This is a Great App Thursday!

Thankful it is Thursday and ecstatic tomorrow is FRIDAY!!!!  Today I rediscovered the power of a scratch-n-sniff sticker.  Since coming back from break, my kids are slacking when it comes to turning in homework.  This morning I put a scratch-n-sniff sticker on the kids homework and you would have thought I gave them brand-new Furby's!  I remember being a little kid and how much I loved them.  I guess scratch-n-sniff never goes out of style!  I can't wait to see how many kids turn in homework tomorrow.  I will have to pick up a few more packs next time I am at the $1 spot.

Today I have two great apps I love for "This is a Great App Thursday."  Even better, both apps are FREE!

Watching Dr. Oz, I heard about the app "Breath2Relax".  It is an app that helps you breath by giving you a time out of sorts.  You pick a picture calming to you (I picked the beach) and it has relaxing music.  Then you select how many inhale/exhale cycles you want and the length of inhale/exhale that is right for you (or your students).  I use the app for myself when I need help dealing with stress and only have a few minutes.  I even let my students see me do it and you know I got all kinds of questions!  This was the opportunity I shared with a way to cope with stress.  I even have a few students who will use my iPad and this app to help them.  It really does help, and I will admit I was skeptical.

The other app I love is the Class Dojo app.  I love www.classdojo.com and use all throughout my day to track student behavior and reward students.  You enter your class and positive and negative behaviors you want to use.  It works like a point system.  If you don't know about this great site, you have to check it out!  It graphs the students' individual behavior, parents can have access, it is super easy to use and FREE!  Go to their website to sign-up and enter your class.  It is a great program with the computer only, but the app makes it even better.  I have the app on my iPad and iPhone.  Anywhere I am with the class I can track their behavior.

Here is a fun PowerPoint I use to review sight words with my kids.  Download it and try it with your kids.