Author: Jan: Chief Frog
Math Vocab 1 – Official Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- Math Vocab Apps Fill A Fundamental Gap!
VANCOUVER, B.C., CANADA, April 21, 2015 — Happy Frogs Apps announces the release of 3 apps in their Math Vocab series. These apps introduce the key vocabulary needed for success in math in the early elementary grades.
Math Vocab 1 launches today and teaches the most important words needed to succeed in Grade 1 math. Fun activities step the user through the 4 key stages of learning from recognition through to using the word appropriately in context (most apps miss this step!)
Children who struggle with math often don’t understand what they are asked to do. They don’t know the meaning of the words. These apps ensure they understand AND can use the key terms.
The app builds word skills in a fun, game-like environment based on the latest research in vocabulary development.
Janine Toole, founder of Happy Frog Apps, has this to say about the app: “We are thrilled to offer these apps as they fill a gap in the app store. We know kids will develop stronger math skills once they know what the questions are asking!”
Math Vocab 2 and 3 launch on April 25 and 28.
The Math Vocab apps include:
• Incremental and guided learning for less frustration
• Fun and engaging Rewards Center
• App supports up to 10 players and includes extensive reporting for teacher/therapist use
• Content designed by professional educators
Pricing and Availability:
The Math Vocab apps are available in a free and paid edition for iOS. The free edition includes 4 free levels for a single user. Additional users and levels are available with in-app purchases. The School Edition has no in-app purchases. It is available for $4.99 and has up to 10 players and all levels available.
For launch day only, the School Edition is available for $3.99!
Further Information:
Website: http://www.HappyFrogApps.com
App video: https://youtu.be/c35xlTA0HhQ
About Happy Frogs Apps
Happy Frog Apps creates fun apps that teach the foundation skills for reading comprehension. Happy Frog Apps is founded and led by Janine Toole, PhD, a keen reader who finds that her education and extensive experience in Linguistics, software development and special needs learning provides the perfect mix for the creative pond that is Happy Frog Apps.
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A Week of Apps – 3 New Apps in 7 Days!
Starting Tuesday, we will release 3 new apps over 7 days, the first three in our series of Math Vocab apps. We’re excited!
We’ll have free promo codes available for each app, so make sure you are on our mailing list to hear about it first!
Many kids who struggle with reading comprehension also struggle with a weak vocabulary. We’ve decided to do something about that!
Math Vocab 1,2, and 3 target specific vocabulary that children need to succeed in math. These so-called ‘Tier 2’ words are unlikely to be learned through general conversation, but are needed for academic success.
Making the most of recent research in vocabulary learning, our apps:
– teach small groups of words together until mastery
– include audio and visual support to enhance learning
– require the use of word in context to ensure understanding
As always, our apps focus on teaching and showing instead of just testing.
Our Math Vocab 1 app will be available on April 21 and teaches the 48 most important words needed for Grade 1 Math.
Math Vocab 2 targets words needed for Grade 2 Math – it will be available on April 25.
The third in the series, Math Vocab 3, for Grade 3 level words, will be available on April 28.
We’d love to see you on Facebook on our launch days, so come and join the promo code party!
7 Tips For Choosing A Learning App For ASD Kids
Every parent wants the best for their child. And so we often seek out fun, educational apps to help our children with the challenges of school and life. There are many great apps available, but when you have a child with autism, there are some additional features you need to look for when choosing an app.
Here are 7 important criteria to use when selecting a learning app for your child.
1. Look for a non-distracting background
Many children with autism cannot differentiate important from unimportant visual information. So if an app has a busy background or crowded screen, your child may not know where to put their attention. Simplify their task by choosing an app that has a simple, uncluttered interface.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but when you start looking, you’ll be amazed at how many apps have REALLY interesting backgrounds! Lovely to look at…but not great for learning for ASD kids.
2. Getting the correct answer is the most rewarding action
With many ASD kids, you can’t rely on an inherent motivation to ‘get things right’. They simply aren’t motivated by the same things as typical kids.
When considering learning apps, you need to make sure that choosing the correct answer is more fun than choosing the incorrect answer. Amazingly, many apps get this wrong. They’ll have crazy, fun sounds for every wrong answer. Guess what, many ASD kids will now spend all their time choosing the wrong answer. That’s not great for learning!
3. Choose apps that target a specific skill
Many special needs kids have a patchwork of strengths and weaknesses. You can make the most of their learning time by choosing apps that focus on a specific weakness. Instead of choosing a reading app, choose one that focuses on inference, then one that focuses on ‘main idea’. Target specific skills and work on them until they are strong.
Don’t spend too much time on general apps. Time spent on a skill that is already strong could instead be spent working on a weaker skill.
4. Look for good reporting
Good reporting tells you many things. It will show you your child’s successes so that you can celebrate milestones with your child. Good reporting can also show you if an app has become too easy or too difficult for your child.
Look for an app that can tell you:
- What your child is doing best at
- What your child is struggling with
- What milestones your child has recently reached
- How fast or slow your child is progressing.
Since learning time is precious for a special needs child, this information will allow you to be confident that your child is progressing appropriately and that learning time is not being wasted.
5. Look for information presented in a variety of ways: visual, audio, text
Different children learn in different ways. Make sure learning apps include visual, audio and text so your child can access the information regardless of their specific learning style.
6. Look for appropriate incremental difficulty
Apps should start easy and get harder. Seems simple, but again many apps drop the ball on this. They either start too easy, make huge leaps, or target so wide an age range that only a few levels are possible for your child — and that’s no fun. Give your child the satisfaction of completing all the levels of an app!
Choose an app that is easy enough for your child to start and has reasonable goals for him or her to reach.
7. Make sure there is play time
Learning new skills is hard, no matter how you dress it up. Make sure the apps you choose have built-in rewards for hard work. This may be a fun game to play or a shop where earned coins can be spent.
Another handy feature to look for is a reward system that only unlocks after a specific amount of learning work. This means your child can work independently — kids love this — but you can be confident that they are not spending all their time playing in the shop.
If you use these criteria to choose an app for your ASD child, you can be confident that you are giving them the best opportunity to learn new skills – and they’ll have some fun, too.
Here at Happy Frog Apps, we use these criteria when designing all our reading and math comprehension apps. Our testers include kids with Autism, so we know our apps work for these wonderful minds.
