Comprehension

The whole point of teaching children to read is so that they can independently understand text, whether it's a story, a menu, or a schedule.  Practice with phonics, fluency, and decoding are done to build a foundation from which comprehending text can be built.

For some students, however, barriers exist that prevent them from reading and understanding printed text.  Examples include low vision and blindness, learning disabilities, and physical disabilities.  For students who are affected by any of these, electronic texts of literature and text books are available to use with popular text-to-speech software on computers and tablets.

Two services that make e-text available to students with the above disabilities are Learning Ally and Bookshare. Both services have freely available software for reading text aloud on a computer.  In order to use the service on an iPad, specific apps are needed.  Learning Ally has developed it's own app (called Learning Ally Audio), while Bookshare works with different apps, most notably Read2Go and Voice Dream Reader.

Phonics

This is a review of apps related to phonics instruction.  The apps selected here were chosen based on their ability to complement a teacher-student lesson, not merely to act as a computer tutor (with the exception of Lexia). Furthermore, these apps can augment a multisensory approach to mastering phonics.

Lexia - Free app, subscription needed to complete activities.

 

 

 

Lexia now offers iOS versions of the computer software that we currently subscribe to.  You must log in as a teacher first then you will be able to have your students log-in using their usernames and passwords.  Parents - discuss with your child's teacher to see if this is a resource that can be used on your home iPad.

 

Strategies:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lexia-strategies/id793809387?mt=8

 

Core 5:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lexia-reading-core5/id623853404?mt=8

 

myLexia (for teachers to monitor student progress):

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mylexia/id454550893?mt=8

ABC Spelling Magic - Free to download, $0.99 for Deluxe

 

Spelling Magic produces excellent letter sounds, far superior to the other apps listed on this page.  For example, the b and p are pure /b/ and /p/ sounds, and the r sounds like /r/, not /err/.

There are two modes of play: letter cards and 'movable alphabet'. You can choose which group of cvc words you want to work on based on vowel, or choose to practice them all.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/abc-spelling-magic/id429301553?mt=8


First Words Deluxe - $4.99

Similar to Spelling Magic, First Words uses letter tiles to allow users to build words.  You can't focus on a particular letter or sound, rather you choose a category to work with: animals, home, vehicles, or other.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/first-words-deluxe/id337462979?mt=8


Alpha Writer - $4.99

                                                  

Another word building app, Alpha Writer differentiates itself by using tiles for entire phonograms: /ar/, /sh/, /oo/, etc., in addition to single letter tiles. It also supports 'free play' so you can build any decodable word (real or nonsense) with a student, like a talking slate.

 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alpha-writer-by-montessorium/id394038232?mt=8

 

Letter School - $4.99

This app is promoted as a handwriting activity, but I think it's a great way to practice phonics with a multisensory approach.  It also has three options for letter style, including Handwriting Without Tears. 

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/letterschool-learn-to-write/id435476174?mt=8


SMART Board Exchange

SMART Exchange also has hundreds of phonics activities. Here are some examples that were shared during the workshop:


Phonics Read CVC

http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=10ad45ee-4826-4cad-b6cd-8d7cb08178ab



Middle Sound Sort

http://exchange.smarttech.com/details?id=b3f13ef9-a6b8-498a-872a-34fbc0e41b56

Phonological Awareness

Software and apps exist that support the development of phonological and phonemic awareness (PA).  Often times, these two terms are used interchangeably and they essentially mean the same thing: the recognition and manipulation of sound parts that make up words.  Phonological deals with units of sound at the level of syllables, blends, and digraphs while phonemic implies segmenting syllables into the smallest unit of sounds, the phonemes: /sh/ /i/ /p/.  A more thorough explanation can be found here.

The age at which typically developing children can do different PA skills is described on this Reading Rockets page regarding PA. As you can see from the table below, between the ages of 4 and 6, children are able to rhyme words, recognize alliteration, count syllables, and recognize/match initial sounds of words.  Manipulating phonemes within a word is a skill that develops until age 9, so PA instruction for typically developing students can continue well into third grade

Here is a list of software and apps that were shared during January's workshop:

Rhyming from I Can Do Apps, $2.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rhyming-from-i-can-do-apps/id548874184?mt=8

The text can be removed to make it a true PA experience.  Two to four pictures can be displayed at a time.


SoundMatch from EdNinja, $1.99
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/soundmatch-by-edninja/id596606125?mt=8

This is similar to a Memory type of game that uses sounds and pictures.  In fact, the pictures can be hidden so that the child has to make matches based on sound only.

Beginning Sounds from Lakeshore, $5.19
http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C923%2C658&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1422038980086

Using picture tokens, students can sort and match beginning sounds of words on the SMART Board. This activity has also been made into an iOS app:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beginning-sounds-interactive/id465479183?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Additionally, we discussed how these types of activities can easily be created on SMART Notebook using teacher selected vocabulary.

