Category Archives: FREE apps (for a limited time)

0

Pocketbooth – the photobooth that fits in your pocket

|

pocketbooth

FREE today – Pocketbooth – the photobooth that fits in your pocket, an app that turns your iPhone/iPad into a 1950s-era vintage photobooth. Pocketbooth takes a series of photos (a few seconds apart) to create photo strips of your special events. The app includes five photo effects (1975, antique, B&W, color, sepia), two paper types, and two border styles. There are additional filters/borders available as in-app purchases. Pocketbooth can use either the front or the rear facing camera of your device. Photo strips can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, email, or they can be saved to your camera roll. They can  be printed on a wireless printer or you can have them professionally printed/mailed to your friends for an additional charge. Pocketbooth was chosen Starbuck’s App of the Week, featured as “New and Noteworthy” by Apple, and listed as one of 2010’s Hottest Apps – iTunes Rewind. What a fabulous app to have for your next birthday party, family reunion, etc.

And teachers… how cool would it be to have a photobooth in your classroom? It would be perfect for taking pictures of special events – Dr. Seuss Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Wacky Hair Day, Silly Hat Day, etc. The kids could help make the props. 🙂 It would also be great for special projects – animal reports (kids dress as their animal), biographies (kids dress as their person), the 100th day (kids dress as if they are 100 years old), etc. How fun!!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pocketbooth-photobooth-that/id385145330?mt=8&uo=4

0

Halftone

|

Half Tone

FREE for a limited time – Halftone, a photography app with many educational uses. Named by Apple as a favorite photo app of 2011, Halftone makes it easy to turn your photos into vintage-looking comics that your friends and family will love! It’s simple to add paper styles, captions, speech balloons, graphic stamps, and fonts to your photos. Because it is so easy to use, this app would be great for creating the art to go with classroom projects – stories, book reports, newsletters, etc. Lots of creative uses for this educational app!

Halftone - Juicy Bits

0

Alphabet – Educational Letter Bubble Activity Game

|

Alphabet Dots

FREE again – Alphabet – Educational Letter Bubble Activity Game from Ellie’s Games (normally $1.99). This educational app uses bright colors and a simple interface to teach young children to recognize the alphabet from A to Z. Kids learn to recognize both upper and lower case letters by popping colorful dots in order. The app has three levels of difficulty – choosing from 4 letters, 9 letters, or 16 letters. Kids can work on all upper case letters, all lower case letters or a mixed letters. There are also settings for sound, hinting, and enabling vibrations (iPhone only). This simple but visually appealing game is sure to help your little one learn the ABCs.

Alphabet Dots - Ellie's Games, LLC

0

Math Magician

|

FREE for a limited time – Math Magician, an educational math app for elementary students developed by abc teach.com and VLinks Media. Recently updated, the app now has 4 levels – beginning, easy, medium, and hard. Several math concepts are covered within each level. The easy level covers counting 1-120, skip counting by 2 & 5, addition 1-20, subtraction 1-20, and greater/less than 0-20. The medium level covers: skip counting (10 and 100), addition 0-100, subtraction 0-100, add/subtract by 10, greater/less than 0-100, multiplication 1-10, and division 1-10. The hard level covers: addition 100-500, subtraction 50-200, multiplication facts 0-12 and division facts, 0-12. There are 35,000 multiple choice questions in all.

The object of the game is to use the power of numbers to help the magician regain his treasures. Kids do so by solving problems that appear in the Magic Crystal Ball. As they solve the problems, their progress is shown on the Magic Meter Bar. Once they have correctly answered about 20 problems, they unlock one of the treasures. This app provides lots of good math practice wrapped in a magical theme. 🙂

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.

Math Magician - abcteach

0

Cursive Writing Wizard – Trace Letters & Words

|

handwriting

FREE today – Cursive Writing Wizard – Trace Letters & Words, a fabulous app for teaching kids how to write in cursive. Start by choosing one of the 4 available fonts: Zaner Bloser, D’Nealian, French Cursive, or French Cursive 2. Then kids are ready to start tracing using animated stickers with fun sound effects. They can trace shapes, upper case letters, lower case letters, numerals, or words. The app has two modes: free or 5 stars. In free mode, kids trace the letters with all of the parameters selected. By selecting the “gear” button, the app’s parameters can be  customized to fit each child’s needs – letter size, difficulty, style (stickers or pen), show/hide model, allow to stop between key points, tracing speed, etc. In the 5 star mode, kids trace each letter 5 times – each step is more challenging. Detailed reports are provided showing what kids have completed. Teachers/parents can replay and export tracings to view a chid’s progress – wow! And, the app permits unlimited users – perfect for the classroom.

