FarFaria App Review & Giveaway

Have you ever wanted your students to have access to hundreds of books at their fingertips?

I know I do.  That's why I think the FarFaria app is so amazing.  It is a digital library with over 800 books and 5 new books are added each week.

I am lucky enough to have 6 iPads in my classroom plus my "teacher" iPad.  My students use the iPads for a variety activities throughout the day, but one of their favorites is for our "Listen to Reading" center during our guided reading time.  FarFaria was perfect for this center.  Let me show you why.

When you access the app, the home screen will show you recently added books, your recently read books, and some thematic books.  For example, right now there is a category of "Books for Black History Month."

Students can choose books here or click on Explore and explore the different FarFaria worlds.  These include Mt. Make Believe, Preschool Playground, Adventure Island, and many others.  This is my students' favorite.  They get to choose stories from their favorite worlds.  

One of the many features I love is that the books are aligned to my students' reading levels.  I can easily choose books for my students to read based on reading level.

Another feature that makes me swoon:  the app has the option for students to either read the story to themselves or have it read to them.  I usually have my students listen to the story first and then if the story is at the correct reading level I have the students also read it to themselves.  

When they choose the read to me option, the story highlights the words as they are being said.  I can't imagine a teacher who wouldn't love that option.  

In addition to using this at center time, I have started using this when my "high flyers" finish early.  I am able to give them an iPad and they are so engaged in the stories that it makes it hard for me to tell them to put them away!  

This app has helped my students get even more excited about reading.  I can't say that I blame them......I am so excited about this app myself.  We even downloaded it on our home iPad so my son and daughter can use.  My kids read every night and sometimes we run out of books before we have a chance to get back to the library.  FarFaria saves the day!  We have so many books at our fingertips it makes our nightly reading even more engaging and FUN!

There are many more amazing features.  We can save our favorite books to My Favorites.  There is also a book club where you can interact with others about the books you are reading.

Are you thinking that this amazing app would be the perfect addition to your classroom?  Well, you are in luck.  Zach from FarFaria has agreed to give away a subscription.  If you don't win, that's ok, they have a free version, but I highly recommend the subscription.  It is totally worth it!

This giveaway will end at midnight on Sunday, March 1st.  Good luck!

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Want to Win??

Want to win something for your classroom?  What teacher doesn't?

I am teaming up with the fabulous ladies over at Rhyme to Read to offer you a fantastic giveaway.

We are giving away the app for FREE to one lucky reader.

Yep, you read that right the whole app for FREE!

I wrote a review of the app on my blog that you can check out right {here}.

Last year, I did not find this app until the end of the year, but I am beyond excited to start out with the app right away from the beginning of the year.

As you can see, there are 20 different stories for the students to read with this app.  As the number of the story gets larger, the text becomes more complex.

The stories are each focused on a particular word family.  I love that because it promotes rhyming, which is a skill that my students frequently struggle with.

I plan on using this during my Daily 5 literacy centers.  My students will get to use this app for Read to Self.

I find giving the students something to read on an iPad makes them more eager to read than just reading a book.  It is just different and more exciting for the students.  I love anything that gets my students excited to read!  Don't you?

What are you waiting for?  Check out my rafflecopter below so that you can try to win the app with all the stories included for FREE!


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Fun Math App

I have previously posted about some literacy and math apps that I like to use in my classroom.  You can read about that {here} and {here}.

Today I wanted to tell you about a new math app I came across called Champs of Numeria.

It is like a tic tac toe, but in order to place your piece you have to answer a math problem.  There is a range of abilities in the game anywhere from beginner to advanced.

You can have up to four players at a time.  Sometimes I am not able to have enough iPads for all the students to use individually so this is a great app for the students to use during those times.

When the students start the game, they get to choose their character.  You can see some of the choices in the picture above.  My students love all the fun choices of characters.

Once the characters are chosen, the students get to play the game.

You can see in the picture above that there are three math problems to choose from.  The student chooses a problem and finds the answer on the board.  You hold down that number until it changes.  Then the next player will take their turn.  Each time it is a new player's turn, that character is shown.  I love this because then my students don't argue about whose turn it is.

The students are trying to get four of their numbers in a row.  Not only do the students need math skills to play this game, but they also need strategy.  It is really interesting to watch my students play the game and see what strategy they use to play the game.  Are they just worrying about their four in a row or are they trying to stop their opponent?

I have to tell you that when my students play this game they are so engaged.  They help each other with the math problems.

I would not recommend this app for the beginning of kindergarten, but second semester is a great time for this game.  I waited until after our addition unit before I introduced this game.  We worked for a long time on addition so I thought this would be perfect for independent practice.  I know that some of the other grade level teachers in my building have let their students try it out with harder problems like multiplication or subtraction.

Are you interested in getting this game for yourself?

Just head to the app store and look for Champs of Numeria.  It is only $0.99.  You won't regret your purchase.

Have you tried out this app?  I would love to hear your thoughts about it as well!  :)

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Math Apps in the Classroom

I recently posted about some of the literacy apps I use in my kindergarten classroom.  If you are interested in reading that, please click {here}.  After that post, I had some people ask about the math apps that I use.  I am here to tell you all about it today!

