I've been wanting to learn more about coding in elementary school and introducing teachers in my area to integrate robotics in the curriculum and during the school day. I'm loving code.org and feel like I'm am only in the beginning phase of exploring and learning. My goal is to work with the Wonder Robots and turn around sessions to share with my area TCEA Community and spread awareness in my school district and surrounding districts.
Most of the time, the extra learning has to happen at home. I really don't mind when learning is this much fun and includes bonding with my children.
I've spent two short time frames over the last two weeks working with my 4 yo son. We've been using the Go and Path App. So far, I think they are great for pre-readers. It is visual and enjoyable for a child to explore.
I will document our learning here in my blog as I continue to explore and learn. Here is the first video that shares my son's trouble shooting and first challenge with Dash.
I teamed up with PreK and Kinder teachers and facilitators in our district to collaborate on an iPad roll out for early elementary. I was asked to introduce SAMR to all of the PreK and K teachers in our district. I thought back to every time I had seen a SAMR presentation or taught teachers about it in the past. I felt like I needed to create something that would apply to my early elementary teachers. I collected examples of real student work and looked at some old ways I had seen Pre-K and K teachers using technology and added a few other ideas that I didn't see happening often in classrooms.
The most important part of our presentation was talking about good quality lessons that teachers use to check for understanding and relating SAMR to what prek and kinder teachers do in the classroom.
The teachers on our team challenged me to create the presentation in
Nearpod to teach teachers about this awesome tool without directly
teaching them about the tool. It worked out really well, teachers
enjoyed interacting during our session. The slide show was our Plan B.
We used apps in our SAMR presentation that teachers would use in hands-on workshops taught by teachers on our curriculum writing team during the afternoon sessions. I made sure to share the lesson ideas as we talked about where they fit in SAMR.
What's even more awesome is, teachers decided they'd like to help me develop our own Pre-K and Kinder Padagogy Wheel similar to the one created by Allan Carrington, because we couldn't find one that would relate to early elementary. I can't wait to collaborate with teachers in our district to do this.
I've been working with a group of AMAZING pre-k through 2nd grade teachers to design technology integrated lessons that are aligned with core curriculum. Shadow Puppet EDU has been one of my favorite apps since the day I discovered it. It's an app that can be used for any content.
Here is an example of what a 4 year old can create with Shadow Puppet. This student illustrated the parts of a plant with another app and used Shadow Puppet to share what he learned.
One of the key pieces of our meetings is to really evaluate all of the apps we will be recommending. We want to answer the questions we know every teacher will ask us. It's important to do this before the pre-k and kinder teachers on our title elementary schools become part of a beautiful iPad roll out. We want them to be just as excited as we are about the learning that will take place.
"Can we turn off the web image search in Shadow Puppet?" asked a teacher in our meeting. Since we are planning on creating with Pre-K students, I don't know why I've never asked that question myself. She looked into the settings and there it was! Beautiful, the answer to all of our pre-k and kindergarten worries. A teacher can turn off the web search when students are working independently to share what they have learned. A teacher can enable the web search for guided or modeled searches as
early learners are introduced to digital citizenship and searching
on-line.
I love that the creators of Shadow Puppet EDU have thought of everything. You can undo a recording per page, re-record the whole thing, you can share easily, and even share with parents using their SeeSaw Class and SeeSaw Parent App.
How To-
1. Go to the settings app on your iPad
2. Scroll down till you find the Shadow Puppet App Icon and click on it.
3. Disable the web image search and/or the Edu image search if needed.
I have been enjoying app smashing for some time now. When you combine apps, educational fireworks fly in the classroom. If you haven't already, you've got to try HELLO Crayon and Chatter Pix Kids together.
I usually recommend HELLO Crayon when teachers are looking for a free drawing app in the elementary classroom. It has a few great features to make life easy when working with lower grades, there's undo and a fill can. Trust me, that saves a lot of time when illustrating. ;)
Drawing a character from a book or an example of what you have learned in class is something that can be accomplished with paper and pencil. When sharing this, I like to share Chatter Pix to allow students the opportunity to add their voice to their drawing. Chatter Pix records 30 seconds of audio and will make it appear like the picture is talking. You can also download the creation to the camera roll for FREE! This is a great way to give voice to our Pre-K students. Imagine them drawing a circle in HELLO Crayon, they turn it into something they have seen that is an example of that shape. Now they can explain how they know a whole pizza is a circle.
