Dear Families, A few parents have asked us about Apps that will appeal to children and help educationally. We have compiled a list of ones we think are useful, this list is by no means exhaustive but we hope you find it helpful. Liz Langlands DHT Developing Concepts of Print and Phonemic Awareness As children listen to stories and learn to read, they learn subtle information about how print works. Concepts of print includes an understanding of letters and sounds, the left-to-right nature of reading, front to back, turning pages one at a time and recognising that print differs from pictures. Helping young children develop print knowledge can help them learn other literacy skills. (While these Apps are fabulous nothing can beat reading and talking about a real story book.) ABC Spy HD £1.49 ABC Spy challenges children to create their own ABC experience by taking photos for each letter of the alphabet — take a photo, choose a frame, give it a name. Then make a movie of all your photos to share with friends and family! (Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) Me Books £1.99 Me Books offers a wide selection of interactive stories for ranging from traditional Ladybird titles such as each Rumpelstiltskin and Cinderella to Peppa Pig and Charlie book and Lola. Children can have the stories read to them, can read the stories independently and record their own reading, illustrations are interactive, pages can be turned . . . . lots of fun! (Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) Phonics Phonics instruction helps children learn the relationships between the letters of written language and the sounds of spoken language. These apps will help children recognise letters and the sounds they make and how letters “stick” together to make words. ABC Pocket £1.99 ABC Pocket Phonics introduces children to the sounds Phonics each letter (or letters) makes, demonstrates how to form letters correctly, asks the child to “write” the letter over the template and then “builds” words. This app supports synthetic phonics which is the approach we use in school. (Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) Montessori £1.49 Montessori Crosswords encourages children to “build” Crosswords words using a moveable talking alphabet. There are three levels: 3 letter words, 4 letter words and words of any complexity. (Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) Alpha Writer, £2.99 Alpha Writer encourages children to “build” words using a by moveable alphabet. There is an “I Spy” section and a Montessorium section which lets children use letters and images to write their own story. Stories can be saved. (Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) Reading As well as being able to read regular words (words that are spelled the way they sound) using phonic skills children have to be able to read irregular words (words that are not spelled the way they sound) e.g. the. The strategies children use are complex but it helps if children are given lots of opportunities to practise reading these tricky words. There are a variety of apps to support this; many of these apps can also help older children with spelling. Word Bingo £1.99 Word Bingo reads words for the children to identify on a Bingo grid. The words are ordered into levels (American school levels). This app also has a spelling section. (Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) Sight Words £1.99 Sight Words has lists and lists of words ordered in a variety of ways e.g. most frequently used in writing. Children are expected to read the word, then tap on it for it to be read to them and then record their success using smiley faces. To move to the next level each word has to be read correctly three times. This app requires some adult supervision for the children to use it really effectively. (Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) Spelling There are lots of good apps available to make spelling more exciting! Word Bingo My Spelling £1.99 Children can create their own spelling tests by typing Test words and recording themselves saying the words. Scores are recorded. (Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad) Comprehension The ultimate goal of reading is good comprehension. There is a range of reading comprehension apps but many of them are very similar to the paper and pencil activities we do in school. We want to encourage the children to enjoy reading, whether it is a real book or using an electronic device, and too many follow-up reading activities could switch them off from reading – which we definitely don’t want to do! The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics in USA has produced a number of really interesting apps, many of which are free. (These are all compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad ) Math Free Either on his or her own, or against a friend, children are Concentration asked to match whole numbers, shapes, fractions, or multiplication facts to equivalent representations. This app is really good fun. Deep Sea Duel Free Children are challenged to collect cards with a specified sum. The level of complexity can be changed and numbers can either be whole or decimals. Pick-a-Path Free This app asks children to find their way through a maze by completing puzzles which will test your understanding of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, negative numbers, fractions, decimals and more. Suitable for children aged 8 and over. Equivalent Free This app allows children to make equivalent fractions by Fractions dividing and shading shapes, and matching to a number line. The instructions are quite complicated and it is fiddly to use and not very exciting. Protractor Tool £0.69 This app allows the children to measure and understand the relationship between different objects and varying angles. It is recommended for ages 8 to 99! Fraction Tool £0.69 This app will visually represent a fraction as a decimal on a pie chart. It is recommended for ages 8 to 99! Classroom Focused Software – These Apps complement the work we do in school; though for them to be effective the child would need to work alongside an adult. Line ‘em Up Free Practise ordering number tiles– can be set for numbers from 0 to over 100 10 Frame Fill Free Helps develop counting and a deep understanding of numbers to 10. Really useful app for children in early primary. Number Line £0.69 Helps develop a child’s ability to use a number line to Math solve addition and subtraction problems. The Options menu allows you to choose the types of problems as well as the range of numbers to be used. Useful for children in early and middle primary years. Pattern Color £0.69 Allows children to complete different repeating patters. and Shape (Many other Apps contain similar activities.) Count Sort Free Helps children to count items “one at a time,” recognise numerals, identify sets with more or less, count sets of items and use a ten frame (something we use a lot in school). This App would appeal to children in nursery and early primary. Pattern Sets £0.69 Helps children recognise the number of items in groups which is a really important numerical skill. This App has What’s Hiding? £0.69 Fact Triangles £0.69 Just the Facts £0.69 Ah Chute £0.69 benefits for children in nursery, early and middle primary years. This App helps with counting and addition and subtraction skills. This App has benefits for children in nursery, early and middle primary years. This App helps cement knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. The Options menu allows you to choose the operations and the range of numbers to be used. This App helps cement knowledge of number facts. This App has benefits for children throughout the primary school. This App helps with basic counting and numeral recognition and is best suited to children in nursery or very early primary. Games based Apps really appeal to children and lots of them are really good. However the mathematical problems in many can get really difficult really quickly. Pop Math £0.69 This App helps cement knowledge of number facts. Children are asked to “pop” a balloon with an answer to its’ corresponding operations balloon. As you progress through the levels new operations are introduced and numbers increase. This App has benefits for children throughout the primary school. First Grade Free to Games based challenges, but linked to American school Maths: Splash £6.99 levels. Maths ...Second Grade ...Third Grade ... Fourth Grade … Fifth Grade Math Bingo £1.99 Very like Word Bingo. Types of operations can be specified as well as three levels of difficulty.