Vocabulary

We explored technology to support vocabulary acquisition during the months of November and December.  One of the first tools we examined was the vocabulary word table that accompanies each month's curricular lesson.

This graphic can be completed individually on paper or as a whole/small group when projected on the SMARTBoard.  Each vocab word would get it's own graphic, ideally on it's own Notebook page. This technique is based on Robert Marzano's six step process for teaching academic vocabulary.

Next, we explored ways to leverage the technology present in our rooms already and which we are continuing to develop our skills.  Each PLC group was challenged to develop a vocabulary lesson that was both meaningful to their classes and made use of the following tools:

Snipping Tool

SMART Notebook

Symbolstix

A number of teachers and PLC teams created excellent examples of vocabulary activities that are available to view and use from the Village School Workspaces site on Interfaces. 

The 2014-2015 School Year: A Focus on Literacy and Technology in Specialized Settings

Like many other school systems across the state and country, our district invests heavily in technology to support teaching and learning.  We have the added responsibility to ensure that all students, regardless of ability or disability, can benefit from this technology in ways that are meaningful.

This school year, rareApps will take a deeper look at literacy and technology in specialized settings. Rather than report solely on the features of different apps and technology, our focus will be on examining the five components of reading instruction and investigating technology tools that can leverage research based strategies for instruction as well as support/provide accessibility features so that all students can take advantage of every type of lesson.

November and December: Vocabulary

January: Phonemic/Phonological Awareness

February and March: Phonics

April and May: Comprehension

June: Fluency

Tapestry: Beautiful Storytelling

by Betaworks Bolsena

UPDATE: As of the end of 2014, the app has evolved into a medium for advertisers.  I don't think user generated content is possible any longer.

Original Post:

The app, Tapestry, allows a user to read community-generated multimodal text.  Using the website on the computer permits the user to easily compose a story.  What makes it different from reading (or writing) an eBook or blog, however, is that the author has total control over the size and position of the text.  More importantly though, the author controls when each word or phrase is revealed.  The pacing of the narrative is therefore shared between the author and the reader.  While the reader advances the story by tapping anywhere on the screen, the author has determined where and when words and phrases will appear on the screen.

Check out this example: https://readtapestry.com/s/zsSwRYknz/

Using this app and website as an authoring tool for children to use to publish and share their own work is an area of particular promise for using Tapestry.

Currently, there appears to be no audio component to this app and the experience more closely resembles reading a story rather than interacting with an app.  This seems to be an intentional design choice by the app developers and in my opinion is executed well.

I did try a test with the iOS VoiceOver accessibility feature and unfortunately, this app isn't currently VoiceOver friendly.  While the text on the screen can be accessed by the screen reader, VoiceOver first reads the image label - which is an incomprehensible sequence of letters and numbers. It seems that this could be an easy fix and potentially open the app up to users with vision and learning disabilities.

Currently the content available to read is sparse, particularly stories that would be of interest to school-aged children. However, users are uploading stories daily.  Businesses are also creating their own narratives - quasi story/commercials which are a pleasant alternative to banner ads.

 

Scan to Pictures

 by R. J. Cooper and Associates, Inc.

For years at our school, we've been fortunate to have access to many of R. J. Cooper's specially designed software titles, tailored to the individualized needs of our students.  If you haven't checked out their expansion into the world of apps yet, well then you're in for a treat! It may be the first time you come across such an accessible app.

Scanning is a computer user's input alternative to using a mouse or, in the case of the iPad, direct selecting with an index finger tap.  Choices or icons are scanned one at a time, often with an auditory cue, and when the intended selection is highlighted, a switch activates the selection.  The switch is positioned at a spot on the users body that can be consistently targeted.  There are a variety of scanning types: one-switch, two-switch, auditory scan, scan groups, to name several of the common types.  This type of input is useful for individuals who have physical limitations.  While the app is designed for switch input (sold separately), Scan to Pictures does allow interaction anywhere on the iPad screen to serve as an activation. 

Scan to Pictures has a pre-made activities that you can try, but the power in the app comes from the customizable features.  Word picture, label, and consequent can all be customized.  Furthermore, selections can be presented as just a picture, just text, or text and picture together.  Auditory scan can be enabled or disabled.  Creating a custom scanning activity is relatively simple, though the design interface is a little confusing.  Once you learn where everything is located (you record the label name in a different spot than where you type the name, etc.), creating an activity can take less than ten minutes.


R. J. Cooper markets Scan to Pictures as an AAC training program.  It can be incorporated into lessons as a way to develop the vocabulary of learners with special learning and access needs.  This isn't an activity that you'd set a student up with and then walk away, though.  While it does provide a learner with a way to express an idea, the student still needs a communication partner to receive that idea.

There are two versions: paid ($4.99) and lite (free).



 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/scan-to-pictures/id511891960?mt=8

Be sure to check out the whole lineup of R. J. Cooper iOS apps: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/rj-cooper-associates-inc./id412790299