Project 5

Top 4 Apps

Created by: The Fantastic FourVictoria Stanishia, Briana Tharas, Courtney Mills and Katrina Martinez

Fantastic Four Top 4 Apps

- Team Fantastic Four worked together to choose one app each that will be useful and developmentally appropriate in our future classrooms. The top 4 apps that we chose were Charades, the ASL Coach, Vocabulary Spelling City, and Autism iHelp. We all agreed that the apps that we chose were apps that we would love to use in our future classrooms. We chose apps that we knew would benefit our students in the classroom.

Charades• Synopsis

- One app that our group discovered is called “Charades!” With this app, students choose a kid-friendly category, place the iPad on their forehead, and the other students try to communicate what the specific word is without saying it directly. Then, then the other student guesses correctly, the team gets a point.

• Review- One user on iTunes gave this app five stars out of five, and mentioned, “This game is so amazing me and my friends love playing his when we are at school maybe you could have animals as a quick play version but everything else is amazing.” This app is a great way to bond and communicate with people of all ages in unique ways. Another user on November 9, 2014 stated, “Really teaches my son how to be more descriptive & he’s learning more idioms!” This app is great.

Charades• Classroom use and Resources

- This app if multifaceted, and can serve as a tool for a wide variety of educational topics. For example, this app can help students with the use of adjectives. The more practice they have with describing given topics, the more fluent they will be in vocabulary and the English language. This app also gives students practice communicating with their peers, improving their verbal, and nonverbal skills. This app has the ability to enhance students language fluency—enriching their writing and communication skills.

Charades• Learning Standards

- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.4Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.

• This standard would be met because students will need to report on topics in order to solve the words. Students will need to speak clearly, and be descriptive.

•  • CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.2.1

Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

• This standard would be exemplified because students will be gaining practice with speaking properly, and therefore, writing properly.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1.iProduce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

• This app will give student practice with formulating a wide range of different sentences. This will improve their sentence composing skills.

References:

FatChicken Studios. (2013). Charades! Free. App Review iTunes. Retrieved November 14, 2014, from https://

itunes.apple.com/gb/app/charades!-free/id653967729?mt=8

The ASL Coach• Synopsis

-The application I chose is ASL Coach- ‘American Sign Language’. This application is free and helps promote literacy using sign language. This application is useful for students of any and all ages. There is a virtual coach to assist with practicing and users can control the pace of instruction. This application is extremely useful in classrooms. In my own classroom I would like for my students to use this application. On coach mode, my students can type in words and chose the speed in which the word is shown. Students can then share with the class a word they learned.

The ASL Coach• Review

- “The app performs extremely well; the interface is bright, friendly, and easy to use. Anyone looking to learn American Sign Language will definitely benefit from ASL Coach.”- Quote found on appPicker.com owned by Dutz Technologies LLC based in San Francisco, California.

• Classroom use and Resources- This application is versatile in any classroom. Students can use an iPad to access the application and type in words. Students can then practice signing those words. This application is crucial to literacy. - Students can also master signing words and then teach their peers the words that they learned.

The ASL Coach• Standards

- English Language Arts- Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction. Students will use oral and written language for effective social communication with a wide variety of people. As readers and listeners, they will use the social communications of others to enrich their understanding of people and their views.

References:

Software, D. (2014, October 12). ITunes Preview. Retrieved November 13, 2014, from

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/asl-coach-american-sign-language/id385799946?mt=8

Vocabulary Spelling City• Synopsis

- Spelling City is a free app that can be used by students of all ages. In this app the students can play a variety of games provided to practice and learn their vocabulary words. Teachers and parents can go online to vocabularyspellingcity.com and create their own spelling lists including all vocabulary words they want the students to learn. The students would then login and gain access to those lists. Some activities that are available include, but are not limited to unscrambling words, alphabetizing the words, matching, fill in the missing letter, and practice spelling tests.

Vocabulary Spelling City• Review- Teachers have reported that this app is very helpful for

struggling readers to practice and review vocabulary and spelling. They mention that it is a great way for students to have fun while learning and can be used at school or at home.

- Our group has reviewed this app and agree with what the reviews say. Vocabulary Spelling City is very accessible and has a variety of fun games and activities that are beneficial to all students.

• Classroom Resources- I would use this app to have my students practice their spelling words. There are a variety of different activities so I could have the students choose a different one each night to help them practice their vocabulary for homework.

Vocabulary Spelling City• Learning Standards

Conventions of Standard English:- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.4.6Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal precise actions, emotions, or states of being (e.g., quizzed, whined, stammered) and that are basic to a particular topic (e.g.,wildlife, conservation, and endangered when discussing animal preservation).  

References:

"SpellingCity." SpellingCity. SpellingCity, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. <https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spellingcity/

id538407602?mt=8>.

Autism iHelp

• Synopsis- Autism iHelp is a free app that is for any age level. It is a vocabulary teaching aide that focuses on the questions of who, what and when. Autism iHelp is mainly directed towards the English Language Arts content area. It was developed by the parents of a child with Autism and also a speech-language pathologist. This app features who, what and where questions with photos because children with Autism Spectrum Disorder are visual learners. This app provides photos because the children are more likely to grasp the concepts. There is also an option to have audio selected, you have two voice options- male or female. You have the option of turning the audio on if you would like the child to have the question and answer read aloud or have the child read the question and answer by himself.

Autism iHelp• Review

- This app was released in September of 2012 and was recently updated in August of 2014. As I reviewed the customer comments who have purchased this app many say that this is a wonderful app for kids with Autism. One customer in November of 2012 stated, “I’ve tried other wh- question apps for autistic kids, but this has so far been the simplest yet the most efficient app.” - When I recently showed this app to my group members they said this was a wonderful app that could be used in the classroom. They themselves said that they would use this in their classroom. As a group, we agreed that this app is developmentally appropriate for any age level and has real world questions and pictures that is very useful for every child.

• Classroom Use and Resources- In order to use this app in the classroom, the teacher must make sure that this app is related to the lesson. For example: if your lesson plan has to do with professionals your student with autism can visually see the who questions and understand that who has to do with people. A few of the questions in this app say: 1. Who goes into outer space? 2. Who takes care of sick people? 2. Who teaches children at school? As well, if you want to teach your students about what questions they have questions about animals. Your lesson plan revolve around animals in different areas and learn about the sounds and where they are from. For example some what questions are: 1. What animal neighs? 2. What animal swims? 3. What animal flies? 4. What animal has a long neck?- What is great about Autism iHelp is that this app can be used to integrate into any lesson plan whether it involves English Language Arts, Mathematics, Emotions and Transportation. There is always an Autism iHelp app that can be directly related to your lesson plan.

Autism iHelp• Learning Standards

- Conventions of Standard English:CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.1Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.1.DUnderstand and use question words (interrogatives) (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how).

- Although this app is for any grade level I would start using this app for Kindergartners. I would do this because if you integrate Autism iHelp early while also teaching them the question words of who, what and where the students will be able to have a better understanding. The students would have a visual of who, what and where questions. This app can be integrated into any lesson plan because there is Autism iHelp- wh questions, Autism iHelp- language concepts, Autism iHelp- comprehension and many more. I would create a lesson plan around Autism iHelp to make sure that the students will be able to comprehend and understand the concepts I am teaching.

References:Talavera, John. "Autism IHelp – WH Questions." Autism IHelp – WH Questions. Apple Inc, n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2014. <https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/autism-ihelp-wh-questions/id557548372?mt=8>.

All of these images that were used in the Fantastic Four Top Apps PowerPoint are credited by Google Images