Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Love, Love, Love!!!

So, it is the middle of the year and my kids love the IPads.  They are using so many of the apps for things I would have never thought of and love seeing them get excited.

The first app I want to discuss is Seesaw.  I love this app and have found that it is very kids (2nd grade) friendly.  My kids know how to access, utilize and play back with this app.  We originally used this app so they could show and justify their addition and subtraction problems.  It was a good tool for me to use to check for understanding.  I was impressed that so many of them would self correct themselves while justifying their work.  

I have noticed that my kids like to use this in my reading IPad station.  The LOVE recording themselves read and then they will replay it and then try again and want to improve their time.  It has been great for fluency and good for comprehension when they give a book review of what they have read.  

The second app I want to talk about is the geoboard app.  We have been using this and my kids really love this app.  The love creating their shapes and identifying the name of the shape.  Talking with others about the sides and vertices.  

I am really enjoying having this technology in my classroom and I look forward to being able to integrate more amazing apps and technology into my classroom.  

Thursday, January 7, 2016


Happy New Year!!

This has been an awesome privilege of having the opportunity to have several iPads in our classroom. 

My mind started to flood with ideas and how I could use them.  These are a couple of apps that we have used consistently in my classroom.

 

Popplet:

I have found this app simple to use and very engaging for my students.   The possibilities are endless:

1.      Vocabulary

2.    Analyzing Characters

3.   Text Features

4.   Structure of a story

5.    Cause and Effect

6.   Summary

7.    Author’s Purpose

8.   Main Idea

9.    Compare and Contrast

10.                       Theme and supporting Details
 
 
 
 
 
The camera can leads to SO many awesome learning experiences. There are a ton of really cool apps out there that can make impressive videos, like VideoliciousVivaVideoiMovie, and Telestory, or just a the regular video camera. 
  • conduct interviews
  • retell a story
  • explain their thinking
  • teach a concept
  • video each other reading a passage and watch it to assess their fluency and accuracy
  • Summarize a story
 
Other Apps used in the Classroom on a regular basis:
·        Word Web Dictionary
·        Spelling City
·        AR Reader
·        QR Codes