iPads

Today, we had the opportunity to explore and play with 9 of the UMS iPads!  Each child was paired with a partner and they were given the task to look at all of the math apps on the iPad and decide which app they thought was the best for our second grade learners.  Before each group set off to explore, we generated a list of criteria that we wanted to think about when we were testing the apps. Here is a list of criteria we decided on!

1. Is the app easy to use?
2. Does the app actually teach what I need to practice (we looked at adding and subtracting)
3. Does the app help me if I give the wrong answer?
4. Is the app fun to play?

We also decided that each group had to give reasons as to why they picked the app as their favorite (and they couldn't just say it was fun!).  They had to be specific and use evidence from the app to support their reasoning. Here are some pictures from our exploration!

 This pair liked the math app called Math Monster.  They told us, "You can earn money to build your rocket by doing addition and subtraction problems."

This pair liked the math app called Math Puppy.  They said, "The game is fun and it doesn't take too long to complete.  We like that it is short."

This partner team liked the app Math Puppy because, "It gave us both addition and subtraction problems. Every time we were right, the puppy would do tricks which were fun to watch!"

 



This team liked the app Hungry Fish  because, "When the fish eats the correct number bubble, the fish gets bigger and healthier."



 

This pair also liked the Hungry Fish app.  They said, "You can make the bubbles bigger by adding two numbers together. As the fish eats the bubbles, the bubble would pop feeding the fish."



 Hungry Fish  was a favorite app of this pair as well.  They liked this game because, "The game can be made harder by adding multiple numbers together to make bigger bubbles for the fish to eat."

This was the only pair that picked Math Bingo  because, "There are different math levels you can play. You can play addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division."

My last pair liked Math Master  because "It was really fun to build a rocket and the math wasn't too hard!"

 

 

We had a great time using the iPads and we can't wait for our next exploration time!

Questioning

This week, we started learning that good readers ask questions!  We ask questions before we read a book, while we read a book, and even after we read a book!  The more questions we ask, the more we think about what we are reading!

We are starting to learn that some questions are "thick" questions, which really help us understand the story better; and some questions are "thin" questions, which pique our interest, but don't help us develop a deeper understanding.  This type of question might help us make a connection or lead us to another topic that interests us!

In the coming weeks, we will also talk about the fact that some questions have answers that are found directly in the book and some questions we have to do further research outside the book! We are going to spend a lot of time working on this skill. As you read with your child this weekend, see if you can generate some questions to go with the book you are reading!

Here is a list of all of the question words we were able to generate as a team!  Happy Friday!

• what?
• should?
• who?
• do?
• is?
• would?
• why?
• where?
• when?
• will?
• how?
• did?
• could?
• have?
• can?
• which?
• why?