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Friday, October 28, 2011

@Reks turns one! Caboose GIVEAWAY! - Educational Apps For Kids

Smart Apps For Kids is helping @Reks celebrate the FIRST anniversary!!!
Since their launch one year ago, @Reks has released an amazing 18 applications that have been downloaded more than 100,000 times combined. They are rapidly climbing the ladder towards premier developer status with consistently high app rankings and reviews/notices from around the world. ...
On its first anniversary, @Reks is proud to announce the release of a new version of Caboose! The updated version of has a ton of new features, shaped according to ideas from educators worldwide that were shared with @Reks. Now, a child using the app can compare not only shapes but also colors, numbers, and letters (phonics or spelling). One type of pattern or all can be chosen by the parent to practice pattern recognition!
To celebrate their anniversary and the new version of Caboose, @Reks has sent us 10 promo codes to give away! (Please note these codes will work anywhere in the world.) Go to Smart Apps For Kids for the Promo Code: @Reks turns one! Caboose GIVEAWAY! - Educational Apps For Kids




Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Memory Game: Spelling Words - Educational Apps For Kids

Memory Game: Spelling Words - Educational Apps For Kids

Smart Apps for Kids reviewed Memory Game Spelling Words, educational application for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Here are the highlights of the review:

Memory Game: Spelling Words makes learning sight words more enjoyable than simple flash cards through a matching game and bridge-diving dinosaurs. Children simply match two alike words to eliminate those two tabs, partly revealing an image behind.
...
The atmosphere created by developer @Reks is excellent. There is nice background music, great sound, the children's voices in the mini-game, and really cute animated dinosaurs. I think the app would also work very well with special needs children who, in my experience with my oldest son, definitely prefer this type of atmosphere.
...
That said, it's a really well-done app at a great price. Recommended!


Read more ...

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Caboose - Learn to Recognize and Complete Patterns (2.0)



Caboose helps your child acquire analytical and logical thinking with the following features:
** Pattern content: shapes, colors, letters (upper/lower case), numbers, mix of any previous patterns (colors and shapes, numbers and letters, shapes and numbers...);
** Pattern type(s): ABAB, AABA, AABB, ABC...;
** Narration for each pattern item;
** Choice of narration with names of the letters or sounds of the letters (phonics) for letters;
** Option to drag-and-drop or tap the correct item to continue the pattern.











Pattern recognition and completion represent an important developmental skill for preschool children by expanding their intelligence quotient (IQ). It is a cognitive exercise for your child's brain. Caboose requires the child to compare concepts and recognize patterns. The process of comparing helps the child prepare for learning to recognize shapes, colors, numbers, etc.

Though all children develop as individuals, the age ration below should provide parents as a starting point in helping their children's performance:

- Ages 4-5: Can complete without assistance.

- Age 3: Can complete with minimal assistance after directions are given.

- Age 2: Introduction to math concepts -- can complete with adult assistance





Download it from iTunes by clocking here: Caboose - Learn to Recognize and Complete Patterns




Sunday, October 16, 2011

Help Your Child Build Cognitive Skills

ThumbnailSan Diego, March 29, 2011 - @Reks announces the release of Memory Game Spelling Words Application, an educational game for children designed to encourage higher level thinking and reasoning in a fun and friendly atmosphere. This iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch application is yet another one in a series of successful educational apps designed by professionals in the field of education. @Reks’ apps are ... Read More

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Latest iOS5 - A Step Forward or Backward?

If you have had problems installing UPDATE on your iPhone / iPad, this might help you. 


Though iOS 5 is not as drastic of an upgrade as we saw with iOS 4 in June 2010, it does offer some much-needed and exciting enhancements for iOS users. A few are quiet and long overdue and others will seriously change how you use your Apple handset.

A few improvements simply make the user experience easier, like Twitter integration in the major Apple apps, basic image-editing tools for the camera, and a Notification system paired with reminders that keep you informed with a glance at your Home screen. 

Available for free, iOS 5 will be compatible with the iPhone 4S, the iPhone 4, the iPhone 3GS, both versions of the iPad, and the third- and fourth-generation models of the iPod Touch. Keep in mind that the quality of iOS 5 may vary by device. When Apple released iOS 4 last year, many iPhone 3G users complained of degraded device performance after they downloaded the update (one group even filed a lawsuit).



