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Bedtime Stories: Good Night & Hello to the Moon

Good Night

Good Night is FREE for a limited time. This interactive bedtime book is most suitable for 2 – 4 year olds. Paul, a little bear, rides a scooter through the pages of the story to say goodnight to his animals friends – one mouse, two sheep, three rabbits, etc. Kids help by find and count the 55 + animals that are hiding in the scenes. Cute story to read to your little one at bedtime!

Good Night - B. & J. Moßmann

Hello to the Moon

Hello to the Moon is also FREE for a limited time. This gentle bedtime story shares how the moon can make us feel connected to others. Each page has a small animation – a twinkling star, a blinking eye, etc. for kids to discover. Another cute bedtime story!

Hello to the Moon! - Matchbook Digital LLC

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Fruits for Little Lamb

Fruite for Little Lamb

An amazing month of FREE apps is about to come to an end. Auryn Apps has been giving away an interactive book each day in March to support National Reading Month :) Thank you, Auryn Apps!!

Fruits for Little Lamb by Leslie Ann Clark is FREE today! Children learn about God’s love and fruits of the Spirit  – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. A very sweet book about values!

Like other apps from this developer, the story can be personalized by having your child narrate it – a super option for kids who are learning to become more fluent readers.

 Fruits for Little Lamb:  teach your children about strong values and God's love in this Christian book for kids by Leslie Ann Clark (iPad version; by Auryn Apps) - Auryn Inc.
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Use Your Handwriting GOLD

Use yourUse Your Handwriting

FREE today (normally $9.99) a “business” app called Use Your Handwriting GOLD. This app has LOTS of potential for classroom/kid use! It permits you to use your finger to write notes, messages, lists, etc. on your device (iPhone/iPad) screen. You can choose 5 different styles of writing in 22 different colors – there is even a rainbow option! Notes, lists, etc. are saved into categories – which you set. This app is great for kids because writing is not confined to a limited space – the app will move the writing to the left so a line can be completed. After “done” is tapped, the app shrinks the writing and adds it to the area above!

There are SO many uses for this app. Kids could use this app to take notes in class – choosing different color for each subject. They could write poetry in color! Teachers could have their students use this app to create exit slips. Or, students could use the app to take notes, respond to what they’ve read, etc. Younger students could practice their cursive writing with this app. Anything created in the app can be emailed/messaged to the teacher. At home, your kids can use the app to write thank you notes to grandparents which can be delivered via email or MMS. And the BEST part of this app is that it preserves the child’s drawings & handwriting! VERY cool!!

Use Your Handwriting GOLD - Gee Whiz Stuff

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Dr. Duncan Dog on Duty

Dr. Duncan Dog on Duty

An amazing month of FREE apps is about to come to an end. Auryn Apps has been giving away an interactive book each day in March to support National Reading Month :) Thank you, Auryn Apps!!

Dr. Duncan Dog on Duty by Lisa Dunn-Dern is FREE today! It is the story of Duncan, a therapy dog at a children’s hospital. Told from the perspective of the girl who owns Duncan, the book does a really nice job of explaining the role of therapy dogs. A wonderful addition to your digital library!!

Like other apps from this developer, the story can be personalized by having your child narrate it – a super option for kids who are learning to become more fluent readers.

Dr. Duncan Dog on Duty : learn how a pediatric hospital volunteer dog cheers up children patients in this kid's book by Lisa Dunn-Dern, with illustrations by Andrea Yotomb (by Auryn Apps) - Auryn Inc.

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McGraw Hill books: Little Red Hen, Jack & the Beanstalk, Why the Sea is Salty, Country Mouse & City Mouse, Little Red Riding Hood

FREE again today – five interactive readers for your iPad from McGraw Hill. All of these titles usually sell for $1.99. These classic children’s tales can be read in two ways: read aloud or read to myself. All five books are nicely illustrated and have animations/interactivity on each page. Sound effects and music are also included – which can be turned on or off. The stories are all great but I especially liked the Little Red Hen. Download them today  – there is no reason to pass these up 🙂


Little Red Hen - Interactive Reader - McGraw-Hill School Education Group  Little Red Hen      Jack and the Beanstalk from McGraw-Hill Education - McGraw-Hill School Education Group  Jack and the Beanstalk     Why the Sea Is Salty - McGraw-Hill School Education Group Why the Sea is Salty

Little Red Riding Hood from McGraw-Hill Education - McGraw-Hill School Education GroupLittle Red Riding Hood    Country Mouse and City Mouse - McGraw-Hill School Education Group Country Mouse/City Mouse

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Cocoons and Caterpillars – A Stella and Sam Adventure

Cacoons and Caterpillars

FREE today – Cocoons and Caterpillars – A Stella and Sam Adventure. Stella and Sam apps are based on the television show and the bestselling picture book series by Marie-Louise Gay. The books have been translated into fifteen languages & have sold over one million copies. In this adventure, kids play along with Stella, Sam, and their dog Fred to discover the joys of nature – butterflies, birds, and clouds. Beautifully done and fun for preschoolers!

Other Stella and Sam Adventures that are available on iTunes for $2.99 each include:  Into the Snow We Go, Rainy Days and Rainbows, Backyard at Twilight,  Go There Square. All Stella and Sam apps are also supported in French. With the current update of Cocoons and Caterpillars you can easily change from English to French/French to English in the app’s settings. Great apps for kids!

