Ipad Apps And Advice For Reception

[Guest]

Hi I have just been told that I have been bought a set of 18 ipads for use in my reception class as well as one for me for my own use?!!!! am obviously very excited (don't know where the money has been found for this as we are skint as a school but there must be some sort of grant or fund that our head had applied for) just wondered if anyone is using them in a reception classroom or in early years and what apps you could recommend that I could download onto them. First thoughts are any handwriting formation apps or phonics also would be interested in any apps that allow children to tell a story and it be converted into text. Any advice would be appreciated

Deb

[Guest]

hi we have one in our setting and the children love it......their is a jolly phonics app whereby children arre able to trace over the letter and repeat the sound its brill.

[Guest]

apps like maths bingo is good for Foundation. the best one i have come across is puppet pals! the children can move characters around the screen when telling a story then it can record both the narrative and the movements as the children act out and speak thier story! Beebot also has 2 app on the ipad one is downloadable from TTS website and its great!!

 

hope this helps! would be interested if anyone else finds anything good too!!

[Susan]

Sounds great. Have fun!

[apple]

oh my gosh how luck you are... I was talking about this tonight with a colleague and saying how wonderful it would be to have one in our setting to share between 4 classes let alone 18 and one for yourself!!! CAn you find out where you HT got the funding for - would love to find out more

any app with comic strip ability to transform obs photos is my choice although I love the sound of the puppet one - will have to secretly put it on my boyfriends ipad :rolleyes:

[Guest]

Hi again I now have my iPad along with rest of the staff (was like christmas today!) the set of iPads will be for the whole school not just for me and will be timetabled I expect- (we are a 7 class school) we have from now until the end of the term to investigate the apps we want on them and then all the iPads will be synced with our choices ready for September. I have so far downloaded the twinkl phonics app and beebot app both of which I will definitely use. Will try to find out where our head magicked the money from!

Deb

 

[Froglet]

I'm loving 'playing' with my new toy. the video has been fantastic helping with observations - have been able to see things I hadn't noticed because in the classroom I can see and hear everything else too! Like the bee it app and will check out the twinkl one. I've also downloaded Sticky notes for those moments when I just can't put my hands on a real one!

 

Others I'm exploring include google earth and one called kids doodle - think it will be good for letter formation practice.

[rainbowturtle]

Hiya, we are also about to become the proud owners of 12 iPads for a 3 class infant school and I was wondering if any of you lovely people have thought about or have produced a progression of skills document for the iPad?

 

Those of you who have already starting using iPads/iPods are there any things you have learnt that you which you had known before you starting using them? I would also really appreciate knowing about any good apps you have discovered.

 

Thank you in anticipation for your support - this is only my 2nd post but been regular follower (in the background) of this great forum.

[Guest]

We have just been given ipads for each key worker in FS. They are for adults only to use. In theory we are hoping to use them to take photos of children and annotate them as we go. Then up load them to our server in files for each individual child. These files will replace the learning journey hard copy as the parents will be given a disc with the photos and annotations. The only problem is our ict technician has just said that he doesn't know of software that we can use to do this. Has anyone got any ideas/information about how to implement this idea. We are open to other ideas too.

Thank you

[Cait]

Where on earth is the money coming from for all these iPads, or are you finding them cheaper than £400 somewhere?

[pooh]

Have been playing around with the new 2simple for EYFS looks as if it could be really useful. Took photos and annotated easily then linked to DM's (revised 2012 statements) easy to email reports that could then be saved or printed out. definitely worth a look at. Head very interested, looking into possibility of ipads for FS. maybe my bonus!!!!!

[Guest]

2 simple looks great and is very similar to Essex target tracker BUT both still require you to move the pictures when plugged into pc/ laptop into specific files- same as cutting and sticking into learning journeys.

The software you might like is Fingertips by focus education. You video( only up to 30 seconds thOugh) or take photos ( smart phone or iPad) . You then click on child/ren involved, click on area of learning. Carry on doing this through the day. Plug in to pc/lap top and it uploads into children's files. You can then. Query the data- per child/ group/ class.

As cayman said in a recent post- its all about what you do with the data and this gives you quite a powerful tool for analysis. I should say I dont have this yet..... So I am not an expert - where are you? I know a school local to me that is using it.

There is a free trial download on the site. My it guy had a few probs getting it on a lap top but a call to their help line sorted it.

Like all eyfs stuff at the mo, it's being updated..., it's not ready yet!

