Great iPad App for School Counselors
Our school recently received a grant which gave us 180 iPads! So, I have been on the lookout for iPad apps to use for my school counseling program. I came across an iPad app today that can be used for classroom guidance, small groups, or individual counseling sessions. It’s called “Feel Electric” and is an Electric Company app created by Sesame Street. I really like the fact that this app is all about feelings. There are four areas of play: My Life, My Games, My Stuff, and What’s the Word.
To start, users are able to choose three feeling words for the “Today I feel…” section. There are several feeling words to choose from. If you don’t know what the word means, you can tap the word and the definition is read aloud for you. The definition is accompanied by a picture of Danny or Jessica showing the feeling face. You can choose three words to describe how you are feeling today.
My Life
The My Life section features “Mood Dude” whose arms, eyebrows, eyes, and mouth can be changed to illustrate your mood. It’s a very cute feature.
Also featured are Mood Tales. Here, you select various words to complete a mood story. If you’ve ever done a Mad Libs story, this is very similar. After choosing all of the words, the story is read aloud for you using the words you chose.
Clicking “Moodosphere” will show your mood on the map. After choosing feelings associated with anger, my mood map showed lightening bolts. Clicking edit allows you to choose new feeling words. The “weather outlook” changes on my map after choosing the feelings cheerful, brave, and proud.
My Games
There are three games included: Pets vs. Monsters, Prankster Madness, and Hey You Guys…Catch! Each one involves matching a feeling word to the feeling face by either hitting it with a bat, catching it while riding a skateboard, or launching it across a field to hit the matching target.
My Stuff
My stuff includes pictures, music, and videos. Students can take pictures and add them to the device. They can decorate the picture with stickers that say how the picture makes them feel. There are several pictures of different Electric Company scenes to use. Mood dude pictures also show up in the My Stuff section as well.
The music and video sections includes a few Electric Company songs and videos. You can also add you own songs and videos to the device.
What’s the Word?
On the bottom right side of the screen is “What’s the Word?” If you tap it, all of the feeling words and faces will come up. You can tap the feeling word you want to hear the definition of.
To encourage users to keep learning new words, the app gives points for just about every action you do while playing. This includes five points every time you listen to the definition of a word in the “What’s the Word?” section.
There you have it! I look forward to using this app with students at my school. Students are able to look (visual), listen (auditory), and do something (kinesthetic) thus meeting the needs of the three learning styles. As of today, this app is FREE!
How do you use iPads in your school counseling program?
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5 Comments
Jo Howard
I use my ipad all the time in classroom guidance. I have a dongle so I can run it off the smartboard and do interactive games like Jeopardy–I usually do this for an AODA lesson.
I also use it in individual sessions–angry birds is a favorite and we talk about the choices, out of control etc.
A few apps I like are:doodle buddy, paint sparkles, scribble press, skitch, and doodle magic–great sites for kids to draw feelings, stories etc. I also like How are you?
Vanessa
Thanks for your comment, Jo! I’d love to hear more about your Jeopardy game for the iPad.
Shanna
I am a former elementary teacher and school counselor. I created an awesome
app, Penny’s Pieces, to help children learn how to manage their anger. It starts with
a video that teaches about anger buttons, your body’s warning signs, and good coping strategies. The students then play a game to test their understanding of the anger rules and good coping strategies. Once the game is over the parent, teacher, counselor, or another adult is emailed an activity to use at home.
Vanessa
Hi, Shanna!
Thanks for sharing. I will definitely check it out!
Mary
I discovered a great app about social skills for primary students called “The Allen Adventure.” It is very interactive and the kids love it.