Free Math Manipulatives for the iPad

Here is a collection of free math manipulatives for the iPad.  A great tool box for many elementary math classrooms.

I'm going to define a math manipulative as a tool which allows users to explore mathematical concepts.  These manipulatives are not games, but instead used for open ended exploration.

Elementary

• Number Places - Ten Frames and more, include 5 frames, 20 frames, and even 100 frames.

• Tangram XL Free - Use plain black and white tangram pieces to create.

• Geoboard - Create shapes using rubber bands and explore many geometric concepts.

• Number Pieces Basic - A basic set of base 10 blocks to explore place value, addition, and subtraction.

• Number Pieces - Base 10 blocks with more features.

• Number Line - Explore number line counting and mathematical concepts.

• Virtual Manipulatives! - Explore with fraction strips, decimal strips, or percent strips.

Secondary

• Geometry Pad - Explore all geometric concepts including lines, angles, shapes, and more.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Kahoot or Quizizz - Game Based Classroom Response Systems

These two free, device neutral, online resources are sure to bring high engagement and active participation into any classroom.  The idea is simple, students answer questions in a competitive atmosphere, there will be a winner.

For both Kahoot and Quizizz, the facilitator creates a series of questions to be answered by the participants.  Each question can have a time limit before the participant must select a response.  The quicker the participant chooses a response, the more points they earn providing their choice was correct.

Using Kahoot, the questions are asked to the participants one at a time.  Participants view the projected screen, answer a question by selecting the corresponding color on their device, points are awarded, and a new question is provided.  When finished, persons with the most points will be displayed.

Using Quizizz, the facilitator starts the activity at which time participants are given questions in a random order.  The participants read the questions on their device and answer them at their own pace.  Once all participants complete the activity, persons with the most points will be displayed.


Quizizz would be a great tool to use for an entire class, or as a center since it is student driven.  Kahoot is teacher driven providing time for discussion between each question being asked.

I've tried using both resources with groups of at least 40, and each time they worked fine.

Both Kahoot and Quizizz allows teachers to create their own questions, which can include images. When finished with the activity, the teacher can save the data describing how students answered each question. Teachers can explore through the many public assessments created and shared by others.

In either case, these opportunities provide a nice review experience or possibly a motivating pre-assessment experience.  Definitely stated, the experience will be fun, highly energetic, and competitive.

Elevate - Train Your Brain

Voted as one of the top apps in 2014, Elevate is a nice iPhone, iPad, or Android app which offers a wide variety of tasks focused on all parts of your brain.

You begin using the app by creating your account and taking a placement activity so your brain practice is adaptive to your needs.

The app is free, however you can upgrade to the premium version.  With the premium version you get access to additional games and your growth is charted against others online.

There are nearly 20 games in five areas of brain training including reading, writing, listening, speaking, and math.

 

Each day three different tasks, which take about 5-10 minutes, are available for you to complete.  Elevate then charts your individual growth over a period of time which you can access at any time by checking your performance.

This app would be perfect for a personalized middle school or high school 1-1 environment so students can track their improvement over the course of a month, semester, or year.  As a teacher, take 5-10 minutes during the evenings and Elevate your brain, which probably can be done during a commercial set while you are relaxing on the couch.

Jefferson Lab - Science Education Resources

There are several National Science Laboratories in the United States.  One of these, the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility (Jefferson Lab), has a nice collection of  resources for middle school and high school science classrooms.

The Jefferson Lab Science Education site, iPad and chromebook friendly, contains resources for the teacher and student, including loads of games and videos, to assist with the physical science classrooms.  

Games can include Element Hangman

Or Speed Math Deluxe.

 

Watch videos from the Frostbite Theater where Joanna and Steve provide you with many liquid nitrogen experiments, as well as other scientific eye catching topics.  These videos are typically 1-4 minutes in length.





Another video series hosted at Jefferson Lab is Physics Out Loud containing 1-4 minute videos regarding many explanation of common words used in nuclear physics research.

