Welcome To Helen's Corner

Helen Wagner is a retired Speech-Language Pathologist with 40 years experience working in public schools. She has extensively worked with special needs students of all ability levels to improve speech, language, communication, social, and educational skills.

She successfully incorporated Bluebee Pals into her speech therapy classes noting that students really relate to their Bluebee Pal friends and look forward to learning with them. She continues to consult on the use of Bluebee Pals in the classroom and at home.

Bluebee Pal Teacher Ambassador Helen Wagner

I often use our classroom Bluebee Pals during therapy to work on reading, talking and playing skills! My students really relate to their Bluebee therapy friends, and look forward to learning with them!
Teaching and learning begin at home. Parents are the first and most important teachers in the early, developmental years. Young children learn essential, foundational speech, receptive and expressive language, social, pre-reading, cognitive, numeracy and communication skills necessary for future academic success through meaningful play and lots of language rich learning opportunities.
Read, Read, Read!

Read to your child daily. Reading helps develop vocabulary, attending, sentence construction, grammar, pronoun usage, social-skills, turn-taking, imagination, creativity, sequential thought, emotions, wh-questions, comprehension, receptive/expressive language skills, critical thinking and problem solving, and so much more! Reading daily to young children is one of the most language rich and meaningful learning opportunities that parents can give their children. Parents provide many natural educational interactions while reading, talking about the subject matter and elements of the story, questioning about the story, and practicing story retelling.

Talk, Talk, Talk!
Parents need to talk to their children! Talking and commenting on the world around them is a great, natural way to teach children. Examples: In the grocery store: “How many yellow fruits do you see? How many green vegetables? Let’s buy three red apples”. In the car: “Let’s see how many blue cars we can count” or “How many things can people ride in to go somewhere”? “Let’s look for things that are orange”. “Can you find a stop sign? What colors are in a traffic light”? At home during interactive play: “Oh, wow, I see that you are racing your red car and your blue car. Which one do you think will go faster”? Simple commenting and talking about what you and your child are doing and seeing and asking questions is a powerful educational tool. Commenting on the world around them will build and reinforce basic concepts, numeracy, turn-taking, pragmatic skills, receptive and expressive language, critical thinking and reasoning skills, problem solving, grammar, and more.
Play, Play, Play!

Play with your children! Lots and lots of learning takes place during play! Play dolls, play trucks, play games, play marbles, play pretend! Provide opportunities for you preschoolers to interact with peers! Beginning games such as Candy Land, Spot It, Pop the Pig, I Spy, Zingo and more are great for practicing social skills, turn-taking, sharing, numbers, colors, matching and categorization skills. Playing and learning through songs and finger-plays such as “Itty Bitty Spider, 5 Little Ducks, etc, is a great way to teach rhyming, sequencing, memory and basic concept skills. Learning through play provides powerful opportunities for cognitive growth.

Bluebee Pals Teaching Social Skills Remotely

Virtual Learning with Bluebee Pals: Teaching Social Skills

With the recent educational focus on remote or distance learning, it can be challenging for teachers and parents to teach social skills in a virtual environment.  It’s easier to learn and practice social skills with a partner or group whether it is face to face or via teletherapy. Bluebee Pals are excellent tools to help teach social skills, whether face-to-face or online.

 

What Are Bluebee Pals? 

Bluebee Pals are softly huggable, lovable, plush interactive learning tools/toys that connect via Bluetooth to all iOS and Android devices. They wirelessly pair with all apps and activities with a narrative, which provides endless educational opportunities and entertainment for children of all ability levels. Bluebee’s mouth and head realistically move while speaking, making reading, educational apps, games, and activities so much fun!  Which Bluebee Pal will you choose? Hudson the dog, Riley the zebra, Leo the lion, Lily the lamb, Sammy the bear, or Parker the monkey? https://www.bluebeepals.com/bluebee-pals-app/       

 