Hope this helps

X

[pooh]

Just heard that both reception teachers can have an i-pad, keen to use 2simple to help with observations, create our learning journeys as we have been playing around with it this week. Yes, I know very lucky!!!! Anyway thinking about the safe guarding issues and wondered what people put in their policies. Obviously will want to take it home to work on creating learning journeys etc. and find suitable apps for school!!! but then that means taking a school camera out of school. Do you get round it as it is password protected? Hope this makes sense but have been tasked with finding out about these implications. Thanks everyone.

[Guest Greenhouse]

Try Busythings apps, they are really fun!

Beebot, just like the real ones

Mirror paint lite is good for drawing and symmetry

PS i only go for the free ones!!

[Guest]

We too are getting ipads, 30 to share through school, so am interested in apps people find useful - beware of twinkl phonics, recommended by our authority, but when I looked at it, it was great till I got to phase 4 when sound buttons were not accurate - if I recall correctly they has one sound button for consecutive consonants, e.g sl, tr gr etc instead of 2 - unless they have changed it.

[Cait]

But who is funding all these?

[Guest]

No sure if it is applicable but I saw an advert in this months Computer Shopper magazine for a book called iPad for kids - 500 best apps to help your child learn and play.

 

It goes on to say it reviews apps for: First words, handwriting, Counting, Reading, Spelling and Phonics.

 

It is available from www.magbooks.com

 

One app that you shouldn't be without is AppMiner. AppMinder is a free app. When you open it up it looks very similar to the app store. It shows you which apps are in the sale or have been made free for the day. Sometimes, apps go in a sale or are made free for a short period to help promote them, often around the holidays (particularly US Holidays). This is a good way of finding apps for free that may otherwise cost quite a bit.

 

AppMiner also allows you to have an app watch list, so you can add an app that may cost a lot and app miner will alert you when/if it goes on sale. Useful if you have your eye on an expensive app. I have got some apps that cost upward of £15 for free thanks to AppMiner.

 

A good visual music app is TNR-i. This is an iPad version of a very expensive and strange instrument created by Yamaha in Japan. It works as a series of lights on a grid. You can turn the lights on or off, creating patterns. The patterns are linked to sounds and there is a constant rhythm and your pattern will be turned in to sound. It might sound a bit confusing but that just means that you know a child will pick it up in 5 minutes.

 

Easier to understand and much cheaper is garage band. This lets you play and record a whole variety of musical intruments, drums, guitars, violins, pianos, etc. It's only £2.99.

[Guest]

Hi I've heard that there is an app for the ipad/android were you can take photos, add observation and pop it into the child's file. Has anybody found anything?

 

thanks

[Guest]

But who is funding all these?

 

I haven't asked where the money is coming from but I do know that as a school we had planned do away with our very old pcs in our ICT suite and buy 2 laptop trollies one for ks2 and 1 for ks1 instead and free up the space of the ICT suite. This has been planned and budgeted for for several years. We bought 1 set of laptops last year and I imagine that the iPads are instead of the other. Our head said she was very pleased with the deal she got and quoted a figure of £340 per iPad which is comparable to a laptop in price.

[Guest]

Hi if anybody has any info or tips to get funding for an iPad I would be really grateful! Have seen the 2simple app in action and was very impressed.. I just need an iPad to go with it!

[Guest]

Hi I've heard that there is an app for the ipad/android were you can take photos, add observation and pop it into the child's file. Has anybody found anything?

 

thanks

 

2simple/ Essex Target tracker/ fingertips

[Guest]

We will be using Essex target tracker from September, does it have an iPad app or do you just use it as a camera and upload the photos manually?

 

[Guest recteach]

Has anyone found a good phonics app with English pronunciation and cursive letter formation?

[woodlands1997]

Hip hop hen do good ones, there's a tracing one where you can have cursive letter formation and correct pronunciation too!

[twistedficus1]

We use the 2simple app across the FS and have 4 ipads. 1 for each adult. You dont ever have to connect the ipads to the computer, rather it uplaods vai the magic of wi-fi in school. All we then have to do is open the management suite on a laptop and select the children (or whole class) and print. the printing is optional but the children do love to look at the photos and comments in their learning journeys. You can turn on a passworded parents view where each parent can view the records for their own child only. We werent brave enough to do this incase anyone went a while without any obs!

We wouldnt be without this app but it does cost £299 every year plus the initial outlay of the ipads.