Category Archives: math apps

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Multiplications with Math Matthews

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Math Mathews

FREE today only – Multiplications with Math Matthews, a great new app for studying multiplication facts. Kids join Math Mathews and his crew on a high seas adventure to find treasure and break the curse that turned him into an octopus. There are so many great things about this app that make it perfect for the classroom. The app includes a diary (ship’s log) that gives the back story to this adventure that kids are about to join. I envision teachers using this narrative as a group activity to get kids excited about joining the crew. Then the app is divided into 3 mini-games with each game using a different method of practice. Kids earn badges and collect gold as they practice facts. The app allows you to set which facts it will review. This feature makes this game particularly valuable in the classroom. Teachers can start with ones & twos, add fives, then three & fours – adapting their students’ practice to their teaching. And…the app can be used with 7 different players – perfect for small group practice, centers, etc. It keeps track of the progress for each individual – another plus for teachers. If I was still teaching, I would definitely use this educational app in my third grade classroom  – it meet a CCSS for third grade multiplication. What a fabulous & fun learning tool for kids!!

Common Core State Standards met:

  • 3.OA.7 – By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/multiplications-math-mathews/id611130011?mt=8&uo=4

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Khan Academy

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Khan 2

Khan Academy

Khan Academy – an amazing FREE educational app! Whoever said the best things in life are FREE was absolutely correct. With Khan Academy you can learn almost anything and the app is completely FREE! It has a library of over 4,100 videos which covers a wide range of subjects such as K – 12 math, biology, chemistry, the humanities, and more. You can use the app to review a subject that you have already studied or to learn something completely new! You can watch the videos online or you can download  them to watch offline at your own pace. The videos are subtitled so that you can read along, skip ahead, or go back. If you log in with your Khan Academy account, you can track your progress. The app gives you credit for watching the videos and allows you to see your achievements. Badges and points are earned for learning. Teachers can access their students’ data – as a class or individually. Khan Academy is an incredible resource for all kinds of learners – students, teachers, principals, home-schoolers, adults returning to school, and anyone committed to be a lifelong learner. It is truly one of the best educational apps available – at any price!

Khan Academy - Khan Academy

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What Time is is Mr. Wolf?

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What Time

What Time is it Mr. Wolf? (by Teacher’s Pet) is FREE for a limited time. Make sure you get the correct one – there is another app by the same name by Joy Preschool. This app features a Wilfred the Wolf who spins the clock on the face of the moon 10 times. Kids have to choose the correct answer and drag it under the moon. The wolf giggles and says “well done” if the answer is correct. The app’s setting allows you to choose what interval of time you would like your child to work on – hours, half hours (half past), quarter hours, 10 minutes, or 5 minutes. Answers can be displayed in words, digitally, or mixed. You can also set the number of answers per question.

The Common Core Standards expect first graders to tell time to the 1/2 hour, second graders to tell time in 5 minute intervals (AM and PM), and third graders to tell time to the minute. So, this app would work well for first and second graders but not third graders. I like that this app includes practice with the words  – half past, quarter after, quarter to. It is a difficult concept for some kids to understand. Nicely done!!

Common Core Standards met:

  • 1.MD.3 – Tell and write time in hours and half-hours using analog and digital clocks.
  • 2.MD.7 – Tell and write time from analog and digital clocks to the nearest five minutes, using a.m. and p.m.

What Time is it Mr. Wolf? - by Teacher's Pet - Teacher's Pet

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Space Cakes

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Space CakeSpace Cakes (an educational app) is FREE – thanks to the support of Eli’s Cheesecake in Chicago. Kids use number sense and early math skills to complete intergalactic baking missions. They find themselves in a bakery filled with alien ingredients. They must follow a recipe to add the correct amount of each ingredient. Then they choose a 3D shape for their levitating batter and bake it. Next a topper, frosting, and sprinkles are added to finish their creations. Time for delivery – they steer the cake delivery spaceship back to Earth. Finally they celebrate their safe arrival with starburst, fireworks, and colorful confetti!  Kids can snap a photo of their creations to share them via email, save them in a gallery, or use them to inspire creative writing – descriptive paragraphs using math terms, a story about an intergalactic cake baking contest, etc. There is a section for parents/teachers which explains the educational value of the app and how it meets the CCSS. This app provides a fun way to work with math concepts AND a wonderful springboard for creative writing.

Space Cakes - Kids Bakery Game with Math and Numbers - Mrs. Judd's Games, LLC

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3 FREE Virtual Math Manipulatives

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Geoboard by The Math Learning Center (a nonprofit organization dedicated to K – 12 education) is a FREE app that turns your iPhone/iPad into a virtual geoboard. Geoboards can be used as tools to teach mathematical concepts such as polygons, perimeter, area, line segments, angles, congruent shapes, symmetry, fractions, etc. Shapes are created by stretching bands on the geoboard’s pegs. There are 5 colors of bands in the iPhone version and 8 in the iPad version. There is also a tool to fill in shapes. On the iPad version, you can switch from the standard 25 peg board to a 150 peg board to create more complex shapes. This is a great app with the potential to be used in so many ways.

