What: Storybots is a great interactive website that is really geared toward youngsters. I came across this site when I was looking for some fun videos that talked about the alphabet and the sounds represented by the letters. ABC Fun provides fun and engaging videos that explain each letter in the alphabet. They are short and to the point but presented with fun, energetic robots. Starring You! Make your students movie stars. You can put yourself into a video with the Storybots. Upload an image from your webcam, computer or Facebook and let the Storybots do the rest. Kids will love it! Activity Sheets provide fun practice that are Storybot themed. Connect the dots, color and word searches are just a few samples of what Storybots provides with their activity sheets. Create Books is a free iPad app that will let your students create their own Storybot books. There is a fee to create a book once the app is downloaded. However, what a fun way for students to put themselves into books. Beep & Boop! is a behavior game for your IOS device. Set goals for your kids as well as prizes for when those goals are reached. Good behavior/choices are rewarded with a beep while poor choices receive a boop which in turn takes away a beep point.
Techtastic Integration While the Storybot family of resources are really geared towards primary aged kids, they really do an effective job at engaging kids in learning with the fun, energetic Storybot robots. Use the videos as attention getters for introducing letters in the alphabet. Activity sheets can reinforce newly learned letters.
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If you are looking for a fun resource for helping students learn their alphabet then you should check out the Alphabetimals site. They also have an app. Check out the interactive book to hear an animal for each letter. In addition, there are some great resources such as flashcards, coloring pages and wall posters. You can even type your name/words with animals and then print them out, share them via social media or even order items with the name/word.
For the last few years, I have always had atleast one first grader that has had a cell phone. While it is debatable about the parent's intentions for this cell phone, it never fails to at least ring one time during class. I can only imagine that it is a matter of time before more and more primary aged kids are bringing their own devices. While this may be a few years out, I came across a site that allows you to embrace cellular technology now. iFake Text allows you to input a conversation. After inputting the conversation, it creates a "fake" screen shot of your conversation on an iPhone. How can this be used in my classroom? One way that I have been integrating this into my classroom is for our daily proofreading. I create a conversation on iFake Text. When creating the conversation, I make sure to leave some errors that need attention. My first graders then use the screen shot of the "fake" conversation to perform their daily proofreading. It is a simply tool that provides an authentic experience. |
Andrew FenstermakerInstructional Technology Coordinator | Innovation Coach | Google Certified Innovator | Presenter | Blogger | Adjunct @UiowaEducation | Owner @kids_f_i_r_s_t |