The Bluebee Pal Website provides a host of free resources for homeschooling and academic institutions. Inside the world of Bluebee Pals, discover our Bluebee Pals Educational App, Curriculum, Techie Rangers Book, and Bluebee Activity Guide. In addition, we created an integrated Tutorial Page from leading experts in early childhood education, speech, and occupational therapy. Our teaching videos include free PDFs on goals and objectives for parents, therapists, and educators. Lastly, don’t forget to visit our App Resource Page, where we recommend over hundred Apps compatible with our Pals. Bluebee Pals compatibility with app activities enhance children’s attention and recall, creating memorable play and learning experiences.

http://bluebeepals.com

 

 

     

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                            Five core competencies of social and emotional learning:

Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Skills, and Responsible Decision-Making.  Using books, apps, and Bluebee Pals, you can make learning and practicing social skills loads of fun!

The following are some favorites that can be used to teach social skills virtually via your teaching platform with your favorite Bluebee Pal, to address individual student needs.


Bluebee Pals and Social Skills Apps:

*Social Story Creator and Library:  Easily create, share, and print social stories using pictures, recordings, and text. Also contains 20+ready to go social stories.   https://apps.apple.com/us/app/social-story-creator-library/id588180598

*Let’s Be Social-Social Skills Development:  Includes 20 social skills lessons with the ability to also create and personalize your own lessons . The topics include personal interactions, navigating the community, school behavior, handling change, and social relationships.  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lets-be-social-social-skills-development/id1140153485

 

 

 

*Conversation Builder:  Targets conversational skills, turn-taking, initiating conversation, and staying on topic.  There are 160 conversations to choose from and the student can either initiate or respond to conversations.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/conversationbuilder/id413939366

*Social Detective: This app covers expected and unexpected behavior, understanding others’ comfortable and uncomfortable thoughts, social toolbox items, and making smart guesses.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/social-detective/id975189305

*Autism and PDD Picture Stories and Language Activities:  There are 5 different themed apps: Friends, School, Community, Home, Family. They contain functional stories depicting children behaving in various situations. At the end of the story select WH questions, yes/no questions, or text match language activities.  Answers are automatically scored and the student receives immediate feedback!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/apdd-ps-lass-community/id835090882

*Between the Lines:  There are 3 apps for different ability levels. The main focuses are listening skills, body language, and expressions. The app uses real videos, pictures, and voices for a variety of social situations.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/between-the-lines-level-1-hd/id574405272

Bluebee Pals and Social Skills Books:

*Epic: A high quality, extensive digital library, free for teachers.

https://www.getepic.com/collection/310452/social-skills

*YouTube: Search social skills videos for children for many social skills videos!  www.YouTube.com

*Story Creator: Use any of your favorite books to create your own Bluebee Pal read aloud!

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/story-creator-easy-story-book-maker-for-kids/id545369477

Resources:

https://allisonfors.com/teletherapy-social-skills/

https://www.kickboardforschools.com/?s=blogs

 

 

Homeschooling Bringing Families Together

Homeschooling and Resources for Parents

Schools are closed indefinitely across the USA and parents are now charged with helping their children continue educational activities at home.  Some school systems were able to send assignments home before the closures, while others had no time to prepare for the sudden shut-down. Homeschooling is new venture for many parents and they require resources to structure learning and playtime in a home setting. We know this can be a overwhelming time and hope the below recommendations will assit in the transition from the academic institution to learning at home.

Students must continue to learn and grow, and the current situation provides lots of opportunities for fun, impactful home educational activities. This is also a PERFECT time to make memories with your children and learn things beyond “normal” math and reading. Family bonding is necessary, and mapping out time together to enjoy joint activities can be very rewarding for children and parents. Gather your Bluebee Pals and child and create a home-classroom for continued learning during this period of school closure. http://bluebeepals.com

 

Best Homeschooling Outcomes

  1. Create a designated learning space. …
  2. Follow a daily schedule. …
  3. Map out the school year ahead of time. …
  4. Set learning goals together. …
  5. Take learning beyond the classroom. …
  6. Make learning a family activity. …
  7. Collaborate with other homeschoolers. …
  8. Ease into school.

