Thursday is App Day: Splash Math

Last week I wrote about Showme, an incredible app for getting students to explain their thinking. My next featured app is Fourth Grade Math: Splash Math Worksheets. I initially began with the lite version and I purchased the full version for $9.99, a steeper price tag than I generally pay for apps. It has been worth every penny.

Splash Math has several categories that include place value, basic operations, fractions, decimals, measurement and geometry. Within each of the categories, there are several levels of activities that students can complete. One of my students had been struggling with understanding fractions. I was constantly drawing pictures for her and looking for manipulatives to help her. This app has specific activities that provide visualization and interactive models. Additionally, I am able to track her progress as she works through sets of activities. Each set has between 20 and 25 questions and the app provides a scratch pad that students can use as needed to perform calculations.

When students begin to work on Splash Math, they choose an avatar and establish a personal profile. When they work on it, they sign in and the program logs, tracks, and monitors their progress. Within the controls, I can see usage, generated recommendations, and graphs of their progress. I can also assign them specific activities to do. I have even signed up to have reports emailed to me so I receive weekly reports for each student who uses Splashmath.

I have not deeply explored other grade level versions of the Splash Math programs and apps. If anyone has and can attest to their usefulness, I'd love to hear from you. Additionally, the program had an issue with iOS 5.1 and the makers are issuing an update this week so this should not remain a problem. As a teacher of upper elementary students, I am also looking forward to programs for fifth and sixth graders that may be created in the future and I hope that they will reflect the impending Common Core Standards.