Day 12

Today we all presented our Writing Process blogs to the class over Elluminate Live. I really enjoy using this program as an alternative to actually being in class. It would be great to be able to have class in my own home! I really enjoyed seeing and going through everyones blogs. there were a lot of great apps, websites, and gadgets that I would like to check out. I especially liked the Xtranormal clip that Catherine, Shelley and Paul made. My students would really like using this feature, and me too! A few people (including us) mentioned the Therabands and the Disc-o-sit. So many of my students would benefit from these and I would really like to try to get my school to get some in to try them out (even if I don't go back!). I liked the AT writing supports for students with disabilities, autism, hearing, vision and cerebral palsy that Mark, Angela and Stephanie had on the side of their blog. There is a Penfriend there for dyslexic students I would like to check out. I really liked how Krista and Julie focused on certain disabilities. I found the one on Autism and Executive Functioning really great as that is a lot of what I deal with with my students. The little video Barbara posted on What are LD's is really cute! I enjoyed the alternative keyboard suggestions on Elizabeth and Darlene's site, as well as the Spelling Bus, Spell That and Memory game apps. Helen and Sacha have what looks like a wealth of information on their blogs, so I can't wait to go through them. Well, that is all for me. I can't say enough how much I enjoyed this class and am glad my friend suggested it to me. I will definitly put these assistive technology tools to use! As well as get an iPod ;)

Day 11

Here is a Wordle I did of my blog today.

I really enjoyed taking this course. I am really convinced on using the iPod and iPad in the classroom. I have found so many apps I can wait to try out with them, as well as other assistive technology like Kurzweil. I can't wait to get my iPod on my birthday! :)

Day 10

Here are my Wordle's for each of the three speakers we had at the conference today :)

Dr. Pat Thomson - Changing Schools: Alternative Approaches That Promote Social Justice



Dr. Kevin Alderson - Reflecting on Shattered Glass: The Veneer of Social Justice for GLBT Students



Dr. S. Nombuso Dlamini - Where the New Meets the Old: Tearning Through New Special Encounters in Canada's Changed Urban Environments

Day 9

On the weekend I watched two YouTube video's on our Professor's blog. One was called Low Tech AT for Handwriting, and the other was called Pencil Grip, Positioning, and Handwriting. I especially liked the Low Tech AT video, as I was unaware just how many different tools there were. We have probably about 6 different kinds at our school. I also used my iPod to search for different YouTube video's for our Writing Process assignment. I found a few great ones, which I posted to our groups blog. I also found another Gadget that I like, you can see it at the top of my gadgets list, called Reading Tip of the Day. Yesterday, for our Writing Process assignment, I used my iPod yet another way. I recorded my Speech Language Pathologist friend talking about her job at LDANS and how they assist students who have trouble with writing. She talks about low, mid and high tech options. I will be posting it on our Writing Process blog page once I figure out how! I downloaded a free app called What's the Difference that I really like. You have to find the differences between two pictures that are almost identical. You can play a few different ways.

Survival – Find all five difference before time winds down. The first stage starts at 60-seconds, and the clock continues to get shorter and shorter as you progress

Challenge - See how many levels you can beat in 90-seconds

Practice - Un-timed practice (But where’s the fun in that?)

Day 8

Last night I was browsing on YouTube and I came across this really nice video of a child named Gage. It basically shows how the use of an iPad helped him to find his voice. It is really worth watching. Here is the link :)


Today in class we went over The Writing Process and how we are going to make a blog in groups of all kinds of information, links, apps, technology, etc., of how to make the process easier for children. I am really looking forward to getting into this assignment.
Yesterday we discussed a little bit about the importance of cursive writing and whether or not it was important to learn. People have mixed feelings about this, but I do feel students should be aable to cursive write their name. I found an app called ABC Cursive that shows the proper way to write cursive letters. The app gets you to draw right on the screen, tracing a letter twice, and then moving on. I have the free version, but there is also an upgraded version.