 

Ideas and Links : Assist Home Schooling

  1. bluebeepals.com: Bluebee Pals FREE Lesson Plans, Activity Guide and App Resources( You don’t need an actual Bluebee Pal just connect any IOS or Apple Laptop, Tablet or Mobile Phone https://www.bluebeepals.com/inclusive-curriculum/
  2. Scholastic Learn at Home:  Day-by-day projects to keep kids reading, thinking, and growing
  3. Zearn.org:  As a parent, you can create a free account, pick your child’s grade, and they’ll be taught the exact way that matches the standard
  4. sightreadingfactory.com: Sight reading and sight singing practice exercises
  5. readingeggs.com: Phonics and learning to read
  6. YouTube.com: Educational Channel
  7. Yoga For Kids Daily Fitness : https://apps.apple.com/us/app/yoga-for-kids-daily-fitness/id1405597264

Bluebee Pals Tech Companions Inspire Learning


Bluebee Pals Learning Companions: 
Who are these huggable interactive animals tech companions that provide
 parents an opportunity to re-enforce learning and social skills in home settings. These exciting NEW learning buddies with FREE Life/Skill Companion App are a wonderful holiday gift for any child ages 3-8.https://www.bluebeepals.com

 

 

Helen Wagner( Speech Therapist): I often use our classroom Bluebee Pals during therapy to work on reading, talking and playing skills! My students really relate to their Bluebee therapy friends, and look forward to learning with them! Teaching and learning begin at home. Parents are the first and most important teachers in the early, developmental years. Young children learn essential, foundational speech, receptive and expressive language, social, pre-reading, cognitive, numeracy and communication skills necessary for future academic success through meaningful play and lots of language-rich learning opportunities. 

 

PARENTS REMEMBER HOW YOUR STUFFED ANIMAL WAS YOUR BEST FRIEND!

 

Read, Read, Read!

Read to your child daily. Reading helps develop vocabulary, attending, sentence construction, grammar, pronoun usage, social-skills, turn-taking, imagination, creativity, sequential thought, emotions, wh-questions, comprehension, receptive/expressive language skills, critical thinking and problem solving, and so much more! Reading daily to young children is one of the most language rich and meaningful learning opportunities that parents can give their children. Parents provide many natural educational interactions while reading, talking about the subject matter and elements of the story, questioning about the story, and practicing story retelling.

 

Talk, Talk, Talk!
Parents need to talk to their children! Talking and commenting on the world around them is a great, natural way to teach children. Examples: In the grocery store: “How many yellow fruits do you see? How many green vegetables? Let’s buy three red apples”. In the car: “Let’s see how many blue cars we can count” or “How many things can people ride in to go somewhere”? “Let’s look for things that are orange”. “Can you find a stop sign? What colors are in a traffic light”? At home during interactive play: “Oh, wow, I see that you are racing your red car and your blue car. Which one do you think will go faster”? Simple commenting and talking about what you and your child are doing and seeing and asking questions is a powerful educational tool. Commenting on the world around them will build and reinforce basic concepts, numeracy, turn-taking, pragmatic skills, receptive and expressive language, critical thinking and reasoning skills, problem solving, grammar, and more.
Play, Play, Play!
Play with your children! Lots and lots of learning takes place during play! Play dolls, play trucks, play games, play marbles, play pretend! Provide opportunities for you preschoolers to interact with peers! Beginning games such as Candy Land, Spot It, Pop the Pig, I Spy, Zingo and more are great for practicing social skills, turn-taking, sharing, numbers, colors, matching and categorization skills. Playing and learning through songs and finger-plays such as “Itty Bitty Spider, 5 Little Ducks, etc, is a great way to teach rhyming, sequencing, memory and basic concept skills. Learning through play provides powerful opportunities for cognitive growth.
**Helen Wagner is a  Speech Language Pathologist at Saxs Elementary in Anniston, Alabama. Since 2015, Helen has been integrating  Bluebee Pals in her speech therapy classroom at school for the past 2 years.

