Tips on Getting Educational Apps for Your Kid

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With literally hundreds of thousands of apps now being offered for tablets, smart phones, and other devices, it can be tough for a discerning parent to sift through them all and find the educational applications best suited to their own children. A few basic tips can help you narrow the search and set your kids up with apps that can help develop their skills and their minds–as well as keeping them entertained.

 

1. Identify the areas where you would like to boost your kids’ skills or understanding. If your child is on the verge of a reading break-through, the reading pre-skills apps might be just the thing. If “times tables” are a current school subject, you might look for an app that puts multiplication to practice. Keep tabs on what topics are being studied in school, and see what apps you can find that support the classroom-learning. Discuss with the teacher and have a look at curriculum aligned apps like our – Splash Math apps which are aligned to Common Core State Standards.   And take advantage of the natural “teachable moments” that occur when your child asks questions or expresses an interest in something–head to the App Store to see what you can turn up that will engage your child on that subject.

2. Find a good App-Searching Tool. Apple, for example, offers a free application called “AppShopper,” which makes it easier to search the App Store offerings with a specific set of parameters you select yourself. You can choose your own criteria–including price, device(s) you use, and category (such as “Education), as well as keyword if you’re looking for something specific–and then browse all the apps that fit your set criteria. It’s a much more user-friendly process than trolling through the App Store itself, and you can even limit your search to the no-cost Free Apps if you’re on a budget.

3. Add educational programming with apps for educational channels. Television channels like PBS (and the more specific PBS Kids), the Discovery Channel, and the History Channel offer apps which enable your kids to watch educational programming from your mobile device.  You may want to pre-select some programs, as some of the shows have more educational value than others, but the apps give you the advantage over the actual television set of being able to select a range of programs from the educational “archives” rather than being tied to the day’s set programming.

4. Add a “bookshelf” for each child. In addition to the games and interactive apps, don’t forget that your mobile device can carry books! You can create a virtual shelf for each of your children with a selection of books at their reading-level, and some of their “screen time” can actually be reading time. Depending on your child’s level in school and subjects being studied, you might even add some appropriate reference materials for homework-use.

5. Transform your mobile device into a study aid. For any given school subject, you can find an array of resources and study materials to support your child’s homework and studies.  Look for flashcards, calculators, references for math or science, and perhaps even a homework-organizer app to help your child learn the skills of planning and organizing tasks.

 

A mobile device and its accompanying apps can provide much more for your child than just educational gaming–although the great educational games shouldn’t be discounted either! You can transform your device into a comprehensive educational resource with the right addition of apps.

Education apps – fostering young minds

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I vividly remember growing up during my adolescent years and how much I loathed doing my homework or even studying for the tests. Gaping at those lacklustre pictures and reels of black letters on white pages defined my academic sojourns! Learning was the ‘last thing’ that we could have termed as a ‘fun experience’, or something that we looked forward to, even remotely. And the occasional shifts in the syllabus didn’t help much either! But that’s not what today’s kids would have to say about their learning systems. Learning today indeed captures, in no uncertain terms, the ‘joy of discovery’!

So if someone were to tell you that you could unravel the secrets of the universe or identify a star or constellation, by simply pointing your hand-held digital device towards the sky, you’d be left startled! But that’s the power of digital technology in education; and its various apps for platforms like the iPad, iPhones and other Android devices.

A revolutionary approach to engaging and understanding first-hand, and ‘living’ the experience literally, kids today can see the subjects coming ‘alive’ in that multi-touch digital screen! From learning the first letters and numbers, to discovering under-sea species, or the extinct dinosaur; unravelling the mysteries of the human body with the help of 3-D graphics, to hearing great masters speak and read great literary works, or know about cultures, countries and food habits and instantly access digital libraries – the world as an oyster is truly in their palms!

That learning is a tactile experience facilitated by the power to ‘see, touch, and hear’ is amply demonstrated in these fascinating interactive apps. ‘Practical’ learning is therefore the key – and apps meant to track the learning curve of each child are justifiably doing that. How else would you explain those staggeringly brilliant apps being created for visually challenged kids or those struggling with autism? These are apps aiding such children to hear, speak, and develop hand-eye co-ordination and other motor skills! We call it scientific engineering bolstering young ones towards social engineering!