Day 7

Today in class everyone had a chance to talk about their 3 favourite apps to support reading and literacy. I talked about TumbleBooksToGo - Munsch 6 pack ($5.99), which is a great app with animated talking picture books. the sentences are highlighted as they are being read. Here is the link that talks about the app.

http://tumblebookstore.com/apps/app_munsch1.html

Another one I discussed was ABC Phonics Animals which is free. It focuses on alphabet phonetics, spelling, reading and sounds. There are a few games to supports phonetic leaarning, and well as prizes as you move up. Here is the link.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/abc-phonics-animals-free-lite/id335670787?mt=8



The third one I talked about was My Word wall. This is my favourite one for what I teach, and it is only .99. It teaches reading, writing, reinforces words families (my favourite part), and sight words (also my favourite). There are over 75 sight words, and a 'word wall' is saved so students can go and look at the words they have learned. There are also stickers as rewards. It supports phnetic awareness and sight word spelling.

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/my-word-wall/id437421121?mt=8
I also mentioned PocketPond which is a really great relaxing app for agitated students.

 Here is the link to a YouTube video of PocketPond being used.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzjtfZy91TQ
Some of the apps I am really interested in that other people talked about are Bobs Books (I have the lite version, but may get the full version), AlphaBookHD, Reading Log Kids, SmallTalkPhonemes, iwritewords, 3D Magic Words, and Miss Spell's Class (I like this one for myself!)

Day 6

On the weekend I watched the rest of the Ellumint Live recordings. I find seeing so many apps 'in action' extremely helpful, which is obviously the key. We get to 'test them out' so to speak before we buy them. I really like the Fluid 2 app. As i was watching it, I noticed in the discussion that someone mentioned the app Pockey Pond was very similar, and free. I downloaded it and love it! I find myself playing with it every once in awhile :) I can see how it would be very calming and engaging. I liked the reading a-z app, but have not been able to find it. perhaps I got the name wrong?I found the Proloquo2Go very cool as well. My favourite so far has to be Speech Tutor. Since I tech aa phonetics based reading programs, we have different mouth movements and names for them that we teach the students. We aalso use mirrors and mouth pictures to show these movements. This app would be very helpful in our program for the visual learners. I also enjoyed the Chronological Age Calculator and I downloaded it as we do testing on the students every year to ensure they are gaining skills and we are essentially doing our job. We always have to calculate their chronological age so this app would be really handy during our assessment week. I wanted to add something to my blog, and after much YouTube searching, I found how to do it. I have added a Library of the books I am currently reading or have read recently, or just really liked, so that others can take a look :)

Day 5

Today I watched two of the Elluminate Live recording sessions. I watched the 1st of the Kurzweil 3000 training sessions, as well as the Apps in Action for Reluctant Readers. I really enjoyed the Kurzweil training session and all it has to offer. I am looking forward to the advanced session. I have never used Kurzweil before, only heard of it. Besides the obvious, that it reads text to you, I really enjoyed seeing the different note options: Sticky notes, voice notes and column notes. All these would really come in handy for both teacher and student. I loved watching the Apps in Action for Reluctant Readers. I ended up downloading a few of the apps after I watched how they were used. I downloaded vbookz and ABC Pocket Phonics. The ABC pocket phonics is especially great for the program I teach. I especially love how you need to draw the letters correctly, starting and ending in the proper places for it to be right. So many of my students make their letter from the bottom up. I am interested in the Montessori crossword as well. Just a little thing I noticed on the Live session, but I like how there is a vowel button for 'y', as well as a consonant button for 'y'.  This is a scene I created in 'Story Maker' app. I thought it would be pretty cool, but it is actually quite hard to use. The option are hard to highlight and use. Guess that's what I get for being cheap! I have been very happy with all the apps I paid money for so far :)

Day 4

I could not find my cell phone last night, which I always use as my alarm clock. I thought, "Ohh, I can use the iPod!" I found it no problem and it did its job this morning :) I also used the map app on the iPod to find the route to my great aunts house in Berwick where I will be commuting from for the next two weeks. It will come in handy when I have to drive there! I read another one of the Robert Munsch books today on the iPod that I downloaded last night. They are really very great apps. They work well on the iPod, but I can imagine they would be even better on an iPad. Hmmm, which one will I buy after this course? I also downloaded another app today that someone had mentioned on their blog called My Word Wall. It is really a very good app, as was mentioned. I especially like the word families option. This would be really great for my students. I opened up the weather app, and saw that it was already programmed for New York. I quickly changed it to Halifax and from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

I found a great YouTube video today as well on iPod's in the classroom. It is great to see the student responses and how well they are working! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTSM0m6aT9M

Here is the Inspiration Meggie and I did on The Reading Process:

Day 3

I had a lot of fun shopping today on my iPod. Even purchased a few :) I am posting a drawing of my name that I did with the Hello Crayons app. I could not figure out how to post the actual apps, so I write the names and explained them all. I will edit my post with the actual apps when I figure out how  to post them.

