Tool # 10

My daughter has an iPhone and iPod, but I don't. Consequently, I wasn't familiar with what you could do until working on Tool # 10. After what I've read, I want one. I am really excited about having an iTouch in class because I think the students will be excited about using them and therefore more engaged in what they are learning while "playing" with the different apps. I liked what one of the students said on Video 3 about liking to use the iTouch because it was "more new world than (using) paper." Since I don't have an iTouch to review the free educational apps, it's a little difficult to really know how well they would work for my students. The Shape Builder Lite seemed like a good app for hand eye coordination and working on matching skills and also the Alphabet Tracing for practicing writing letters. At first, the I Puzzle Words-Transportation sounded like a good app for later on when students knew most of their letter sounds because you unscramble the letters to spell the word, but you also have a picture that you are unscrambling (putting in order) at the same time. If you put a letter in the wrong place, the picture will be out of order too. Unfortunately, a comment from a parent said that it had more confusing words like llama and yacht and the app mispelled yacht--yatch. Again, not being able to play the game (and review the words available for the I puzzle) makes it difficult to know how appropriate the particular apps would be for my class.