Check out the how-to my buddy Joe and I created and hear a few ideas for using HELLO Crayon in the classroom here.
Here is an example of something created by a 1st grader when she used Hello Crayon and Chatter Pix Kids. She explains the problem in the story Chrysanthemum from the point of view of the character, Victoria.
Check out our how-to video for Chatter Pix Kids and learn a few ideas for classroom use here.
Beginning Letter Sounds Work Station with AR Flashcards
AR Flashcards
Using AR Flashcards app can bring in a new spin on identifying things that begin with a letter sound. AR Flashcards are augmented reality flashcards. When you use the AR Flashcard App to view the card, something magical happens! An animal appears before your eyes.
This app also includes a “camera” button. This gives the user the ability to take a photo of the Augmented Reality animal that pops out of the flashcard. If you place items, words, or yourself with the card, you can capture a nice entertaining photo or a photo that shows understanding.
Beginning Letter Sounds Work Station
Set up a work station with a basket of items that include examples and non-examples of things that start with the letter ____. Allow students to work together to sound out the names of the items. Students should place items that begin with the given letter around the AR Flash Card. Students use the camera button in the app to take a photo of their work. Have students include a name tag in the picture to identify who completed the work. The photo will be saved to the camera roll. Consider having students help to build the work station by searching for an example and a non-example at home for homework and brining it to school. The item should fit into the palm of their hand. In the video below, Joe Meza and I share how to use AR Flashcards in a Beginning Letter Sound Work Station.
Phonogram Workstation
Set up a work station with words for students to read and recognize phonograms. Allow students to work together to read words and identify words that follow rules of the phonogram they are learning. Students should place words that include the phonogram sound with the given phonogram that is built using the AR Flash Cards. I share the example of using the -er sound of her in the video below. Students should use the camera button in the app to take a photo of their work. Have students include a name tag in the picture to identify who completed the work. The photo will be saved to the camera roll. Consider challenging students to write other examples they think about on paper and include them when they take the picture.
Torture
At the beginning of the school year, I felt like homework with my first grader was torture. It still isn’t where I’d like it to be, but it’s a work in progress. It will be a gradual change.
Homework is the same every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. I believe I know what my child needs a little extra help with. I really wish I could focus her “homework” time on creating scenarios and problems for her to solve, as a way to connect what she is learning to the real world. I wish we could invest that time together to Blog more, make movies, write digital stories, or even create our own games. For now, her homework is what it is, a way to reinforce what she is learning in the classroom.
On Mondays and Tuesdays my 6yo spends about an hour and a half completing homework. She must write her spelling words (8 in English and 8 in Spanish) 3 times each, complete a math work sheet (front and back) and read a book that is sent home with her. These books usually include her spelling/vocabulary words, but are not challenging for her. The stories don’t have a plot and are not exciting. You literally have to make up what your favorite part would be by looking at the pictures. They are not stories that encourage my child to love reading.
(I’m human) After raising my voice at my child saying, “focus”, “do your homework,” “stay on task,” “I don’t want to be here all night watching you write your words,” and hearing my daughter tell me, “I HATE homework,” I knew we needed to talk with her teacher. I emailed her and scheduled time to meet with her after school. I wanted to kindly inform her about what was going on. My daughter and I were frustrated.
Asking For Change
I wondered if her teacher would allow me to modify my daughter’s homework. After all, I do work with my child at home. If she was going to spend that much time on homework, I wanted her to have the opportunity to create something.
After kindly sharing my concern, I explained that I would like the opportunity to switch things up a bit. I told her I would never ask her to provide extra materials or provide different homework. I know how hard she works and how many students she has. I told her that my passion includes technology integration and allowing students the opportunity to create things that they are proud of. I said, “I’d like to begin using technology with her to study and learn during homework time.” Her teacher said that would be okay. I promised to email evidence or send a note on the nights we modified homework.
