Tense Builder By Mobile Education Store ~ Review

Tense Builder, another in a great line up of apps brought to you by Mobile Education Store. In Tense builder you are given animated videos that teach your child or student how to use the past, present and future tense. Currently the video library has 48 different videos, so it takes quite a while to cycle through them. The ages for this app are from 3-6 and 6-10. 

For this review I used both my 7yr old son with Autism and my NT 10yr old. Both thoroughly enjoyed the app, while it has learning aspects it comes across fun! 

There are two different levels in this app. In the first level you are given pictures to choose from after the video is played to choose the correct answer. In the second level you are given parts to the sentence to choose from and the words are said aloud as they are chosen 

A few of the key things I really liked about this app was when you get wrong answers. Most apps give a buzz or ding when a wrong answer is chosen allowing the child to keep pressing till they get the right one. With Tense Builder when a wrong answer is chosen they are given examples of why the answer was wrong and the variations of the tense and what each one would be. Even with a second wrong answer chosen and second video is given but this time with pauses and a extra scene to further explain the use of future, past and present tense. Another thing I liked about this app was the ability to set up the lessons for specific learning and either chose short or long lessons.  In the main menu you can chose what tense to work on and whether or not you want it to be the short lesson or long lesson.

This is a great app for a teachable skill, my kids struggle with the difference between past, present and future tense. The app doesn't feel bogged down, but fun and enjoyable.

While the price leaves much to be desired if you have the money for it, it is well worth the price. 

Here is also the preview video for the app!

REVIEW: Sentence Builder - Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade by Abitalk

REVIEW

 Sentence Builder - Kindergarten, First Grade, Second Grade 

by Abitalk

I was fortunate to win a code for this App on Abitalk's Facebook Page during the week and I am SO impressed with it that I thought I'd write my first blog review about it!  I am always on the lookout for good apps to help specifically with Speech Therapy sessions I do at home with my 3 children who have Autism Spectrum Disorders.  Sentence Builder will now be used on a daily basis both at home and in their School settings.

Sentence Builder is not only great for teaching younger children how to structure a sentence correctly - but is an excellent tool to use for building receptive speech skills and will also help to build your child's vocabulary. 

Level 1:

Level 1 has 35 pre-installed simple sentences starting at 3-word sentences and gradually increases to 9-word sentences. Some of which also include days of the week (in sequence) for children to learn at the same time. There are no incorrect words added into this level, so there is less room for error from the child that is beginning to learn sentence structure and spelling.

Level 2:

Level 2 also has 35 pre-installed sentences which range from 3-9 word sentences.  In this level however, there are additional words added in to be able to chosen from.  In some pictures there are also capitalized words and also all lower-case words in which your child has to choose the correct option in order to build the sentence correctly. 

Create your own lesson:

It's important for me to be able to customize apps to suit my children and Sentence Builder has this important feature as well!  It's easy and quick to add a sentence and simple to edit if you make a mistake. You just have to choose a picture from your Camera Roll, then type your sentence and record the sentence.  You then record each individual word and can add extra words (like in Level 2) if you want. 

General Information:

When you touch a word it says it out aloud which is a helpful feature for children who are in the early stages of learning how to spell.  The voice-over on the pre-installed sentences is very clear and easy to understand. If your child gets distracted or stuck, you can push the sound button for the sentence to be repeated.  

There is a nice little round of applause when you build the sentence correctly by dragging the words and full stop or question/exclamation mark to the column at the bottom of the page. Alternatively there is a game show-like sound when you do not place the words in the correct order.

I love that Sentence Builder has realistic and colorful but not over-stimulating (for my kids with ASD) images.

Suggestions for the Developer:

I think it may be a little more motivating for children if a rewards system was also built into the app - for instance simple 'stickers' that they can collect for each 5 or 7 correctly built sentences.  

It would also be great to see updates released around the different holidays for specific sentences relative to the events that take place around that time.

Video Demonstrations of Sentence Builder:

Level 1 and 2

Create your own lesson

Buy Sentence Builder:

iTunes Store