July 21 - Last Class!

I really enjoyed today's class, where everyone presented their writing blogs through the elluminate classroom. There was a wealth of useful information, websites, videos, gadgets and apps.

It is evident that everyone in our class put a lot of time and effort into creating these wonderful blogs. I'm glad we presented them the way we did - I really enjoy the online sessions!

I feel that I have learned so much from this course. I had never used an iPhone or iPod before coming into this class and now I feel quite comfortable with them. I think I will be trading in my BlackBerry in the very near future!

I've enjoyed exploring the various writing programs, particularly Kurzweil - it's very exciting when you think about the technology that is now available to help our struggling readers and writers.

Since I work with autistic and language-disordered students, I particularly liked exploring autism and speech language apps throughout this course. There were some great apps that I know my students would love!

I'm really glad that we got to examine the reading and writing process in detail. I have learned a lot from this and will keep all this new knowledge in mind when I begin working with my students in the fall.

Thank you for a wonderful course Barb, I have learned so much!

July 19th Conference

July 14th - Response to Class

In Thursday's class, we reviewed the writing process, in preparation for creating our own blogs on this topic.

Until we took the time to closely examine all the skills that are required to engage in the writing process, I had never really thought about what an extensive process writing is. We truly are expecting our students to do so many things, besides writing, when we ask them to complete a writing task.

I had never really thought about the importance of executive functioning skills before taking this class. But when you take a minute to stop and think about it, how can we expect our students to show us quality writing if they can't sit properly, listen to the directions, attend to the task and so on?  

I'm looking forward to completing our final assignment, where we have to create our own blog on the writing process. This will allow me to research the topic even further and I hope to create a site with lots of relevant information that will be useful to others.

By sharing our blogs with our classmates, I think we will all walk away with a wealth of information that we will be able to use in our own teaching practices, as well as share with our colleagues.

I will be posting the link for our blog in the next couple of days!

My Favorite App Presentation

Today, we presented our favorite apps to the class. There were a lot of great apps presented and I plan to put a list of them on my blog when I get a chance!  I chose a "Speech With Milo" app that I think would be great to use with my autistic students to build their language skills. The following is a description of it:

Top Apps Assignment

Speech With Milo: Prepositions ($2.99)

- intended for children approximately  2-10 to teach basic location words

- great for toddlers, preschoolers, and older children with language delays

Ideas on how to use it:

1) Request a response by asking:

- Where is Milo (the mouse/he/it)?

- Where is Milo (the mouse/he/it) going?

2) Vary the response requested by asking for:

- one word response (up)

- prepositional phrase response (up the stairs)

- sentence response (Milo is going up the stairs)

3) Increase utterance length:

- add verbs, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, etc to the above responses (Milo is going up the stairs slowly. Milo is hiding inside the box.)

4) Provide opportunities to act out the position words

 - e.g. have child hide behind an object or used a stuffed animal. This is a great way to get kids moving!

5) Work on opposites (up/down, in/out).

- turn off the default “random order” under settings so opposites are shown in pairs.

Other ways to use this app:

Expanding pretend play and simple inferencing

- e.g. Where is Milo riding a carousel? Do you think he is having fun? How do you know? Continue expanding by letting your child take the lead. For example, if your child says Milo is there for a birthday celebration, act out a birthday party sequence.

**Allow yourself and your child to be creative! You can easily spend minutes on one preposition, all while expanding a variety of linguistic and cognitive skills.

Apps Assignment

Imagine the iPod-sibilities: A compilation of apps that could be used in the educational setting with struggling readers #1-10  by Krista Montgomery #11-20 by Julie Baldwin #21-30 by Angela Paddock

