Frances Amato Dominguez, David Marquis School of the Arts: Bluebee Pals Pro
“Functional educational toys for young children are not something common to find. Many items available these days have gimmicks and look to create a cycle where you have to keep purchasing more and more kits for the products to be fully functional. As a mother and a teacher, I look at educational toys in a different light. One of the best toys that I have seen as of late has been Bluebee Pals Pro. Many years ago when I was a special education classroom teacher, I had purchased their original Bluebee Pals and used it to have stories read to my class and to practice vocabulary. After using the Pro version, I was in awe. I cannot believe everything that it can now do. There is a free app that pairs with your new plush friend that has all different educational opportunities split into different rooms of a house. The app is well though out and easy to navigate. My students were able to follow along and complete activities with very little prompting and information.” http://bluebeepals.com
Attributes of Bluebee in the Classroom
“My favorite part of the new updates Bluebee Pals Pro is the functionality with Speech and Language apps. I work in a population where many of my students are non-verbal and use a device to facilitate communication. This can pair with the apps and speak for the child. Not only that but I have seen my students engage with their new toy and trying so hard to talk and interact with it. Computer generated voices are not the best outputs or appropriate models for my students to follow. I have found that when my bear talks to them in a more human voice than naturally produced by the app, there is a huge change in the child.”
“Bluebee Pals provide a way to learn functional life skills and the support of cognitive development of early learners. Children can fully immerse themselves into a connected experience through nine educational games. In addition to speech and language apps, Bluebee Pals pair with many apps and narrate them to the child.This is perfect for mainstream and special needs children. My work is targeted to special needs children and they love it. From a simple cuddle buddy to a talking companion it provides the right resources for children to learn.” https://www.bluebeepals.com/apps-bluebee-pals/
Literacy and Bluebee Pals
“I am a STEM Teacher at The David Marquis School of the Arts; Bluebee Pals are instrumental at helping my students learn our fringe vocabulary words. Bluebee pronounces the words for them, and they get a chance to hear them, repeat what they are listening to, and complete our spelling and writing activities. This month we are learning words like food chain, relationships, patterns, predator and prey. These are not words typical to my student’s lives. With the help of Bluebee Pals my students are starting to say and pronounce the words correctly. It is such an amazing visual model. Many of my students are visual learners so it is the perfect classroom tool.”
Bluebee Pals Options
“There are also many options to choose from so you can find the perfect friend for your child’s educational journey. Your lineup of available friends are Hudson the puppy; Parker the Monkey; Lily the Lamb; Sammy the Bear; Leo the Lion and Riley the Zebra. I personally have both Sammy and Riley and they are too cute for words.” https://www.bluebeepals.com/store/
“In this educator’s opinion, Bluebee Pals are the perfect educational companion for any child. I have the privilege of sharing it with my students and colleagues and will continue to use it in my classroom.” Mrs. Frances Amato Dominguez
STEM Teacher, Technology Liaison, Website Master
Public School 37R
The David Marquis School of the Arts
15 Fairfield Street
Staten Island, New York 10308
“Technology will never replace great teachers, but technology in the hands of great teachers is transformational.” – George Couros