2nd Grade Friendzy Week 1

This week my students work on phonics on the 2nd Grade Friendzy app. This app can be easily downloaded for free from the app store on an iPad or iPhone. This app has a lot to offer, which makes it an awesome for kids and parents. There is a lot you can choose from for second grade instruction on this app. When you first open it up, you can choose from Learning Center, Single Friendzy, Multi-Friendzy and Friendzy Challenge.

In my classroom, I have only done Learning Center. Under Learning Center, there are different subject areas students can work on. They can choose from Reading, Math, Language, Time, Money, Phonics, Measurement, Geography, Social Studies and Science. For week 1, I have chosen for my students to work on Phonics. In the Phonics section, there are many level students can work their way through. I had all my students begin on Level 1.

The questions are fun to answer and there is no time limit. Students are give a question, such as "Complete the sentence: 'I think I need to go _____ it is too late.'' Then the student is given four answers to choose from. A. off, B. around, C. before, and D. many. Once the student answers the question it will tell them if their answer was correct. If it was the student will gain points, if it is wrong they will not receive any points. If the student gets too many questions wrong, the student has to do the level all over again.

My students really enjoyed playing this game. It was challenging for most of them which was nice. They liked having to figure out what made sense or what the word might begin with. Some of my students had a really hard time and I feel that for next week I might have them try with 1st Grade Friendzy.

Spelling Rocket Week 2

This week I was able to allow each student to play with this app for 20 minutes. They were able to move forward with each level and it went really well. In my prior post, I talked about how most of my students talked about how the words were too easy for them. This week I decided to change it up.

This week I chose to set up each student on a certain level. For my higher students, I had them working on level 3, but for my lower students I kept them on level 1 or 2. This seemed to work a lot better and my students seemed to be more challenged. My students were so engaged and interested in the reading.

Spelling Rocket Week 1

For the past two weeks, my twenty-two second grade students had the opportunity to play the spelling rocket app on the iPad. Each student was allowed twenty minutes on the game twice in the past two weeks. My classroom has a wide range of readers and spellers so this game was a great one to use. 

The Spelling Rocket app is a game where students are give a word and they have to slide letters into place to spell the word correctly. After four words, the child gets to pick one part of a rocket to help build a rocket. At the end of each level the student get to shoot off their fully made rocket.

My students loved the game and a few gave me ways they would want to make the game better. Many said that they thought the words were a bit too easy the first time they played. This made sense to me because I had all my students try level 1 first. I was shocked because all my students said level I was too easy, even my lower students.

The second time they played they found it much more fun because I chose levels for students based on their TRC scores. For my higher kids I had them on level 4 but for my lower kids I only brought them up to level 2. This worked even better then the first time and they all wanted to continue playing.

The game was easy for them to play and I gave no directions at all. They quickly picked up what they needed to do and how they needed to do it. This is definitely a great game to use for students who need more help with spelling. I used it in my classroom in place of word work for two weeks. I feel like it was more helpful for my students who were struggling readers because it was a bit more fun then sorting words on paper.