App & Price	Description	Who should use it?
1. ArtikPix- Lite $FREE	ArtikPix is an engaging articulation app with flashcard and matching activities for children with speech sound delays. Children use ArtikPix to practice sounds independently, with a speech-language pathologist or their parents.	Child and adult friendly app that An engaging articulation app that is child and parent friendly.  It contains flashcard and matching activities for children with speech sound delays
2. ABC Pocket Phonics Lite $Free	PocketPhonics teaches the basics of reading and writing to young kids.  This app contains a “Parent Zone.  This allows you to customize the app to the specific needs of your child (ie: do they need work specifically on upper case letters? Lower case letters? Handwriting? Etc.) Parents may also order a free guide on teaching children to read.	This App assists in developing letter-sound relationships, letter writing and developing first words. This app is primarily designed for primary to age 7 students
3. Super Why! $2.99	Help your child achieve the Power to Read with this collection of four SUPER WHY interactive literacy games. Your child can play along with each of the four main characters from the TV series: Alpha Pig, Princess Presto, Wonder Red, and, of course, Super Why, while practicing the alphabet, rhyming, spelling, writing and reading. Super Duper	This App could be helpful in developing phonemic awareness, developing comprehension skills and decoding.
4.  Pictello $14.99	This app provides a simple way to create talking photo albums and talking books. Each page in a Pictello Story can contain a picture, up to five lines of text, and a recorded sound or text-to-speech using high-quality voices. Stories can be shared using iTunes File Sharing or via WiFi with other Pictello users through a free account on the Pictello Sharing Server. Pictello may also be used to create: - Stories to teach social skills or to recall events - Photo albums to allow non-speaking people to share their news and interests - Sharing important events and memories with family who live far away - Talking books - Teaching narrative skills as part of a literacy or language skills curriculum - Schedules, Task instructions, etc.	Pictello is developed for all ages and skill levels, so it is easy to use and requires no reading skills to locate and read stories.
5. Visual Timer $0.99	·         This app is a 60 minute timer with a graphic display that is very user friendly. Some functions are: ·         -play a sound and /or vibrate when the time is finished ·         - play a sound and /or vibrate at specific time intervals ·         -change colour of the visual indicator based on the amount of time remaining.	The visual Timer helps individuals judge how much time is left — even if they can’t "tell" time. The Visual timer offers guidance for individuals with ADD, ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and Dyslexia. This timer will also be helpful for all students to assist in monitoring time during activities and in preparing for transitions.
6. Speller- Free Phonetic Dictionary $FREE	This app enables students to learn how to spell words based on how they sound. This app includes a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. No internet connection required	This app was designed for the dyslexic speller, but could be used by anyone at all that is wondering how a difficult words is properly spelled.
7. Touch Piano $FREE	This piano app allows users to play their favourite tune on their device which will convert the screen to a piano keyboard!	Is app would be suitable for the student who requires work on cause and effect, fine motor, sequencing.  This app could be used as a fun reinforce as well.
8. Starfall ABC $2.99	This app has a variety of games involving the alphabet.  The games teach children about phonics, words and sentences.  Through repeated use, children learn to recognize letters and see how they combine to make words. This app is taken from the alphabet section of the popular website starfall.com.	This app helps students learn to recognize letters and develop phonics skills.  This app could be very motivating for students to use.
9. Reading for Kids: 100 ways to encourage your child to read $FREE	This app is full of great ideas that will encourage your kids to be eager, happy readers ·         Approaches for infants, as well as young children and teens ·         Web activities that have kids reading and writing daily ·         Reading hints to replace television watching ·         Use maps, recipes, coupons, horoscopes and games to get kids excited about reading ·         Rewards and incentives ·         Ideas that give kids confidence ·         Practical suggestions that work	This app would be useful for parents and teachers of students who need motivation.  It offers 100 ideas that children might find enjoyable which will promote their literacy skills.
10. Whiteboard Lite: Collaborative Drawing $FREE	This is app essentially turns the touch screen of your iPad, iPod touch or iPhone into a versatile whiteboard.  This app can be utilized by two users at the same time over a Wi-Fi connection or Bluetooth peer-to-peer.	This app could be used to develop fine motor skills in students, practice with letter formation, spelling words or many other uses.  This app has endless possibilities!
11. ABC MagicReading Short Vowel Sounds $ Free	This app gives children key reading skills practice. Along with reading practice, this program focuses on building blending and segmenting skills. It provides solid and direct experience with letters and sounds to help build phonemic awareness skills. It will help improve a child’s phonological processing ability and guide them towards becoming a good reader. It includes games that will help children experience blending and segmenting, which are the most essential pre-reading skills that language researchers talk about. The categories and levels of ABC MAGIC READING will provide meaningful challenges to strengthen your child’s phonemic awareness. This app also has built in features to discourage picture guessing and to instead encourage reading skills.	This program can be used with students who need to develop their phonemic awareness skills (letters, sounds), pre-reading skills (blending, segmenting), and phonological processing abilities.  It is great for you.ng children learning beginning reading skills. It is also good for those learning the foundations of English as their second language.
