Reflection on Symbaloo Toolbox

By

Norman G. Robinson III

National University ID#040077365

ITL510 Professor Barbara Wong

For the past year I have been teaching the same first grade class, Mrs. Espinosa’s first grade. It
was fun the kids were great. I learned mostly what does not work. But that is a good thing. The
experience is why I picked the first grade with phonics. I did a lot of this work in Mrs.
Espinosa’s class. She used, word wall, assigned duties, and practiced phonic awareness daily,
consonants, vowels and digraphs. There was group reading, group phonics and individual
writing. She tested the kids with fill in the blank and even spelling tests. This is the structure she
was kind enough to show me, most of which is encompassed here.

I used the following guidelines developed by the Association for Psychological Science (APS,
2015):

a. Avoid apps with passive activities like repetitive swiping instead look for more active
child participation.
b. Avoid apps distracting bells and whistles instead use sustained engagement apps.
c. Avoid apps that don’t involve others, instead look for apps that encourage social
interaction.
d. Avoid apps that tell children what to know; use guided exploration apps. Those way
children discover the joy of education on their terms.

My focus was on phonics with some focus on phonic awareness as well but primarily phonics.

“Phonics involves the relationship between sounds and written symbols, whereas phonemic
awareness involves sounds in spoken words. Therefore, phonics instruction focuses on teaching
sound-spelling relationships and is associated with print. Most phonemic awareness tasks are
oral” (Source: Scholastic website https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-
content/understanding-phonics/ ).

Padlet vs. Symbaloo:

Next I had to choose the best medium for my toolbox I really like Padlet. It was originally my
intention to focus entirely on Padlet and build some cool stuff in. I was going to draw on an old
Zoo visit I made with family back in 2017 (we took lots of pics). But I figured why not check out
Symbaloo. Once I saw how immersive Symbaloo was the choice was a no brainer. This is a truly
great tool that I am surprised more teachers do not use with their overhead set ups. Further, I was
only using the public version not the pro level Symbaloo that allows for creation of “Learning
Paths” even ones with gaming styles. The Symbaloo was simply outstanding.

My Symbaloo Toolbox:

The following bullet points are each of the apps for my Symbaloo toolbox. I have put my initial
rational for using these apps and what types of students might benefit from them next to each
bullet point:
My website Symbaloo toolbox

https://www.symbaloo.com/home/mix/13ePLW99Ke

 Teach Your Monster to Read (demo only)

o One nuance of this search game is it practices the CK or T sound load the ducks
into the correct pound. This is perfect for first graders but might be a little slow.
This is good for learners with an ILP that requires structure and ELL students.
 Zoo for Kids (YouTube)
o This is really just a video of a local zoo with some cool music. I would use this to
point to a physical word wall of animals and the kids would find the animal on the
wall with pointers. This is great for kids of any learning platform. Yes, it is a
passive game, but my thought was to turn the video into a find the animal game.
Then they repeat the animal name.
 Reading-eggs Junior
o This opens up some clothing and then takes the children through words like “t-
shirt” and provides a sentence for it. This is best for the more advanced students
who tend to prefer audio visual to modeling teaching. However ELL students
would get a lot from this as it has pictures to describe item. Big app for ELL.
 Learning Paths
o This would have to be an extended map perhaps a buried treasure map. I would
design one in the Learning Paths module and post so all students could follow the
map while sounding out the clues. Again this would have to be a classroom group
activity. It would work especially well for at standards students. There is some
structure but more for native speakers.
 Kids TV
o Singing the songs along with wonderful pictures and almost a rhyming chant.
Strong use of phonic sounds and good picture use. This is an entire classroom
entertainment I could put on early in the morning. I would focus on my ELL and
have them watch how I pronounce the sounds as we watch the video.
 Clifford the Big Red Dog
o Beginning consonants, and vowels (long and short) with letter recognition for first
graders.
o According to the Teachers Guide on this website students will:
 Develop phonemic awareness skills
 Recognize consonant and sound-spellings
 Read stories containing high frequency words
 Interact with the computer to create new text
o One of the Phonics games is basically Concentration, pairing up like sounds, fun
game and teaches the like sounds.
 Super Simple Songs app (YouTube)
o This is the Old MacDonald Farm rhyme song still in use today. It is well produced
and very clear. This would be very helpful to ILP students with problem
following along in class as this is immersive and they would sing in a group.
 Partners in Rhyme
o “Is an online game for young toddlers helping them build sound and word
relationships.” For instance matching “hay” and “day” they rhyme.

 Adapted Mind
o This is an app for reading comprehension but they do state the word and it is self-
propelled for the student. Phonics is touched on with this app.
 Edutopia (word wall)
o Building a better word wall works wonders in the classroom.
 I have used a word wall for the last year every Friday with Mrs.
Espinosa’s 1st-grade class.
 Word wall is both and passive and active tool, during the classroom the
students are directed to look on the word wall if they are writing or having
trouble with a word (passive).
 Word wall is used as a group pneumonic device to practice, sounds, words
and even phrases.
 ABC Match
o This is another concentration game with clearly defined levels, good for small
group activities of like learner status. The behavioral issue group would work
with me and the ELL would work together this is a team game.
 Star Wars Lego Phonics Song of Sounds
o This is a very creative phonics and phonics awareness lesson. This is perfect for
average to above average students. I would use the complete of this 2:20 video
and sing along as the task prior to using Lego Games App for fun, perhaps a
reward at the end of the day.
 Susan Jones Teaching Phonics Games
o This is more of a template for a board game activity than an app, but this teacher
has come up with interesting phonics games. One highlighted involves dice rolls,
to determine which letter to search for. It is two players so you could pair up a
class of 30 into 15 smaller units. This is great for matching partners of like ability
and is good for any level of learner. The ELL learner might need some directions
in home language for this or a lot of assistance.
 Diagraph CH Phonics Game KIZPHONICS
o Picture and sound reference could be printed out as flash cards or used in app
game format.
 Conclusion:

There are many apps here that were tweaked in certain ways, but ultimately a little redundant. As
long as there was a cosmetic detail that was different I used it. I alternated between songs like
Old MacDonald and Star Wars phonics, some were very simple and others more for average
students at standard. This is a great toolbox and I have already uploaded it to my Showcase. I
wish I had this great tool when I was teaching Mrs. Espinosa’s first graders they might have
learned a great deal more.

Note* The Last Jedi 360 experience is my reward for the students when they finish one of these
toolbox tasks. I found it online and it seemed fun, something the students would get a kick out of
so I included it. It is immersive but only meant as a reward, not as a teaching app.

References:

Clifford the Big Read Dog Interactive Storybooks/ Scholastic Inc. 2019.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/tguide.htm

Super Simple Songs app (YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6HzoUcx3

Partners in Rhyme https://www.turtlediary.com/game/words-that-rhyme.html

Adapted Mind https://www.adaptedmind.com/rreading.php?lessonId=1

Building a Better Word Wall https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-better-word-wall

ABC Match http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/abcmatch/

Star Wars Song of Sounds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcVxpIQ-cMU

Scholastic website https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/understanding-

phonics/

Diagraph CH Phonics Game KIZPHONICS https://www.kizphonics.com/phonics/digraph-ch-

phonics-game/