First Change
A few weeks ago, I asked my daughter if she would like to try something different with her homework. I set my laptop down at her homework desk. We substituted handwriting her spelling words for typing her words three times each. I loved teaching her how to change the font style, font size, use the “tab” key, and print a document.
The following night, my daughter asked if she could print her homework. “Print, NOOOOOO”, I thought. I was sure she wanted to hand print her spelling words. Oh no, she had her heart set on, printing her homework on the printer. Tuesday night spelling words are completed pyramid style, as requested. That evening, she learned how to center her words to make a pyramid.
Since then, she has learned how to use the character keyboard on the MAC
to accent letters when typing her Spanish spelling words. She is doing
this independently now and wants to learn how to type without looking
at the keyboard. She wants to learn! She wants to do this homework.
Typing is still new and exciting to her.
What’s Next
My
next step is to begin brainstorming more ideas that will keep her
engaged while practicing her spelling words. I want exciting and fun
learning experience for her. Will we create a spelling game? Will we
write a song together? Will we make a spelling movie? Who knows, but
anything is more exciting than writing spelling words 3 times each.
Parent/Teacher Conference
During the actual parent/teacher conference at my daughter’s school, her teacher said that my daughter secretly handed her a note I had written when she turned in her homework typed. My daughter was scared to turn it in. She reassured us that it was fine. :) She really does have a wonderful teacher. I’m so glad I asked her if we could modify the homework.
One of my favorite apps to share is Educreations. It is app that students can use to explain their understanding, present what they have researched, or even tell a digital story. I like to pair a few apps to allow students to use their own drawings from an external drawing app to create their stories.
Step 1- Draw a character
Use a drawing app to create a character that you would like to manipulate or move in Educreations and save it to your camera roll.
In the "What's Appening" tutorial below, I used the Hello Crayon App to draw a frog character. It's easy to use and it's FREE.
Step 2- Erase the White Background
Use the Background Eraser App to erase the background your illustration and create a .PNG image file. It's very easy to use if the background is one color. With this trick, you can bring in a nice, full screen picture to use as a setting in Educreations, then use your own drawing as a "puppet."Check out the "What's Appening" tutorial on Background Eraser below.
Step 3- Create a Digital Story in Educreations
Create a digital story in Educrations by bringing in your own characters and moving them as you record. Check the "What's Appening" tutorial below. My buddy shares his genius as we bring all three apps together.
This was the first EdCamp I attended outside of El Paso, TX. An EdCamp is a free, unconference. The educators in the room determine what the sessions will be and what they would like to share. If you walk into a session and the conversation doesn’t feed you, it is understood that it is not an insult to leave and find a session that is right for you. YAY! You get to be in charge of what you want to learn.
The Meeting Room
Each participant received a blue and a yellow post it note. You could write down a topic that you felt confident facilitating on the blue note, or a topic you wanted to learn more about on the yellow note.
For those who wanted a digital version of a schedule, Guidebook, sponsored the event by providing access for free. We just downloaded the app and scanned a QR to get the schedule.
Tweep Board
Flipped Classroom with Shea Regian Forney ISD
Homework has never been the same. With a flipped classroom, students learn the basics and mechanics at home by watching a video and do the work/practice/projects in class. Shea shared her experience and how the flipped classroom works in her 8th grade math classes. Read more about this session here.
Build your Own App
Yapp Box is a free app that can be used to create your own app for the classroom. It could be an app for a tech tips. You can add buttons on the bottom for pages to twitter feed or a photo gallery. It’s definately an app I will explore.
Hacking the Classroom
I snuck into this session so I missed the beginning. Aimee Bartis was sharing how her class is hacking the tech apps classroom. You can read her student’s blog and experiences at http://hackingtechapps.blogspot.com. They love comments. If you have time, leave one for her students.
Genius Hour
Martha Lacy shared what Genius Hour looks like in her classroom. She said it’s important to decide when and how often genius hour would be. To me, genius hour in her classroom seemed like a time to for students to create and integrate technology. I loved Martha’s student examples, how well her elementary students collaborated with Google Docs and how excited she was about the students progress. My favorite take away was the keynote story her students created.
Leadership and 1:1 with Greg Gardener
Greg facilitated a discussion to see where everyone was with 1:1. I decided to attend this session because I work with a campus that will be going 1:1 iPads next school year. I feel that not enough conversation is happening and not enough planning and preparation is in place. Read more here.
