Utilizing Applications at Home or the Classroom
Bluebee Pals are versatile educational tools for the classroom! Indeed, they can be used in a variety of both tech and non-tech ways to support early foundational skills. Students love to use them both ways as classroom learning partners! Here are a few ideas to get you started.https://www.bluebeepals.com/inclusive-curriculum/
Reading Skills: Tech-Use Bluebee Pals to connect with any book or reading app. Let your students enjoy a digital book while your Bluebee Pal reads aloud to them. This is also a great activity for group time. Students can follow along with the text (books with high-lighted text are especially nice). Students can also create their own books and record in their own voices, with their Bluebee Pal reading in the student’s voice. They love to hear their voices and this gives them excellent feedback on their oral reading skills.
Non-tech–Let your students practice their oral reading skills by reading out loud to their Bluebee Pal buddy. We often break into small groups for oral reading practice. This is a great way for students to practice reading and intonation skills, and to gain reading confidence. Students can also orally practice reading and spelling their weekly vocabulary words with their Bluebee Pal buddy.
Language Skills: Tech-There are a multitude of apps available to practice language skills such as sequencing, categorizing, grammar, wh-questions, sentence construction, and basic concepts, to name a few. Connect your favorite Bluebee Pal to each app as your students learn! It really helps to engage them!
Categories Learning Center by Smarty Ears: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/categories-learning-center/id496646536?mt=8
GoSequencing by Smarty Ears: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/gosequencing/id1000754477?mt=8.
Non-tech-When teaching early skills, use a friendly Bluebee Pal and have a play-pretend tea party! You can practice most of the same skills without connecting Bluebee. Practice taking turns, using pronouns (ex. Give the cup to him) positional and basic concepts (ex. Put the spoon next to Bluebee Pal), wh-questions (ex. Who has the blue plate?), categories (ex. Give all the red cookies to Bluebee Pal, Show Bluebee all the things you can eat). You can easily model and imitate your targeted language goals with students and Bluebee Pals in a group setting.
Articulation/Speaking Skills: Tech- Connect your Bluebee Pal to articulation and phonics practice apps to help your students practice and learn articulation skills. Your Bluebee Pal will say the sounds, words, phrases and sentences out loud for the students to practice, or can “speak” in your students’ voices when they use an in-app recording feature to capture their practice productions.
Articulate it! Pro by Smarty Ears: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/articulate-it-pro/id391296844?mt=8
Non-tech: Have your students practice their sound production skills out loud with their Bluebee Pal! Say a word or sentence with the target sound. If they say it correctly, the student earns a point. If it is incorrect, give a point to Bluebee! Have them practice until they earn Bluebee’s points back! Let them also practice self-monitoring skills by taking their own data as they practice with their articulation picture cards and a Bluebee Pal.
Listening Skills: Tech–Connect your Bluebee Pal to a favorite listening comprehension skills app to practice listening for information with your snuggly friend. Additionally, it is essential that children are read to on a daily basis in their early years to foster listening, reading, comprehension, vocabulary, and cognitive skills. Tales2go is a wonderful audio book app that offers thousands of age appropriate selections for listening pleasure!
Tales2Go by Tales2Go, Inc.: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tales2go/id458539653?mt=8
Non-tech-Play a listening game with your favorite Bluebee Pal. If the student listens and answers questions correctly, he earns a point. If he is incorrect, Bluebee gets the point. Who can collect the most points? Students enjoy playing with and learning with Bluebee Pals!
Social Skills: Tech-It’s tons of fun to connect your Bluebee Pal to your smartphone to practice greetings, real conversations and taking listening and speaking turns!
Practice your favorite social skills game apps and create and narrate your own social skills stories with your Bluebee Pals!
Social Quest by Smarty Ears: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/social-quest/id556089006?mt=8
Non-Tech-Invite your favorite Bluebee Pals to your social skills group (non-connected). Students can practice social greetings, conversational turn-taking, questioning, play-pretend skills, and more, as they “teach” Bluebee the social rules!
Connected or not, Bluebee Pals offer great educational value in the classroom!
