Apps for Education

Apps for Education

There are apps being developed ALL the time but here are some apps that have been recommended to offer great support to students...

Basic Skills:

Fish School HD ~ Produced by Duck, Duck, Moose. A cute and interactive program for letters, numbers, matching and other areas ($1.99)

Starfall ABC’s ~ This app has the ABC Letter section only, NOT the entire website, but through activities, kids can hear and interact with the letters and sounds in words, sentences and games (2.99)

Intro to Lettersby Montessorium ~ Appropriate for ESL children, this application runs through all the letters of the English alphabet, introducing them to the structure and pronunciation through tracing, audio, digital flashcards, and phonogram puzzles.

Letter Quiz ~ Four different games for every stage of learning the alphabet; flashcards, identification, matching and handwriting. ($1.99 but there is a FREE version to try before you buy!)

Teach Me Kindergarten ~ Addresses sight words, addition, subtraction and spelling ($1.99)

Teach Me 1st Grade ~ Addresses sight words, addition, subtraction and spelling - children can write their answers or type them in ($1.99)

Teach Me 2nd Grade ~ Addresses spelling, sight words, long addition, long subtraction, fast addition and fast subtraction ($1.99)

Caboose: Learn Patterns and Sorting with Letters, Numbers, Shapes and Colors ~ A kindergarten app that works on pattern recognition; sorting objects by size, and letters/numbers by position ($1.99 - there is a free version so you can try before you buy!)

Moofy Recognizing Patterns Game ~ This is a great app for pre-k - 1st grade students as they learn alphabet and number ordering and recognizing patterns with simple shapes and colors There are 3 pattern recognition games, from easy to advance level. It also provides hints and feedbacks for kids to understand how the patterns are. ($1.99)

Murky Reef Lite ~ Addresses 1st - 2nd grade reading, science and math with content linked to the Common Core Standards. There are other versions as well (search - Murky Reef) ($1.99 - $4.99)

Preschool and Kindergarten Learning Games ~ Helpful voice narrating, colorful graphics, and great sound effects will help your kids learn letters, spelling, math, and more! Includes 2 free games, unlock all 9 games through a simple in-app purchase. (FREE)

First Grade Learning Games ~ 12 fun mini-games to address First Grade lessons! Teach them reading, spelling, math, fractions, compound words, contractions, and more! Includes 3 free games and the others have to be purchased through in-app purchase (FREE)

Language Arts / Literacy:

Beginning Sounds Interactive Game ~ This phonics app is put out by Lakeshore Learning and it is a fun / interactive way to sort pictures by their beginning sounds. ($0.99)

Phonics Tic-Tac-Toe Interactive Game ~ This app is also put out by Lakeshore Learning and explores vowel sounds, syllables and more. (FREE)

All About Letters Interactive Activities ~ Also from Lakeshore Learning, this app provides animated lessons that cover letter sounds and formations. ($1.99)

Montessori Crosswords~ Fun Phonics Game for Kids to Learn to Sound Letters & Alphabet ($2.99)

1000 Sight Words ~ Kids love Super Heroes...so they will have fun with this Sight Word app! You can set up 3 different profiles to track students. (FREE)

Sight Words 1-25: Kids Learn ~ Uses developmentally appropriate approaches to let the child hear the words, practice writing the words, recognize letters, record the words with playback, use the words in fun activities such as hangman, puzzles, tic tac toe and spelling activities. (Free but in app purchases for additional packs: 26-100 ~$1.99, 101-200 ~ $4.99 and 201-300 ~ $4.99))

abc Pocket Phonics ~ Aimed at children in pre-k to kindergarten, this app combines 3 apps with letter sounds, letter writing practice and 170 first words ($2.99 but there is a free version to try before you buy!)

Sight Word Adventure ~ Learn and practice 320 sight words developed with the The English Common Core State Standards in mind, this app will ensure that children have increased exposure to high frequency words that appear in text. The app has 11 mini games, is customizable, and can track progress for multiple users for students K-3. ($2.99)

See Read Say ~ Includes all 220 Dolch Words spoken at the push of a button with individual tracked progress for up to 4 students at a time ($1.99)

Stories2Learn ~ A shell to build your own social stories or other types of stories, can include pictures and audio. Comes with 1 story ($13.99)

Super Why! ~ From PBS Kids – contains 4 interactive literacy games to work on practicing the alphabet, rhyming, spelling, reading and writing ($3.99)

SpellBoard ~ Allows you to create spelling quizzes in any language. Enter word, the grade level and the spoken word. You can also add the written word and/or spoken phrase. You can share quiz with other SpellBoard users, tracks performance for multiple users. ($4.99)

Word Magic ~ With a picture shown and a letter missing in a word, select the correct choice for reinforcers and rewards. ($.99)

Spell Blocks with Sight Words ~ Spell 200 of the Dolch sight words by dragging and dropping letter blocks to spell the spoken words ($1.99)

Word Wagon ~ Learn the names and sounds of letters as well as spell words up to 4 and 7 letters. Geared towards pre-k through 1st grade. Another great app from Duck Duck Moose! ($1.99)

SpellingCity ~ An app that is associated with where teachers can register for free and create custom word lists that students can access on the iPad. Has 7 different learning games that can be used to learn words from custom lists or lists that are available through VocabularySpellingCity. (FREE!!!)