Bluebee Pal  Suited for Special Needs Learning!

Helen Wagner is a Speech Language Pathologist at Saxs Elementary in Anniston, Alabama. Since 2016, Helen has been integrating  Bluebee Pals in her speech therapy classroom at school for the past 2 years. She and her students have enjoyed every minute of learning with them!  Now, the new 4.0 Robotic Head Bluebee Pal Pro with free Bluebee Pal Educational/life Skill App has been introduced into her class and taken their educational fun to the next level! https://www.bluebeepals.com/store/

 

 



What is the NEW 4.0 Bluebee Pal? 

The Bluebee Pal Pro is a full-sized, friendly-faced plush animal that is remarkably soft, pliable, and sensory soothing for kids of all ages. There are plenty of friends to choose from: Monkey, Lamb, Lion, Zebra, Puppy, and Bear! The Bluebee Pals are special Bluetooth speaker enabled educational toys that can be connected to any Bluetooth device. Play any app and your new friend will “speak”  and read any storybook app, sing with your favorite music, and you can even talk with them through your phone! The new Bluebee Pal Pro has a gentle, naturalistic head movement while speaking which makes them come to life!  Remarkably, the Bluebees now come with their own fun, free companion app that is chock full of content!  It leads you easily through the simple set-up with a tutorial video and provides tips and ideas for parents to use to engage their children in learning activities. The app has a fun voice recording feature, mini-games, activities, and a cool house to explore and interact with! There are even easy links to a resource section (for parents)!  

Bluebee Pals can be used just for the fun of it or can be incorporated into highly engaging educational activities. Helen’s students absolutely love them, and their Bluebee friends are part of the school family! They use them for articulation and language and AAC therapy frequently and they are a “most requested” activity in our speech room!!!

 

Parents can participate in their children’s education! Read, Read, Read!

Read to your child daily. Reading helps develop vocabulary, attending, sentence construction, grammar, pronoun usage, social-skills, turn-taking, imagination, creativity, sequential thought, emotions, wh-questions, comprehension, receptive/expressive language skills, critical thinking and problem solving, and so much more! Reading daily to young children is one of the most language rich and meaningful learning opportunities that parents can give their children. Parents provide many natural educational interactions while reading, talking about the subject matter and elements of the story, questioning the story, and practicing story retelling.

Apps for Speech Therapy and Bluebee Pals

Bluebee Pals Jan 2018

Wow! A fresh, new year is here! I have some exciting new apps to share with you, straight from my Whether you are new to the wonderful world of Bluebee Pals, or a seasoned user, these apps are sure to delight!

Speech Tutor Educational by Synapse Apps, LLC: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/speech-tutor-educational/id1323272450?mt=8

Billed as an “All-In-One Speech Toolbox”, this app really rocks!   Speech Tutor Educational is a complete, seamless combination of essential teaching tools for articulation therapy. It features two easy to use speech screeners: one for parents and one for therapists, 52 sound production/placement teaching videos along with sound production tips, and nearly 5,000 different articulation stimulus practice cards across 33 sound/phoneme decks, and 36 minimal pair decks.

     The app can be set to use with individual students or with a group, and provides instantly available detailed data tracking. Students are provided practice with sounds in the initial, medial, final, or mixed positions in your choice of words, phrases or sentences.  Students’ productions may be video recorded and stored for progress monitoring.

     I really like that the screeners provide realistic, developmental norms for speech sound acquisition ages, which helps in counseling parents and in therapist planning. The app also features 2 types of screens, normal screen and kid friendly (cleaner page layout).   The photographic stimulus cards are beautifully rendered!  