After teaching cursive writing for 30 years, I know that the biggest challenge is teaching kids to properly connect the letters. This app does a fabulous job!! There is a list of 3-letter words and often confused letters for kids to practice. But the best part of this app is the ability to add new lists. Kids’ names can be added. Lists of words with difficult connections can be added. Weekly spelling lists can be added. There are so many possibilities for meaningful practice of cursive writing. Don’t miss out on this one – it’s the best cursive writing app that I have seen to date!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/cursive-writing-wizard-trace/id757843896?mt=8&uo=4

0

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

0

Word Wonderland (Primary) and Word Wonderland (Elementary)

|

Word Wonderland

FREE for a limited time – Word Wonderland (Primary) and Word Wonderland (Elementary), games that have kids hopping, eating, and shaking their way to the end of a game board as they sort words. Children start by creating name badges – the app permits multiple children to play. In the primary (K – 2) version, kids help to guide a friendly frog through the pond as they sort words by sounds – short vowels. long vowels, r controlled vowels, blends, digraphs, and more. In the elementary (3 – 6) version, kids guide an astronaut crab through the space station as they sort more difficult words by sounds, inflectional endings, Greek/Latin roots, etc. These educational apps provide a fun way for kids to sort words but I must admit that I am a bit apprehensive about encouraging kids to shake the iPad. Check it out for yourself while the full versions are FREE.

Download links: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wonderland-primary-full/id611436564?mt=8&uo=4 and https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-wonderland-elementary/id634947932?mt=8&uo=4

0

Guess How Much I Love You – Interactive Episodes

|

Guess How Much I Love You

Guess How Much I Love You – Interactive Episodes is FREE for a limited time. This wonderful educational app from Australia is based on the book Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney and inspired by the animated TV series created by SLR Productions Pty Ltd. Guess How Much I Love You is a beautiful story about the love between a parent and a child – one of my all time favorites. Originally published in the UK in 1994, it has sold more than 20 million copies in 37 languages. It was the first book I purchased for my granddaughter – truly a book not to be missed!! That being said, this app conveys the same sweetness that makes the original story so special.

Kids join Little Nutbrown Hare in 2 interactive episodes – “Can You Touch the Stars” and “Snow White Hare.” Designed for 3 – 5 year children to explore with their parents, the episodes are integrated with simple games & puzzles. At the end of each episode, Big NutBrown Hare and Little NutBrown Hare express their love for each other. Don’t miss this one – it is SO sweet!

Guess How Much I Love You - Interactive Episodes - SLR Productions Pty Ltd

0

Squeebles Maths Bingo

|

squeebles

FREE for  limited time – Squeebles Maths Bingo, a super-cute, educational app for practicing math facts. The Maths Monster has scared away all of the Squeeble customers from Ruby’s ice cream parlor. And if that wasn’t bad enough… he has stolen all of her ice cream ingredients! Kids help Ruby recover her ingredients (and customers) by solving addition, subtraction, multiplication, & division problems in a fun bingo game. One kids have earned back some of the ingredients, they create ice cream concoctions using over 200 unique ingredients. The Squeeble customers rate each ice cream treat. Kids will find out that some of the Squeebles like some very strange flavors and/or combinations – like brussel sprout ice cream with sugar mice or orange ice cream with pea soup sauce. There are over 3 million combinations! The app is perfect for the classroom because an unlimited number of players can be registered. The app keeps track of stats (number correct & percentage) for each player. In the settings, teachers/parents can differentiate the level of difficulty for individual players. Ice ream ratings are shown as decimals or whole numbers – opening up opportunities to have kids collect & report data. Wouldn’t it be fun to have kids construct bar graphs of the results? It’s no wonder that Squeebles games have been featured on BBC Radio, in The Daily Telegraph, The Observer, and The Guardian. It’s fun, educational, and standards-based!

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.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/squeebles-maths-bingo/id580882257?mt=8&uo=4

0

Professor Garfield Fact or Opinion

|

professor garfieldProfessor Garfield Fact or Opinion is a FREE educational app. The comic teaches kids why it is important to know difference between fact and opinion, especially when using the internet. Garfield’s friend, Nermal, gets an F on his report about goats because it includes facts & opinions. With the help of Professor Garfield, Nermal learns that not all information on the internet is true. He learns that fact is “something that can be proven to be true” and an opinion is “something that someone believes but cannot be proven.” Nermal learns how important it is to read with a questioning mind. After reading the comic strip, kids practice what they have learned by helping Nermal write a report about school lunches and by feeding facts to the Fact-Bot. I love this app! Kids start learning about fact vs opinion in second/third grade but many of them struggle with the concept. This app presents the content in a fun way then gives students the opportunity to apply what they have learned. It does a fabulous job of teaching kids an important element of critical reading – in my opinion. 🙂

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/professor-garfield-fact-or/id401257010?mt=8&uo=4