My Word Reader: Are Whales Smart, or What?

My Word Reader: Are Whales Smart, or What? is the second in a series of apps developed by Wrinkled Pants, following My Word Reader: Are Bees Smart, or What? which I reviewed here.

Are Whales Smart, or What? follows the same format, using a high interest, reader-friendly story to engage readers ages 8-16 who struggle with reading.  It is based on a true story about Skana and Bella, Orca whales at the Vancouver Aqaurium.

I especially like the feature that will read any word tapped out loud, and then place that word in the Word Bucket for later review.  As with Bees, words highlighted in blue will show a picture of the word when it is tapped.  These two features allow a student to read/listen to the story on their own.

The activities focus on consonant blends, consonant digraphs, word recognition, spelling, blending with short vowels, and reviewing key words.  I personally found the Wheel of Fortune and the Genie games very entertaining. The host on the Wheel of Fortune cracks me up with his gestures and throat-clearing hints.  And just wait until you see what happens when the young boy gets his wish!

I would like to see a function that would let the student record themselves reading the story and reviewing the words in the Word Bucket.  I would also like to see a feature that would save the sentences that students create after completing the activities. Both of these functions would allow the teacher to review a student’s work if s/he isn’t able to work directly with the student while they are using the app.

The website does have a  tutorial that suggests how teachers can use the app with students, including an excellent section on ‘debriefing’ with a student after they’ve finished the story.

Are Whales Smart, or What? addresses a variety of educational standards, such as determining two or more main ideas in a text, and explaining how key details support them, using the text as a reference.  Another standard is drawing on information from multiple print or digital sources, demonstrating the ability to locate an answer to a question. Other standards that apply focus on word recognition, decoding, and fluency.

I especially like this option for extending the learning:

“Dr. Selma Wassermann would love to hear from students who have used the Whales app and would like to tell her their ideas about it.  Students may contact Dr. Wassermann directly on the website: www.wrinkledpants.com or by direct email:  selma_wassermann@sfu.ca.    This not only allows for a culmination of the learning experience, but also extends the students’ literacy skills in a new medium.  All students who do write, will receive a response.”

I think that is a really exciting opportunity for the students.

My Word Reader: Are Whales Smart, or What? is available on iTunes for $4.99.

*I received a complimentary copy of the app in order to write my review.

Watch for Upcoming App Reviews of…

I’ve been busy testing and playing with several apps, whenever I can get the iPad away from my grandson.  Here’s just a few that I will be reviewing this weekend.

iPlanLessons from iHomeEducator

Cinderella from Nosy Crow

Dexteria for the iPhone from Binary Labs

Are Whales Smart, or What? from Wrinkled Pants Software

Odd1Out from Emantras, Inc.

Phonics Genius from Alligator Apps

*The developers provided the apps for me to review.

Dyslexia Quest: Are You Ready to Climb Yeti Mountain?

Dyslexia Quest is a collection of games that can help you discern your strengths and weaknesses, in areas that frequently cause difficulty for people with dyslexia.  The games focus on working memory, auditory memory, phonological awareness, processing speed, visual memory, and sequencing skills.

There are short videos of several of the games on the Dyslexia Quest website.

Once you’ve completed the quest, you can see an analysis of your results, and whether they show any of the typical signs of dyslexia. The results are categorized as very low, low, average,  high, or very high.  You also receive a score ranging from 0% to 100%. After you’ve played all the games and received your results, you can return to the quest to work on improving weak areas. Your original scores and your improvement will be on the results page.  A useful feature is the ability to email results to yourself or to other interested parties.

In addition to seeing your scores, you can read a brief description of the skill.  For example, the app explains that a weakness in Working Memory can affect reading and spelling, as well as cause difficulties with attention to verbally presented material.   There are also tips to make use of any learning strengths that are detected. As the developer of the app says, however, you would need to be professionally tested to confirm a diagnosis of dyslexia.

There is also a short quiz about skills such as remembering the sequence of phone numbers, losing your place when you read, spelling, and forgetting what you’ve just read. The quiz is also a feature of a free app called What Is Dyslexia? In addition to the quiz, What is Dyslexia features tips for parents and schools, as well as a narrated comic strip about what it’s like to have dyslexia.  This ends on a positive note, with brief mentions of successful people with dyslexia.

