Moose Math
© 2013 Duck Duck Moose Inc.
Teachers take note: App number 17 from Duck Duck Moose is designed specifically to cover early elementary (Kindergarten and First Grade) math by way of some solid counting, sorting and classifying games. Each game lets children playfully master skills that will provide an excellent foundation for later math learning, and the games are paired with an individualized record keeping system, that stores progress and profiles for each child. Math educators will appreciate the fact that this app is 100% flashcard free, yet still manages a good deal of leveled practice. After they enter their name and make a profile, children choose one of five leveled activities. These include: Recipe Maker - read recipes for juice that involves adding up to 20; Pet Bingo has you adding and subtracting by 2's, 5's and 10's; Paint Pet has you matching pets by counting dots; Lost and Found asks you to you to sort and count shapes and colors; and finally, there's a well designed dot-to-dot puzzle with numbers that go up to 100. Lighter moments are provided by a cast of animals called Dust Funnies. This app is based on a mastery learning model of curriculum, where you unlock harder levels the more you play. The better you do, the greater the challenge. The drawback to this model can be a rigid feel. While this app has a little bit of that, it is generally easy jump around between activities and the games are responsive. Help and hints are provided by YaYa the bird. We were surprised to learn that this app can store an "unlimited" number of student profiles, meaning a teacher of 25 could have individual bookmarks and records for every child. Not a bad deal for a $3 app. All of the data collection is kept behind the protected parents menu. The math curriculum was developed by former teacher Jennifer DiBriezna, a Standord Ph.D. See also Park Math and Fish School for well designed Duck Duck Moose titles.
iPad
Teaches: math operations, up to 20, counting, addition, subtraction
CTR Rating: 96%