It is the middle of the second month of school and I feel as if I have finally gotten a feel for using the Tap-it during both instructional time as well as during structured leisure time. My students start the day with an interactive activity on the tap-it related to the unit that we are learning about. After that the students have breakfast and take care of personal business. I have been using board maker to crat an interactive morning circle for the students with the goal of one day having them be able to lead portions of the daily routine for us. Throughout the day the students have the opportunity to do activities that are available to them on the tap-it. I have been using board maker paired with the books that are available with ULS.
With these books the students are able to touch the screen to have the selection "read" and then using a switch located in the optimal position for them, they are able to indicate that they need us to "turn the page". For other students that are more able bodied the location of the button to turn the page is located in a spot that requires them to move and stretch. Not something that many of them enjoy doing.
We have also created an OT activity after viewing that the students were having a hard time dragging icons from left to right. Sudents are able to drag in a downward motion but keeping their finger on the board to move from left to right was proving difficult. Using board maker interactive and highly motivating icons the students have been working on finger dragging. This activity will continue to be tweaked and improved based on student need. The activity was uploaded to boardmaker share and is titled "finger drag".
Hopefully the next entry will not be as long in the making and with some increases in bloggability I'll be posting more often.
