A Few New Apps

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:)

Happy Friday everyone!

Mathletics

Our school subscribes to Mathletics.  The kids like it, although it is not my most favorite program (It bugs me that there is not the option to have the computer tell you what to do - you have to read the instructions yourself.)  Not so easy in grade one!

BUT  today Mathletics was launched on ipad.  As long as your child has a username and password - which all grade 1 - 8 students at our school have, you can play on the ipad.  It will recognize all of your progress and continue tracking from either device!  My son for one is addicted to Mathletics so he is pumped about this new launch.

I did notice that there were a TON of updates that needed to run for the app to work properly and they took about 10 minutes to load.  And sadly the ipad does not speak to you either!  Oh well, maybe in the next version!!!!

If you subscribe to mathletics, it is worth checking out!

As  a side note.... all students in my class do have usernames and passwords but I have not introduced the program to them yet, mostly because of the reading issues.

 

Fun twist on homework!

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!

 

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!
 

Ipad Buddy Project

Our class pairs with a grade seven class once a cycle in the computer lab.  Our buddies normally teach us things like logging on to the network, opening our wiki, and using wordle or word documents.  They also teach us how to use Spelling City and Mathletics.  Our computer buddies are VERY helpful!

This year I decided to use some of that computer time for our buddies to do an ipad project with us.  Since we have 5 ipads, 5 groups under the supervision of Mrs. Fisher are participating in the first project.

The project is called THE IMPORTANT PEOPLE AT ECOLE MCISAAC SCHOOL.

Prior Knowledge:  Our grade one class composed a list of all the important people that work with us in the school.  We also identified their job title.  This was part of our Social Studies unit.

Students were first taught how to use the camera and how to reflect on the pictures they took.  They were allowed to delete and retake pictures that they felt were not good.  Students then headed out to take pictures of the people from the list.  This is all that was completed during the first class.  

Our next steps include using the Pictello App to insert the pictures and create text to identify the people and their positions.  The completed stories will be viewed by the rest of the class as a Social Studies presentation.

Once the first group have their projects completed, another group of 5 will begin a new project.  The criteria for the project will be the same, but the project will likely have a different theme.  I am allotting 3 classes for each project.



 

Classroom Organization

How do you share a pod of ipads with another classroom, but always have the apps where you can find them and easy for primary kiddos to locate independently?

This is what we came up with and so far............ it's working for me!!!!!!!

I introduced 7 apps to my class in the first few days of school.  We previewed each one on the lcd and I showed them that they could all be found in the folder called September on the ipad.  These are the ONLY apps my kids are allowed to use during center time. The teacher I am sharing the pod with agreed that those are my apps for the month.

We also set the rule that if you are found in the other folders on the ipad during center time, you will lose the ipad privilege.

I have successfully used the ipads all week in my classroom with and without parent volunteer supervision and so far, so good!

This is how my home screen looks on my ipad.  Notice the September file at the bottom.  I also have Pictello down there (we are using it for a class project right now).

When you open my September folder, these are the apps you will find.  All students in my class also have a profile on either Teach Me Grade One or Teach Me Kindergarten.  They use that app during guided reading time when they are not reading.

All of the ipads in the pod are not set up identical, which is fine with me BUT they all have my September folder in the same place!

Using a Stylus

There are so many great apps to support letter formation and fine motor development and the kiddos love them.  However tracing things with your finger is a lot easier than using a pencil and does nothing to support pencil grip.  This summer I made it my mission to find styluses to be used for these kinds of apps, making the practice more meaningful!

My good friend Cynthia happened to find these at Best Buy.  The package cost $15.

I happen to be fortunate enough to have my own little soon to be first grader living in my house!  She was my  tester today.  We discussed how I should set up the ipad (post on that coming soon) and then she attempted to use the stylus.

What did I learn from watching her?  

• Well she still wanted to hold the stylus incorrectly.  I had to force the pencil grip.
• She had to press harder than she would with her finger and I saw her banging on the icons a few times before they turned on.
• Tracing letters is still tricky because there is resistance with the stylus.
• When playing letter school she was bending her whole hand really awkward to form the letters, perhaps she needed to be standing or have the ipad on a slant.

So now I know training is needed... like anything else in grade one!  Time must be spent showing them how you want it done and reinforcing proper usage.  Will it be worth it, I think so!