App Smash or Smack Down Click on the link to view the list of things shared during the Smack Down. It was awesome! Tellagami is one of the free apps that were shared. I created one very quickly.
I went to EdCampDallas this weekend and enjoyed the conversation in this session. I work with a campus that will be going 1:1 iPads next school year. I feel that not enough conversation is happening and not enough planning or preparation is in place.
Greg facilitated a discussion to see where everyone was with 1:1 and said,“You cannot over plan a 1:1 roll out.” He recommended having an iPad Oath, a moral document for students in addition to the legal acceptable use policy. If it is not on file, they take the iPad from the student and the signed document magically appears. You will find other resources that might be helpful on the West Ridge Middle School Website.
WestRidge Middle School in Austin, TX began their roll out by assigning each teacher an iPad. Teachers were to learn how to use them, because it was coming and each student would have one. It became very clear that it was not an option.
What you should know before the roll out
8th graders will do whatever it takes to break the restrictions. Campuses handled this differently. One treated it as a disciplinary problem. One treated it as an instructional problem. If you don’t have the apps you need to learn, there is a problem. There was “juice bar” that students could visit and have the apps and restrictions placed back onto the iPad. It's probably a good idea to think about how you will handle it before it happens. You can not over plan a 1:1 roll out.
As the group added input, one participant said they researched before 1:1 deployment. He mention that research says to have a successful roll out, you must educate the teachers and the parents.
Educate, Educate, Educate
Parents and Teachers need to know that they are in charge. They need to take the responsibility of being the teacher or parent and think about things that will happen and how to handle situations that arise.
If a teacher has difficulty with classroom management, the teacher probably had trouble with it before the 1 to 1 roll out. If a parent had trouble being an authoritative parent before a technology device was introduced, they will still have trouble after.
Greg says that he reminds the teacher that they are still the teacher and reminds the parent that they are the parent. He also said, "If a teacher is ineffective before a 1:1 roll out, they will still be ineffective with the 1:1. The technology just puts a big spotlight on it."
It was said, "you can’t over communicate with parents." Talk with them about the options. Share what an 8th grader will be doing with technology in their bedroom, door closed till 1 in the morning. Talk with them about how to avoid that. Talk with them about changing wifi codes, unplugging the wireless router at bed time, a place to leave the device after a set time, how to be a parent that monitors their child on the internet. Be the parent and stand your ground.
Leadership
Greg also talked about the leadership role. If you are in a leadership position, you must remember that you are the leader. You will need to have tough conversations. It must be understood that the 1:1 roll out is not an option. If a parent wants to opt out, it’s a cop out. He mentioned that one parent, bought a safe and had his child lock the iPad in it at when they got home. The parent would unlock the safe in the morning and allow his child to take it to school.
Option
The school district Greg works with allowed students, grades 6-12 to take the iPad home over the summer if they paid the insurance. Insurance was outsourced for the district. K-5 students didn’t have the option to take it home over the summer.
My Thoughts
This session was worth it for me. Hearing what others experienced as they began a 1:1 roll out share was valuable. It’s never to early to plan for it. Thanks for sharing, Greg!
I attended this session at EdCampDallas to learn more about the Flipped Classroom.
Homework has never been the same. With a flipped classroom, students learn the basics and mechanics at home and do the work/practice/projects in class. Shea shared her experience and how the flipped classroom works in her 8th grade math classes.
She recommends using whatever technology you have to create the tutorials, Promethean or SMART Recorder, computer webcam, document camera, iPad (camera, Educreations, Explain Everything), or screen cast tool. Shea uses One-Note to get the job done.
She explained that when she first began creating her videos she was a “talking head” and it would take her 30 minutes to create a video because she was looking for perfection. Now, creating the video takes a few minutes and she doesn’t worry about perfection because making mistakes and correcting them is a part of a regular classroom. Some teachers in the group commented that they give extra points to students who catch a mistake while watching a flipped lesson for homework. Shea is no longer a talking head anymore, she uses the sheets with examples and works them out during the flipped lesson.