The whole motive thus, is to encourage all kinds of kids and help in improving their abilities, intellectually and otherwise. Whether a kid is in need of improving his verbal ability, remove his fear of numbers, polish vocabulary, or simply nudge those creative cells to think better, the interactive apps are egging them to do better and do it right!

Recent studies carried across schools in the US, which have adopted the iPad into their curriculum, have shown a steady improvement in performance by kids, better grades, lesser absentees and more classroom participation! A subtle reminder once again that these apps are taking education beyond the four walls of the classroom! Educators in fact have lauded the iPad as a ‘powerful and effective’ tool which offers relief from the heavy books that weigh down their backpacks. (There are 1.5 million iPads being used already in schools across the US, according to Apple)

Digital apps in education have added a whole new meaning to creativity and creating for children! And what’s learning without the spirit of enquiry and imagination or treading those unchartered waters! Educational apps are challenging today’s young minds to dream big and dream the impossible!

Just makes me wonder though – what if we had such educational apps during our time!! (Sigh)

Grade 5 Launched

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The 5th Grade Splash Math Worksheets (HD Full) in stores now!

It’s finally here – the 5th Grade Splash Math Worksheets app from Studypad! An Interactive math workbook app, which is sure to keep your little one hooked to practising math!

As with each of our apps in the Splash Math series, we have included something really unique in this particular version as well.

So, what’s special about the 5th Grade Splash Math Worksheets? Well to begin with, this one has an endless repertoire of questions – to give your child more scope for practice; and also help him gather a wider understanding of the subject. The app covers 9 chapters: Place Value, Number Sense, Algebra Expressions, Multiplication, Division, Fractions, Decimals, Measurement and Geometry.

Each of the 9 Chapters come with their pool of questions! And what really sets these questionnaires apart is the quality of practice being offered to each child through the app. Interactive and highly adaptive, the level of difficulty of each question varies every time the child attempts them. Owing to their regenerative nature, they can be assigned repeatedly to a child until mastery in that particular topic is attained. 

Check out its other attractive features as well. Grade 5 too doesn’t miss out on the cool dynamic content – something that’s remarkably designed in the Splash Math App series! Scratch pads, exciting animation, pop-ups or weekly reports – Grade 5 Splash Math Worksheets’ here to make quite a splash!

For more on Grade 5

World Autism Day 2012

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When Priya Krishnan presented her autistic cousin with an iPod Touch on Christmas, he fell in love with the device! Very soon the child was learning new words, managing his own schedule, listening to music and doing many such incredible activities which so long seemed challenging. Inspired by the progress of her cousin, Priya realised the impact that technology could bring into the lives of similar children.

She consulted Dr. Tony Gentry, Director of Assistive Technology of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Autism Center, Dr. Chandhan Vaidya, Director of Georgetown University’s Neuroscience labs, and Ms.Seema Patel, CEO of Interbots, a company that creates assistive robots for autism and they all agreed that touch devices can indeed help autistic individuals to improve their lives. Soon Project Touch was born! (http://projecttouch.info)

Priya’s vision to provide low income families with autistic children this most useful device became a success through effective advocacy and fundraising. She also joined hands with Autism Speaks (www.autismspeaks.org), a national organisation and has already donated 50 iPod Touch devices in VA. She is now taking her dream global!

Priya, is among the thousands who are tenaciously working towards building a better future for children afflicted with autism.

Recent estimates say that Autism now affects approximately one percent of the global population, or 67 million people worldwide. Autism statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show around 1 in 110 American children as on the autism spectrum–a 600 percent increase in prevalence over the past two decades.

Today, on World Autism Day (2nd April), StudyPad, is saluting these tremendous efforts by individuals, organisations and groups, who are consistently involved in raising awareness on autism and contributing through steadfast activism, seminars, fundraising, and technology to make a difference in the lives of those who struggle with the disorder.

The affirmative impact of the iPad in aiding development and learning in classrooms is already known. The iPad/iPhone and its new-generation apps, have however, taken overwhelming strides in technology for special education as well! These revolutionary hand-held devices are now considered a worthy aid for more complex developmental challenges. From enhancing communication, speech, hand-eye co-ordination, problem solving skills to helping children understand spatial concepts, colors, auditory memory and processing, this is like the Manna from heaven!