12 Alphabytes $2.99	This app includes 4 activities: -  learning the alphabet -  tracing the alphabet - spelling and matching letters to pictures with both lowercase and uppercase taught in the activities. As this app is targeted to younger kids, once you are in an activity you have to tap twice to enter another area. This prevents kids from accidentally exiting out the activity they are in.	This app can be used with early learners to get them ready for school. It can be used with students who need to develop phonemic awareness skills (letter recognition and letter formation).
13. ABC Magic Phonics - 2 consonant blends $Free	ABC READING MAGIC 2 will help your child gain mastery with consonant blends. This app will give your child practice with consonant blends to improve their reading skills. This app has three modes: - The Blending Mode helps your child learn the essential reading skill of blending, which helps prepare learners for segmenting. - The Segmenting Mode helps your child learn how to segment words. Segmenting has been recognized as the most important predictor of reading success. - The Reading Mode helps your child read words. Pictures are hidden to encourage true reading instead of picture guessing	This app can be used with children who need to further develop phonemic awareness skills; they have knowledge of letters and sounds and now need to work on putting them together (blending), taking them apart (segmenting), as well as reading whole words.
14.   Speedy Reader Lite	Speedy Reader is a reading game. It teaches kids and English language students the names of things in the natural and human world. It increases their spoken and written vocabularies within specific arenas in a fun, fast-paced and exciting way. Speedy Reader gets you closer to our world with actual pictures rather than cartoonish imagery. The pictures have incredible crispness and beauty. Speedy Reader teaches 90+ words, some ordinary and some exotic, from 4 different arenas: desert, jungle, ocean, and space.	This app can be used with English Language Learners who are working on building their vocabulary development. It can be used by students in writing activities, where they have to complete a writing assignment using the new vocabulary they have identified in the game.
15. ABC Magic Phonics - 2 consonant blends $Free	ABC READING MAGIC 2 will help your child gain mastery with consonant blends. This app will give your child practice with consonant blends to improve their reading skills. This app has three modes: - The Blending Mode helps your child learn the essential reading skill of blending, which helps prepare learners for segmenting. - The Segmenting Mode helps your child learn how to segment words. Segmenting has been recognized as the most important predictor of reading success. - The Reading Mode helps your child read words. Pictures are hidden to encourage true reading instead of picture guessing	This app can be used with children who need to further develop phonemic awareness skills; they have knowledge of letters and sounds and now need to work on putting them together (blending), taking them apart (segmenting), as well as reading whole words.
16. Playwords Lite $FREE	Playwords makes learning words fun for kids. It has 3 great games for children beginning to read or starting to spell. This app is professionally narrated by a clear, lively voice and the games are both entertaining and educational. It is easy for kids to use by themselves. These games are fun alone or with Mom and Dad. The games include: • Picture Blast: a flash-cards game that lets kids see the picture, read the word and hear the answer. • Word Match: a multiple-choice game that challenges kids to tap the word matching the picture. • Lost Letter: a spelling game that asks kids to fill in the missing letter in a word. The features of these games include: • 3 great games of varying difficulty. • Bright, colorful illustrations that your child will love. • Fun, lively and clear narration of all words. • 16 exciting reward stickers and stamps to collect. • 3 difficulty level settings.	This app can be used to encourage children to use visual cues when reading, as they have to look at the picture first and then read it, match it or fill in the missing letter. It can be used to enhance phonemic awareness, as students have to read the word  and then determine what the missing letter by determining what sound is absent in the word.
17. vBookz - Free Audiobooks $3.99	This app allows to you to read your own electronically published texts or access over 30,000 Classics FREE of charge! It has a magnifying glass interface indicating your current reading location, the magnifying glass follows the text as the book is being read, making the reading experience much more enjoyable and fun. This app has books that will read to you,  will easily find words, can adjust fonts and size and can adjust the speed of reading.	This app can be used with children who may be hesitant to read, but enjoy being read to. It would be helpful for students who need to focus on particular word patterns (you would have to find appropriate texts that focused on the child’s area of need).
18. First Letters and Phonics Lite $Free	First Letters teaches kids about letters and phonics, and includes two original renditions of the ABC Song. This app keeps your child entertained and engaged while developing important pre-reading skills. The educational components include: - learning  to recognize letters - learning the names of letters and the sounds they make (phonics) - developing fine motor skills The entertaining components include: -  a simple matching game - two original versions of the ABC Song: one using letter names and one using phonics	This app can be used with students who need to develop phonemic awareness skills (letter recognition, letter formation, knowing the letters of the alphabet).
