Woohoo! I found out today that I am a winner of a NYSCATE grant. This was my 3rd time submitting a grant for iPads for my classroom. I knew I had a much better chance at winning this year because I had a good focus. What was that focus? Daily 5 and CAFE. I want the kids to use the iPads for reading, writing, fluency, word work as well as working in some collaboration.
I have a few apps in mind.
I like the Grasshopper book apps. Children can listen to the story, record themselves reading the story and even change the words to write their own story.
Edmodo-I used the website a few times with my 4th and 5th graders last year. They enjoyed using it but I just didn't follow through with it. I think it will be easier to use Edmodo with the app and this will motivate me to learn more about it and how to use it effectively this summer.
Sock Puppets-This can be used for retelling a story or vocabulary work.
Popplet-for a graphic organizer. I'll need to get the paid app so we can save our work.
That's it for now. I have started a list for parents of apps I currently have on my one iPad. I won't be using all of these next year but if you're interested you can take a look.
If you have suggestions of great apps for reading and writing with K-5 students please let me know. I would love to check them out.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Monday, June 10, 2013
May Tech Links-Special for Parents of Incoming Kindergartners
Website For Parents:
8 Ways to Teach Your Child to Read- an infographic
8 Ways Parents Discourage Their Children From Reading http://www.notimeforflashcards.com/2013/03/8-ways-parents-discourage-their-kids-from-reading.html
25 Alphabet Activities
Fun ways to practice learning letters of the alphabet.
Reading Nooks
Maybe these ideas will inspire you to find a small corner in your own home to set up a comfy reading nook.
Websites For Children:
Letter Songs- http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/lettersongskinderchat
A song for each letter for the alphabet.
Math Games from PBS http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/pbsmathgames
Games are labeled by skill-counting, shapes etc. There are also games for older students.
National Geographic for Young Explorers http://ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer/moreissues.html
This is a great resource for learning about animals and habitats as well as expanding vocabulary. Child can click on the speaker button and have the whole issue read aloud.
Songs for Learning http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/shukladancekinderchat
Some songs are for movement but others cover colors, days of the weeks, months of the years counting and more.
APPS-unless noted all apps are free
I would encourage you to check out Grasshopper apps; http://www.grasshopperapps.com/ . Many of them are listed here. I love these apps because they are free, use great photographs, and allow for so much custimization in their settings.
Endless Alphabet-
One of my favorites! This app has no right or wrong answers. Child selects a letter, the app shows and reads a word beginning with that letter. Then it scrambles the letters, the child puts it back in order as a matching activity, then it does a cartoon animating the definition and it reads it in a sentence. It’s a great app for expanding vocabulary.
Alpha Robots
This is a memory game for matching letters of the alphabet. Child can play alone or with another person. There are 3 levels of difficulty.
Little Matchups
This is an easy matching game for letters and sounds.
Photo Touch ABC Alphabet
Touch the … and the app names a letter. You can record your own voice. It starts with 3 choices and as correct answers are given it builds up to 10 choices.
I Like Books
This link does cost $1.99 for 37 books. However, if you go to the app store and search individual titles you can find most of them for free. Your child can listen to a story. You can also change the words and record it yourself-perhaps with your child’s help.
Sock Puppets
Let your child have fun retelling a story or making up a new story with these puppets.
Relearning Good Reading Practices
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| Instead of free lunch we received these freebies during Daily 5.
I truly feel like I've been living in the dark. A little over a month ago I went to a local reading meeting where a teacher did a short presentation on Daily 5. I had never heard of it but I liked what a I heard so I came home and started a little investigating and found the information that the "Two Sisters" would be presenting in Rochester two weeks later. It took some work but a colleague and I attended the two day workshop. It was two days of sit and get but the time flew by. They were excellent presenters, each taking turns to share ideas, research, visuals, and stories. At the beginning when they asked where people were from and people started calling out Michigan, North Dakota, Ohio, Massachusetts, Vermont as well as other states and five providences from Canada I knew I had missed out on something but was so excited to be learning from the experts.
Saturday was all about Daily 5 and Sunday covered CAFE. I've been teaching for 30 years so I've been through Whole Language as well as Four Blocks with Fountas and Pinnell. My first year as a reading teacher was the year the sets of books were put away and replaced with a basal series. I was so happy that I was out of the classroom. I was also very pleased that I did not have to use the basal with my students. However, I feel like I really flounder and need a direction. I think the Daily 5 and CAFE model are going to improve my instruction next year.
Gail and Joan shared research with us and I have begun to read some of those articles. What do struggling readers need to improve? Of course, they need to be reading! Duh! Trust me, I'm embarrassed to admit this but, my students have not been doing a lot of reading when they've been with me. Things will be different next year. I feel like learning about Daily 5 and CAFE have brought me back to my roots and what I know about good teaching. I refuse to get sucked into the test prep frenzy next year. I know better.
For the first time in a long time I'm excited about next year! Stay tuned for updates. I plan on using this blog as a place to track my progress and learning as I tweak this structure and make it my own for my reading students.
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Saturday, March 23, 2013
March Tech Links
“The greater the
support that families provide for their children’s learning and educational
progress, the more likely that their children will do well in school and
continue on with their education.”
