GingerbreadHouse has a great post on an iPhone/iPad app featuring my favorite cookbook author, Nigella Lawson. The app, apparently, has great easy recipes with 6 or less steps and lets you find recipes based on what you have on hand. Wow! Perfect after an overly zealous trip to the farmer’s market! Check out the app by clicking here to go to GingerbreadHouse‘s great blog or click on image to view it at iTunes. Happy cooking!
My five-year-old son has been hogging my iPhone and the family iPad all last week while we were on vacation. He loaded tons of “free” games which ended up costing us $10 — (my husband: “Does he know how to read ‘free’?” Me: ”Yes, he reads it as ‘fee.’ Hence the charges!) — and we had to yell at him to turn off the screens. Except when we noticed he was playing Math Ninja. True, he’d try to cheat and slyly ask us what 9 + 6 is but we were on to him. It turns out to be a fun game for all my kids including my 10-year-old and 8-year-0ld, both girls. And I turned out to be bad at it.
So today I sought the help of my kids to learn how to play Math Ninja. It begins with a short narrative (great for reluctant readers!) that draws them into a story about what the game is about, i.e. you, the Math Ninja versus Them, the animal bots. Then, based on points (or dollars really) that you earn, you can buy weapons to defend yourself. The fun begins as the bots come and you must defend your tree house. Turns out I am really bad at this portion of the game AND my kids excel at it and do not need a tutorial like I did to figure out what to do. (“Mom, it’s obvious if you play enough video games!). Point taken and obviously I did not acquire these skills as child.
Once the onslaught is over and the points are earned, the game then turns into a math fact drill session. The facts include addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. While there are three levels, this relates to the difficulty of the video game portion NOT the math portion. I asked my kids why was I getting easy subtraction (3-1= ?) when I set it to Ninja which is the hardest setting. They said that the math drill portion is based on the history of the player who happens to be my five-year-old and that you can’t control the math difficulty but that it will get more difficult as you progress.
These are the features I like about the math portion of the game:
Math Ninja is $1.99 at the iTunes store. Click on the image above to go to iTunes.
From BostInnovation.com. The post says:
“College kids, here are ten apps to help you be smarter and more efficient with your studies so there’s more time for dollar drafts, creating the next Facebook, three dollar tequila shots or whatever it is you do for fun.”
Their Top 10 (but click here for details):
I found this from BooksOnTheKnob: Apple and Kaplan have teamed up to give away iPad ebooks from Kaplan through iTunes iBookstore. These titles are available:
The complete list of titles offered:
I have posted on the Dr. Seuss ebooks for iPhone/iPad/iPod apps by Oceanhouse Media previously (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss ABC, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, The Lorax and Oh The Places You’ll Go) and how much I think their apps are the gold standard for ebooks. Here’s why:
These are the latest books:
Green Eggs and Ham. A true classic and the perfect story for children who need to be encouraged to try new foods. [ages 2-6]
Hop on Pop. A nice rhyming book that subtly teaches kids phonics through silly rhymes. [ages 2-4]
Yertle the Turtle. An autocratic King of Turtles gets his comeuppance. [ages 3-6]
Gertrude McFuzz. A young girl bird who wishes that she had a fancier tail has her wish come true. Be careful what you wish for! A nice story especially for girls that teaches them to accept themselves for who they are. [ages 3-6]
The Big Brag. A wise earthworm teaches a rabbit and a bear not to brag. [ages 4-7]
Lest you worry that I am leaving out apps for Android users because I am not a new technology adopter, here is a list I found for 25 best Education Apps for Android from OnlineDegrees.org. These look especially good:
Urban English: An English to English dictionary for parents to understand their children’s slang.
Capital Quiz: Test your knowledge of countries of the world, as well as their capitals, flags, and currencies.
USA Quiz: Test your knowledge of the capitals, flags, nicknames, cities, and more of the states of the USA.
Geo Quiz: The GeoQuiz app from Brain Café tests your knowledge of the planet Earth and all its wonders.
