20 Favorite Apps in 2011!
There are a ton of Apps we love in Room 5. But when I stopped to think of which Apps we used the most for instruction purposes this year, I came up with this list of 20. I am sure the kids would have a different list (scroll to the bottom of the list for some “kid choices”).
Our 20 Most Favorite Apps for Instruction in 2011
1. ABC Magnetic Alphabet (on sale now for $1.99) is the #1 most used App in our classroom. We use it for letter identification, spelling, making words, assessments, and more!
2. Angry Octopus ($7.99) is an interactive social story that can be used for deep breathing and anger management along with listening comprehension!
3. Answers: YesNo HD ($2.99) was designed for easy communication with nonverbal students. We love that it’s customizable for more than just Yes/No responses.
4. Autism Xpress (FREE!) is an App we used daily in circle time. This App shows 12 different emotions visually. Some are great fun too… Gassy? “Excuse me.”
5. Cookie Doodle ($.99) is so much fun! Plus, it helps with following directions, sequencing, measurement, functional vocabulary and more!
6. Cute Math ($1.99) provides up to 7 different games for basic number sense concepts like counting, number identification, sequencing, addition, and subtraction. We like the Baby Penguins the best!
7. Everyday Mathematics Monster Squeeze ($1.99) is great for social skills like taking turns AND number sense (greater than, less than, number identification).
8. K-3 Sight Words ($.99) has eliminated the need for rings of flashcards in our room! We use this App twice monthly for each student to assess their sight word reading.
9. Learning A-Z Leveled Books and Libraries - LAZ ($6.99 per library, $1.99 per book) has helped eliminate some of the printing, cutting, and stapling that we hate from the Reading A-Z books that we LOVE! Almost every level is now an App and highlights vocabulary, provides additional photos, and gives comprehension and higher level thinking questions at the end of each booklet.
10. Math Magic ($.99) is a nice tool for kids that need receptive responses/ answer choices. This game practices basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, but gives 4 answer choices as responses. It also provides feedback to the user.
11. Proloquo2Go ($189.99) is the communication App that has made it possible for one of our students to communicate! We love it and how easy it is to customize! He loves the option to type on a keyboard or use picture symbols.
12. I Learn with Poko: Seasons and Weather HD ($2.99) is a ton of fun and helps with functional skills like identifying the clothing you wear in the winter, spring, summer, and fall! It even provides some calendar skills and following directions as well!
13. See.Touch.Learn. (Free with in-app purchases) is a great vocabulary builder for our kids. They need to wait, listen to directions, wait for directions, identify objects or words and more!
14. Sentence Builder for iPad ($5.99) is designed to help kids build grammatically correct sentences. My goal with this App to get my kids to slow down long enough to actually look at a picture and give a sentence about it. 
Eventually we’ll work on the grammar part.
15. Story Builder for iPad ($7.99) is worth every penny! This App has helped my kids who HATE to write to develop stories and record them. We even use our recordings to then sit down and write a four sentence story! Love this one!
16. Tell Time- Little Matchups Game (FREE!) helps kids tell time by matching analog and digital clocks with verbal prompts. You can even record your own voice for reinforcement!
17. Wood Puzzle HD ($1.99) is great for fine motor skills when you turn on the option to use two hands and rotate each puzzle piece! Also nice for colors, shapes, problem solving, holidays… My kiddos LOVE this one! Updated for each holiday!
18. Word Magic ($.99) is a nice game for phonics skills like short and long vowel sounds, beginning, medial, and ending sounds, and blends. We also use this one for assessment.
19. Write On ($1.99) is nice little tracing/write App that also provides animals names and sounds.
20. ANY books by Oceanhouse Media or the Ruckus Media Group!
Oceanhouse Media has the Mercer Mayer books, Dr. Seuss Books, AND Little Monkeys! They also provide sale prices for events on Facebook and Twitter which make their books so affordable. Plus, the kids love them!
Ruckus Media Group has a great variety of books read by celebrities like Meryl Streep! They also provide tons of sales including one right now where net proceeds are going to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Awesome!
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5 Additional Apps My Kiddos Would Add to the List-
Five Little Monkeys by Loeschware ($.99 ) is very cute, great for motivation, fun, and can be used for counting, colors, movement, vocabulary, and more!
Thomas Game Pack ($2.99) is one of our favorites! I am constantly amazed at the way the kids can navigate the train 
tracks and put together the puzzles!
Thomas and Friends: Day of the Diesels ($4.99) is great if you love Thomas! Can you tell we love Thomas?
FirstWords: Animals ($1.99) is also a big favorite of ours! One kiddo asks for this App all day long! He loves letters AND animals!
Create a Car ($.99) is a big favorite of two students. Fun that you can choose all the parts of the car and put it together and start the engine!