     This is a great app to use along with your Bluebee Pals, in that they can “help” your child practice the speech targets by saying the words and sentences before your child practices, which provides for added auditory bombardment!   And even after a child practices and uses the recording feature, he/she can hear their productions via their Bluebee Pal! This just adds to the learner fun and engagement!     

 

Little Stories Pro by Little Bee Speech: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/little-stories-pro/id1228283813?mt=8

Little Stories Pro for Speech, Language and Literacy is a set of 82 beautifully crafted and illustrated, 100 word stories developed to support receptive and expressive language, reading fluency, and phonemic awareness/sound production skills through the use of sound-saturated stories. Chock full of curriculum support, this app is filled to the brim with learning and literacy content through targeted story practice.

     The app is so easy to use! Select a story, sorted by story title, theme, reading level, or phonemic target. Sounds emphasized in the stories are r, r blends, l, l blends, s, s blends, and th.   There are three reading levels from ages 6.5 to 9.5. Before you read, you will be given a story synopsis, sight words, phonemic target words, and challenge words. As an option, you can choose to practice flash cards before you begin reading. The story can be read aloud to the child, or the child can read independently. A Reading Helper is available to select navigation buttons, provide for eye-tracking, choose an early reader format, and to select which words you would like in bold print. A feature is available if you want to measure reading fluency in words per minute.  An assessment feature also allows you to mark a child’s reading, vocabulary and speech errors and turn them into practice flash cards for extra practice. Coloring pages from the stories and tongue twisters during the story just add to student engagement!

     Following completion of the story, there are story comprehension activities, which include story retell, story sequencing, WH questions, and story talk conversational questions.

     This app is best used side by side with your child.   Bluebee Pals can easily be used with Little Stories Pro, either to read the pre-recorded story with your child, or to re-read the story in your child’s own voice! This is a great app to check out on the app store!

The Speech and Language Store: (Splingo Speech and Language Apps)

The Speech and Language Store was formed by two experienced Speech and Language Pathologists/Therapists. We work together with the talented folks at Edugame to develop apps that are inspired by the children we work with. Between us, we have over 27 years of experience working as SLP/SLTs with children who have a wide range of communication needs. We specialise in complex special needs and work on a daily basis with pre-school and school-aged children as part of multi-agency teams within hospital clinics and school settings.

Thanksgiving Apps from Mrs. Wagner’s classroom November 2017

Apps from Mrs. Wagner’s classroom November 2017

It’s November! Turkey time! Time for family get-togethers, traditions, history lessons, and remembering to be thankful! Here are some of our favorite Thanksgiving-themed apps. We love to pair them up with our favorite Bluebee Pals for maximum learning fun.  Enjoy!

Turkey Forgot How To Gobble by Alexis H. Purcell

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/turkey-forgot-how-to-gobble/id567766441?mt=8

Oh no! Joey the turkey has forgotten how to gobble! His barnyard friends rooster, cat, dog, Minnie Moo and Gillie the turkey all join in to help him find his gobble! This is a cute interactive story about friendship, helping one another and perseverance. Great for learning and imitating animal sounds, same/different, wh-questions, and critical thinking skills. When you press an animal, it makes its own sound! Do you know the sounds each animal makes? Turn the pages on your own, so that you can talk about the story while you read. My preschoolers love this book app!


Just So Thankful – Little Critter by Oceanhouse Media

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/just-so-thankful-little-critter/id986572769?mt=8

Little Critter learns about being thankful for what he has! There’s a new kid in town who seems to have everything, including the Super Streak scooter that Little Critter wants! But Little Critter soon discovers that he has something that money can’t buy…his loving family! This sweet story is great for teaching the value of family over possessions and has lots of vocabulary words to learn, too! One of our favorite features is the ability to record the story in your or your child’s own voice! Be sure to search for and find the hidden creatures in the book…can you find them all? Works beautifully with your Bluebee Pals!