Take A4CWSN (www.a4cwsn.com) for instance and their collection of suggested apps for kids with special needs. These are apps which boost writing and language development, and have such wonderful features such as voice recording, word prediction, text to speech enhancers, all brilliantly modelled for the child with autism. A4CWSN has also given away over 130 iPads to kids with special needs and continues to do so every month. Similarly, www.ipads4autism.org has very effectively highlighted its mission – to be able to gift every autistic child the ability to talk! These are not mere websites for gadget-loving nerds, but are active platforms where students, teachers, parents and other advocacy groups can raise awareness on autism. Also commendable is the work by Technology in Special Education (techinspecialed.com) in identifying apps by IEP goals. Siva of TechInSpecialEd says- It helps parents and teachers get “Bang for the Buck”.

From apps specifically made for the iPhone or iPod Touch, to those which are compatible on the iPad as well, www.autismpluggedin.com is a great resource on all these special apps. The site gives you comprehensive info on the A-listers in special apps. More significantly, the site also mentions how use of these apps has gradually enhanced learning in kids with special needs and kindred them towards their social and natural environments. Easy-to-use and child friendly, most apps have inbuilt features for parents and teachers to train kids, as well as track their learning curve.

The websites mentioned below will give you further insights on the disorder and the amazing work being done by different organisations in aiding research, building advocacy and child rights, and promoting general awareness.
 

We at StudyPad are joining the likes of these organizations to celebrate World Autism Awareness Day on April 2 and will Light It Up Blue to help shed light on autism. To show our support for the cause, we will light up our office premises in hues of blue!

And before concluding, here’s a heart-warming email from Ann Francis, who is a teacher for kids with special needs at Mallory Elementary. Ms Francis has been an early adopter of StudyPad’s Splash Math apps for her school.

This is my celebration. I have a 3rd grade young lady with autism and it is hard to get her to interact. I had her go up to answer a problem and it was too hard for her. I told her to ask other students for help. I told the other students they would probably have to say their names. Low and behold she knows everyone’s name and told us and called in them. This from a young lady that just says yes and no. That was very, very cool. Thank you for letting us use this app and I look forward to working with you

 

We are giving out $15 iTunes Gift Card. Participate in the giveaway to Win!

 
Read more on “World Autism Day 2012″ »

Fifth Grade Splash Math App – Coming Soon

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Splash Math Giveaway

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Here is your chance to win a $30 iTunes Gift Certificate!

"Win $30 iTunes Gift Certificates from Splash Math publishers of Awesome Grade 1-4 Math Worksheet apps "

Participate in the Giveaway below

" Win $30 iTunes Gift Certificates from Splash Math publishers of Awesome Grade 1-4 Math Worksheet apps "

Win $30 iTunes Gift Certificate

All you have to do is participate in the RaffleCopter Giveway below. Perform all the tasks in the giveaway as many times as you can. Every time you perform a task, you increase your chances of winning.

Read more on “Splash Math Giveaway” »

App updates available for download [iOS 5.1 Fix]

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We are truly apologetic for the inconvenience experienced by some of our users after updating their devices to iOS 5.1. The good news is that after working round the clock we have launched an update to fix the iOS 5.1 issue.

Please read the instructions below carefully and update your apps to get them working on devices with iOS 5.1. Further, we will be releasing another update within the next week which would help you in restoring data lost during the Apple iOS 5.1 update (subject to the condition that you had email updates “ON” prior to the iOS 5.1 update).

Please mail us at support@studypadinc.com for further assistance.

 

Firstly, the Don’ts

  1. Do NOT open Splash Math apps before the update
  2. Do NOT upgrade to iOS 5.1 if you have not done so already

 

Instructions to update Splash Math app

  1. Open App Store app on the iPad/iPhone
  2. Click on the “Updates” tab
  3. Find “Splash Math” version 2.2.1 [If you CANNOT find the app,check if your app is in the list at the end of this post]
  4. Click on the Splash Math app
  5. Click on “Update”
  6. Wait for the update to complete
  7. Open Splash Math app to play

 

Instructions to restore in-app purchases

If you have bought chapters inside the app and can no longer see them, please follow the instructions below to retrieve the chapters:

  1. Click on any of the locked chapters in the app
  2. A pop-up will prompt you to buy the chapter
  3. Click on the “Restore” button on the top-left corner of the pop-up
  4. All previously purchased chapters in the app will be restored

 

Coming Soon (expected to be available before March 31, 2012)

We are adding two very useful features to all Splash Math apps:

  1. Manually unlock skills – Parents and Teachers can set the level of each chapter and skill manually. This will allow parents and teachers greater control on the content that should be catered to the kid.
  2. Data backup – This important feature will help you  to back-up all your data on the app on our secure servers. Also, if you had your email updates ON before to iOS5.1 update, you will be able to restore back all the data prior to the iOS5.1.