Word Wall HD ~ Geared towards younger children (kindergarten) that allows students to see, hear, say and write over 75 sight words, and 12 word families with 65 word family words. ($1.99)

Word Wizard( $4.99 )

Can create spelling lists for practice. Can scaffold so only the letters that part of the word are emphasized on keyboard, scrambled letters, or as a spelling quiz.

Simplex Spelling HD ~ Teaches the Dolch sight words to establish a base foundation in spelling and reading fluency. Uses a unique “reverse phonics” approach in combination with contextually relevant spelling rules. (FREE so you can try before you buy - but there are other versions that cost $4.99)

Rocket Speller~ Kids join Zip the alien on an out-of-this-world spelling adventure to build a fancy new rocket. Now with 5 levels of difficulty, kids spell words to fuel his spaceship and help him choose the rocket pieces he needs. Once they have built their custom rocket ship, kids steer it through space to collect stars in an entertaining mini-game. (FREE but there is a Rocket Speller Plus version for $2.99)

Bluster ~ For grades 2+ from McGraw Hill. It is a word matching game that addresses rhyming words, prefixes, synonyms at the 2nd grade level and additional skills for 3rd & 4th grade. It can be played alone, against an opponent or as a team. (FREE!!)

Grammar Jammers~ Has versions for Primary and Elementary levels ($2.99)

K-12 Timed Reading Practice~ Practice timed reading text ($2.99)

Sentence Builder ~ designed to help elementary aged children learn how to build grammatically correct sentences. Explicit attention is paid to the connector words that make up over 80% of the english language. Sentence Builder offers a rich and fun environment for improving the grammar of all children ($5.99)

Story Builder ~ designed to help children accomplish the following educational goals: 1) Improve paragraph formation; 2) Improve integration of ideas; and 3) Improve higher level abstractions by inference. Extensive use of audio clips promotes improved auditory processing ($7.99)

Question Builder ~ designed to help elementary aged children learn to answer abstract questions and create responses based on inference. Extensive use of audio clips promotes improved auditory processing ($5.99)

Minimod Reading for Details Lite~ helps the student build mastery in the essential reading comprehension skill of Reading for Details. This app is carefully aligned with the new Core Curriculum. Students can play in either practice mode or game mode. The game mode is a bingo-like game. Students will read a passage about a inventor and his or her invention, then practice their understanding of Reading for Details – the 5W’s of Reading Comprehension – who, what, why, when, where. Each program offers 3 levels of reading difficulty

($3.99 for Lite version - $8.99 for full version)

MiniMod Basic Cloze Practice Lite~ developed to help students practice and master the important reading and language skills of constructing meaning from the context of the text. It has been carefully aligned with the new Core Curriculum Standards. The reading levels have been carefully controlled using the Spache and Dale-Chall Readability Formulas. Students can play in either practice mode or game mode. The game mode is a bingo-like game. Students will read a short passage then select the best word to complete the sentence. Each program offers 3 levels with carefully controlled vocabulary. ($2.99)

****This developer offers a variety of similar apps - you can see the other apps by clicking on “View more from this developer” in the app store after you click on one of the above links

Math:

Math Drills~ Graphically rich and fun environment allows up to 50 students to learn basic math skills in addition, subtraction, multiplication and division ~ keeps data

($1.99)

Telling Time~ The best telling time app on the app store! Telling Time Free is an app designed for people of all ages. It is the only telling time app that has over 700 different clock values (FREE)

Tell Time - Little Matchups Game~ an exciting interactive matching game that helps your child rapidly learn how to tell time by matching analog and digital clocks. ($0.99)

Count Money~ a great way to practice counting money. Select the difficulty level and number of problems in the "Settings" screen. Progress through the difficulty levels until you master counting money.(FREE)

Counting Money. ~ Counting Money + contains nearly 5,000 problems to solve. There are three types of games. One game is for counting only coins, the second counts only dollars, and the third combines coins and dollars ($1.99)

Freefall Money~ a fun educational app for kids to learn how to count money. ($1.99)

Mathmateer~ While your rocket is floating weightlessly in space, the real fun begins! Play one of the many fun math missions. Each mission has touchable objects floating in space, including stars, coins, 3D shapes, telling time and more! Earn a bronze, silver or gold medal and also try to beat your high score. Missions range in difficulty from even/odd numbers all the way to square roots, so kids and their parents will enjoy hours of fun while learning math. (FREE)

Splash Math~ a collection of fun and interactive math problems aligned to Common Core Standards. The apps reinforce math concepts with self-paced and adaptive practice anytime, anywhere (Free - $9.99 for each grade level)

Dinosaurs Kids Math HD ~ Teaches how to count, add and subtract visually using dinosaur animations with a prize reward system for completing each level. ($1.99 but there is a FREE version to try before you buy!)

