An App A Day Linky Party

Kelly over at Thirsty Firsties is hosting an App party because her school just purchased an ipad lab and she is looking for some great apps to download.  Her linky party works like this:

1. Share your favorite FREE app that you use in the classroom.

My favorite FREE app that I use in the classroom is: Flash to Pass .

It is basically an electronic set of flashcards, but my kiddos love it!  I have used it in small group instruction as well as during those extra sets of minutes you find such as waiting in line, or the end of the day.

 

2. Share your favorite app that costs that you use in the classroom. (If you don't have one, share another FREE one).

 

My favorite paid App is probably still Confer. 

Confer is the main reason why I wanted to get my ipad.  I use it as a digital pensive for Daily 5 and Café and I would honestly be lost without it!  You can view a how to video here: 

3. Share your favorite app for personal use (Instagram, Candy Crush, etc.)

 

My favorite app for personal use is LoseIt. 

After 6 kiddos I definitely have some poundage that needs to hit the curb!  I find if I keep track of what I eat and when I work out I tend to be more accountable. 

Then grab this button and link-up. 

 

She's also giving away an iTunes gift card as part of the linky, so be sure to check out her blog and join in the fun!

 

Using Flash Cards With Struggling Readers

I have two girls in my class this year that began the year reading just below a first grade level.  They struggled with phonics and didn't seem to know many sounds, but they both have exceptional memories.  So, I decided to try to work on developing their sight word capabilities by using flash cards. This has worked extremely well and they are both close to reading at a second grade level right now!

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a small commission each time someone makes a purchase using one of my links, which helps to support the blog.  All opinions are my own and I only promote brands and products that I have used myself and truly love. 

Each day we practice sight words using flash cards and the method outlined below.  Recently, we have begun doing word hunts for books they are independently reading as well as for texts we are going to work on as a class.  The girls go through the text, and find words they do not know and write them on index cards.  I then rotate them through with the sight words they are working on.

You can see here that we were working on reading a Scholastic news article about reindeers that live in tundra areas. (the pink is simply covering the student's name). I think it gives the student ownership to write their own words (although I have had to fix spelling from time to time).

I put the flashcards in order this way:

Known word
Known word
Unknown word
Known word
Unknown word
Known word
Unkown word
Known word

This helps the students to feel successful on the majority of the cards.  I based the amount of new words on research that found that third graders can retain 3 to 4 new pieces of information at a time.

As we go through the pile of cards, I put tally marks on each card that the student says correctly.  Once a card has 5 tally marks, they become a known word.  When the card has 10 tally marks, the student gets to take the card home because they "own" it!  They love taking cards home and they even continue to practice at home.

This has worked so well, that I have started using them to practice math facts for some of my other students who are struggling with that as well.

Do you use flash cards?  If so, how?