App List

Many people have requested a list of the apps that we use on the ipads.  Here they are!  I am sure that we will be adding to them as we continue to use the ipads throughout the year.

Letter School:  an app that teaches letter formation
Story Kit:  an app that helps kids record their writing verbally
Montessori Words:  an app that helps kids sound out words
Word Wizard:  another app for creating a word
Line 'Em Up:   math app that teaches number order
Counting Board:  basically a virtual hundreds board
Sketchio:  basically a virtual white board

I hope this list helps!

Fun Sight Word Activity

If you've been saving the newsletters that I have been sending home each week, you are starting to gather a small pile of sight words that you can practice with at home.  What to do with all of these?  Try practicing in a fun way at home.  How about sight word hockey?  Sounds fun, right?  Your kids might not even realize they are practicing!  Here is a link to the directions.

Reading Activities

Here's a peek into some of the activities we have done during reading centers:

Reading books with our sight words with whisper phones  (Whisper phones are tubes in a phone shape that make it easy for kids to hear themselves read.  This can be very powerful in developing fluency and keeps reading interesting.  Want to make your own whisper phone to use at home?  Here is a link to a simple tutorial.)

and reading with funky "monster fingers."   We also read to a stuffed animal and read to a buddy.  The repetition of reading these short books, high in sight words really helps develop fluency and confidence with reading.  At home, try using some of these strategies with the sight word books that come home during the week.  

Any practice reading will help develop reading skills.  These are all great ways to keep reading interesting.