FREE for a few days – this iPhone/iPad app normally sells for $4.99. Math Racer times how fast kids can answer 10, 20, 50 or 100 problems in 7 different games: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, add/subtract, multiply/divide, or all operations. I like kids being able to practice related operations together – it makes them pay attention to operational signs & see connections. The app keeps high scores for all areas. It shows which problems were missed and how long it took to answer each question (to the hundredth of a second). Teachers and parents can use this tracking system to document kids’ progress. To compliment the tracking, I wish the app could then be programmed for kids to work specifically on the facts that are giving them trouble.

This app provides a simple but fun way for kids to practice their facts. I can’t imagine that they won’t love racing the clock to improve their scores. If it is loaded on an iPhone, kids could easily practice their facts in the car on their way to after school lessons. 🙂

Common Core Standards met:

• 1.OA.6 – Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10.
• 2.OA.2 – Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies. By end of Grade 2, know from memory all sums of two one-digit numbers.
• 3.OA.7 – Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Recommended!

This iPad app for 4 – 7 year olds was FREE when I downloaded. It is currently $1.99 but through August 31 the developer is doing a buy one get one free promotion. Happi 123 teaches counting, adding, subtracting, number series, and patterns. The lessons do not have to be done in order so kids can choose what they would like to work on. Each level has practice followed by a puzzle to further reinforce the concept. There is also a combination level where all concepts are mixed and timed. Kids earn badges and disguises for Papi the Tiger as they learn. Several languages are included in the game: English, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Italian, German. In the settings, parents can reset the game and disable audio help (which makes the problems more difficult but also less confusing). If the audio help is not disabled, the child has to count the objects at the top of the page in order: top row, left to right followed by bottom row, left to right. Otherwise the counting is not in order and might sound like this: one, two, three, four, five, eight, seven, six. Suggestion for the next update  – make counting the objects (along the top) work like the fingers (along the bottom). The fingers count in order no matter which one is touched first. Nicely done!

Common Core Standards met:

• K.CC.4 – Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality. When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object. Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted.
• K.OA.1 – Represent addition and subtraction with objects, fingers, mental images, drawings, sounds, acting out situations, verbal explanations, expressions, or equations.