Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Apps That are Right for Us!

We've had the iPads for one full week now and have had some time to review some Apps.

Here is the beginning of a list of Apps that are right for us (kids with mild-moderate-intensive special needs, grades k-3):
Cookie Doodle

1. Cookie Doodle- AWESOME!  You choose your cookie and get to "measure" the ingredients, mix, bake, and decorate your own cookies.  Great for following directions, making choices, positional concepts, color identification, shapes, and FUN!  We love this and plan to use it year round!

Word Magic
2. Word Magic- Look at the visual image, and choose the beginning sound from 4 letters. Choose beginning sounds, medial sounds, or ending sounds.  This App keeps track of correct and incorrect responses for easy data collection.
My Very First App

3. My Very First App- This is in the Eric Carle style and uses his illustrations to, first, match pictures with colors and color words.  Next, play a simple game of memory with the same illustrations.  Each illustration is named aloud as it is turned over pairing auditory and visual learning.  Change the memory game from "easy" to "medium" to "hard."
Alphabet Tracing

 4. Alphabet Tracing- For each letter, a train, caterpillar, or animal models the direction in which to write the letter; no pencil or stylus needed.
Telling Time App

5. Telling Time App- Uses a real watch and gives four choices to receptively tell the time.  This could provide an alternative to our traditional file folder tasks.
ABC- Magnetic Alphabet

6. ABC- Magnetic Alphabet- It's a magnet board on the iPad.  Digital letter magnets are movable and allow you to easily make words.

7. Speak it! Text to Speech- We are going to trial this as a communication device for one student who wants to type everything.  Simply type and touch "speak it."  This App has four choices of "voice" and has the ability to save frequently used words, phrases, or sentences. Imagine carrying an iPad or an iPhone rather than a $7400 speech device??? 
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox

8. Monkey Preschool Lunchbox- Great for listening and receptive language!  Each question in the "game" asks for a different concept.  Examples- "Which fruit is different?"  "Point to the food that is a fruit."  "Which word begins with the letter C?"
Thomas Game Pack

9. Thomas Game Pack- Nothing seems to motivate more than Thomas the Tank Engine.  This game pack offers 3 different games- Memory, Puzzles, and Navigating the Train Tracks.  I can't barely pry their fingers away from Thomas.

10. Sentence Builder- This App offers a visual and choices in how to build a sentence that appropriately fits the picture.  Great for receptive language, modeling appropriate parts of speech, and modeling complete sentence structure. 

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi there Morgan,

Thanks for your great post! We love all of the apps you have recommended.

Other apps that we have tried that are just awesome (to name just a few...)

Cake Doodle (like Cookie Doodle), iwritewords, Letterforms, Fish School HD, abc Pocketphonics and Superwhy!

We are consultants in the area of special education and we have an online series called "There's A Special App For That" that reviews and recommends apps for different populations.
We're at http://www.inov8-ed.com
Looking forward to your future posts...

Cheers!
Andrea

gret said...

Hi Morgan,
What a great post. Thanks for sharing this wonderful applications. I can't wait to try them.
Many of the kids I tutor are struggling ESL students, these apps are excellent for them. Thanks again!