Was it ever nice to carry my coffee out to the pool this morning, and boot up my blackboard collaborate session!
I REALLY enjoyed this session, and listening to a friend of mine, Barb Cochrane from Bridgewater on today's webinar!
The wheels were churning in my brain as to how I could use this info with parents, administation, our SLP and OT specialists. I had a close working relationship as a learning centre teacher, with our OT/ SLP/ Assistive Tech specialists the past few years, and enlisted their help many times for assistive tehnology options. Our school too, had a lot of referrals for OT and AT, especially surrounding fine motor/ printing/ handwriting skills. I tried to address this last year by having our OT do a session with any interested teachers or administration with the Handwriting Without Tears program. I am happy to say that administration was present, as well as most teachers from P-3 so that they all received the same message. One of the grandfather,s who is handy with woodworking skills, actually then offered to make class sets of the HWT templates for all teachers as well!
I will mention in my write up here how certain students could benefit from these apps- but I was especially interested to see how engaging and motivating many would be for our reluctant fine motor youngsters, who would rather play outside on the playground than pick up a traditional pencil! Even with triconda pencils, grips and lego pieces between pinky and ring fingers, many are not motivated to keep these up on a regular basis throughout the long writing process, especially once you consider how long it takes some to prepare for even the task of writing itself!!
Here are some of the apps:
1. Dexteria- $4.99 ( tap, pinch and write) I loved this one as it supports HWT principles and is great to use for tracking and data collection. I also liked the fact that different styluses could be used to target different student needs!
2. Bugs and Buttons- $ 2.99 This one was AWESOME- everyone should have this app! I could see many youngsters this one would engage, pinching and dragging/ grabbing those tarantulas in time to soothing music. I liked the auditory feedback this one provided- what 5 or 6 year old wouldn't love it?
3. Juno's Piano- 99 cents Good for finger isolation and control
4. Injini- $ 29.99 Expensive but SO worth it! Great for assessment purposes and loved how levels 1-9 go in progression of the developmental sequence of pre- printing skills ( vertical lines- polygons) Also, liked how it prepares the student for the activity with reinforcing clarity.
5. Touch and Write- FREE Liked the fine motor control with reawrd built in( who wouldn't like writing with chocolate frosting?!) Good for learning numbers, letters and modified word lists as well!
6. Shape Builder- 99 cents I had this one on the school's ipad, and the students loved moving the various animals, letters and numbers.
7. Write pad for ipad- $9.99 More expensive, but as Barb says, you get what you pay for! Loved the adaptability throughout school to Grade 12 with handwriting recognition, as it converts to text instantly. I also liked how it reinforces activities from HWT!
8. Cars2 App Mates- FREE, BUT have to purchase cars on Amazon etc.
This was AWESOME- I have so many students who would LOVE this app! You turn the ipad into a virtual play mat and you really need to focus to control the car with a firm, tripod grasp. I have a few parents that asked for handwriting activities for over the summer, who have ipads at home that I am going to email with this info! It even develops non- dominant hand- wrist action!
9. Pirate Scribbeard's Treasure- $2.99
Very engaging as it animates at the end of each activity. I also liked how you could use the stylus or finger to complete. I had a few boys this year who were great illustrators, but didn't like, or couldn't hold their attention easily for the writing process. These pirate based activities would be great for them!
I can't wait to find out what school I will be at next year to try out these apps!
Bev
Aren't you lucky to have had someone volunteer to make the wooden pieces for HWT! I attended a similar session put on by my school's OT 2 years ago, and lots of teachers were interested in the program. It makes me sad that we are now discouraged from using HWT (that's the message that was passed on to me this year by the OT and principal). At least we have some ideas from this webinar of alternate programs to use, so long as our school has an iPad available.
ReplyDeleteThat's too bad you were discouraged from using HWT! It's a great tool, but I really feel all the lower Elementary teachers in a school need to be trained and buy into the program for everyone to be on the same page!
DeleteA new Handwriting package was sent out by the board this Spring that had a variety of handwriting suggestions for classroom teachers, including sections of the HWT program!
Bev