left and I will buy an itunes card to get a few new apps!
I am really excited about having 2 iPads for my classroom. And when I am able to use the 3rd iPad that belongs to a Special Needs student in my class, it means I have 3! Three is a learning center! 3 is manageable to share with 17 students! 3 will be so exciting until the end of June when he and his iPad move on to grade 2, but guess what - I'll still have 2!
Implementing the iPad into my every day lessons has not been as easy lately. I have been busy working with a student teacher and helping her with her first ever Science unit that she has planned and taught in full. When you have someone else doing the teaching you don't realize how often you "borrow" from that science time to do other things such as my monthly theme or my ELA ~ my technology time:) I have also been busy preparing my students for their week long Standardized test (the CAT-4). It is highly stressful, time consuming and significantly impacts the organization of my day. Hopefully in another week we will get back to some quality iPad time!
In the mean time, I have still been finding time to explored my beloved pinterest and today I stumbled upon this lovely link to some Science apps. It is VERY diverse... yes junior high teachers there is something here for you too! Even high school!!!!!! Some of it is pricey, some of is looks fun and some is just way cool if it meets your curriculum. Here's the link. Check it out and if you find one that you particularly recommend, give me a reply. I would LOVE to hear about it!
Learn Sharks - I think I'll get this one for my son and it's a freebie!
I LOVE Earth Day. I have loaded my wiki with tons of free websites and books to celebrate Earth Day and help enrich the learning experiences of my first graders. I have also discovered this free app that is an interactive book.
I came across it on a blog that I love to follow and plan on downloading it tonight. I have not previewed it myself yet, but thought it was worth sharing!
