iPad Lesson 2

For the second lesson the app used was Spelling City. This is a free app that students can use to help them develop their writing skills through spelling practice. When you open up the app you will see two columns. The first one says "Step 1: Select a Sample List" and the second one says "Step 2: Select an Activity". Within the first column there are a variety of words lists the student can choose from. This app is designed for students in grades kindergarten through tenth grade to use. In the second column there are nine activities to select from. The activity chosen is then paired with the word list selected to help make spelling practice fun.

The focus of my lesson was, "The student can identify the individual phonemes that make up words." RF.1.2.D is the common core standard that went along with this lesson. When we began the lesson we first talked about how words are made up of individual sounds. Each word has different sounds we hear when we say it out loud. When we listen to these sounds they help us figure out how we spell the words when writing. I then continued to stress the importance of stopping to think about the word and the sounds we hear before attempting to write a word. To help her better understand the process of stopping to listen for the sounds you hear before writing we did a few practice words and sentences together. Some practice words included her last name, my last name, and the word dog. When we did the practice sentences I would have her attempt to write it on her own first and then we went over it together. If we worked through a word that was originally spelled incorrectly, I didn't have her erase her first attempt. Instead I had her write the second attempt under the first try. This way she could have a visual comparison of the first time she tried to spell the word and the second time.

When we first started the lesson I had selected the 2-3 compound words list. It became evident that this list was too challenging for the student so I went back to the home screen and selected K-1 colors. When I switched the word list the student was able to experience success with the activity. The activity selected for this lesson was Missing Letter. This activity asks students to complete the word provided by choosing which letter is missing. They have a word in a big box that has one letter missing. The app reads aloud the word and below the word are four options the student can choose from. If the student selects the wrong letter it makes a noise and the square turns grey. If the correct letter is selected it makes a trumpet noise and repeats the word again for the student. Above the word it also tells the student which word they're on and how many more are left.

 Even though the student I worked with struggled a lot in the beginning of this lesson with identifying the missing letter, towards the end she got the hang of it. She found it challenging and wanted to keep practicing so she could score a 10/10. I would definitely recommend this app for any teacher who has students who need to practice their spelling skills. This app is a fun and engaging way to develop such skills. The student can even practice the same list of words with different activities so they don't get bored.

References:
[Untitled image of SpellingCity logo]. Retrieved February 2, 2017, from https://www.spellingcity.com/high-resolution-logo.html