iPad40 Forum
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Please post how you have used the app of your choice with your students for an authentic instructional purpose. |
The app of my choice that I choose to write about would have to be Make Dice Lite. When you go to the Dice List you are able to add a new dice or choose office members, and that is where I would put the names of my small group members into the dice. I use it to determine who reads next, who has to answer the next questions, and so on. The students seem to really enjoy it and they seem to be more willing to participate. I also use it to decide the order of the students who need to come confer with me about their book or short passage. This is a very easy and simple app that for me, seems to eliminate the complaining and unwillingness to participate in different discussions. |
(New Message)I really liked using Scribble Press this spring with my kindergarten intervention assisted writing groups. The kids really enjoyed making a page themselves and getting to make choices about color and style. The also liked drawing the pictures to match their text. Using a stylus is a big help with this app. Occasionally, students made their own books. I also used ShowMe for other purposes. I used this app for an assignment earlier this spring by having a student in reading recovery demonstrate his fluency (or lack of), which was very successful. This kid is much more fluent now, and upon showing his work to him last week, he laughed and said "who's that reading the wrong way!" Anyway, I also used this app to help a student retain high frequency words. I had her write and spell the word with this app, and then each day we replayed the ShowMe for her. After only a few times, those words have become more concrete to her, not only in isolation, but also in reading and in writing her own text. I have suggested using this app with other teachers who have students who have similar struggles. |
The app that I have used a lot in my classroom has been all the apps by "Duck Duck Moose." My students can do minimal things independently, but I have found this to be something that helps them do things without hand over hand guidance or direct teacher support. They are able to use visual tracking skills, fine motor skills, and even get to learn songs. This helps them work on their knowledge of the alphabet, and some of them have numbers as well. They are able to see the fact that when you touch something, there is a reaction. A lot of the time, my students struggle to even touch the iPad "properly" to get things to work. Using the stylus, and just a few verbal prompts, a few of my students can actually do independent work now on these apps, which is wonderful.
The other app I have used to promote independence, is the "Social Express" app. The students are able to see social stories related to social and emotional needs, and even going out in the community. They love the graphics and the stories, and it helps them learn about social problems and coping behaviors. Very helpful for this group of students! |
My students were given the option to use any of the following programs: ComicLife, Scribble and Educreations. Each group was compiling information from the literature discussion group book they read. Students then presented the information they compiled and we used an elmo to show the class their work. A majority of students used scribble. It worked really well and students got the hang of it easily. They took pictures and reenacted scenes from their novel to describe their portion of the novel. The program was simple, and it saved the work well because students worked on it for multiple days. ComicLife was also an easy program for students to navigate. Educreations, was a little more difficult. The program will not save anything unless it is finished in one sitting. Students tried to create the slides first, then have their group talk and record their voices, but for some reason each time there was problem. It could not save their voice, and therefore deleted ALL of the slides they had already created (there was no way around this). These students kept getting extremely frustrated. They had to redo their work multiple times before it was finished. The program is really neat, BUT it must be done in ONE sitting, and cannot be saved in the middle of the project. Overall it really well. Next time I won't let students use Educreations for this project, and I will make the group sizes smaller. 4 people to 1 iPad just doesn't work very well because too many students are just sitting and watching. |
My App of Choice: Splash Math for Grade 1
You can get a free version of this (limited activities) but I was able to get the full version for free on free app Friday from Moms with Apps! There is also a version for 2nd grade & 3rd grade. This app allows students to practice a range of skills (addition, subtraction, place value, number sense, two-digit addition & subtraction, time, money, graphs, & measurement!) throughout the game. It has easy, medium, & hard levels. I have had my students use this app during math workshop. I check out 5 iPads from the learning center and the iPads serve as one station. During the station time, the students use the free version of the app to practice some of the above listed skills. I have used the full version (on my own iPad) one on one with students that need additional practice. It allows me to hear the student's self talk as they work through the levels and skills to see how they are progressing in each skill. You can choose to have them go through all of the skills or just choose one or two areas in which you know they need more practice! My kids have really enjoyed this app. |
My app of choice is Video Editor Free. One of my students has it on his iPod and recommended it. It's very easy to use. We taped good bye messages for my PDS intern. When you start a new project, all you have to do is start and stop the recording for each student and when you are finished, the Video Editor puts them together and it goes from one to the next with no starts and stops. It reminds me of PhotoStory for digital pictures. You have the ease of moving the videos around to the order you want them in, and you can add more later. You can use videos that are on your camera roll or just tape new ones with the Video Editor. The kids just made one for me for their year end goodbye and they did everything with no assistance. I think you can add music if you upgrade to the paid version. I'm going to try it out this summer and plan different ways to use it next year. This is a great one to add to your iPad!! |