If you are interested in hearing a 40 minute lecture from highly credible scientists, check out archived science lectures from as far back as the early 90's. Many interesting topics to choose from.


Again, a nice collection resources to help students learn and review physical science concepts.

Photomath - Mobile Device Solves Math Problems

 

I remember teaching Advanced Math in High School, and often times I would randomly write down a few Algebra problems for students to solve.  However, I also needed to solve them to generate a key.  Even though that isn't a huge hurdle, there is an app for that.

Photomath, available for most any mobile device.  Yes, using the camera you get the problem into your viewfinder, and the expression is either simplified or the equation is solved.  You don't even have to key in the problem.

 

You can examine the steps taken to solve the problem.

 

The app also contains a history of all the equations or expressions you've scanned.

This would be a nice tool for students to use in order to check that they complete practice problems correctly. 

At this time the app can simplify arithmetic expressions, interpret fractions, decimals, powers, and roots, and solve linear equations.  It can't comprehend higher level math like Trigonometry or Calculus, yet.  Hopefully in the future, as the app was released just a couple months ago.

CC Quest and Open Ed

We are always looking for ways to help prepare students and assist teachers not only for the shifts of the Common Core but also the increase of depth of knowledge levels and tech skills needed for the Smarter Balanced Assessment.  Using technology as a tool in the classroom has so many benefits, but in the case of the new assessments students will be taking this spring, the skills associated with how to use technology correctly could pose a problem for many of our students who do not have regular access within their regular curriculum.  From tech skills to questioning styles, rethinking how you traditionally assess your students will benefit them in more ways than one!

An easy way to do common core aligned quick checks for specific standards is using apps or sites such as Common Core Quest from Open Ed (app for iPad and Android).  CC Quest could be used in isolation or along with the main Open Ed website.  Open Ed is a classroom resource library of lessons, activities, videos, etc all aligned to the CCSS.   The app can be used as a stand alone.  Students would need to log in with their school google account, they can choose their grade level and either Math or ELA.  From there, each standard has a quick 3 to 5 problem quiz that assess their mastery of the standard.  If they do not do well, the app will suggest sites or videos to visit to continue practicing that skill.  This would be a great way for students to check mastery, as well as many questions have multiple parts, similar to the Smarter Balanced Assessment.

As a teacher, you can log in and create an account at Open Ed.  From there you are able to enter in students and establish usernames and passwords for them, especially for young students or students in districts were email use is not allowed.  Adding students into a class in the website will also allow for the teacher to monitor which standards students have taken and how they have done.  More features on the website include lessons and resources aligned to the standards that teachers can assign to the class.  Most resources are open source (free access) though there are also lesson and activities from some paid subscription sites.

It's worth the time to explore!

Number Line

Integrating Math Manipulatives into a classroom can provide a rich experience for kids learning about math concepts and number sense.  One manipulative that is most likely under utilized is the number line.


Clarity Innovations has created a free Number Line App for the iPad.  This app can be used to help students visualize the four major mathematical operations.


Options in the app allow you to change the tic marks for several different common increments, or you can even enter in your own custom numbering.  There is a setting for tic mark spacing, and a setting to cover up the tic mark labels. 



















 Once you adjust your settings, you can use the text tool to type in numeric expressions or equations.

 

Finally there is a jump tool where you can bring in your jumps, as many as you like, both forward and backwards for addition and subtraction.  The jump interval can be manipulated to be as long or short as you wish, with the interval visible or not. 

 

An annotation tool allows you to add free hand items for additional clarity.

 

Currently this app is limited to just positive numbers. Several people have posted comments requesting to have the number line extend into negative numbers.  The app also does not provide a way to share your work, so if you want students to create images they would need to take a screen shot of their iPad using Home - ON/OFF sequence.

The Number Line App is a great resource for elementary students learning the concepts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division while also strengthening their number sense.

