Prep Positions is one of the newer apps created by Smarty
Ears and I had the great fortune of trying it out with my kiddos and reviewing
it for you! Smarty Ears provided the
app for me to review; however, the opinions in this post are all mine.
Upon opening the app, you are greeted with a simple design
allowing you access to report cards or to selecting players. In player selection, you can determine if you
will be using the app while working with a student individually or with a group
of students. The best part is that when
working with groups, you can choose up to five players and each player can be
working on a different skill level! This
app has up to 15 skill levels starting from basic prepositions such as up, on,
by and increases in complexity to phrases such as because of, depending on, and
up to. When modifying and determining
player level and skills for your student, you can also modify the game by
shutting off specific prepositions in that level that they may have already
mastered. Additional modifications that
can be made include modifying what stimuli phrases you want to and deselecting
the others, modifying background to provide a more simplistic appearance (white
background), turning on or off audio for phrases and answers, and a prompt to
record responses.
For students who may be struggling readers, it provides the
visual text, audio for the phrase/sentence, and audio for the possible
prepositions to fill in the blank when you touch them. It was so easy that some of my non-readers and
early readers were able to use the app with reduced assistance. When the student determines their answer,
they simply drag the word to the blank spot in the sentence. If it is not correct, the word will return to
its spot. When it is right, the word will
remain in the sentence and a prompt will pop up to allow the student to record
themselves saying the phrase/sentence.
This allows students to have visual, audio, and oral feedback! Many of my students found that having the ability
to record and listen was motivating and fun.
If a student is not sure which of the three possible responses the app
provides, then they can touch the little question mark on the bottom right hand
side of the screen and it will reduce the choices to only two.
A screen pops up to encourage and reinforce students so that
they know how many balls they have earned towards playing the game. When setting up, you are able to decide when
they will have access to the game by choosing to allow students to play the
game after they have collected five balls or after the activity is completed.
The reinforcement game is cute too! Students shoot a cannon ball to see how far
you can make it fly and who can get it to go the furthest.
In the report card area, you can see student progress by
level, session, or by preposition. The best
part though is that this information can also be shared via email, Smarty Ears
Therapy Report Center, and/or Dropbox.
That makes keeping all student data together that much easier
(especially when using the Smarty Ears Therapy Report Center with multiple
apps).
Why did I love this app? It was super user friendly, provided
audio feedback for non-readers or students who struggle with reading, audio
feedback had a more realistic human sound, works for groups up to 5 working at
different complexity levels, kiddos found it motivating and enjoyable, and it made
data collection easy!
What suggestions do I have for improvements? To be honest, I had to be very picky when
thinking of suggestions. Smarty Ears was
VERY comprehensive with this app and they thought of practically everything
including some very complex levels! Here
are my suggestion: incorporate a way to redirect to the game when you wanted for our students that need frequent
reinforcement to keep focused on the task instead of waiting until they
completed the entire activity or had five balls.
Overall Impressions:
I loved this app! My student’s
loved this app! My six year old daughter found the app on my I-Pad and thought
it was just another game that I bought for her and said, “Thanks Mommy for my
new game. I love it!” Hmmm... I didn’t have
the heart to tell her that it wasn’t a new game that I bought for her but one
of my apps for work. If that isn’t a
good review out of the mouths of a little one, I do not know what more I could
tell you about the app.
You can get Prep Position from Smarty Ears at the App Store
for $19 or enter the giveaway below for a chance to win the app! Thanks to Smarty Ears for the additional code
so that I can offer the app to one lucky winner! Just enter the Rafflecopter below for your
chance to win. One winner will be chosen
at random on Thursday, March 24th.
This app would help me provide some variation and fun to how I work on this skill with my students.
ReplyDeleteGreat app! I would love this! Thanks for all the information.
ReplyDeleteThis app looks like fun! Thank you for the review!
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of students that struggle with this skill. This would be great!
ReplyDeleteA very detailed review! Love it! My elementary aged students are constantly struggling with understanding prepositions. This looks like a fun way to keep them engage and learning at the same time!
ReplyDeletegreat app... always need prep work!
ReplyDeleteThis would help my language students work pn prepositions! We would use the Apple TV and let the whole group participate.
ReplyDeleteI work on prepositions ALL the time! I know this app will help to incorporate new ways to target these goals. Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDeleteThankyou Thankyou Thankyou!
ReplyDelete