Another week is going by, my friends! This is an especially busy week since I am going to a job interview in northern Alabama Wednesday. I will be going up a day early to check out the community. Then I work Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So, needless to say, I am trying to get all assignments for this class done today! =) Onward to the mobile apps!
While reading Larry Ferlazzo's Websites of the Day, I saw a link to a guideline of using mobile apps in a classroom. This is great information if you are unfamiliar with using technology in your classroom and want to introduce it into your curriculum. Here is the information. Also, just clicking on Larry's link in the beginning of this paragraph will give you lots of information for iPad resources. I really recommend bookmarking it for later reading.
Since I do not have my own classroom yet, I do not have a specific subject area to search apps for. However, I really enjoy language arts so I will be focusing on that today. Here are four language arts apps for the iPad:
1. iReading - This is a cheap buy on iTunes. There are many different versions of iReading and this link offers several classic fairy tales with illustrations and narration. It also can be read in Chinese. This could be used for Chinese students who are learning how to speak English.
2. The Frog Prince Storychimes - What is great about this app is that the child can chose to read by herself or have the story read to her. There are great illustrations and music for the story. The student will feel as if they are watching an interactive folk tale more than reading a book.
3. K-12 Timed Reading Practice - This apps helps students build their fluency in stories. It has informative and fictional texts which is great because students are able to get experience with both. I recommend teaching comprehension strategies to students before you set them loose on informative texts since the structure is different than most students are used to. It tracks each student's progress to help you decide what each child needs to improve on.
4. Hairy Letters - Amazing for young language learners! They are able to trace and manipulate the letters. Instead of having students trace letters in the air, let them do it on the iPad. This could work wonders in a small teacher group station. I love it.
Those are only four apps and not even the tip of the iceberg. This week has shown me just how many apps are available for teachers and students. I must say, it will be good to set a budget on how much to spend on apps. There are many which are free also. I'm excited to see what all you find!
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These are all wonderful and new to me. I've heard another teacher talking about how the Timed Reading Practice app. is such a great app. I was told that it REALLY improves fluency.
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ReplyDeleteI'm excited about the app, K-12 Time Reading Practice. I'm buying this app for my first graders to use because we spend a lot of time building reading fluency. My students read a passage nightly for one minute and I have a center in my classroom that focuses on reading fluency. On Fridays, I assess my students to see how many words they can read correctly in one minute. Therefore, this app is perfect for my students' needs. My students love learning on the iPad and they love timing themselves while they read so this is a match made in Heaven!
ReplyDeleteI am looking forward to using the app K-12 Time Reading Practice with my 2nd graders next year for DIBELS practice. Brittany, I hope everything goes well with the job interview. I’m in North Alabama (Huntsville) I teach in Madison County and I know we will be having some opening coming up soon. Good Luck!
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