Summer 2015 iPad Workshops!

I am SUPER excited about presenting at 2 different workshops tomorrow, How to Maximize Learning within your Primary Literacy Block and How to Maximize Learning within your Math Block! I have spent hours working on both presentations and I truly hope that the attendees tomorrow will have some fun learning time!

I posted the 2 presentations below in case you want to check them out! But in order to get the full effect please join me in the workshops! You can register at the door or go to https://goo.gl/h7h44G to register. You can do it all through your phone, including pay and receive your ticket so no need to worry about printing anything off! If you have a QR code scanner scan below!

How to Maximize Learning using iPads within your Primary Literacy Block 

 How to Maximize Learning using iPads within your Math Block

March Reading and Math App Choices

Whoa! We had Spring Break last week and now it is already Sunday!! I had the best of intentions of getting these out last week, my apologies! Here are the reading and math apps that my students will be using for skill work for the next few weeks:

Electric Company Word Ball

Electric Company Word Ball. Well apparently this app is no longer available in the US iTunes store. This is a HUGE shame! I love this app for reviewing many phonics rules for early elementary students. My students love this app for its catchy songs and fun features. If you can find this, or already own it, make sure it is on your list to use with your K-2 students!

Word Wagon

Duck Duck Moose Word Wagon. Duck Duck Moose is one of my favorite app developers for K-2. They create fun, age appropriate apps with good content for both literacy and math. This app works on phonics basics as well as spelling 4-6 letter words (which is why it is in our current app rotation!) Students enjoy the choices provided within the apps and the easy to understand interface.

Little Speller Sight Words

Little Speller Sight Words. This has been one of my staple apps for teaching sight words since I started integrating technology into my classroom. To find out how I used it for RTI support click here. It is a basic sight word spelling app. What I love about it is the customization features and how the students are seeing, hearing, and spelling their sight words. MUCH better than practicing with boring old flashcards!

Pet Bingo

Pet Bingo. As I mentioned above, I'm a fan of the app developer Duck Duck Moose. So it is not surprising to find another one of their apps on my March list. Pet Bingo is a fun review app for addition and subtraction (it also has multiplication and division if you are looking for that). Something about the game of BINGO that always seems to draw students in!

Arithmetic Invaders

Arithmetic Invaders: Kindergarten. This app is hands down one of my students' favorites! They LOVE this app because they get to use a laser to shoot at rockets. I LOVE this app because it revisits basic math skills and progresses through harder math concepts---but not too hard for K. They also offer this in other grade levels but so far all I've ever needed is the K version. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!! Especially if you have a space fan or two in your class!

Awesome Eats

Awesome Eats. We recently finished up on our healthy eating focus and this is a fun math app to work on both sorting and healthy habits.  Students enjoy sorting various foods into their correct bins. It is trickier than it looks however, which keeps them coming back for more! By far one of the best sorting apps out there!

February Literacy and Math Apps

This month I will be using the following apps for literacy and math! There is so many great things about February....Valentine's Day, Hundredth Day of School, it is a short month.... just kidding about that last one :) Although it is nice when planning for February it seems a little easier due to the shorter time! To read more about how I pick my apps and for how long I use them visit this post.  Here are the apps that we will be using this month.

Literacy:

Starfall Reading
From the popular website Starfall, this app allows you to access all the great learn to read books that focus on different word families!

Sight Words: Kids Learn
A see it, hear it, write it app that focuses on sight words. You can purchase them in packs as you need to for your students. There is fun games intermixed as well throughout the app!

Print Concepts
I like this app for reinforcing foundational print concepts such as first & last letters in a sentence, capital letters and punctuation. It uses cute bugs with simple games that work on skills that not too many apps out there focus on.






Sentence Reading Magic Deluxe Combining sight words and CVC words this app practices building and reading sentences that range from 2 words to 6 words.

Freefall Spelling Using different intertactive activities like typewriter spell, word scramble and drag & spell Freefall spelling is always a hit to help my students practice spelling common words.

 Reading Eggs Sight Words This is a HILARIOUS game that uses a farm setting and some seriously silly eggs to work on sight words.