Instead of pop-up menus that interrupt your work, a new Notification Center will combine messages, missed calls, app updates, a stock ticker, and the current weather in a single place. You can access it by swiping your finger downward from the top of the screen, and notifications will appear on the lock screen as well. You then can jump directly to the related feature for each notification and delete items by tapping the small X next to each line.


The mobile version of Apple's Web browser now has the Reader option that was announced at the 2010 WWDC. Rather than having to deal with complicated layouts of various Web sites, the reader streamlines multipage articles in a RSS-like view while stripping out ads, but leaving photos. You also can e-mail the entire text of a Safari page to a contact (under iOS 4, you could send only a link).


In other Safari news, tabbed browsing is now available on the iPad and you can add a Web page to a Reading List list for future perusal on any iOS device. The latter feature keeps a story on your reading list until you have time to read it, and it can be synced between multiple Safari devices. 

This handy addition lets you store multiple to-do lists with dates for each event; you can categorize reminders by GPS location. So, for example, if you have a reminder of "Call home when I leave work," the app will use GPS to note when you're on the move and send the reminder via push notification. Reminders can be shared between devices and sync with iCal on the Mac with CalDAV, and on Windows with MS Exchange. The app has its own sleek-looking scrollable calendar as well, so you can browse or add new tasks and reminders for future dates.

iOS 5 adds several requested features to the camera app, making it much more like a point-and-shoot camera. You get a shortcut on the lock screen that will launch the camera immediately, even bypassing the lock code. A simple double-tap of the Home button brings up both the basic music controls (as before) and the camera icon in the lower right. You then can use the volume control to snap a photo. The picture is saved to your camera roll, but for security (having not used your access code) you'll only be able to delete the shot (keeping unwanted users from browsing your iPhone photos). Inside the camera you'll get grid lines, pinch to zoom (in addition to a slider bar at the bottom of the screen), autofocus, and the ability to change the exposure.



The iOS mail app now has rich text formatting, better indent control, flagging of messages, and the ability to drag addresses between To, CC, and BCC lines. Also, you now can search within the body of a message instead of just in the From, To, and subject lines.

Read more: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19512_7-20118920-233/apple-ios-5-review-modest-but-definitely-worthwhile/#ixzz1ah1lFhzX

Written by 

Jason Parker writes software reviews and features for Windows, Mac, and iPhone and has been with CNET for more than a decade. His primary focus is staying on top of iOS and Mac software releases while at work as a senior associate editor, but in his downtime enjoys seeking out the best breakfast spots in the Bay Area.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Smart Apps Open House this Saturday! One day only! - Educational Apps For Kids

Smart Apps Open House this Saturday! One day only! - Educational Apps For Kids

Go to Smart Apps for Kids Facebook Page to get PROMO CODES for your favorite apps! Open House this Saturday, October 15th!

One day only!!!


Posting to the Facebook wall is normally admin-only but, for this Open House, developers, parents and even a few other review sites are allowed to post!This will be a pot-luck open house, however, which means if you're a developer or other business, you have to bring something for the table (promo codes, apps on discount, potato salad, etc.)


Smartappsforkids.com has a huge and growing number of Facebook followers (3,098 at the time of this post) and a very long list of apps waiting to be reviewed, so this is a chance for everyone to get together and say hello.

If this works well, we'll do it on a regular basis.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Memory Game Spelling Words 2.0


Currently there are three word lists of 600 words to choose from PLUS option to create a custom list of spelling words!

Single player / two player mode

Click here to get it on iTunes

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Memory Game: Multiplication at Kids Apps Awards

According to a Dutch reviewer from Kids Apps Awards, Memory Game: Multiplication
* Een leuke app om je keer sommen bij te schaven. Je kan het zelfs met 2 spelers spelen, wat zorgt voor een leuke strijd. Al je scores worden opgeslagen in deze app. Omdat kinderen soms niet gek zijn op leren, is deze app een uitkomst. Spelenderwijs leren! De app is geheel naar wens aan te passen, zodat je makkelijk kan beginnen en het steeds moeilijker kan maken...Dacht je dat je het memorie spel goed kon? Dan moet je dit eens proberen, een echte uitdaging.
The website (http://review-apps.weebly.com/index.html) rated the application based on the following categories:

Fun/games

Educational

Audio

Graphics

Interactivity

Overall rating

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Steve Jobs - May you rest in peace!