Karen Mapp and Anne Henderson, 2002 A New Wave of Evidence
For Parents:
Reading and
Writing with Your Child -Kindergarten to Grade 6 -A Parent Guide
This 24 page
guide from Ontario has a wealth of information for parents. It includes ideas
on how you can support your child’s learning, reading and writing milestones,
literacy tips for parents and online resources to use with your child. It is a
PDF file.
For Children:
This is a great site
for you child to practice spelling and vocabulary words. You can make your own
lists and save them for free! There are a variety of games your child can play
to practice the words and your child can take a test of those words as well.
APPS
Grades K-5
McGraw Hill
We use the McGraw Hill reading series, Treasures. You can search McGraw
Hill in the app store and find a variety of apps. Some are very basic like
flashcards but others are quite fun such as Grammar Wonderland. I downloaded the apps for free but I’m
not sure if they are free at this time or not.
Text2Pic
I’ve used this app for reviewing vocabulary. The child takes a picture
showing the meaning of a vocabulary word and then opens it up in this app. Then
the child adds the word and changes the font/color/size and then can add a
frame and then saves the image back to the camera roll. Then it’s shared with
the class. A definition could also be added. Once you play with this app I’m
sure you and your child can come up with other ideas to practice skills in a
unique way.
Grades 3-5
Origami
This is a great way for your child to practice following directions. There
are 7 lessons in the free version ranging from easy to hard. The app has a
written direction for each step and visually shows the step as well.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
February Tech Links
For Parents:
I’ve been using Pinterest for about a year and love it for
it’s visual appeal and the great ideas I can find there. I have boards for
sight words, apps, reading and other school related topics but I also have
boards for new recipes to try, cleaning tips, wedding ideas for my son, and
many photography topics. It’s really easy to search for specific topics so if
you are looking for lets say a dinosaur themed birthday party idea go there and
do a search and you’ll find lots of ideas. There’s also an app for it and it’s
free.
5 ways to help your child with reading
comprehension-Questions to ask as you read with your child.
APPS
Grades K-5
WWF Together
I think this app will appeal to all ages. My 20 year old daughter enjoyed
it and so do I. It’s from the
World Wildlife Fund and it tells the stories of tigers, polar bears, rhinos and
more with beautiful photography, music, and interactions. It is the most unique
app I’ve seen and it’s free!
Glow Doodle
This app is .99. It’s my favorite app for having the students practice spelling
words. If they spell it correctly they get to make it glow. It’s especially
cool when we turn off the lights.
I like the simplicity of the app, there’s not a lot of bells and
whistles to distract the students.
Popplet Lite
This is an easy to use graphic organizer. Boxes, background and text colors can be changed, easy to
resize and move boxes around. I used it recently to plan a project and found it
quite helpful. When it is finished it can be saved as a jpg or emailed as a jpg
or pdf.
Grades 3-5
National Geographics Weird But True
My 4th and 5th graders love these books. Random
facts about a variety of topics that are weird….but true. This is a free app.
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
December Technology Links
For Parents:
If you’re still
looking for some fun educational gifts this site has some suggestions for you.
For Parents and
Children:
Jan Brett has an amazing web site with resources for children, parents,
and teachers.
If Santa will be visiting your house this year be sure to tune into this
site on Christmas Eve to track Santa’s progress.
For Children:
http://www.wegivebooks.org- This site has many popular books for children, ages
0-10, to read. The books can be sorted by age, genre, or author. Without an account you can read the
Editor’s Pics. But by registering for a free account for your child you have
access to many more books and new books are added monthly. There are even
seasonal books. The books can read on the computer or any internet enabled
device.
Fun Holiday Sites
http://sprintsweets.com/
-Decorate a gingerbread cookie
Design a Christmas tree
http://www.castlearcana.com/christmas/tree/index.html
November Technology Links
For Parents and
Children:
http://www.teachingkidsbooks.com/
A quote from the website: “My goal is
to create a resource for teachers, home schoolers and anyone
interested in quality books for children.” I just discovered this
site and I’ve already used it to find some picture books to teach
skills in the classroom. As a parent I was always looking for good
quality books for my own children and to give to other children as
gifts. If you enjoy learning about new children’s book be sure to
check this out.
For Children:
http://www.scholastic.com/scholastic_thanksgiving/
I mentioned Scholastic last month. This is a link to
their Thanksgiving resources for children. They’ll be posting a
Mayflower virtual field trip soon and you can even sign up to receive
historical letters from a Pilgrim girl and Wampanoag boy.
APPS
Parents
Dropbox-Free
Dropbox is great even if you don’t
have a device that uses apps. Dropbox allows you to save documents
and open them on any computer. I LOVE Dropbox and use it constantly
for school work. No more thumb drives to keep track of for me. The
Dropbox app is a way for you to get pictures from your device to your
computer or visa versa. The same thing with PDF documents. You need
to sign up for the free account at www.dropbox.com
Grades PreK-3
Grasshopperapps.com
There are many choices of apps from
this company-puzzles, phonics, I like books-a whole series of books
about things kids like, and more. The thing I love about these apps
is that they are so customizable. The apps use bright colorful
photographs but you can add your own, you can record your own voice
or in the case of the books the children can record themselves
reading the books and under the settings button there are more ways
to customize the app.
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