KidDroid: For kids ages 2-5. Helps them recognize and match shapes which is an underlying skill for letter, word, number and pattern recognition. Plus it’s fun!
Kids Numbers and Math: Preschoolers can get help learning their numbers and developing basic math skills with the help of this app. Addition, subtraction, and learning numbers are the primary features, but there are also optional advanced exercises. Language options include English, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Russian. Best of all, it’s FREE!
Math Wizard: Kids can use this app to learn basic math skills: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
Pocket Knowledge: Have a question? This app has the answer. Ask it whatever you want, and it will generate an answer that you can then store for later use. Topics include math, culture, sports, weather, physics, chemistry, socioeconomic data, nutrition and more.
Formulas Lite: Can’t remember the formula for acceleration or quantum mechanics? A handy app that has most formulas for math, physics and chemistry.
iLiveMath Speed uses race cars, sail boats, jets, the Space Shuttle, and more to teach Distance = Rate x Time, ratios, km/hour, mph, knots and speed of sound terms such as Mach, supersonic, and hypersonic in a word problem format! I really like this app because it introduces Physics as a multiplication word problem appropriate for older elementary school students.
I don’t know about you, but I really struggled through Pre-Med college physics and had to get friends to help explain basic concepts to me (i.e. see how we are walking at the same pace? That’s speed. Speed = distance X time [miles per hour or mph or km per hour]. Now we are walking faster. Acceleration is the increase in speed. The formula is acceleration = force / mass. Force = mass X gravity.) Yikes! It gets complicated quickly so it is nice to introduce these concepts in a fun way such that it becomes intuitive rather than a memorization of formulas. This app doesn’t actually cover acceleration but by teaching Distance = Rate x Time, it’s an appropriate and intuitive introduction to physics for an elementary school student.
The format of iLiveMath Speed is similar to iLiveMath Trains so click here to read that review that goes over some nice features in both apps such as the roll-y answer bar and the number sentence for correct answers.
Here are the levels for iLiveMath Speed with a sample problem pulled from the app.
Level 1: Addition and Subtraction
A lead pack of 13 Formula One cars drafted in a line and as they rounded a turn 2 zoomed ahead. How many are left behind?
Level 2: Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication (speed, rate, distance and time)
If sailboats raced at an average speed of 16 knots, how many nautical miles are traveled in 2 hours? (1 knot = 1 nautical mile/hr).
Level 3: Advanced Addition, Subtraction and Multiplication (with speed, rate, distance and time)
If a Maglev train journeyed at an average speed to 223 mph, how many miles are traveled in 7 hours? (Distance – Rate x Time)
Again, like iLiveMath Trains, there are appealing photos of things that go fast as well as fun sound effects. Here are some screen shots:
This app is appealing to boys but I would try girls out on it as well! The app is $3.99 and can be purchased at iTunes.
I am a huge fan of word problems. I love how it combines literacy with math. I love how it’s a puzzle in words that you must solve with a number sentence. I love how it trains the brain to decode words into numbers and vice versa. I love that it’s difficult. — this is not a rote operation, one must think to solve a problem. That being said, word problems are challenging! (and fun!)
My two older kids complete a word problem workbook as their math practice during the summers. I like Daily Word Problems by Evan Moor (Grade 1, Grade 2 , Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5) . My oldest who says she hates math says that she loves word problems because they are not math but puzzles. Go figure? I don’t care though. If she can do complex, multi-step math word problems then I know the other stuff at school will be fine. At the end of the day, there will be calculators for math facts when she’s an adult, but to figure out which buttons to push, she’ll have to know how to convert words to number sentences which will require logical thinking.
So it’s not surprising that I LOVE the iLiveMath Trains app for iPhone, iPad, or iPod. The theme for this app is trains. It’s a very effective theme for boys and maybe less so for girls but still the photos and images are colorful and fun and there are a train noises as you move from screen to screen.