The apps I am showing you today are all free.  Some have the option to purchase the full version, but for now I am just using the free version. 

Just as I do with my literacy centers, one of my math centers is the iPad center.  I choose which app the students are doing at that time, but on Fridays for Free Choice Centers the students have the opportunity to use any app on the iPad they wish. 

These are my two favorite math apps of the moment:

Animal Math

The three free activities included in this app are math activities with counting, sequencing & patterns, and addition to 5.

When students get on the app, this is what they will see:

They will choose which animal to “play”

Bessie (cow) – Counting to 10

Ralphie (cat) – Sequences & Patterns

Albert (zebra) – Addition to 5

For each game, the students will answer a series of questions.  If they choose a wrong answer then that answer will disappear and the student will choose another answer.  If they answer correctly (no matter if they have previously answered incorrectly), the app cheers for them.  I really like this because no matter the student’s ability, they can feel successful because the app is cheering for them. 

Here are a couple screenshots from the app:

(there is quite a variety of questions so I just included a small sample)

Counting to 10

Sequences & Patterns

Addition to 5

I have been using the addition to 5 section as that is what we are working on in math right now.  My students are seriously loving this app.  I think your students will enjoy it as well. 

Turbo Math

This app has a lot to choose from.  When the students get on the app, they will need to choose their name and then pick a lesson to do.  I like using this app to differentiate so I choose which "game" I want the students to play.  

You can choose from the following categories:  Counting I, Counting II, Number Sense, Addition, Subtraction, and Time, Money, & Geometry.  (The categories are on the left hand side)

Within each category there are many different skills.  Each skill has its own "game".  For example, in the addition category, there are 20 different skills starting with addition of 1 and ending with adding 3 single digit numbers - up to 10.  (Skills are on the right hand side)

As I stated earlier, we are starting addition so I had most of my students focus on that portion of the app.  Here is what the students will see:

They need to slide the number to the sea animals.  For this example, you slide the number 7 up to the seahorses.  

Here is an example from the number sense category:

Here is an example from the subtraction games:

Example from the geometry category:

I really feel that the Turbo Math is a great choice for differentiating with your class.  There are so many FREE activities that you can choose from and many different skills being covered.  My students LOVE this app and I am sure your students will too.

Do you have a favorite math app that your primary students use?  Tell me all about it in the comments!  I am always looking for new apps in my classroom.  :)

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Literacy Apps in the Classroom

Do you have technology in your classroom?  Are you looking for some apps to use with your kindergarten kiddos?  I am here to tell you about some of the apps my students use and love.

I posted about how I letting my kinder babies use iPads during one of our literacy centers.  You can read about that {here}.  Needless to say, its a big hit.  I love it because I can easily differentiate the activity.  At this moment in time, I am choosing the app the students use during literacy center time.  (On Fridays at the end of the day we do "free choice centers".  One of those is the iPads and they are able to choose which apps/games they can play then.)

All the apps I am showing you today are FREE!  Some have option to buy the full version, but for now I am just using the free versions.

Here is a great app for letter identification:

Photo Touch ABC

Students will see an image like this:

Then they are asked to touch a particular letter.  If they touch the incorrect letter it makes a little sound.  If they touch the correct sound, it tells them something positive like "You're great!"  I used this app for my students who were still struggling with letter identification after the rest of the class had mastered that skill.

Here is a great app for letter/word/shape writing:

Little Writer

This is what students see.  They make the whale eat the fish in order to make the letter v.

What I love about this is that it takes each letter one step at a time.  Therefore, the students are not overwhelmed.

You can also use this to write numbers, words, and to draw shapes.  I use the shape writing during math center time.

Here is what the students see when they are drawing a shape:

This time the crab is eating pineapples. :)

Great apps for word building:

All the Spelling Magic Apps.  I have Spelling Magic 1, 2, 3, and 4.  I choose which app my students use.

My students who are just beginning to do CVC words use Spelling Magic 1.  This is what they see:

It is a picture of a map, the letters with boxes, and the iPad will say the word.  As the students move the letter to the box, it will make that letter sound.  They are not able to put the letter in the box unless it is correct.  If they try, it will move the letter back to its original position.

Spelling Magic 2 has consonant blends.  Here are the categories to choose from:

Spelling Magic 3 has multiple syllable words.  There are also categories for the students to choose from.  Spelling Magic 4 has silent e words.

Apps for sight words:

I have two sight words apps on my iPad.  My favorite is called Endless Reader.

The students choose a word.

Put the letters back into the word.  As they move the letters, they make their sound.

Then the students put the words in the sentence.

The app will then read the sentence to the student with a little animation of the sentence.

The other app we have is called Sight Words Grade 1 & 2.

This app has many different games to choose from.  I use this one with my students who need a little challenge. :)

These are just a few of my favorite literacy apps I use in my classroom.  There is also another one that we have on our school's classroom set of iPads, but I can no longer find it in the app store.  It is a phonemic awareness game and I love it!  If you have recommendations of apps we should try, please comment below.  We are always looking for new ones!

I will be posting this week about the math apps we use during math center time.  :)

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