Cost: $0.99
Description: This app helps students recognize lower case letters. It provides students with an option to choose 1 of 3 letters. The app speaks aloud the letter that the student needs to touch. If the student touches the correct letter, there is a "celebration" where decorations fly on the screen, the letter turns into an object or animal that starts with that letter and the name of the letter repeats. If the student touches the correct letter, that letter disappears and the name of the letter to touch is repeated again. If a student takes too long to touch a letter, the name of the letter to touch is also repeated aloud again.
Description: This app helps students recognize lower case letters. It provides students with an option to choose 1 of 3 letters. The app speaks aloud the letter that the student needs to touch. If the student touches the correct letter, there is a "celebration" where decorations fly on the screen, the letter turns into an object or animal that starts with that letter and the name of the letter repeats. If the student touches the correct letter, that letter disappears and the name of the letter to touch is repeated again. If a student takes too long to touch a letter, the name of the letter to touch is also repeated aloud again.
What I like: I LOVE the music and celebration that the app has when students choose the correct letter. It engages the students and has proven to help my students learn their letters.
Improvements: I would like for the name of the object that the letter turns into to appear at the bottom of the screen because sometimes one cannot tell what the object or animal is and, therefore, having the letter turn into that object or animal isn't helpful.
Recommendations: I would absolutely recommend this app to other educators. Specifically, I would recommend it to preschool and kindergarten teachers, as well as special education teachers for students with severe disabilities. I would also recommend this app to parents! This app was one of the apps that helped my student with a low-incidence disability learn the names of letters
Cost: $1.99
Description: This app is another letter recognition app where students match upper and lower case letters, trace letters, touch letter cards to see a picture of an object that starts with the letter, and where students touch letters that are spoken aloud.
What I like about the app: I love that this app has 4 different options of activities for students to do.
Improvements: I would like for the activities to mix up the letters in the alphabet. For example, when matching upper and lower case letters, the 3 options of the letters are always 3 letters in sequence in the alphabet. The next set of 3 letters are also the next 3 letters in the alphabet. It would be more rigorous if the 3 letter options were letters that did not come right after the other in the alphabet. Also, since the name of the app is Letter Quiz, this app would be wonderful if students could log in under their name and it could track their progress. Of course I realize that it would be a more expensive app if this were to be included. I will look out for an app that might be able to do this, though! When students get answers right, the app could also be more interactive and enjoyable, doing some of the things that the Preschool Company Apps do when students get answers correct.
Recommendations: I would recommend this app to other educators because it has 4 different activities for students to choose from. There are a few things that this app could improve on, though, such as my ideas above.
Interactive Telling Time
Cost: $2.99
Description: This app helps students learn how to tell time.There are options of clocks for students to choose to work on. The clocks have different designs, as well as different levels of difficulty in objectives. In this app, students have 6 different activities to choose from, as well. Activities are: set the time on an analog clock to a specific time that a digital clock is showing, set the time on a digital clock to a specific time that an analog clock is showing, play a puzzle where students put pieces on the clock to learn where numbers and attributes of a clock go, take a quiz, stop the clock at a certain time, or learn the clock.
What I like: I LOVE all of the options of activities that students can choose from. I also love that this app has differentiation options. Therefore, students who are learning the basics of a clock can use this app, as well as students who need to improve on reading clocks. Additionally, I love how interactive this app is!
Improvements: I would not make many improvements. However, if the quiz could track student progress, that would be great! If there was a tutorial for teachers to read to learn all about the app, that would be great, as well.
Recommendations: Again, I would absolutely recommend this to both educators and parents of children learning how to tell time. This was also a 2012 Parents' Choice Silver Award Winner!
Read Me
Cost: The app is free, but you buy collections of books for $1.99. Each collection comes with a set of books and new books are added to the collections, as students read a new book.
Description: This app is an app that how interactive books where students have the option to listen to a book be read to them, or read the book themselves, with no sound. New books are added each day, as long as the app is being used and the current and new books are being read. The upcoming books are shown; this helps encourage students to read "today's new book" so the upcoming books are added.
What I like: I like that there are options for students to either have the book be read to them or read the books themselves. I also love that it promotes reading everyday, as new books are added each day, as long as "today's new book" is read that day; if it is not read, a new book is not added. I also like that you can "save books" and that the app lists the most read books.
Improvements: I would be great if there were settings on the app to change the voice of the reader. I would also like if there were the option to buy real books students see in the library or at school, as opposed to books created just for this app.
Recommendations: Yes! I would recommend this to elementary school teachers, special education teachers, and parents of elementary aged children.
StoriaCost: $2.99
Description: This app helps students learn how to tell time.There are options of clocks for students to choose to work on. The clocks have different designs, as well as different levels of difficulty in objectives. In this app, students have 6 different activities to choose from, as well. Activities are: set the time on an analog clock to a specific time that a digital clock is showing, set the time on a digital clock to a specific time that an analog clock is showing, play a puzzle where students put pieces on the clock to learn where numbers and attributes of a clock go, take a quiz, stop the clock at a certain time, or learn the clock.
What I like: I LOVE all of the options of activities that students can choose from. I also love that this app has differentiation options. Therefore, students who are learning the basics of a clock can use this app, as well as students who need to improve on reading clocks. Additionally, I love how interactive this app is!
Improvements: I would not make many improvements. However, if the quiz could track student progress, that would be great! If there was a tutorial for teachers to read to learn all about the app, that would be great, as well.
Recommendations: Again, I would absolutely recommend this to both educators and parents of children learning how to tell time. This was also a 2012 Parents' Choice Silver Award Winner!
Read Me
Cost: The app is free, but you buy collections of books for $1.99. Each collection comes with a set of books and new books are added to the collections, as students read a new book.
Description: This app is an app that how interactive books where students have the option to listen to a book be read to them, or read the book themselves, with no sound. New books are added each day, as long as the app is being used and the current and new books are being read. The upcoming books are shown; this helps encourage students to read "today's new book" so the upcoming books are added.
What I like: I like that there are options for students to either have the book be read to them or read the books themselves. I also love that it promotes reading everyday, as new books are added each day, as long as "today's new book" is read that day; if it is not read, a new book is not added. I also like that you can "save books" and that the app lists the most read books.
Improvements: I would be great if there were settings on the app to change the voice of the reader. I would also like if there were the option to buy real books students see in the library or at school, as opposed to books created just for this app.
Recommendations: Yes! I would recommend this to elementary school teachers, special education teachers, and parents of elementary aged children.
Cost: The app is free but you can buy books. Some books come for free, though!
Description: This is an app created by Scholastic. In this app, users can download and bu eBooks for students to read. Students can read the books themselves, or hear it be read to them. Students can touch lightning bolts to find activities for books, can highlight parts of a book, are required to answer questions while reading, and can make notes on pages in their books.
What I like: I love that bookshelves can be created for specific children and books can be assigned to specific bookshelves; therefore, teachers can individualize bookshelves. Teachers can also view reading reports! I also like that the book options are real books, as this app is by scholastic so it offers scholastic books. Additionally, I like that there are directions shown and spoken aloud for teachers and students, so all users know how to use the app.
Improvements: I think this app is great! The one improvement could be a comprehension quiz after each book. However, I LOVE app and think it is almost perfect.
Recommendations: I would definitely recommend this to parents. I would also recommend this to teachers if they have a listening center in their classroom and/or have time for their students to listen to books be read to them.
