Stephanie’s High Five – October 15, 2013
Reading Raven in an extremely engaging learn-to-read educational activity that provides step-by step reading and writing lessons. Each lesson builds skills through self-paced educational activities in the following progression: letter matching, letter tracing, letter recognition, word matching, vocabulary, word beginnings, word building (spelling), word spotting, reading aloud using voice recorder, word tracing, and word groups (rhyming and beginning sounds). Reader Raven goes on an adventure with you through five extensive lessons with tons of individual activities inside each lesson. There are fun characters and activities such as catching butterflies with letters in a net, or throwing snowballs at words, or recording your own voice to sound out a word. There are both verbal and visual prompts to support engagement along with verbal praise and virtual “stickers” as individuals progress through the lessons. It has been given a 4.5 out of 5 star rating out of 373 ratings as well as won awards (Parents Choice) and been highly rated by many organizations including the Huffington Post.
The Opposites is a challenging matching activity in which two siblings (a boy and a girl) take turns saying words that become bubbles and float to the top of the screen. The object is to tap on two bubbles that match because they are opposites. The words start with easier word pairs such as up and down, and progressively become more complicated. There is a dictionary option that can be accessed to learn the meaning of words used in the app. Individuals engaging in this app work on expanding their vocabulary while understanding the importance or word context. This app has been given a 4.5 out of 5 star rating out of 237 reviews.
The object of Math Bingo is to get a pattern of five Bingo Bugs in a row by correctly answering math problems. Players tap on the correct answer and a Bingo Bug will appear in that space. Each time a player gets Bingo, they get a Bingo Bug. A little bit of strategy is involved as there may be multiple spots that contain the correct answer, but the player is trying to get Bingo, so may choose one spot over another to try and achieve that goal. There are five different game options, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or mixed. There are three different levels of difficulty in each game as well, easy, medium, or hard. Individual profiles can be made for players which include the players name and a character. Each profile saves the players progress and any Bingo bugs acquired during play. Once the player has collected Bingo Bugs there are three fun games within the app that can be played with the Bingo Bugs. This app has a 4.5 star rating out of 5 out of 4,092 reviews and has been featured in the New York Times, Disney Magazine, ranked #1 in Educational apps for 3 weeks straight, and ranked in the top 50 for over 3 years.
Create your own music in seconds with Falling Stars. No musical ability is needed. Simply drag your finger across the screen and a vine will grow where you drew. Drops fall from the stars and make a sound when they hit the vine. The more you tap the stars the faster the drops fall. There are five vines to choose from in the free version of this app and seven in the paid version. Tap on the different vines located in the bottom left corner of the app to change which vine you will draw. Each vine makes a different sound. When a drop hits a vine it bounces and hit other vines. In no time you’ve made an original musical piece. If you don’t like the sound after you draw a vine simply double tap the vine and it will disappear. You can save your creations or delete them and start again. This app not only allows individuals a creative outlet, it works on fine motor skills and decision making. This app is rated 4.5 stars out of 5 by 1,701 reviews and has been features in the New and Noteworthy, What’s Hot, Staff Picks, and has been a top 10 free entertainment app.
Grandpa’s workshop is a fun multi-skill app with fun graphics and creative learning tools. This app contains 7 mini games which work on numbers, measuring, colors, fractions, spacial relationships, and observation skills. Individuals help Grandpa build a clubhouse by measuring and cutting a board into section, counting objects such as nails in a jar, and selecting the correct tools. Individuals also help grandpa by choosing colors and working on fine motor skills while painting items Grandpa has built. Lastly individuals help Grandpa fix broken items by putting them back together like a puzzle. There are short videos on using tools and tool safety. Grandpa offers his encouragement by dancing and asking for high fives. This app has a 4.5 out of 5 start rating out of 142 ratings and was a Front Page Educational Feature in the app store.
No comments:
Post a Comment