Today was a first - I was required to spend three hours shopping (albeit most of my products were free) in a classroom setting. I quickly learned that acquiring free apps, versus paid apps, was much like getting a free tank top (made of less material) instead of paying for a sweater. Sometimes you want a tank top, and sometimes this is sufficient, but other times a tank top doesn't cut it, and it's worth shelling out the extra dough for a finer (or warmer) product that offers you more.
Since I do not have time tonight to detail all of my app finds (and that would be a rather long post), I will start with a few, and add more over the next few days.
1. Scrabble app: This app allows the user to play Scrabble with a random opponent online, or with a friend. Some neat features include:
- The option to see the best word available
- The choice to shuffle around your letters so that you can better visualize words
- A dictionary to check your words
- A list of two letter words
2. Mad Libs app: This app requires the user to enter different types of words based on written cues, such as a plural noun or an adjective. These words are then put into a paragraph (I completed a rather humorous example that I will attempt to post). This app would allow the user to improve their phonemic awareness and would likely ensure more successful attention to the literary task.
3. ABC Braille Translator: I paid for this app, and it is one I am unimpressed by. The main screen has a list of every letter in the alphabet and by selecting a letter, the user is taken to a screen that shows the six circle "pattern" with shaded dots to represented the raised text that would be used to write in Braille. However, this application would be useful only for someone without a visual impairment who wishes to create a Braille text, or to decipher a Braille text. Because the dots are not raised, it would be of no assistance to an individual with a visual impairment.
4. Bubble Words: Using this app, the user matches one of a half dozen or so words floating in bubbles that rhymes with a displayed picture. This would improve awareness of rhyming, which is part of the phonemic awareness aspect of reading. Although it may seem like a simple game, it is rather advanced; the word that must be rhymed is not written out, and so the user will have to have a strong phonological awareness and understand the ending syllable that makes up the picture, and match this sound to a written word in a bubble.
5. Comic Touch: This app is an exciting feature that allows the user to create their own comics using pictures they have taken. This requires the user to plan and organize, if they are to develop their own stories. Depending on the assignment or requirements of the task, the individual may have a unique opportunity to create a dialogue in which they further their comprehension of an event in history they read/learned about in Social Studies (for example) by reflecting and making connections (putting themselves in the story) or by making inferences (creating thought bubbles).
In addition to my shopping and exploration, I also used my I-POD touch in the car (NOT while driving of course). I wanted to listen to The Vinyl Cafe Podcast I had subscribed to, but didn't have a way to do so through the car's speakers. Since the volume output from the I-POD itself is very quiet, I wedged the I-POD under my bra strap so that it rested on my shoulder and played directly into my ear. I had a bit of a sore neck when I got home, but a professional massage fixed that! Lastly, I set up my I-POD touch to show me the weather for Halifax with a simple click of a button, and I am now excitedly planning to head to the cottage for my long weekend!
Too fun Meggie!
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