What it looks like in Shea’s Room
Day 1-
(In Class) Students don’t get a choice. She tells the class that homework is not an option. On the first day of the unit, she spends class time with the name of the unit, asking students what it sounds like to them, includes informal and formal language, and spends time talking about vocabulary. When they go home, they spend 3-6 minutes watching the basics. She always uses the terminology and vocabulary in her videos and in class. Students are required to take good notes while they watch the flipped lesson.
Day 2-
(Class time)- Shea spends time giving her explanation, appling the algebra to the real world and how students will use it in algebra II and geometry. She also takes time to teach students how to take notes for homework. Students know what she expects to see.
Review Night- These are the longest videos. She usually will film 4 to 6 videos for the review. If the class does the review, they get a free question on the test.
What if you have problems?
Shea says it's okay to revert back to the old way if something goes wrong. Things will happen. It could be a bad storm and the internet is out for the entire neighborhood. It’s okay to do it the old way for a day.
Students didn't do their homework? It's not an option. They will do their homework. Her room is open at 7:45 in the morning and for a time period after school for students to come in and complete their homework. Students can go to the library and complete it there or even use their personal mobile devices. Shea knows who completed homework by completing a quick walk while students have their notebooks open on the desks. She checks them first thing. If the notes are good, they move on to the lesson. If the notes are not good enough or have none, they go to the back of the room to complete it. The computers students can use in class are slow and the chairs are uncomfortable. Shea doesn’t try to create a perfect situation for them. She mentioned that there was only one situation where a student proved she didn’t have a way to complete homework at home, before or after school. Shea worked with her and a few of her teachers to allow her to leave a class a few minutes early to come sit in the back of the room to complete it daily.
Grading
Homework is 10% of the grade. If students do it, they get a 100. If they complete it outside of the notebook it's a 90 until they cut it out and glue it in. Students who didn't complete the homework before class can earn a 70 once it is complete.
Do you use alphabet flashcards in the classroom? If so, you have to try out AR Flashcards! They are augmented reality abc and dinosaur flash cards that will bring excitement to the classroom.
What you will need
1. Visit the AR Flashcard website and download their flashcards for free
2. Use a color printer and print out a set of flashcards
3. Cut the cards out on the dotted lines.
4. Download the AR Flashcard App from iTunes or AR Flashcards for Android.
5. Launch the app and try it out!
6.
Don't forget to tap on the flashcard when you see the character appear.
The creators of the app included audio that says the letter name and
the name of the animal.
7. Be AMAZED!!!
Tips- use white card stock and print them in color
I tested AR Flashcards with my little girl. Check out her first experience using the app. :)
Classroom Ideas Spoiler Alert!!!
I recommend keeping what will happen a secret! Just guide on the
side. Let them experience and discover it. Isn't that a reward in
learning?
-shuffle the flashcards and have students alphabetize them
-shuffle the cards, lay a limited number out, have students build beginning or ending sounds
-shuffle the cards, lay them out and have students spell their name (you may need two decks of cards)
-print two sets of cards and play memory
-count the legs of each animal
-identify the color of each animal
-identify the number of syllables in each animal word that is on the flashcard
I
believe educational apps are best used as part of a great lesson. How
would you use AR Flashcards in your classroom or with your child at
home? I'd love more ideas to share with the teachers I work with.
Special Thanks to Brad Waid and Drew Minock
for sharing this awesome app with me at Podstock and Mrs. Gaskin for
collaborating with me. I'm excited about scheduling my first tech
integration PLC with my PreK-Kinder teachers this year. Woot!
Our instructional technology group was invited to present at the 9th Annual ABC Conference, A Better Beginning Conference, held at the University of Texas at El Paso. It's a small conference that is put together for novice and mentor teachers in our area. This conference was complete with a keynote, snacks, ed tech sessions, and a nice lunch to honor a novice and mentor teacher of the year.
The Keynote- Colby Smart
I took the time to look up our Keynote, Colby Smart and follow him on Twitter. I'm always excited to meet someone new and learn from their experiences. I have to say that the most exciting part about this Keynote was the interaction. Colby had Todaysmeet.com open. He had set up a room for us to share our ideas as he presented his belief and ideas about technology integration.