Cocoons and Caterpillars: A Stella and Sam Adventure - zinc Roe

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Preschool University – phonics/spelling apps

spelling-magic

Moveable Alphabet option from ABC Spelling Magic

Wow!! Preschool University has 12 phonics/spelling apps available for FREE again. There are links to all below. I have them grouped by the skills that they teach and from easiest to most difficult. The first group teaches letter sounds.

  • ABC Magic Phonics – initial letter sounds, 1 picture for each letter       ABC MAGIC PHONICS - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • ABC Magic 2 –  initial letter sounds, 4 pictures for each letter       ABC MAGIC 2 - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • ABC Magic 3 Line Match – Kids apply what they know about sounds by matching. There are 2 modes: matching 2 pictures with the same beginning sounds or matching letters to a picture that starts with that sound.       ABC MAGIC 3 Line Match - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • ABC Magic 4  – Kids are given a letter and they must find pictures of 3,6,or 9 items that begin with that sound.       ABC MAGIC 4 - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • ABC Magic 5 Letter Sound Matching – Kids match sounds in 2 modes: picture to letter or letter to picture. As kids become more advanced, you can increase their number of choices (4, 6, or 9) and increase the number of matches per round (5,10,15,20,or 25). ABC MAGIC 5 Letter Sound Matching - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • ABC Magic 6 – is the same as Sound Beginnings (follows #8).
  • ABC Magic 7 Memory Match – A matching game with 2 options: match letter to letter or match picture to picture. Letter sounds and picture names are pronounced with the option of turning the sounds off. Grids of 12, 16, or 20 are available.       ABC MAGIC 7 Memory Match - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • ABC Magic 8 Sound Matching – This app is an extension of ABC Magic 7. It’s another matching game with 2 options: letter to picture having that beginning sound or picture to another picture with the same beginning sound. Letter sounds and picture names are pronounced with the option of turning the sounds off. Grids of 12, 16, or 20 are available.       ABC MAGIC 8 Sound Matching - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • Sound Beginnings – This app is the most advanced of the letter sound teaching apps. It is called sound beginnings but actually teaches beginning, middle, and ending sounds. There are two options: a picture to letter and letter to picture. As kids become more advanced, you can increase their number of choices (3,4, or 5) and increase the number of matches per round (5,10,15,20,or 25). Awesome practice for beginning readers!!       SOUND BEGINNINGS - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY

The second group of apps uses letter sounds to spell words that phonetically regular. There are 2 ways to use each of these apps. Word Jumble provides the  child with the letters of the word and the child puts them in order. Moveable Alphabet (the more difficult option) has the entire alphabet across the top of the page and the child must find the correct letters to spell the word. If a child touches a picture, the app reads the word. If a child touches a letter, the app gives the sound for that letter. Each vowel is taught in isolation but there is also a shuffle option which provides mixed practice. Vowels are printed in blue and consonants are in red so you can reinforce the CVC (consonant, vowel, consonant) pattern.

  • ABC Spelling Magic Short Vowels – teaches short vowels       ABC SPELLING MAGIC Short Vowel Words - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • ABC Spelling Magic 2 Consonant Blends – teaches consonant blends and consonant clusters       ABC SPELLING MAGIC 2 Consonant Blends - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • ABC Spelling Magic 3 Blends & Syllables – GREAT practice spelling multi-syllable words       ABC SPELLING MAGIC 3 Blends and Syllables - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY
  • Sentence Reading Magic – Kids built 2 or 3 words sentences using phonetically regular words.       SENTENCE READING MAGIC - PRESCHOOL UNIVERSITY

These apps provide a lot of good practice for preschoolers and early readers!!

Common Core Standards met:

  • K. RF.3 – Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant. Associate the short sounds with common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.
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Hiding Hannah

FREE again today, Hiding Hannah is an interactive book for kids 2+ for the iPhone/iPad. Hannah LOVES to hide everything, including herself. Narrated by Tom Kenny (the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants) and illustrated by Melanie McCall, this book is adorable! Your child will love reading through the story and finding where Hannah has hidden things. And the best part is that the hiding places change every time you read the story. Really cute!!

Highly recommended!

Hiding Hannah - Squeaky Frog

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Teddy’s Night

Teddy's Night

An amazing month of FREE apps is about to come to an end. Auryn Apps has been giving away an interactive book each day in March to support National Reading Month :) Thank you, Auryn Apps!!

Teddy’s Night is FREE today! Based on the bestselling book “What Does My Teddy Bear Do All Night?” by Bruno Hachler, this app won a 2011 Parent’s Choice Awards in the Mobile Apps Category. A little girl narrates a story about her teddy bear who doesn’t like to go to sleep at night – a cute story with lots of great interactivity! You won’t want to miss this one :)

Auryn HD - Teddy's Night - Auryn Inc.

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Phoster

Phoster

Phoster 2

JUST named App of the Week and FREE for a limited time – Phoster is an app to create your own posters and invitations. The app includes 197 templates with a variety of designs. You can also use photos from your photo libraries or take new photos with your device’s camera. Background colors, fonts, font colors, brightness, saturation, size, position, etc. are all changeable. There are also many options for sharing your creation – Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and email. Kids could use this app to make posters advertising a book that they just read, a place they just studied, geometric shapes they just learned about, an animal they are reporting on, etc. – lots of creative uses for learning!!

Phoster - Bucket Labs