Writing App Reviews

• **Apps we decided to use in the classroom.
  
  

  **Sentence Reading Magic - Free ($.99 for full version) by Preschool UniversityYear Published:  The app has 2 parts. Sentence Building You can choose 2 or 3 word sentences in the free app. There is a picture and three  words spread out on the page. There is audio that says the sentence. You then put the  sentence into the correct order by sliding the scrambled words into boxes at the bottom  of the page. There is classical musical playing in the background on each screen. It does  15 sentences per set. I used this at the beginning of the year and reflected it onto the  whiteboard.We then talked together about beginning and ending letter sounds, periods, capitals and sentence structure. It is a little simplistic for students who can already read  fairly well. Sentence Reading You read the sentence. If you can’t read the sentence you can press on each word and it  will say it. You can then click on the blank square and a picture that matches the  sentence will appear and the sentence is read aloud. The sentences are very generic.  Ex: The men tug. Jan hit it. The full version and some of the other apps created by the  author can help make the experience more complex. The sentences go to 2 – 6 word  sentences and there are more sound and font options.

• **Sock Puppets- Free ($3.99 for full version) by Smith Micro Software, IncYear Published:  Sock Puppets is a favorite app. First you select your characters (sock puppets & some  other creatures). Then you select your background. Next you select props and scenery.  When you are done with these 3steps you are ready to animate. Push the record button  and record your voice asyou move the puppets around the screen. Save your video and  you can share it on Faceboook, Youtube, or to your photos. This is a great way for  students to animate their writing.

• **Write About This - Free ($3.99 for full version) by RSA Group, LLCYear Published:  This is the app we have tried out as a class a few times,but it has been a bit complicated  to get the writing to the teacher. What we liked about this app was that it has ready-made  prompts with pictures. You can search topics, pick by category, choose a random prompt,  or create your own.When you create your own, you have to create the prompt first and  then write about it. I made the mistake of having my kids write their entry in the spotty  were suppose to write their prompt. You can then save your prompts to use later. You  can turn these items on or off. Text prompts, voice prompts, spell check, create custom,  and share by email with a place to enter the To: email. I have just found this as I am  typing this review. I will have to test it out immediately. It also has 3 prompt levels.  We will still have to set up some kind of class email, but I can set the default email to  mine, so they won’t have to enter it. You can also ave the writing gallery to your own  gallery, publish with audio and send it to your camera roll. The last one is how we then airdropped the writing to the teacher iPad. No filter on this iPad for inappropriate words.  I found this out when 2 students came up and told me a bad word had shown up when  they were doing voice to text writing.

• iDiary - Free ($1.99 for full version) by Tipitap, IncYear Published:  It is another journal where you can have multiple journalson one iPad. In this app you  can type, draw, add stickers, photos and share itif you have the full version. ($1.99)  You can also pull photos from your camera into your very own scrapbook. Each  journal can be password protected and you can enter the teacher email for password  retrieval. There are a lot more features that I am unable to test out unless I have the  full version. I think this would be a great tool during our journaling unit next year and  also aplace for our kids to reflect at the end of the day. This app also does not have a  filter for inappropriate words.

• Jumbled Sentences 1 - Free by Innovative Net Learning LimitedYear Published:  This app has words on a ferris wheel that are turning. You have to figure out what  sentence the word makes. You then drag the words down to the bottom of the page to  make the sentence. Level 3 adds extra words and with the wheels spinning, it is extra  challenging. I really like this app.

• Kid's Journal - Free by App of Approval, LLCYear Published:  It is an actual journal format with the date, You then get 3 pictures to choose from about how you feel, 3 for where you are located, and three for the weather. You can then take a photo of the day. There is a small area for some text. You can then export the current entry, all entries or between specific dates to airdrop or other specified apps. Ours will export to ibooks, bookpress, noteability, printerpro, edmodo, office, chrome, blio, showme, idoceo, and google drive. The kids do not have all those apps available, but I do. You can add multiple journals to the home pages, so each child could have their own journal, even if you had only one iPad. It looks a little too simplistic for general writing, but it might have been a nice route to go when we were doing journal entries at the beginning of the year. I really want them doing entries on paper though, so they can practice handwriting at the beginning of the year. Sadly it does not have a filter on inappropriate words.