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Grammar Wonderland (Primary) & Grammar Wonderland (Elementary)

grammar primary

grammar

FREE today – the full versions of Grammar Wonderland (Primary) & Grammar Wonderland (Elementary). In both games kids lead their characters through different adventures as they practice  nouns, verbs, adjectives, and more. The primary version is for younger children – the words are read and some levels include pictures. The app does not teach the parts of speech but it provides lots of practice for kids in a fun game-like environment. After teaching a lesson about parts of speech, teachers can have kids show what they know with this app. Practice is provided for the following: common nouns, proper, nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, singular nouns, plural nouns, possessive nouns, pronouns, action verbs, present-tense verbs, past-tense verbs, future-tense verbs, linking verbs, adjectives, articles, comparative/superlative adjectives, and more! Many parts of speech are taught in both apps – perfect for differentiating your instruction for a variety of reading levels. Both also apps permit multiple player – great for the classroom!

Recommended!!  – Download them today 🙂

Grammar Wonderland Primary       Grammar Wonderland (Primary) - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

Grammar Wonderland Elementary       Grammar Wonderland (Elementary) - McGraw-Hill School Education Group

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Peekaboo! Guess Who?

peek

The full version of this educational app is currently FREE for the iPhone/iPad. This app is designed for the youngest iPad users – the peekaboo players. 🙂 Kids hear an animal sound and have to guess who is making it. The full version has 4 levels – farm, ocean, circus, and jungle. In baby mode, kids listen to the sound then tap the door to reveal who is making it. In kids mode, they listen to the sound then guess who is making it.  If you have a little one that loves peekaboo, check out this cute and colorful app!

Peekaboo! Guess Who? - Bacciz

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You & Me: We’re Opposites

FREE for a limited time – the electronic version of the book by the same title. Colorfully illustrated zoo animal present 14 sets of opposites. The app also includes a cute little song and a matching activity. Perfect for little ones as an introduction to opposites!

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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 right now. 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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Miss Spider’s Bedtime Story for the iPad

spider-bedtime

This app is the digital version of David Kirk’s beautiful picture book by the same name. It initially sold for $4.99 but is now FREE. There are several nice features: children can watch the story in 3-D animation, they can read along with the narration, or they can read the story on their own. As they read they can touch the illustrations to reveal special surprise effects. Also included are games, puzzles and pictures to paint.

Worth downloading – highly recommended!

Miss Spider's Bedtime Story for the iPad - Callaway Digital Arts Inc.

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Animal Game Show – Whose Toes are Those? – Matching Fun for Kids and Family – Ultimate Edition

toes

FREE for a limited time – the full version of Whose Toes are Those, a very cute app for preschoolers. The app has a game show host, music, and an audience. Kids (contestants) have to identify which animal/person is behind the curtain by their toes. If the child chooses correctly, the animal/person does a silly dance – really cute and sure to bring some giggles! Little ones will have fun building their matching skills with this app!!

Animal Game Show - Whose Toes are Those? - Matching Fun for Kids and Family - Ultimate Edition - Eggroll Games LLC

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Kissing Hand

kissing hand

FREE for a limited time – the digital version of a beautiful story for children. LOVE this book!!

From the publisher: Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of the children, parents and educators in Newtown, CT. In support of the 1,600 copies of “The Kissing Hand” physical book being donated to the children of Newtown by Tanglewood Press, we are offering the digital book app free to children everywhere for a period of time. We hope this story about the power of love will offer comfort to your family as we all heal.

The Kissing Hand - Oceanhouse Media

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Pocket Zoo HD with Live Animal Cams

pocket zoo

Put a zoo in your child’s pocket! Pocket Zoo HD is on sale for a limited time. The app opens to an illustrated virtual zoo with 50+ animals. When kids click on an animal’s picture and the app takes them to that animal’s page. The app features: 30+ Live Animal Cams – live video streaming from zoos all over the world, 200+ wildlife video clips, animals sounds, and pictures with fun facts, descriptions, & details about each animal. If you have an animal lover in your life, you may want to explore this app. It is now $1.99 but normally sells for $4.99. I was able to download it on a day that it was FREE.  Keep reading my blog to find out if/when it is FREE again 🙂

Pocket Zoo HD ™ with Live Animal Cams - Tiny Hearts Limited

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Scribble My Story – A Fingerprint Network App

scribble my story

Exciting News  – the creators of Scribble Press (in my opinion – one of THE best writing apps for kids) have just released Scribble My Story. It is a junior version of Scribble Press which was named by Time as one of the top 25 apps of 2012. Designed for the youngest authors and artists (ages 3 – 8), Scribble My Story provides a friendly, easy-to-use platform for kids to imagine, create, and share. Included are 6 story packs (with audio for non-readers) that can be customized by the child and a recordable blank book for open-ended creations. Created books are saved in the app. Kids can go back and reread their books, edit them, or share them on the Scribble Press website. All great features except for the share button. I wish there was an option to disable it for children. In my opinion, parents/teachers need to decide & control what kids share on the internet. Using the Fingerprint email platform, parents/teachers can view created books through a browser, pdf, or iBooks. Additional story packs are available as in-app purchases. What a wonderful way to encourage kids to become writers from an early age! Highly recommended!

Also, check out my review of Scribble Press – one of my favorites 🙂  When I originally reviewed it, it was FREE. It now costs $2.99 but it is well worth its cost.

Scribble My Story – A Fingerprint Network App - Fingerprint

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MyCQs (Test Maker)

test maker

Create multiple choice questions with this app which is FREE for a limited time. Teachers/parents can create multiple choice tests for kids (with pictures  & explanations) to help them learn or review a variety of subject matter. Older students can create their own tests. Also included in this app are 6 lessons on how to write good multiple choice questions. After the test has been created, kids take the test and the app keeps track of their results over time. Tests can be shared with other members of the MyCQs community. LOTS of possibilities for using this app with every age-group of students!

MyCQs (Test Maker) - James Gupta