SAS Flash Cards

SAS Flash Cards

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sas-flash-cards/id364784968?mt=8


Cost: FREE





Pros:

• Have personal flash card decks
• Search for flash card decks that people have already created
• All subject areas
• Apps FREE
• Write notes on the side to help remember

Cons:

• Some decks are not as good as others so as a teacher you need to preview the decks before letting the students use them
• Other than that this app is really awesome and easy to use

This application can be used in any subject area. In math this could be used with students who are struggling to remember their multiplication tables. The student can practice with this application and as a teacher you can view the ones they got wrong to the ones they got right. Then the student could focus on a new deck o flash cards of that number to practice with. This is just one subject are that it can be used, but it can literally be used in all subject areas.

Brain Tuner Lite

App: Brain Tuner Lite
Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brain-tuner-lite-free/id287360582?mt=8
Cost: Free

Pros: This app is good for quick math practice. It is a game that displays a variety of math problems and you click whether the problem in right or wrong. It focuses on "tuning" your brain with practicing recognition of simple math problems. This app is fun to see how fast you can answer all of the problems and answer them all correctly. If you answer so many right you get points and so many points allows you to advance to the next level. This is fun and addicting for kids, it is great practice for learning and refreshing your fast math thinking skills. There are also a bunch of different versions to this app, such as brain tuner 2 and brain tuner 2 pro.

Cons: Not too many cons for this app, if you are looking for a way to have a quick practice with math skills it offers just that. It is not a super active app as far as the doing anything besides pressing "right" or "wrong".

As a teacher I think this could be a beneficial application to use. It is fun to see how many answers you can get right and how fast, so it is engaging. Also I think it is a good tool for practicing and refreshing on math equations. If it was to be used in the classroom it would be good to use it at the beginning of a lesson where it is good practice before getting into the math content where the students will be using those same concepts of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing.

Keynote

App: Keynote

Cost: 9.99

Link: Keynote

Pros: This app is a completely mobile presentation creating application. What i like about it the most is that i can create the entire presentation from the iPad. Keynote provides a variety of templates to start from and is easy to use and add animation and create fonts and styles. It is easy to add photos to presentations by coppying and pasting from the internet or using photos from your camera roll. Keynote is compatable with Power Point and will transfer both to and from when sending via email.

Cons: The biggest con is it costs money. Other than that, it is essentially a more userfriensly version of Power Point. I wish there were more templates to choose from or that you could create your own.

I think this app is very useful as a 21st centruy teacher. It compares best with Prezi viewer. However, Prezi Viewer cannot create presentations for you. That is why i chose to purchase this app so i can work on the go.

Virtual Manipulatives

App: Virtual Manipulatives
Cost: Free
Download Here

Virtual Manipulatives is a free app that allows students to move around blocks representing fractions. The children can drag them onto a workspace and match them up to compare and contrast. The student can also draw on the workspace to indicate instructions. What I enjoy most about this is that it is a free way to have students working with Manipulatives, just as the name of the program says.

Pros: There are a lot of manipulative options for the student to use. A very useful feature is the ability to press and hold on the fraction to see its decimal form and percentage. You can also save your workspace as an image and email it.

Cons: The fraction manipulatives do not snap together so it is very easy to accidentally overlay them and have them not quite match up. For little fingers, it would be best to have some sort of snap ability written into the system Also, the drawing tool is very rudimentary and the eraser is not quite intuitive. You have to tap multiple times on the eraser to erase, instead of dragging it over what you want to erase.

Overall, this app is good for perhaps older students who are still working with fractions, decimals, and percents. But its finicky way of aligning the bars is a little too "fine motor" for younger students. The free price for this app, however, makes up for its somewhat rudimentary features.

Mad Math Lite

Cost: Free

Mad Math Lite offers plenty of opportunity for kids to practice their basic math functions. As each question is presented, players must enter the correct answer via a calculator-like answer pad. Instead of being allowed to use multiple choice options for guessing, students are required to come up with an answer independently. 


Pros: The students can each have their own accounts on the game so that their progress can be monitored and individual. This allows them time to work at their own pace instead of keeping up with the other students. This app also allows for the students to write on the their answer in case they need to carry over for subtraction or addition. The students are able to mark the problems any way the feel the need to. 


Cons: This is only a free version of the app. Mad Math 2 cost $1.99
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mad-math-lite/id389099317?mt=8

Factor Samurai

Cost: Free

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/factor-samurai/id441919897?mt=8

This application is similar to the popular application called Fruit Ninja.  This education application focuses on breaking numbers down into prime numbers.  The goal is to avoid slashing prime numbers with your sword.  There are three modes to this game; Grasshopper, Apprentice, and Master.  These three levels affect the amount of numbers that enter the screen at one time.  In Grasshopper mode, only one number will fly across the screen at a time, while at Master mode, multiple numbers can appear on the screen.

                One of the main differences between fruit ninja and factor samurai are the penalties.  In fruit ninja, you lose a life for every piece of dropped fruit, and the game is over if a bomb is hit.  In factor samurai a dropped prime number results in a drop in score, and swiping a prime number results in a loss of life.  As the game goes on, different swords become available.  Each additional sword gives you an extra life.  Furthermore, there will sometimes be colored orbs that fly across the screen.  If you strike this orb, all of the numbers on screen will be reduced to primes.            

                This application is addicting as well as educational.  I recommend people give it a try in the classroom.  After playing, you may even discover more prime numbers that you had not realized existed!                    

                  The one con I could find about this application was that some of the numbers was that there was no pause option.  I find that this would be useful in case play needs to be stopped.

HUNGRY FISH

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/motion-math-hungry-fish/id483049169?mt=8

Cost: Free

Hungry Fish allows the user to practice decomposition skills required for fluency with addition and subtraction.  The fish has a target number that needs to be formed by adding bubbles together.  Students can slide bubbles together to instantly add them.  The target numbers get more difficult as students progress.  Teachers or students can also adjust the difficulty level to allow for differentiation.  This would make a great anticipatory set or closure.

Teachers could use this idea for in class practice by creating a handout to accompany the app.  Teachers could take several screen shots at different levels to provide practice at appropriate levels for each student.  The images could then be opened in an app such as neu.Annotate.  The teacher could add directions at the top and have students write the number sentences that would match the bubbles they would put together to create the target number.  Each student could share one of their number sentences on the board if desired.