Math:

Moose Math The developer, Duck Duck Moose, makes some of the most well liked apps in my classroom. Moose Math is a highlight for the students who enjoy the silly games that focus on counting, adding and subtracting without them even realizing it!

Starfall Numbers From the always awesome website Starfall, this app works on numbers 0-20, 25, 50, 100. I included this app this month for 2 reasons: I had multiple students request it and I had a few new students move in that needed some review on basic number sense. It is always good to come back to the basics every now and then!

Measure Length Tiny Chicken Measurement isn't a skill set that many apps touch on. I like that this app does so in an easy to understand way that is perfect for my K students. Students use a translucent ruler to measure the length of different animals. Perfect for reinforcing measurement and for practicing how to use a ruler on a computer screen-much like those all important state tests students take!

 Butterfly Math: Starter The developers offer 3 versions of Butterfly Math; the Starter one that I use focuses on counting, shapes, addition and subtraction. I like that it reinforces 1:1 counting as well during the addition games!

 Math Minis This app goes through 8 levels of addition and subtraction. A cute and fun basic arithmetic practice that my students LOVE!

Little Writer Pro One of my must have handwriting apps, we will be using Little Writer Pro to practice number writing after my latest assessment showed that my kinderkiddos need larger number writing practice.

This Weeks Skill Work Apps: January 5-9

As a part of my new blogging journey I thought I'd share with you the apps that I'm using during our skill work station for reading and math. I typically offer the same 3 app choices for 2-3 weeks, depending on student interest. This is a station that the students visit twice per day (once for reading and once for math) for about 10-15 min each time. This is different than the differentiated app list that I use for individual students based on their academic needs. On the weeks that I don't showcase skill work apps my thoughts are to highlight some of the creation apps we are using on our iPads in the room. That way if you are in a pinch and need some quality go-to apps to use for that week you've got them here! I've linked them to the iTunes so all you need to do is send the link to the person who manages your devices (like your media specialist). Most are available for VPP (Volume Price Purchasing) so I didn't include the price for each app as your cost may be different. I've included a brief description below as well, and remember these are tried and true apps that I have used before (unless they are brand new releases but I myself play with them quite extensively before letting my kiddos try them out).

Anytime we have been on break for awhile I find it effective to incorporate apps from three different areas: new skill set (what we will be working on), previous skill set (something we almost all show mastery of but are good reviews of latest skills to refresh our memories) and an app that they've previously played and loved (an app they already know helps some students transition back easier, kinda like me wanting to wear my comfy sweatpants tomorrow to help ease back into it!) Here is what I chose for my students this week:

READING APPS:

-Endless Wordplay. See my review for Endless Wordplay here. From the Endless Numbers/Alphabet/Reader series this app focuses on rhyming word families while reviewing letter names, sounds and blending in a fun way.

-Beginning Sounds Interactive Game. Students match words that share the same beginning sound. Simple but to the point, this is a great app to help solidify understanding of beginning sounds.








-Alphabet Car Premium. Hands down one of my students' favorite apps every year. The students build basic words by driving a bus to each letter. Well worth investing in the paid version as you get so many more levels! {Note there is also an Alphabet Car Premium 2 that I believe includes these words and more for the same price. Since I already have the first one I'm not looking to buy the next one yet but if you are it may be worth looking into further!}

MATH APPS: 

 -Park Math. A good multi-concept app that works on numbers, counting, simple addition and subtraction, sorting and patterns. The variety of activities within Park Math make it a great content review app.







 -The Math Tree. Works on beginning addition and subtraction (0-10) and is my go to app for when we start addition/subtraction. It provides engaging, hands-on manipulation of objects to help students develop their understanding of arithmetic. Plus it has cute graphics and sounds!






-Sid's Science Fair. Showcasing the familiar characters from PBS's Sid the Science Kid show, this app works on both science and math through classification, patterns, graphing and sequencing. The content and the characters make it a huge hit with my students year round!







So there you have it: my skill work apps for this week! Let me know if you have any ?s about these apps, or any others that you are considering for use with your Kinderkiddo. I'm happy to share my thoughts! Check back in to find out what websites I will be using on our Chromebooks this week, as well as the creative apps we will be working with this month as well! As always, thanks for stopping by!