ABC Phonics - Interactive app supporting phonics awareness. Has flashcards and matching activities. Will support stages of phonetic and phonemic awareness, and attention to task..
Teach me 1st Grade - Covers spelling, Dolch sight words, addition and subtraction. Interactive and fun, gain coins as rewards and spend them at the store. My only complaint is as you are playing, it switches back and fourth through the different subjects. Not able to just choose to practice, say, sight words. Supports phonetic, phonemic and attention to task.
Scrabble - Classic game made interactive :) Can play against iPod, or a friend. Supports attention to task and comprehension.
Word Search - Classic game made interactive :) Supports attention to task.
Mad Libs - Classic game made interactive :) Supports attention to task and comprehension.
Shape Puzzle for Kids - Task is to put shapes together to build animals. Name of animal is said when it is complete. Supports listening, mental lexicon, and attention to task.
ABC Song - Plays the alphabet to music while showing the letters. Not that great. Supports listening.
Comics+ - Puts stories into comics or graphic novels. Has free comics, as well as ones you can buy. Supports phonological and phonemic awareness, attention to task and comprehension.
Z is for Zebra - Goes through the alphabet one letter at a time. Says the sound of each letter, and when you touch the animal, says the name of the animal. Supports listening, mental lexicon, and phonemic and phonetic awareness.
Spell Animals - Picture of an animal is shown with spelling in blocks and word is said. Blocks fall down and you have to put them in the right order again to respell the word. Difficulty can be decreased or increased. Supports listening and phonetic awareness.
Simon Says - Colours light up and sound at the same time. Task is to repeat the pattern. Can be made easy or difficult. Supports listening and attention to task.
ABC Tracing - Trace capital and lower case letters and the alphabet. Says the letter after it is properly traced. Supports attention to task.
No Fear Shakespeare - Translates Shakespeare's plays and sonnets into today's language. Supports phonemic awareness and comprehension.
Little Speller - Says name of object, have to put letters together to spell it, says name of object again. Can increase in difficulty. Supports listening, mental lexicon, phonemic and phonetic awareness, and attention to task.
Hello Crayons - Can use different colour crayons to draw, write, etc. I wrote my name with it that I will post at the bottom. Supports attention to task.
Flashcards Plus - Comes with a list of flashcard you can choose from all all difficulty. You can also create you own decks of flashcards. For young school age children, you would have to create your own as the words given are higher level. Supports mental lexicon, phonetic and phonemic awareness.
Tumblebooks To Go - I got the 6 pack of Munsch books. Really great app. You can read the story yourself or have it read to you. Each sentence lights up as it is read and scene moves as while it is being read. Supports phonemic and phonetic awareness, attention to task, and comprehension.
Baby Piano - Has colourful piano keys that you can play a tune on your own, or follow the keys that are lit up. Supports listening and attention to task.
iTot Cards - Shows pictures of numbers, letters, animals and food. Not very good. Says names of them. Supports listening and mental lexicon.
Storeymaker - Create characters, settings, etc, and write stories. Supports phonological awareness, attention to task and comprehension.

Here is what I did with Hello Crayons :)

Day 2

I feel a little more comfortable with this ipod today. I am actually using it right now to type my blog. I found an app that teaches you how to draw. I tried it out. It's not bad, but is a little confusing to follow. I took a picture of what I drew with the camera so hopefully I can figure out how to post it on here. I also used the calendar to schedule my meetings this week. I found an app that reads books to kids and kids can read along with. It has alot of colour, categories, etc. It is pretty good. I also watched a few YouTube videos. I have not really ever searched on YouTube very much. There is anything and everything on there! Okay, that is all for now. Hopefully I can post what I drew.

Newbie

Well I am quickly realising I am not tech savvy. It took me quite awhile to download all the programs I needed for the course, and then resulted in getting some help figuring things out. I am slowly being accustomed to the iPod. So far I have downloaded "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele. I also downloaded TikiNotes, although I am still trying to figure out how to use it. As I am typing this, I found an app called Grammar Jammers that looks fun. It has songs to teach parts of speech and uses words and pictures. It also has a 'check' after each lesson to see how well you learned. I am liking this!