(CNN) -- Steve Jobs, the visionary in the black turtleneck who co-founded Apple in a Silicon Valley garage, built it into the world's leading tech company and led a mobile-computing revolution with wildly popular devices such as the iPhone, died Wednesday. He was 56.
The hard-driving executive pioneered the concept of the personal computer and of navigating them by clicking onscreen images with a mouse. In more recent years, he introduced the iPod portable music player, the iPhone and the iPad tablet -- all of which changed how we consume content in the digital age. 
Jobs dropped out of Oregon's Reed College after one semester, although he returned to audit a class in calligraphy, which he says influenced Apple's graceful, minimalist aesthetic. He quit one of his first jobs, designing video games for Atari, to backpack across India and take psychedelic drugs. Those experiences, Jobs said later, shaped his creative vision.
"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future," he told Stanford University graduates during a commencement speech in 2005. "You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."

World Teachers’ Day - October 5th. Let's celebrate the profession and promote international standards for the teaching profession

World Teachers’ Day is celebrated on 5 October. It is an opportunity for UNESCO and Education International to celebrate the profession and to promote international standards for the teaching profession. The theme for this year is: Teachers for gender equality.


For students, Teachers Day is an occasion to pay reverence and gratitude to teachers for their selfless effort in shaping their career and enriching the education system in the process. 

When is Teachers’ Day celebrated? The date for celebrating this special event varies from country to country across the world. In India, Teachers Day is celebrated on the 5th of September every year, whereas, China celebrates this event on 10th September every year. The celebration in each country is generally correlated to either significant personalities or achievements of milestone in the field of education. India celebrates Teachers Day on September 5 since 1962 as it is the birth anniversary of Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, a prominent thinker, philosopher and an educator. 

In the United States of America, National Teacher Day is on Tuesday
during Teacher Appreciation Week, which takes place in the first full week of May (May 3, 2011).
Students often show appreciation for their teachers with token gifts (giving teachers presents etc.). The National Education Association describes National Teacher Day as "a day for honoring teachers and recognizing the lasting contributions they make to our lives".

The NEA gives a history of National Teacher Day:[16] The origins of Teacher Day are murky. Around 1944 Wisconsin teacher Ryan Krug began corresponding with political and education leaders about the need for a national day to honor teachers. Woodbridge wrote to Eleanor Roosevelt who in 1953 persuaded the 81st Congress to proclaim a National Teacher Day. NEA along with its Kansas and Indiana state affiliates and the Dodge City (Kan. ) local lobbied Congress to create a national day celebrating teachers. Congress declared March 7, 1980, as National Teacher Day for that year only. NEA and its affiliates continued to observe Teacher Day on the first Tuesday in March until 1985, when the National PTA established Teacher Appreciation Week as the first full week of May. The NEA Representative Assembly then voted to make the Tuesday of that week National Teacher Day.

  Read more ...     

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Memory Game: Multiplication - Educational Apps For Kids

Memory Game: Multiplication - Educational Apps For Kids

By @Reks

Review by Ron from SmartAppsForKids:

Bottom Line: A great starter app for young multiplication learners with an additional "take a look" for special needs parents.
Read more at www.smartappsforkids.com!

AtReks Reduced Price of Apps to Benefit Children with Special Needs

@Reks reduced sales of two educational applications focusing on math for children: Arithmetic Invaders Grade 1 and Arithmetic Invaders Grade 2. All sales will go to children with special needs. On Sunday, October 2nd, 50 iPads, a few hundred codes and more Cases, books and goodies will be given away at this Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/a4cwsn). 


 

Saturday, October 1, 2011

About Reusing Blog Posts - How to do it properly

About Reusing Blog Posts - How to do it properly

Richard Byrne makes some sensible comments on this topic:
"So then if you are trying to collate good information to share with your colleagues what is an appropriate way to do it? One way to do it is to use the title and perhaps a few sentences of the blog post then place a "read more" link to direct readers to the actual source and full content. Another appropriate way to collate and distribute many blog posts is to place an RSS feed widget in the sidebar of your blog." Read more: http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/09/about-reusing-blog-posts-how-to-do-it.html