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving – A Peanuts Interactive Classic for All Ages by Loud Crow Interactive Inc.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/charlie-brown-thanksgiving-peanuts-interactive-classic/id703585226?mt=8

What would Thanksgiving be without this classic? Join Charlie Brown and all of the Peanuts gang as they get together for a feast! Kick a football with Charlie Brown (can he trust Lucy?), help Snoopy prepare the eats, set the table, and discover the meaning of Thanksgiving! Great fun for reading and discussion.


Hand Turkey Thanksgiving by Jay Ayres

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hand-turkey-thanksgiving/id548970720?mt=8

This is a very simple but enjoyable little app for the younger ones. Press your hand on the screen to make your own turkey, then name it and decorate it! Great for cause and effect and following simple directions. You can draw and rake fall leaves and create your own turkey stampede!


The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks by Oceanhouse Media

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/the-berenstain-bears-give-thanks/id404118797?mt=8

The little bear family celebrates and acts out the story of the original Thanksgiving. Sister bear discovers something she is really thankful for. As always with this series, there is a moral to the story! Excellent to use for sequencing. Readers can read the book or record it in their own voice. A very sweet tale!

**I can not use this book in my public school due to its decidedly Christian perspective; however, I do love it and enjoy sharing it with friends and family!!!

Apps from Mrs. Wagner’s Classroom for October 2017

Oh Boy! It’s October! My students and I are getting all geared up for plenty of good books and apps! Here are some of our favorites for this month! Grab your Bluebee Pal and try one out!

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown by Loud Crow Interactive Inc 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown/id552498441?mt=8. Gather around with your Bluebee Friends and enjoy this classic Halloween tale, complete with the original narration! Create your own avatar and costume, and carve a pumpkin! All of your Peanuts friends are here to celebrate the big event! Will the Great Pumpkin make an appearance?This is a great book to read and discuss, retell, and practice sequencing!

Mystery Word Town – Sight Word Spelling by Artgig Studio 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mystery-word-town-sight-word-spelling/id983733111?mt=8 This is a fun app to practice spelling skills! Your goal is to find the gold and capture the outlaws in Word Town! Explore the buildings to complete spelling challenges. Featuring 3 levels of difficulty, you can use the included word lists, or create your own. You can even record your voice to use with your own words. This is an excellent way to easily practice spelling and vocabulary words. For use with single or multiple players. My kids have so much fun, they forget they are learning! You can play this game with your Bluebee Pal by your side!

Mystery Math Museum by Artgig Studio 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mystery-math-museum/id640754583?mt= This is an engaging app for practicing math skills while exploring 8 museums while helping a friendly ghost rescue dragonflies! Unlock rooms and passages as you practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. Select the skills you want to work on by customizing the activities to suit your needs! Great for problem-solving and critical thinking skills!

Room on the Broom: Flying by Magic Light Pictures Ltd.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/room-on-the-broom-flying/id949494519?mt=8Take control of the friendly witch’s broom and fly across the sky! Collect stars along the way to see how high you can score! Pick up all of your friends, but watch out for the fire-breathing dragon! Catch letters to spell words! What fun!

Room on the Broom: Games by Magic Light Pictures Ltd.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/room-on-the-broom-games/id705107094?mt=8 There are 8 magical games to play to foster creativity and critical thinking skills, all while having fun! Collect medals while playing the games, which feature all of the wonderful characters from the book! You can fly from star to star making pictures in the sky, help the dragon eat his favorite food, help find things the friendly witch has dropped, and much, much more!

“Room on the Broom”

https://www.amazon.com/Room-Broom-Julia-Donaldson/dp/0142501123/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1507780874&sr=8-1&keywords=room+on+the+broom  .One of our favorite books to read in October is “Room on the Broom”. We complete language learning activities centered around the book. the book, from Amazon: “The witch and the cat are happily flying through the sky on a broomstick when the wind picks up and blows away the witch’s hat, then her bow, and then her wand! Luckily, three helpful animals find the missing items, and they all return to ride on the broom. But is there room for so many friends? And when disaster strikes, will they be able to save the witch from a hungry dragon?”After reading the book, I let my students play the companion games which are available in the iTunes App Store. There are 2 apps and we love to play both!