I also like how that the user answers the questions using a roll-y thingy with numbers in numerical order. You can’t guess the answer; you must find the correct number. And when you do, the app says that y0u are correct AND shows you the number sentence you have solved (perhaps in your head) but it reinforces the logic by which you solved the question. You do not get the number sentence until the problem is solved correctly.
ILiveMath Trains has three levels of difficulty:
Level 1: Addition and Subtraction (using numbers 1-20)
Sample problem: A steam train with 13 travelers voyaged to the next station and 7 were dropped off. How many travelers are on the train?
Level 2: Addition, Subtraction, and Multiplication (weight, currency and speed)
Sample problem: The freight train has 25 railcars of fuel. If each loaded railcar is an average of 131 tons, what is the total weight hauled?
Level 3: Advanced Addition, Subtraction and Multiplication (weight, currency and speed)
Sample problem: The freight train unloads 18 railcars of automobiles. Afterwards each empty railcar is still 30 tons, what is the total weight pulled?
This is a nicely done app that combines math word problems within a fun theme. At $3.99, it’s less expensive than the math workbooks that I buy. A kid who loves trains and math will love this. For kids who are less interested in math but love trains, this is a natural fit. My five-year-old loves to do word problems around the theme of Pokemon at bedtime. Any chance that iLiveMath can come up with that? I’d love that because I am the one who has to make up the problems and I always get scolded for my lack of Pokemon knowledge — “MOM, Brock doesn’t own that Pokemon! MOM, Snorlax is not a normal type!”
You can buy this at iTunes by clicking on the image up top.
Do I believe in singing your way into multiplication fact proficiency? You betcha! Different kids learn through different means and singing is a very effective way for some children. My oldest was tortured by the multiplication tables; she didn’t want to learn them and struggled with them. What was worse was that she was tested every week on a particular fact family and it did take a family effort every week to get her proficient enough to pass.
Our trick? We didn’t have an iPhone or an iPad then, so we used skip counting songs that 3rd Grade Mom Teacher friend taught me. She used these very effectively when she taught 3rd grade. I have posted these skip counting songs here. To be honest, I sang these skip counting songs over and over until it got pounded into her brain because she just wasn’t into it but I do notice that she uses these songs and her fingers to check division and multiplication on an as needed basis.
You can eliminate the singing torture for both you and your child by using the Math Karaoke app from Rega Interactive. Why? Because my kids actually LOVE singing the math fact tables into the app and then playing them back. Of course, they may change up the content (i.e. as in singing other stuff), but that is when you can switch modes from Karaoke mode to Quiz Mode.
Quick overview:
How would I change this up if your kids don’t love repeating math tables? Try the recording mode using the skip counting songs. So, instead of 1 times 3 is 3, etc. Have your child sing 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 to the tune of Clementine — you know that song: oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling clementine. You are lost and gone forever, oh my darling clementine. Yes, doesn’t that work perfectly? Love those skip counting songs!
I just tested out the Star Walk app. My 5-year-old found it immediately on my iPhone and pronounced it “really cool.” It shows you the night sky from your location. This is actually quite small on an iPhone or iPod touch, so it will be more dramatic on an iPad (which I am dying to get but haven’t pulled the trigger yet — isn’t there a no tax day coming up in Massachusetts soon?!!).
I’m not much of an astronomer so much of this is wasted on me but for any budding young astronomer. It has the lunar cycle by date, with information on Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (plus new age music as background noise). Other information includes sunrise, day length, sun set and elevation. I also found amazing Hubble photographs that I found on the tab “Picture of the Day.” Truly amazing photos that make one realize how big the universe is. You can flip though all the photos which are also helpfully labeled: Magificent Details in a Dusty Spiral Galaxy, The Spirograph Nebula, The Heart of the Whirlpool Galaxy, and my personal favorite, Nearby Dust Clouds in the Milky Way.
Other cool stuff:
For a mere $2.99, you can get the universe in the palm of your hand. How often does that happen?! Click on the image to preview at iTunes Store.
