The Standardized tests are done - YAHOO! My focus now is on getting the rest of the curriculum done in the 2 short months we have left. Will I get there - yes I believe I will survive! At least this is what I tell myself to get through the sometimes crazy days;)
In math we have worked on all kinds of counting all year long, but one of the outcomes that we need to assess is: Can they count sets of objects in a variety of ways using counting strategies? I have always found this hard to assess, they always want to count by ones, or they need to separate them into piles first to count them and then you don't know did they count by ones or 5's or who knows what! Well not anymore.... I found this great app called skip counting. Kids can count by 1's, 2's, 3's, 5's and use skip counting for adding! I imagine this would also be useful for intro to multiplication. We have been using it on the LDC projector lately, counting quickly in a variety of ways. We have been challenging ourselves to learn to count by 3's (this is not part of our grade one curriculum) and guess what we can all get to 12 with no trouble:)
It's free and worth checking out and it's FREE!
And for some reason I did not push publish on this post earlier in the week - I told you I had a busy brain! So sorry for the double post today - glad I even realized my mistake:)
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!
My 8 year old son came home from school yesterday raving about a great game they play at school on the iPad and "could we get it too mom?" So off to the app store we went and found this app he desperately wanted was free ~ my kind of app:) Since all of our devices are synced at home he thought it would be great if we could both play on our own devices and race each other. I have to laugh...... Friday night here we are playing spelling games for 2 hours and that kid is good! He definitely held his own!
How to play: Well they give you a name of a city like Kingstown and you need to build as many words as possible using those letters. Each word you spell is defined for you (if you care to read the banner on the jet that flies over your city ~ I must confess I had no time to read the definition I was racing to spell the most words!) You can choose hint and it will give you a definition of a word that you can make with the letters you have. After you have spelled so many words it unlocks a new city name for you to play. The game tells you how many words are even possible to spell. I have no idea what happens when you actually spell all the words for a city, we have not got that far yet.
However, we must be addicted............... we both woke up this morning and grabbed our devices to carry on!
If you love word games, this is a good one! My son's teacher has blogged about how they actually use it in their classroom. What a great time filler!
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!
It's almost my 1 year iPad anniversary! I remember this because I remember I got in on the very end of the free apps because of autism awareness month! I also remember missing out on a whole bunch:(
These apps are great for all preschool children as well and K and 1! Check out Mrs. Malchow's blog (I love her). She gives ALL the details about the great links to the free apps and she talks about sites that offer daily deals in April!!!!
So in our building our school secretary uses a Mac. She purchased an app that allows her computer to be the master "print control system". As long as her computer is turned on, the iPads will search for her computer and then give a list of printing options ~ virtually everything she is connected to including photocopiers and the color cube. It works great, as long as it's not the weekend:)
Well today I wondered would my iPhone print too. And yep, it does!!!!!! There is one catch though. It will not print if I am just roaming on the cellular network. I needed to go into the settings and turn on the wi-fi. The phone immediately found the network. I was able to connect myself to the network and with a simple "tap" I printed my document to the photocopier! Yay for technology!!!
Note to staff: the wireless network connection is horrible in the main office and there is no connection in the staffroom! Walking into the hallway or going up or downstairs makes a huge difference. I often print from my classroom from the iPad as it is way more reliable!