19. Abatalks Phonics Rhyming Lite  $FREE	A fun game for young children to learn and practice phonics by finding pairs of matching words. Children are challenged to win "jewels" for successful completion of each level. After collecting enough jewels, they are rewarded with a bonus mini-game, allowing them to trace or color a picture, create sparkles on the screen, and pop bubbles. The child will be so involved in achieving each goal, that they won't realize how much they are learning! By matching rhyming words, this game helps children recognize common word patterns, and understand how the initial consonant, middle vowel, and ending consonant affect pronunciation. They will learn to distinguish between long and short vowel sounds, and they will learn to pronounce consonant combination, such as "ch" and "sh". These are all important stepping stones to becoming a proficient reader.	This app can be used to further develop phonemic awareness through identifying word patterns, consonants and vowel sounds.
20. Speech With Milo $2.00	“Speech with Milo: Prepositions” was created by a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist. The app was created as a versatile and entertaining speech therapy tool for children. Milo is for speech therapists working with children, or parents who want to teach language skills to their children. The app offers an enjoyable tool used in therapy at a cheap price. This game is centered on the adorable and energetic mouse Milo. Milo demonstrates 23 location words such as “inside,” “above,” and “behind.” The animated Milo will quickly win your child over so you can work on basic location concepts. The app comes with one set of easy instructions for both Speech Therapists and Parents. The instructions provide you with the means to use the app in many different ways so that it can be used for toddlers and preschoolers, as well as children with language delays. Features: - Fun and affordable -  Milo, an animated mouse, keeps children interested and motivated to learn. - Instructions for Speech Therapists and Parents (in English only) - Preposition is spoken as the concept is demonstrated in order to reinforce with auditory input. There is an option to turn this feature off. - Written verb is displayed at the bottom of the screen to reinforce reading skills. There is an option to turn this feature off. - Phrase button allows child to listen to a sentence using the preposition in context. -  Milo takes a break every once in a while with some cheese and a dance. The child gets to feed Milo some cheese and watch him dance as a reward for his/her hard work.	This app can be used in therapy for children with special needs, such as: Autism / Asperger Syndrome, Down Syndrome, developmental delays, cognitive delays, speech and language delays. It can be used to increase any child’s language skills.
21. Melvin’s Marvelous Words     (free)	Melvin's Marvellous Words is a fun word-matching activity that teaches the early learner, sight words.	Ideal for younger students learning to read and struggling readers.
22. Bob Books Reading Magic (free)	Bob Books Reading Magic will show children how to make the connection between letters and sounds, sound out simple words and spell the words they have learned. It’s an interactive game with a simple drag and drop interface. Full colour animations encourage kids along the path of reading.	For the developing reader, children in K /1 or those experiencing difficulties learning to read.
23. Grasshopper Apps: I like reading  (free)	“I Like” Picture Books contain engaging stories and stunning crisp photographs. Words are highlighted as they are being read to optimize the learning curve. Literally everything is customizable; add your own voice, your own photos and even your own story line!	For the developing reader and reluctant readers of all ages.
24. Sight Words App (free)	Designed to help learners, master the most frequently used words in the English language.	For early learners and struggling learners of all ages.
25. AlphaBooks Lite (free)	The fun-loving Letter Buddies help children prepare for school. Simple stories with striking photo-illustrations develop vocabulary and basic reading skills. - Clear, bright photography introduces key foundational vocabulary - Simple sentences combined with fantastic photo-illustrations put the vocabulary in context and teach important school readiness sight words	Letter Buddies materials were originally developed for early childhood education and are currently being used in classrooms throughout North America.
26. Chuck and Friends: Friends for the Long Haul “Bumpers up!” (free)	Join Chuck and his friends as you tap the screen to learn letters and words, play games and watch videos. This interactive reading adventure is ideal for young truck-lovers, fans of HUB TV and Hasbro toys. Read along as Chuck and his pals embark on a journey where they learn about honesty, teamwork and friendship. Bold graphics and bright colors make “Chuck and Friends: Friends for the Long Haul” an enjoyable and engaging way to learn to read.	Specifically for primary age children and boys.
27. Dolch Pre-primer and primer “Bumpers up!” (free)	These funny flash cards are fun and highly effective.  Kids love to learn with this great series of moving flash cards.	For the early learner and children experiencing reading difficulties.
28. Lefty and Ron  (Lain Anderson) (free)	An illustrated children’s story that can read itself aloud. The App uses a simple user interface that’s easy for children of any age. Read to the children, let them read on their own, or tap the text and it will be read aloud.	Suitable for preschool, kindergarten and struggling readers.
29. Magnifying Glass (free)	Here is you portable magnifying glass, always in your pocket and ready to use.  You get a great 2x magnifying glass. Designed for farsighted people and people who use reading glasses (and sometimes forget them!).	Designed for people who need glasses or is visually impaired.
30. Moms With Apps (free)	Moms With Apps is a catalogue of great children's and family-friendly apps. Contains interactive storybook some of which are free as well as other educational subjects. It aims to assist and educators to identify apps that address the needs of their children and students.	Designed for learners of all ages