Suggested September Apps

Summertime is over! Kids are back in school! Gather your Bluebee Pals and children and get ready to learn! Here are some favorite apps from our classroom to help you get back in the “groove”!

Zap Zap Kindergarten Math
This app features colorful intergalactic mini-math games targeting foundational math skills such as developing number sense, counting to 100, addition and subtraction to 20, making comparisons, shapes and measurements, 2 and 3-dimensional shapes, and more. It uses an adaptive learning function that challenges while adjusting the difficulty level of each game to meet learner needs. Children have so much fun flying their spaceship in outer space, earning jigsaw puzzle pieces, and unlocking new spaceships!


Hideout: Early Reading
Grab your favorite Bluebee Pal for this fun, interactive early reading app! Featuring 9 totally engaging mini-games, your child will practice blending sounds into words with the following phonics patterns: -AP, -OP, -IT, -ET, -EN, -AG, -UB, -IP, -OCK. Each pattern is presented with sound blending practice to make words, a fun mini-game, and a short read aloud using words from the game. Activities are lively and students love to play over and over. A great beginning app for struggling or beginning readers!

 

Avokiddo ABC Ride – Fun Alphabet and Spelling Games
ABC Ride is one of our favorites! Hop on your bike and go on an alphabet adventure! Ride to each letter of the alphabet for fun play in each of 26 activity scenes. Solve puzzles, find hidden letters, and practice spelling skills. You can ride to each letter scene in order, or choose to visit letters randomly. Jump and jiggle on the jelly for J, Cram the candy into Clyde, Bop the balloons to break them, or change Dotty’s dirty diaper (this one always elicits lots of giggles)! With your Bluebee Pal, learning the alphabet is fun! My students love the zany, interactive activities!

Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
I love teaching through books! Lots of my students lack exposure to some of the “classics”! This is the traditional story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears, with a twist. As you read the story, there are on-screen questions and comments to get your child thinking and to stimulate conversation, vocabulary, and language. The app also offers a read and record feature where your child can record themselves retelling the story! This is a fun app for language development, sequencing, and vocabulary. It is especially fun to read along with your favorite Bluebee Pal! My kids have a blast when their Bluebee Pal reads the story back to them in their own voice! You Tell Me Stories, Inc. offer lots of interactive books, check them out!

August 2017: Apps from Mrs. Wagner’s Class

It’s back to school time! We have some new, enjoyable apps on our classroom iPad to share with you!

 

SPOTLIGHT APPLively Letters – Phonemic Awareness & Phonics by Telian-Cas Learning Concepts Inc

Lively Letters is an exciting new app developed to teach letter sounds. This app goes beyond traditional drill and practice, by actually teaching letter recognition using memory skills, hand and mouth cues, and songs associated with each letter.

Letters are taught through the use of colorful alphabet letters which have been individually embedded with memorable characters. There are three activities to choose from Flashing, Tracking, and Matching. In the flashing activity, a thorough explanation of how to produce each letter is provided, along with an associated hand/mouth cue, and a matching song for the letter. Each letter is represented by a character, and the story behind each letter provides visual memory cues to help remember the letter name.  There is also a letter tracing task!  In the flashing task, up to 10 consonants and vowels may be selected to work with. Students investigate letters to create both real and nonsense words. There is a letter tracing feature here also, along with space to draw a picture of a created word. In the matching task, students tap letters to make matches, while practicing producing the sounds they make.

The app tracks progress and allows for customization in choosing the type of letters to use (character letters vs plain letters), and background theme. A recording feature is provided so that the child can practice saying sounds and words. This app is a stand-alone companion to the Lively Letters program.

What a great little jewel to teach foundational sound-symbol association skills. Plus, you can connect your Bluebee Pal for extra fun during the sing-a-longs and sound production practice!


