Happy App Friday!
This week we sharpen our perception with Where Is My Hat?, then study math and English with Learning Upgrade. Finally, we find some balance with the new screen time controls in iOS 12.
Garry Froehlich
Jellybean Tunes
Where Is My Hat?
by Comomola Studios
Some of the best games take a simple concept, polish it up, and add a few twists. Where is My Hat? plays like a combination of spot-the-difference and whack-a-mole. You are giving a hat to look for while cartoon characters pop in and out of circles, and you simply tap on the characters wearing that hat. It starts out at a very easy level for younger kids and slowly ramps up the challenge by adding more and more characters at once, making costumes more complex (with glasses, moustaches, and more), and introducing new rules (don’t tap on certain characters). The game can be played alone, or even better in a two-player mode on the same device.
Learning Upgrade
by Learning Upgrade LLC
The Learning Upgrade app includes sequenced lessons for English and math designed to enable students in Kindergarten through 8th grade to easily learn outside of the classroom, anytime and anywhere. Each lesson provides practice problems accompanied by immediate intervention and remediation. Students can repeat lessons until they master them, earning a gold certificate when they become proficient in each of the standard’s benchmarks. English Upgrade courses include lessons on phonics, decoding, vocabulary, grammar, writing, listening, and more. Math Upgrade courses include lessons on fractions, percents, statistics, word problems, geometry, algebra, and more. The app is free to download and try, with multiple subscription options.
Screen Time and Parental Controls in iOS 12
Apple released their latest version of iOS for iPhones and iPads this week and it includes the long-awaited screen time controls. You can set usage limits for your child (and yourself!) based on categories of apps or individual apps, and schedule times like bedtime when its appropriate to step away from the device. There’s a quick how-to guide at c|net, and some guidelines on how you might use the screen time features at Common Sense Media.
https://www.cnet.com/how-to/ios-12-screen-time-and-stronger-parental-controls/
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/blog/what-apples-new-ios-12-parental-controls-mean-for-you
