There’s an app for that!

Education & Technology

The intentional use of

technology applications
allows for students to
navigate online tools in a
safe and learning
environment. Students
exposure to technology,
allows for digital literacy and
for real world experiences to
meet the child’s learning in
the classroom.
 Prodigy

• Prodigy is an application that is free to

students and teachers. A subscription
however, provides unlimited access to
other games and features. Prodigy is in
the format of a story game, where
wizards cast spells over correct answers
and pick animals to go along with their
math and literacy journey.
 Rationale
• Prodigy tracks a student’s mastery of skill and levels them on. The
teacher can also access information on what level the student is on.
This allows for adaptability from the teacher to meet the student
where they are at in their learning. The teacher can also assign
specific standard-based lessons to an individual student. Lastly, the
teacher gets a weekly report on where the student is at in the
learning course.
• The app is easy to use, it uses the answer a question and play
method, so students know what to do when a question is shown on
their screen. The app also has a feature where students are read the
questions to and can freeze the screen and use drawing features to
work out the questions.
• Prodigy allows users and parents to correct or delete personal
information they do not wish to share from the data.
 Pink Cat

• Pink Cat is a free website that offers over 200

math and ESL games and questions created
by teachers. Pink Cat is also fitting for SLPs
and Special Education students. With Pink
Cat, teachers have the ability to assign
lessons to the students or let the students
have free choice and pick their own learning
games.
Rationale
• Pink Cat allows for fluency math and reading practice. The questions in this
app are focused on speed and accuracy. It is intended for whole group, small
group, or independent group use. Pink Cat does not provide feedback as data
to be reviewed but it does go back and show the student the correct
answers. Pink Cat is intuitive with drag and drop features and option based
questions.
• Pink cat does not advertise information or sell, they are also, “COPPA, FERPA,
and GDPR compliant.”
• The skills that Pink Cat highlights are developmentally appropriate, however,
Pink cat does not follow a set curriculum, just grade level appropriateness.
Pink Cat is easy to follow, the student begins by selecting their grade level
and picks a game according to that level.
 ABCya!

• ABC ya is a free website that carries over

300 learning games that are catered to
students in PreK all the way up to 6th grade.
There is a variety of topics the student can
pick from such as: math, science, and
reading. This introduces a different style to
learning about these school subjects.
Rationale
• Abc Ya! Follows a curriculum standards game selection. The selection includes:
math, reading, skills, holiday, and strategy games. This app does not give
feedback but it does list what exact learning targets the student is working on
within the game chosen. The app has a section for skills and strategies that
encourage critical thinking and problem-solving skills, outside of school
subjects.
• ABC Ya is easy to use, except for it doesn’t read the instructions to the students.
They have to read the instructions to play.
• ABC Ya does collect information, however it does not share that information
with other sites. The app overall is very user friendly and it allows the parents
to know exactly what skill targets their student is working on when they play on
ABC Ya.
 PBS KIDS

• PBS KIDS is an application that

allows students to explore “360
learning” through educational
games and educational videos
that cater to a student’s learning
through the exploration of new
topics, critical thinking, and
educational storytelling.
Rationale
• A specific use in the classroom for PBS is for independent time or for
research purposes. PBS kids has shows that are catered to learning about
topics that could be used for real life application knowledge in the classroom.
PBS Kids does not provide feedback but it does however it does encourage
real life skills.
• The app is easy to use the layout is simple: games or videos. The app is set up
to where the student can pick a character and then the various activities that
have to do with the character show up. The app uses audio instructions
within the games and videos, therefore making it easy for a child to navigate.
• PBS protects the users name, birthday, and other information- that isn’t
information being shared.
 epic!
• Epic is a free app that allows the
students to have access to free books.
This platform gives access to
audiobooks, independent-read books,
books that are read to the student, and
videos that cover educational topics.
Epic has a variety of topics and
language options. This platform also
offers quizzes, personal libraries, and
allows parents or teachers to assign the
student a book.
Rationale
• Epic can be used during reading time in a classroom, or center time, it can be
a replacement for a hardcopy book, since epic provides more features and
easy access to literature. Epic does not provide feedback, however, it does
provide quizzes after certain books, teachers can use that as feedback on
reading comprehension. The app encourages students to explore related
books to the ones they have shown interest in, allow them to discover new
books.
• Epic is intuitive, and easy to use, the student picks and plays a book, the
mannerism of “turning the page” is the same as in real-life. Epic is for 24/7
use, there is a paid version that unlocks other titles.
• Epic’s privacy protection does not have ads, does not sell the information
they have, and are COPPA and FERPA compliant.
 StarFall ABCs