Colby talked about a small school he works with, Weitchpec: Yurok Immersion School and the importance of keeping their native Yurok Language apart of the learning. The language is a very important part of the community. He asked the audience to talk with each other and suggest ways they could use technology to help the students learn the language. Here are some of the responses from the audience.
Technology Integration & Apps Teachers Love
Sherita and I teamed up to present during this session.
For me, this was my chance to share what technology integration looks like. I think it is important to know when you enter the classroom. I wanted novice teachers to know what 21st Century Learning is and that student created content is great evidence of technology integration. I shared the three tiers of technology integration and what they look like in the classroom. I wanted teachers to know that having a set of iPads or visiting the computer lab for 45 minutes a week did not mean that technology was being integrated effectively. I have seen teachers visit the computer lab for 45 minutes each week, ask students to go to the same game website all year long, and then sit down and check their email or surf the web for resources. When I see this, the students are not excited about the learning and it appears to be a break for everyone.
I shared my experience as a new teacher. I admitted that I did what everyone else did. I took my class to the computer lab weekly. The paraprofessional in the lab told my students to pick a CD and play a game on the computer. The games were educational, but random. I didn't realize that I could say, "no." I didn't realize that I could take them to the computer lab at that time and let them publish a piece of writing, blog, try out a few science simulations, or connect to a global audience. It wasn't obvious to me. I shared a few things that students have created on the iPad.
3D Shapes with Animoto- 4th grade students collected pictures of 3D shapes around the classroom. They got together and used the Animoto App to build a slide show that shared attributes of each shape.
Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.
Rhyming Words with Puppet Pals HD Director's Pass- 1st grade students were given a scavenger hunt list of words and had to find and photograph words that rhymed with it in the room. After, they used puppets and their voice to share the rhyming words.
Fog Fanner with Puppet Pals HD Director's Pass- I created this with my first grader at home. We had several foggy days in our city. My daughter had an idea for an invention that would make it easier to see while driving to school. We had to use Puppet Pals HD to create it.
Sherita shared these iPad Management and Apps that teachers love. Check out It's All Good! to read her Blog. Here are the awesome apps she shared with the teachers during the session. They are are on her Resource Spot.
Group Photo of the team that presented from EPISD.
I don't want to forget the things I am presenting, learning, or
attending. Blogging is becoming my way to document and remember. :)
I tried out the Story Buddy App last week with a 4th Grade Class. Story Buddy is an app that can be used to write and publish a story. Students can add text, choose paper, add photos, write, draw, and add audio. There are a lot of font and color choices to create a specific look. I liked having the option to rearrange pages, edit, and share the book. The book can be emailed, sent to the device's iBook Library, printed, or downloaded to your computer with iTunes file sharing. If you add audio to the story, it is all lost when you share the book via email, in the iBooks library, or downloaded. It will be a PDF file. Another thing you need to know is that your creation cannot exceed 15 pages. I wanted to share the Poem 4C created with the you, so I decided to use Reflections to record their work directly from the app. This is the only way to currently preserve the audio that is added to the book.
Working with 4C
-Students wrote a class poem.
-Each student was assigned one line of the poem.
-Each student was responsible for creating one page in our book.
-Each student was asked to brainstorm and be ready with an idea for a photo they could take at school or a picture they could draw to make their line of poetry visual.
-Each student had 5-7 minutes to create their page.
-One student recorded the audio.
Good Job, 4C. Here is the amazing poem they created with StoryBuddy.
I tried out the SonicPics App yesterday. It is an app that allows you to add pictures to create a slide show with audio. You can add a title and description for each photo. They do not stand out, but appear nicely in the slideshow, if used.
This is what I did at home with my little Kindergartener at home.
Plan out the project:
-Take pictures-My daughter is learning about patterns in kindergarten. We decided to look for patterns around the house. I handed over the iPhone and let my daughter take a few pictures. Then we decided it would be fun to make our own pattern and take a photo of it.
-Add pictures to SonicPics- Select the pictures in the order you would like them to appear. I have not found a way to reorder pictures.
-Practice-We talked about what she wanted to share with everyone about patterns. I gave her time to scroll through the photos we added in SonicPics and practice.
-Record Audio- My daughter pressed the record button and explained the patterns she saw.