Flashcard Champion Basic Math ~ For ages 4 to 11 to practice and improve the fundamental math drills.($0.99)

MathBoard ~ Appropriate for ages from kindergarten to elementary school. It includes addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division problems. The user can control the range of numbers they want to work with, the amount of questions they want to answer, and even assign a time limit per quiz. More than just standard drills, MathBoard encourages students to actually solve problems, and not just guess at answers. This is done by providing multiple answer styles, as well as a scratchboard area where problems can be worked out by hand. Students can also turn to MathBoard's Problem Solver for further help. This powerful teaching feature walks students through the steps required to solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division equations. Additionally, the included quick reference tables serve as a valuable learning tool. Makes learning math fun.($4.99)

MathTappers: Find Sums ~ learn basic facts for addition and subtraction (FREE)

MathTappers: Clock ~ A game to help children make the connection between hours and minutes on digital and analog clocks. (FREE)

MathTappers: Estimate Fractions~ designed to help learners to build their intuitive understanding of fractions by helping them to relate fractions (both symbols and pictures) to the nearest half (e.g., 0, ½ 1, 1½, 2, etc.) and then to extend their understanding by challenging them to use fraction estimates in addition and subtraction problems (FREE)

Park Math ~ By Duck Duck Moose. Includes interactive activities to count, sort, add, subtract and more for ages 1 to 7. ($1.99)

Dinosaur Park Math ~ A math game to help students learn addition and subtraction from 0-20 with 15 Dinosaur math levels and over 60 Dinosaur games ($0.99)

Coin Math ~ works on identifying coins, counting coins and learning to make change. It can also be used to learn or reinforce counting by 5’s, 10’s and 25’s.($1.99)

Math BINGO for kids ~ Choose from addition, subtraction, multiplication or division BINGO. There are 3 levels of difficulty. ($1.99)

Hungry Fish by Motion Math ~ Your fish is hungry for numbers. You can make delicious sums by pinching two numbers together – instant addition! (FREE - there is also Motion Math Hungry Fish Pro which is the same but includes ALL levels for $7.99)

Dexteria Dots - Get in Touch with Math~ It combines the intuitive interface of a touch app with conceptual math challenges into a fun learning game for kids age 2-8. ($2.99) ***There is also Dexteria Dots 2

ModMath( free; in app purchase for advanced maths )

Graph paper app that can help students set up math problems. It does not solve the problems for the students but allows students to construct the algorithm and then go through the solving process. Interfaces with Google Classroom/Drive. Good for students with dysgraphia.

Handwriting:

LetterReflex ~ Helps to overcome common letter reversals ($2.99)

Ready to Print~ progresses through the pre-writing skills in a specific order, so that children can master the visual-motor, visual-perceptual, and fine motor skills necessary for correct printing patterns. It is designed to teach children the correct patterns for printing, and to avoid bad habits that are difficult to change as the child gets older. ($9.99)

LetterSchool ~ An amazing, intuitive game to learn all about letters and numbers: writing, counting, phonics and more. One of the OT’s FAVORITE for learning letter formations!!! The kids ASK to work on their handwriting! ($4.99)

Handwriting Without Tears - Wet Dry Try ~ A fantastic app put out by the developers of Handwriting Without Tears to work on letter formations of Uppercase, Lowercase Letters and Numbers The iPad user interacts with a chalkboard on the app to reinforce proper letter formations! ($4.99)

Write My Name ~ Developed by experts and endorsed by parents and teachers, Write My Name by Injini is a fun way for children to practice writing letters, words, names and phrases. Write My Name supports children ages 4 through 6 to learn how to write their name, trace uppercase and lowercase letters, and write over 100 familiar sight/Dolch words. Write My Name meets some of the basic reading and writing Common Core State Standards for kindergarten such as the introduction and mastery of print and word recognition concepts. ($3.99)

Writing Wizard~ Practice writing numbers, letters and words through fun tracing activities. Can create your own word lists (ie: spelling / sight words) and add audio to each word. Can print PDF pages so student can then practice on paper. Can create unlimited users and track what they have done. ($4.99)

Cursive Writing Wizard ~ designed to help every child learn how to trace through a fun system carefully designed to maintain motivation. The app is fully customizable (font, line thickness, right/left handed, time limit) to suit every child's needs, and lets you check their progress through a system of reports and profiles. Kids can write letters and words, and you can add your own words with audio. Can also print out so student can practice on paper ($4.99)

Creating Books/Social Stories:

Book Creator~ Create and publish ebooks, PDF’s and more! ($4.99)

Pictello~ create and edit stories with photos, audio, text to speech and more

Pictello is the perfect tool for visual storytelling. Each page in a Pictello story consists of a photo or video and some text, which can be read aloud by a Text to Speech voice or your own recorded audio. ($19.99)