Our Favorite Calming Apps

Testing, testing, testing.  It's such an anxiety-ridden time for students, and our testing window starts this week and continues through mid-May.  We've been trying to equip the students with a bag of tricks to help ease some of the anxiety.  A weeks ago, the students downloaded several calming apps on their iPads, and they've proven to be very popular!  I wanted to share the list with you in case you want to add a few tricks to your bag, too.  All of these apps are FREE, and who doesn't love that?
Settle Your Glitter

This app helps students practice mindful breathing.  Students select an emotion that they are feeling: mad, sad, silly, or worried.  They pick the level of emotion that they are feeling.  The students shake their iPads to stir up the glitter.  The little fish on the right-hand side increases and decreases in size to help students manage their breathing until the glitter is settled.

Falling Stars

This app is one of the students' favorites!  Students place plants by drawing lines.  They touch the stars which fall on the plants, creating songs.  Students can choose from a small selection of sounds and determine how fast the stars fall, creating an even more intriguing experience.

Sand Slides

This app is another of my students' favorites, in fact, it is the app of choice when they have earned choice time.  Students draw slides and buckets with their fingers to guide the sand into the correct colored chutes.  The challenge happens as the pace of the game continues to build.

Suspension

This app mimics particles floating in water.  Students are able to move the particles around with their fingers.  They can change the color of the particles and draw walls and propellers.  Students can be creative, drawing pictures using the draw walls, creating a barrier for the particles to travel around and disperse color.
Deep Relax

This app is perfect for stress relief or to use if your students do any type of yoga.  Students can create their own relaxing melodies from a selection of 12 free choices, ranging from beach to birds, and cavern to city.  (If you chose to purchase the app, your choices multiply.)  Students can select more than one sound at a time for the perfect mix of relaxation.
Dropophone

Dropophone is a simple app for students to use.  Students make songs by tapping on raindrops that play sound, looping every six seconds.  The drops sound like an orchestra of instruments, creating endless possibilities.  A metronome button is available to start a beat to help keep time.  Want to see how this can work?  Check out the video below. Colorfy

This app is perfect for students who love to draw and color and find relaxation by doing it!  Students simply need to chose a picture and tap to paint!
If you have any favorite calming apps to share, we would love to hear about them!

Zaption for Speech, Language and Pragmatics.

We are just a few days into summer, but it gives me some time to write some posts that have been sitting as draft ideas. A few months ago I learned about Zaption a fantastic video editing tool that can be used with videos from around the web (PBS, National Geographic, Youtube) or with your own videos. You create a "tour" with a video and then are allowed to add captions, questions, other clips or pictures together to create your own unique learning "tour" or formative assessment. It can be used to introduce content, test content or further learning. I love, love, love Zaption, as it eliminates the pop-ups (like on youtube) and allows you to shorten clips (to eliminate extra or inappropriate content.) It also eliminates the video ads that also may not be appropriate to show in the classroom.

How do you use it?

This is a screen shot of their webpage. You will need to start with the orange JOIN FREE button in the bottom left to create a user name/login. You could also press the WATCH A QUICK DEMO button on the bottom right to learn how to put together your first "Tour." The quick demo shows you everything you need to become the Zaption pro you were meant to be:)

What else I've learned about Zaption:

There are two versions, a free version and a paid version (roughly $75 a year). I have only used the free version thus far, but LOVE it! I believe the paid version allows a teacher greater control with data tracking and greater editing ability (putting two videos together, adding their own photos etc).

Zaption App: 

Zaption also has a viewing app on iTunes, but can also be streamed on android tablets by going to their website. I currently work with a district that offers all students 1:1 technology with every student having a iPad to utilize. All of my students have been able to view my video tours through the app or by sending them an email link.

My Sample Tours: 

Reading Response or Language Questions:
http://zapt.io/tp6nm3f3

Analyzing Social Scenarios:
http://zapt.io/t9mgqqsh

Articulation/Rating Speech:

http://zapt.io/tymmp43y

After watching the tours all 25 of my students who used it, liked it!  I hope you and your students also love Zaption. Have more Zaption Questions? Click here for their FAQs page.

Gearing Up For State Testing

The beginning of spring in MN can only mean one thing other than no more signs of snow and budding trees…state testing.  It's a stressful time for students, staff, and administration.  Perhaps stressful is an underestimation, but I know that everyone has worked hard to make the most of our learning time and opportunities.  Now it's time to let the students shine!

Last week, we went to the Minnesota Speech-Langauge and Hearing Association conference and were so lucky to have an afternoon session with Julia Cook.  She shared so much more than her books, and her comments about "spinning" resonated with us.  Instead of telling students they "have to" take the test, we can tell them, that they "get to" take the test.  They get to show their smarts.  They get to show off everything they've learned.  They get to make everyone proud

We decided to show this short video from Julia to talk a bit about test anxiety.  The kids loved it!



Next we read one of two books, "The Anti-Test Anxiety Society" and "Wilma Jean Worry Machine," depending on our groups and their needs.

We reviewed different calming strategies that we have used throughout the year, Lazy Eight and Six-Sided Breathing from the Zones of Regulation  by Leah Kuypers.  We reviewed other strategies that we have used, too.  We also made sure that the students had their calming apps on their iPads and reviewed how to use them.  While the students have different apps, most of them really like Pocket Pond, Breathe2Relax, Smiling Mind, Sand Magic, and Flow Free. 

And finally, we like to deliver mints to our students with a personalized note.  It seems to make a big difference!  

Appy Valentine's Day!

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching and this week we got a jump start with using some great Valentine apps with our younger students.  The apps we have here are targeted for K-5  and here are our top 5!  We hope you love them as much as we do~

Happy Valentine’s Day Little Critter-This book app is fantastic for preschool or early elementary. Great for language, holiday vocabulary, and even has a scavenger hunt. As you read through the book have students find Critter’s friends mouse and spider (they are on every page). It is priced at $1.99 and is very engaging. I used this week with some early elementary and they were able compare and contrast little critter’s valentine party to their own that are coming up. You can get it on Android market or iTunes.

First Words Valentine’s Day- is a simple spelling app that is great for introducing phonics vocabulary and spelling. They pair fun images with the word and students drag the letters onto the correct square. It is great for tactile learners. You can get it on Android market or iTunes. It is priced at $1.99.

Where’s My Valentine?- This app is a great reinforcer and is the valentine continuation of “Where’s My Water?” app series from Disney. There are two different adventures with this app, One with Swampy the Alligator and one with Perry (from Phinias and Ferb). Fun to play and levels are  enough to play from kindergarten on. The cost is free for the first 6 levels with in- app purchase for higher levels.

Cupid Booth- The perfect way to make a Valentine card to without the mess. Students love this app and its free from both the iTunes and Android Market. With this app you can take a photo from your camera roll and write over top or add Valentine clip art over top to make the perfect card. It is a wonderful way to have students design pictures and then describe them. Easily emailed as well for students to send their creation to family.

Flower Garden- This App a cute little virtual garden, but not really a game. It is a nice app though for Valentine’s Day, as you can email a bouquet of flowers via email. It is also a nice app for sequencing the steps of growing flowers or for following directions. It is free with in-app purchases of additional seeds or plant food. 







These are our picks. Hope you have a very Appy- Happy Valentine's Day!