-Share- Save your work to the iPhone/iPad library, YouTube, e-mail, or send it to your computer.
Here the SonicPics Slide Show/Video we made with the pictures we gathered last night.
Two days ago, I was very excited about the AutoRap App by Smule. This app can turn an ordinary person into a rap star by mixing recorded phrases to create an instant rap. Last night, my daughter tried to record a new song and I discovered this "Free" App only allows the user to create and share one free song. I was incredibly disappointed.
I wasn't sure that creating one free song hooked me into shelling out 2.99 for 60 plays, or 5.99 for an infinite amount of plays. The price isn't really bad, but I wasn't ready to pay for it.
I continued to explore the app and discovered that you can earn additional "Free Plays" within the app. I took a tour of they app and earned 10 more plays and watched an advertisement to earned 1 more play. This gives me more time to try it out.
The "Free Plays" allow you to record AutoRaps with the included "free style" music. There are 3 songs to choose from. There are also premium packs that include many beats from popular artists.
My 5 year old daughter and I have been using apps at night to make reviewing her day in Kindergarten fun. Last night we laughed our heads off, as she used the app AutoRap App by Smule. She sang the Months of the Year Song she learned in school. AutoRap turned it into a rap. I think I'll be hearing a lot of creations by Kaylee in the car from now on.
I'm very excited about all the different ways this FREE app can be used in the classroom. If students use 1 to 3 sentences to review a historical event or summarize a story, they'll enjoy listening and singing to their new rap song. I also see this app being used for science and reading vocabulary.
My only recommendation is to allow students the opportunity to create their own songs using AutoRap. If they are given the opportunity to use their own voice to define a vocabulary word, sing a song, or summarize, they will have a great time learning with this app.
Last week, teachers at TMECHS had a day of technology training. After my session, I heard that a student from TMECHS would be presenting and teaching teachers how to use Prezi.
I was very impressed with the student's confidence and introduction. She had teachers create their own free account and guided them as she created a "How to be a Cool Teacher" Prezi. This was a nice role reversal. I think we should give the power to our students more often. This could open the door to learning about more tools to make us cool.
Here are 5 great iPad/iPhone apps that I am using with my preschooler to practice letter sounds, phonics, and alphabet writing.
ABC Letter Tracing Free
Enjoy free, letter tracing, practice while learning to recognize the alphabet.
Letter Lab .99
Have fun tracing letters. This app allows the user to choose a pink or blue crayon to write. Practice writing and listen to the letter and word with the beginning sound being pronounced.
iWriteWords 2.99
Be entertained while learning how to write letters. Drag a cute crab through a sequence of numbers. After, listen to the letter pronounced and drag or fling the letter into a vortex before moving on. This app includes practice for capital letters, lower case letters, words and numbers. When your child has finished practicing, press the play button to see how they did.
Dora's Sky Writing Adventure 3.99
Feel some excitement with this writing adventure game. Help Tico fly his nutty plane by collecting nuts to fuel it. Drag Tico's airplane to collect nuts and write a letter. Listen to the beginning letter sound as you collect each nut. Students will also enjoy the kinesthetic game of moving the iPad to help draw an object with the beginning letter sound. Add up to 4 players, use the report card to view the completion of upper
case, lowercase letters, and combined upper/lowercase letters.
Montessorium Intro to Letters 4.99
Nice app with 5 different ways to learn letters. Listen to the letter sound, place finger on the arrow and write lower case, upper case or phonograms. Listen to letter flash cards or record your voice while learning letter sounds and phonograms.
All 5 apps are wonderful apps that I have added to my iTunes App collection. From free to 4.99, I have saved money and paper as my 4yo has practiced and enjoyed learning to write. Her favorite app today is Dora's Sky Writing Adventure, because "it's cool." My 18 month old enjoys repeating letters and sounds as I record him with Montessorium Intro to Letters. He giggles when I play it back for him.
I've been wanting to learn more about coding in elementary school and introducing teachers in my area to integrate robotics in the curriculum and during the school day. I'm loving code.org and feel like I'm am only in the beginning phase of exploring and learning. My goal is to work with the Wonder Robots and turn around sessions to share with my area TCEA Community and spread awareness in my school district and surrounding districts. 
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