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Following the launch by Bloomsbury earlier in 2014 of the Let’s do Mental Maths apps for ages 6-7 and 10-11, the full set for the primary range is now available. Designed to improve children’s confidence in maths whether they are working in class with a teacher or at home with parents, the apps have already had awards success.
Last Friday the app for ages 6-7 won Best Children’s Digital Non-Fiction Book at the Bookseller Futurebook Innovation awards. They also recently won a Gold Award from Primary Teacher Update in their annual assessment of the best resources in the market.
According to Shaun Hopper, Primary Teacher, St Patricks Catholic Voluntary Academy, Sheffield (Maths, ICT and Teaching and Learning Leader) “I got some kids to play on it in a few maths lessons and they absolutely loved it…I have already recommended it to the children in my class as App of the Week.”
The apps support KS1 and KS2 SATs preparation, as well as being extremely engaging and rewarding. Questions are provided in audio as well as text form, perfect for home and classroom settings.
You can find the apps in the app store here.
For a guide to the Starter Questions section watch the introductory video at http://vimeo.com/89315378.
There are three main quiz areas:
1. Starter questions – a quick selection of random questions which are different every time and provide an excellent ‘warm-up’ activity.
2. Progress tests – 7 sets of 20 questions to grade your maths ability and track your score. These are matched to National Curriculum expected progress.
3.Practice quizzes – 9 categories of practice questions: Place Value, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Fractions, Time, Measure and Shape. A near unlimited quiz set to double check your new skills.
The Results feature allows children to set up profiles and monitor results including % right, number taken and average time per quiz. The sharing and printing support includes the ability to airdrop questions to get help and share results.
The apps are based on the works of Andrew Brodie, formerly a head teacher for twelve years after many successful years in the primary classroom. He began writing his bestselling educational books in 1992 and since then has established himself as a name that teachers have come to trust. He is still very much involved in education and continues to teach on a regular basis.
Find him on Twitter @ABrodieWriter