2nd Grade Apps

So I have been failing (miserably) about posting on what was supposed to be my new thing to keep me busy. But apparently between working student teaching and having two other jobs to pay the bills, the blog has been getting away from me. The top of my to-list this weekend says, "blog about scrapbooking," so hopefully that will happen! 

Student teaching in second grade has been quite the experience. My background and master's degree is in the area of Special Educaiton and I have been very weary about my new set of kids. Luckily, they are pretty cute so they have grown on me. The greatest part about being in regular ed is the awesome technogly I get to use! All of my second graders have their own iPods, and its really allowed me to become a different type of teacher. I wanted to share some of the great apps that I use with my kids!

• Explain Everything (similar to ShowMe or Educreations, but I like it much better)
• I use this on my iPad to create math tutorials for the kids. At the start of our math hour the kids watch the tutorial that I made. Then those who understand can go back to their seats and the ones that need a bit more help can stay with me to watch it again and then receive small-group support. You will find one of my lessons below! 

• Math Ninja
• Super awesome game to work on math facts! The kids LOVE it!

• Grammar Jammers
• Remember "School House Rock" from when we were kids? Well, this is just like that. The kids find the songs catchy and they are actually learning from it.

• Sonic Pics
• We use this for science. The kids planted seeds and then recored their observations in a journal and took pictures of their plant 3x a week. At the end (when we realized that the rabbits had eaten all of the other class' plants), after we sent them home, the kids compiled their pictures into the app and were able to record their voice then upload it to their own dropbox which they can share with their parents!

• Chicktionary
• A bit like boggle, but with chickens! Our higher level kids love this app. To be honest, so do our lower kids even if they can't make many words. Im horrible at games like these so its fun to see the kids try and beat me every time! 

• Math Sky
• Basic Math fact app. ......tell the kids to be careful. Some of ours get really into it and walk around the room bumping into things!

• Penny Me
• Fun game about money

• Grammar Dragon
• Grammar app for parts of speech. Its to early in the year for our kids to use it, but the 3rd graders (who have iPads) are loving it. 

• Penguin Math
• Another basic math fact game

• Tell Time Lite (or expanded version)
• Kids eat this one up! They earn points and learn to tell time. The points they earn get them money so they can buy fish for their own aquarium. We are debating about buying the expanded version since the kids are learning so much from it. 

• Evernote and Dropbox
• Must have apps! Get them, it will make your life so much easier! :)