Currently, Dyslexia Quest can be used by only one person at a time.  Once that person has completed the quest and/or continued practicing the games, a new user can be created.  The developers hope to address this in a future version.

Dyslexia Quest and What is Dyslexia are from the company Nessy, which is based in the UK. They have developed many educational software titles.  They collaborate with the Bristol Learning Centre to ensure that their products are helpful for dyslexics.  Dyslexia Quest, as well as other Nessy apps, are available  in the iTunes store 

Beautifully Simple! Speech Journal is NOT just for Speech Teachers!

Speech Journal* is beautifully simple, but its potential uses are limited only by your imagination.   For starters, you can:

Make a picture schedule.

Write a social story.

Record oral language samples.

Create a photo album and describe the pictures.

Import drawings and talk about them.

Capture reading fluency and story retelling samples.

Keep a journal of your vacation.

Make personalized alphabet, number, and word books.

It’s as easy as, well, 1-2-3.

1. Create a student profile.

2. Select a photo or take a new one with the iPad2 camera.

3. Record a sentence about the image.

After that, listen to the recording. You can erase it and start over, or you can add on to it (I LOVE that option!), or add more images.

Then, save the recording. Each student will have their own file of saved recordings. These can be replayed, added to, deleted, or shared via email.

Speech Journal is another winner from the Mobile Education Store!

 

Way To Go, Kathy Penn and Sound Literacy!

I’ve written before about Kathy’s Sound Literacy app  for the iPad, here and here.  When I read the current eXaminer from the International Dyslexia Association, I was surprised and pleased to see this article: IDA Partners with Sound Literacy.

Congratulations, Kathy!

Dyslexia on the Mind

A short portion of a documentary from New Zealand.

How Does a Dyslexic Brain Work, You Ask?

Check out this video from KinaLearn.com

Book Bytes: Monstrous Book on MultiSensory Teaching

Thank you to Kathy Penn of 3DLiteracy for the heads-up on this weighty book. I just received my copy of the brand new, 786 page, 3rd edition of Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills by Judith R. Birsh.  Chapter 18 on “Learning Strategies and Study Skills” by Claire Nissenbaum and Anthony Henley is worth the price of the book all by itself!!

The book is jam-packed with references, including links to many websites.  This is just one that looks like it holds oodles of useful information for parents, teachers, and students: The Learning Strategies Database from Muskigum University.

If you work with students who have learning disabilities, in particular ones that are language-based, you gotta have this book!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Boxed Up, Or Not?!?

A comment from a parent of a young boy with autism prompted me to come up with this thought:

“Trying to fit all people into the ‘normal’ box has made it truly difficult to see the gifts of those who are ‘out of the box.'”

Book Bytes: Terrific Take on Tally Marks in Math: Sticks and Steps!

If you’re like me, you’ll be smacking yourself in the forehead when you try out this simple method for multiplying and dividing, wondering why you never thought of this before.

Teacher Maureen Stearns has developed a tidy way to avoid the mess of tally marks marching across a page as a student tries to solve multiplication and division problems.

Not only does this concrete method help students to practice math facts more quickly and efficiently, it can be used to solve one digit by multidigit problems, find square roots, and figure out least common multiples.  Students will be able to see the patterns involved in multiplication.

To put it simply, vertical tally marks are called ‘sticks’ and horizontal lines are called ‘steps.’  The number of sticks and steps the students will use depends on the math factors.

For Example, to solve 3 x 5, the student would make 3 vertical lines (sticks) and 5 horizontal lines (steps).  Using the tip of their pencil, they would touch each tally mark, saying one, two, three, followed by writing the 3 on the the first horizontal line (step).  They would repeat the process, saying the next numbers in the sequence-four, five, six, and write the 6 on the second step. They would continue on with seven, eight, nine, writing 9 on the third step; ten, eleven, twelve, writing 12 on the fourth step; and finish with thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, writing 15 on the fifth and last step.  The last step ALWAYS has the answer!

3 x 5

l l l

3

6

9 

12

15

This multi-sensory method taps into visual, auditory, and kinesthetic processes.  The book is clean and simple, just like the process Stearns explains.  No bells and whistles, multi-colored illustrations, or cutesy characters to distract from the task at hand.

It’s a simply beautiful idea, beautifully and simply presented.