 

List of apps updated

If you are NOT using any of the above apps, please wait for your app’s update to be released. We expect the update to be released within the next couple of days.

Thank you all for your support!

Please mail us at support@studypadinc.com for further assistance.

iOS 5.1 Update issue

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There is a serious bug in Splash Math apps working with the new Apple iOS 5.1 update. If you are using the Splash Math app then there is a change that can result in your data being deleted on the device after upgrading to iOS 5.1.

Please follow the steps below to help us ensure that we can prevent any data loss to you app.

 

If you have NOT updated your device to Apple iOS 5.1

Step 1: Turn Email reporting “ON” to backup your data to our secure servers

a. Instructions for Splash Math Grade 1, Grade 2, Grade 3 Users

    1. Click on Setup wheel icon
    2. Click on Profile tab
    3. Enter your Email and Turn the “Email Reports” – “ON“

b. Instructions for Splash Math Grade 4 Users

    1. Click on Control Room button
    2. In the Summary tab, Click on Grade Level tab
    3. In Weekly Progress Reports click on “Set to enable weekly reports” and provide your Email address

Step 2: Delay the Apple iOS 5.1 update until we update the Splash Math app

  1. Do not update to iOS 5.1  until you get the Splash Math update (in a day or two)
  2. Download and Install the Splash Math app update
  3. Install the Apple iOS 5.1 update after the Splash Math app has been updated

 

If you have already updated your device to Apple iOS 5.1

Do not open the app without the Splash Math update

  1. Do not open any of the Splash Math apps  until you get the Splash Math update (in a day or two)
  2. Download and Install the Splash Math app update
  3. Open the apps

 

We are extremely sorry that you have to bear with us on this while we fix the issue, it was an unforeseen situation and we are looking forward to your co-operation.

4th Grade Math – Splash Math Worksheets App Launched :)

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For all of you, who have been asking us for Grade 4, here it comes with a big bang with the all new Space Theme. Get your astronaut kid suited and launch the space missions. Can it get more exciting? Download it here – http://studypadinc.com/appstore/smg4

Splash Math Grade 4

Splash Math goes to the next level of awesomeness with SPLASH MATH 4.

Splash Math Apps at Franklin Elementary School

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Splash Math has been a big hit in schools. Lot of schools have bought, used, and loved Splash Math apps in their classrooms. We have recently started collecting feedback from schools who are using Splash Math on a daily basis with the students.  And to start it all, here is a guest post by Amber Kowatch, who teaches second grade students in Franklin Elementary School:

I am a second grade teacher using iPads one-to-one with my students. While browsing the app store, I came across Splash Math. After checking it out for a few days on my personal iPad, I knew that this was a must have app for my students. Splash Math has made reinforcing taught concepts a much easier task in my classroom. After I do my lesson and my students have demonstrated some understanding of the concept, I am always sure to build in a few minutes of Splash Math time. My students have so much enjoyed this time of the day that they go home with their iPads each night and continue to practice their math skills. There are many reasons for them to be motivated as they love their iPad, Splash Math provides a fun and engaging opportunity for them to practice math, and the aquarium provides another dimension of motivation as well.

My students were told at the beginning of the year to try and earn at least 100 points each week. They have definitely exceeded all expectations of that. Many students are earning 500-600 points weekly and enjoying every minute of it. Not only are they practicing on their own time, they are keeping me informed of their progress because Splash Math sends me a weekly progress report email to let me know exactly what skills my students have been working on. I see how many problems they have completed, which skills they performed adequately and what skills they still need more practice on. I look forward to my progress reports as it lets me know exactly where my students are and where I need to take them.

Splash Math has been such a fun tool to have in our classroom. I recommend this app highly as it does so much more than just teach math. It gives my students the opportunity to truly love math and want to practice math any chance they can get!

Amber Kowatch
Second Grade Teacher
Franklin Elementary School
Ludington, MI

If you have any experiences to share about Splash Math, mail us at support@studypadinc.com