Becontree iPads project - week 5 and 6

In the last two weeks we have used the iPads for both starter activities and as extention activities for early finishers.

In Maths the children used the app Super 7HD, a game which sounds easy but gets challenging fairly quickly. The aim is to make 7 by drawing a line between numbers. Some of these numbers are negative and the numbers are constantly moving. You have to avoid collisions between numbers that would take you over 7, or it is 'Game Over'.

The children enjoyed the app. It exercised their mental maths skills and gave them an added time pressure. They also had their hand/eye coordination tested in trying to be accurate when tracing lines between numbers.

In English we used Bubble Spell as an extension for quick finishers. This is a lovely app with a gorgeous under water theme, perfect for our year 2 children. There are three difficulty levels and I used the easy level with my lowest attainers.

They are presented with a word and a visual representation of the word. The word then disappears but the visual cue stays on screen. They are then presented with a number of bubbles containing letters and they must select the correct letters in the right order to spell the word. The bubbles move, so the children have to search for the letters and you can change the time allowed to get a word up to 59 seconds.

The children worked in pairs on this and it kept them very focussed. My only criticism of this app is that it would be beneficial if the word stayed on screen slightly longer than the couple of seconds that it currently displays. However, tapping the visual cue does show the word again.

Following our work with the iPads, our EAL coordinator is considering purchasing an iPad to use with our EAL children.