 

The Adventures of the Three Little Pigs by Irene Deev

My students love storybooks, and this one is a new favorite.  This is the traditional tale of the little piggies’ encounters with the big ‘ole bad wolf, told with a modern twist. The story is interactive and, of course, has a happy ending. There are random interactive questions during the story that my students like to watch for. It is a winner when  Bluebee reads to my kids!

 

 


 

Tiggly Chef Addition: Preschool Math Cooking Game by Tiggly

In our classroom, we love Tiggly! Learn early addition facts while you assist the Chef in following directions and counting out ingredients to create clever, outlandish dishes! Features 3 different kitchens with math skills progressing in difficulty. This app is lots of fun for learning beginning addition skills! This app can be used with or without the Tiggly Learning System manipulatives for iPad. My kids get s kick out of it!

 

 


 

Think & Learn Code-a-pillar™ by Fisher-Price

Computers are here to stay, and it is a great idea to start kids out learning the basic concepts of coding. In this app, children use thinking, problem solving, memory and math skills to help Code-a-pillar follow a path to navigate obstacles and complete a maze. The difficulty of play increases as you master each maze. Engaging, child-friendly graphics and great directions during gameplay make this a winner!

 

 

 

Apps from Mrs. Wagner’s Classroom July 2017

 

Boo Articulation Helper-Train Speech Sounds:

 For the child who is having difficulty producing single consonant sounds, this is a fun, easy to use app that your young child will enjoy. Boo the frog will help you practice speech sounds, then help you practice them in the initial position of syllables. Select a sound, drag it into the sound box, and Boo will say it for you. As he says the sound, his mouth moves and shows the user how to make the sound using tongue and lips!  You can play the sound fast or slow, and have Boo repeat multiple times for auditory bombardment and visualization. Now, Choose an ending vowel sound to create a syllable, and Boo will blend the sounds for you to practice.  Your child can record and playback practices!  For even more fun, pair your favorite Bluebee Pal with the app and he can be the teacher as he speaks for Boo!

 

Thinkrolls Logic and Physics Puzzles for Kids:

If you haven’t tried this app yet, your kids will be in for an A-“maze”-ing treat! It will keep them engaged for hours of play….and the best thing about it is that not only will they have fun playing, they will be building thinking, logic, memory, and problem-solving skills at the same time. The app features delightful characters who kids must maneuver through physics-based tasks to complete a puzzle maze. The completion of one maze leads to the next!  If you make a wrong move, it’s easy to start the level over without losing your place! There are plenty of levels, and each one builds upon the next.  Levels include cookies, crates, balloons, rocks, jellies, fire, and elevators. There are unlimited trials and no penalties during play.  This app is totally 100% irresistible! My students love it! Plus, there is also a Thinkrolls 2.  Your kids will want both!

 

Feed Me! (US English) – PencilBot School Pack by Edutainment Resources, Inc.

Feed Me offers lots and lots of fun comprehensive practice in basic preschool and kindergarten foundational skills! Featuring 34 concepts and over 40 skills, along with 600 questions,  there is something for everyone! Players feed a cute little monster the food he is thinking of, and then watch him gobble it up! Practice math, letters and sounds, opposites, rhyming, feelings, animals and their homes, weather, healthy habits, colors and shapes, and more!  Connect to your Bluebee Pal and he can make the gobbling sound! There are so many subjects to choose from and to explore. Plus, progress is tracked for you!

 

Grandma’s Beach Fun by Fairlady Media:

Nothing says summertime like a trip to the beach, either real or imagined! Join Grandma and take a summer adventure! Play 7 educational games!  Beach Gear, Airplane Rhymes, Beach Art, Umbrella Matching, Coconut  Math, Word Find Puzzle, and Tide Pool Critters! Waterski with Grandpa, create a fireworks show, and watch videos of beach wildlife and water sports! Enjoy lots of fast-paced fun while learning! Connect with your Bluebee Pal, who can play Grandma!

 

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