Highly recommended for your virtual math tool kit!

Geoboard, by The Math Learning Center - Clarity Innovations

FREE for the iPad, Virtual Manipulatives contains math manipulatives for teaching fractions, decimals, and percents. Included are tiles/circles divided into halves, thirds, fourth, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths, and 12ths AND their corresponding decimals and percentages! The manipulatives are color coded across the settings so that 1/2 is blue as is .50 and 50%. Kids drag tile pieces onto the work area to compare fractions/decimals/percentages. In the settings you can change from tiles to circles, make the pieces transparent, and hide the numbers on the pieces. Completed work can be easily saved to photos. Finding equivalent fractions has never been so slick – WOW!!

Common Core Standards

  • 3.NF.3 – Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare fractions by reasoning about their size. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size, or the same point on a number line.
  • 4.NF.1 – Explain why a fraction a/b is equivalent to a fraction (n × a)/(n × b) by using visual fraction models, with attention to how the number and size of the parts differ even though the two fractions themselves are the same size. Use this principle to recognize and generate equivalent fractions.

Highly Recommended!

Virtual Manipulatives! - ABCya.com

equivalent fractions

From the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics comes a FREE app called Equivalent Fractions. Kids create equivalent fractions by dividing and shading squares or circles. Circles can be divided into 24ths. Squares can be divided into 144ths. In the play mode, a fraction is shown and kids must create 2 additional fractions that are equivalent. All 3 fractions must have different denominators. The app also places the fractions on a number line – a great visual for comparing! There is also a “build your own” mode which would be fabulous to use for guided exploration & practice. Kids could also use this section as a virtual manipulative when working independently. This app is an excellent resource for the classroom !!

Common Core Standards met:

  • 3.NF.3 – Explain equivalence of fractions and compare fractions by reasoning about their size. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size, or the same point on a number line. Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3). Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.

Highly Recommended!

Equivalent Fractions - National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

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Math Racer®

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FREE for a limited time – an educational app that  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.

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!

Math ® - i4software

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Bug Games HD

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bug games

Singing crickets! Bug Games HD is FREE for a limited time. This super cute educational app for preschoolers has 4 sections: Cricket Concert, Bee Word Builder, Ant Tunnel Builder, and Spider Dot-to-Dot. In the Cricket Concert section, kids can select a song to hear the crickets sing together or they can tap on each cricket to play the song on their own. In Bee Word Builder, kids hear the phonic pronunciation of individual letters as they use them to put words together. Ant Tunnel Builder requires kids to rotate puzzle pieces so that the ants can march through a completed tunnel. Spider Dot-to-Dot has kids connecting dots in numerical order. Kids collect sticker rewards along the way. This app has a nice combination of learning games for preschoolers – cute, fun, & engaging! Who knew playing with bugs could be so much fun 🙂

Bug Games HD - by Busy Bee Studios - Busy Bee Studios

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Friendly Shapes and Friendly Christmas

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FREE app for the iPad and iPhone – Friendly Shapes. This cute little story for toddlers/preschoolers starts as Circle goes looking for his friend, Star. Along the way he meets other shapes: Triangle, Square, Rectangle, Pentagon, Heart, and Oval. As each shape joins the search, the group morphs into more complicated vehicles. There are three modes: auto-play, read-it-to-myself and play. There is also an option to record your own voice as you read. Each page also has fun animations, and/or puzzles in addition to the story. All in all, this is a nicely done app for little ones to learn shapes, colors, left/right, etc. So how can it be FREE? Well, this app that gives you the option of removing the ads for $.99. The ads are placed at the bottom of each page between the backward and the forward arrows. I think little fingers would end up hitting the ad bar somewhat regularly which could be frustrating. Check it out and decide for yourself. Recommended!

Friendly Shapes - funny interactive adventure HD. - TabTale LTD

Also FREE – Friendly Christmas.

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/friendly-christmas-funny-shape/id562847602?mt=8&uo=4

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Counting Dots

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Counting Dots

FREE again today – Counting Dots, an educational app for young iPad users. Kids learn to recognize/count numbers by popping colorful dots in this simple but visually appealing game. The app has three settings – counting by one, fives, or tens. There are also settings for sound, hinting, and enabling vibrations (iPhone only). The app is advertised as helping kids count from one to a million. I counted by ones to 20 and by tens to 100  – didn’t quite make it to a million. 🙂 This app is by the same developer that did Rain Dots (see my March 1 review). Recommended!

Counting Dots - Helping kids count from one to one million! - Ellie's Games, LLC

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Bugs and Buttons 2

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FREE and just named App of the Week on the iTunes Store – Buttons and Bugs 2, an educational app for preschoolers. Bugs and buttons are featured in 18 visually appealing activities. Kids count them, sort them, match them, etc. in a variety of ways. As they do so, they are learning about colors, shapes, letters, numbers, and more. The activities integrate learning into a collection of activities – a fun way to play with bugs!

Download link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bugs-and-buttons-2/id686968315?mt=8&uo=4