• Starfall is a free application and is

intended for lower elementary
students to beginning readers. Starfall
focuses on letter sounds, letter names,
and word building within the student’s
grade ability. Starfall has a variety of
games that supports phonemic
awareness.
Rationale
• Starfall ABC can be used for center time, reading reinforcement, or for
individual use. The games do not provide feedback but do have
developmentally appropriate games for emerging readers.
• The app encourages visual and auditory senses to learn new words,
sounds, and it is interactive and allows the student to participate in
picking answers. Starfall is easy to use, the student clicks on the
highlighted areas to advance in the videos, and can pick games to
play.
• Starfall ABC does not sell information and does not contain ads.
 Brain Pop

• Brain Pop is catered mostly for schools but it

also has a feature that can be used at home
for families. For teachers, Brain Pop has a
variety of grade level curriculum-aligned
videos with quizzes and activities. The teacher
can assign those or do them as a whole group.
The app is also designed to track the student’s
learning targets through the quizzes and
activities provided on the platform.
Rationale
• Brain Pop can be done as a whole group or independent work, it can also serve as
data intake for teachers. When the quize is done, it shows the student the correct
answer and gives them a grade. This allows the student to look back and reflect on
what they missed. Brain Pop has learning targets that are in the student’s grade
level, it is intereactive- is stops and asks the student real life questions to engage
them and create a conversation about the learning in the classroom. This app is
easy to use, but it is intended for more independent readers such as third grade
and up.
• The privacy policy offered is that Brain Pop does not sell your information and
follows the COPPA and FERPA policies. The data collected by the app is also,
limited.
• The app has intuitive directions, during the video it will pause itself to create critical
thinking within the student.
 GoNoodle

• GoNoodle is a free app, there is a school

version that provides other features and
content. GoNoodle is catered to the
Music and Arts aspect of learning. The
main integration that GoNoodle adds is
music and movement. There is a learning
section for curriculum subjects and
learning targets. Students here are
encourages to move, sing, and dance
while they learn.
Rationale
• GoNoodle is intened for movement, so in a classroom setting, I believe whole
group or small group would work. At home, students can also go back to visit the
page to do on their own time at home. GoNoodle has paper activities but it does
not provided feedback on them. The app encourages movement and verbal
engagement as a form of higher thinking and long-term memory. This app is user
friendly, although it is mostly catered to grades K-6. It is intuitive, meaning that
the student picks a video and the video tells them what to say, what to do, and
how to do it. There are sing alongs, dance alongs, interactive videos, and read
alouds on this platform of various learning subjects. what kind of privacy does it
offer?
• Go Noodle does collect and keep data from adult users such as parents and
teachers and may allow interest-related ads to pop up during the user’s time on
GoNoodle. GoNoodle does comply with COPPA.
 Khan Academy Kids

• Khan academy is a learning app targeted

to students who are ages 2 to 8. This app
has no ads and is free of charge. This app
allows teachers to also make use of the
app by having curriculum related videos,
lessons, and printable work. Khan
Academy has subjects such as reading,
math, letter work, and critical thinking
activities.
Rationale
• Khan Academy can be used during independent time or small group center
time. Khan Academy reads instructions aloud to students, it is user friendly
and it allows for interactive activities, that has the student retry if they do not
show mastery in it. This app encourages students to keep learning through
the cycle path that Khan Academy math has. They follow a “path” to be able
to move onto the next curriculum-appropriate skill in the program.
• Khan Academy encourages critical thinking, logical thinking, and motor skills
through its activities.
• Khan Academy does collect some information about the adults on the
account and does sell information to “trusted vendors”. This app follows
COPPA and FERPA for school use, and for home use they do not collect
information on children younger than 13.
 Barefoot World Atlas

• Barefoot World Atlas is an app designed to educate studnts about

other countries, continents, oceans, and land facts. This is meant to
bring in a 3D experience to this information with detailed facts. This
app does not contain games, it is meant for independent readers
Rationale- not finished
• specific uses in the classroom
• does it provide student feedback? how?
• what kind of higher learning thinking skills does the app encourage?
• ease of use...is it intuitive? how?
• what kind of privacy does it offer?
• are the skills reinforced connected to your curriculum
standards/student outcomes?
• does the app provide easy to follow and comprehensive instructions?
provide details