Math Tappers - A Suite of Free iPad/iPhone Apps

Are you looking for some iPhone or iPad apps that allow students to practice particular math skills that seem to be keeping them behind the pace of a class?  Look into MathTappers Apps and check out the apps they have to offer.

• Math Tappers Numberline  Students practice placing numbers on a numberline under a variety of options, such as between 0-100, between 0-10, or between -10-10, and with or without tic marks.

 

• Math Tappers Fund Sums  Students practice addition facts for sums totaling 5, 6, 7, on up to 20, or 100.  Students can play in a ten frames mode viewing a picture version of the sum or view the numeric representation of each sum.

• Math Tappers Multiples Students practice multiplication facts for products equaling 5, 6, 7 on up to 15, or 25.  Students can play in apple mode which provides a picture representation of a multiplication array, or view the numeric representation of each product.

• Math Tappers ClockMaster Students practice converting different representations of a traditional analog clock into a corresponding digital representation or even as text.

• Math Tappers Estimate Fractions  Students practice their understanding of fraction representation by relating them to the nearest half, and extend their understanding by completing addition and subtraction problems.

• Math Tappers Equivalents  Students practice learning the equivalent representations between fractions, decimals, and percents using a number line, circle graph, or array model.

• Math Tappers Carbon Choices  Students track their activity for a week to determine how green their lifestyle is towards the environment as the app calculates the amount of Carbon Dioxide is emitted into the air from their consumptions.

Each MathTapper App is free to use, and without ads. Most of the Apps, all but Clock Master and Carbon Choices, track data for multiple users by allowing each user to complete the App activity under their own name.  Thus, the student and teacher can obtain feedback on progress gained over a time period.

MathTappers Apps are perfect for an iPad or iPod center, or if you only have one device and you let the students share.  If students have devices at home, these would also be perfect apps for kids to practice skills over the summer.

Klikaklu - Picture Matching Treasure Hunts

Are you familiar with Geocaching, where you use GPS to find a hidden treasure by navigating to a location and using some clues if necessary?  Do you remember the scavenger hunts you went on as a kids where you collected a series of objects from around the neighborhood?





Klikaklu is a free app available for iPhone, iPad, and even Android.  This free app allows you to navigate through a modern treasure hunt.  At each stop there is a photo, find the photo, match it with your iDevice, and proceed onto the next stage. If you complete the hunt successfully, a reward may be waiting on the end.

Where do you find these treasure hunts, or better yet, can you make them?  Klikaklu just revised their app so during the first seven days after installation you can create treasure hunts.  After seven days, you'll need to purchase the upgrade for $4.99 to be able to create new or modify existing treasure hunts.

When creating a Klikaklu hunt you will have two options, either linearly where students progress from clue to clue in order, or as a scavenger hunt where they get all the clues up front and can find them in any order.





This would be a great activity to have incoming students at your school, for instance Freshman orientation day, find different locations throughout the school property.

You could use this activity for regular classes where each stop is a question, math, science, or language arts, and they must generate answers along the way.  Klikaklu has this feature built in where you can have students answer multiple choice, true false, short text, or number questions at each clue and upon completion of the hunt.

For creative writers you could put stops where words are visible,  students must bring back the words they found, and when finished write a story using all the words they chose to bring back.

Klikaklu would be very entertaining for those special days throughout your school calendar. 

Who knows, maybe you'll find that pot of gold at the end of your next treasure hunt.

iPads Integrated into Math

GTKY - piccollage
SAMR/Flipped Classroom Discussion

Common Core Standards Initiative - Math

Objective: To be exposed to a few ideas and apps in several different implementation strategies using an iPad in a Math Class.


Using iPads to get immediate feedback from students

• InfuseLearning 

iPad compatible online resources, with teacher student reported data

• XtraMath (Mathfacts website)
• Happy  Numbers (Number Sense and Algorithm Practice)
• Manga High Math (Math Practice based on CCSS)
• Slader Math or Slader iTunes App (Check your textbook based math homework problems)  

Intervention, Drill and Practice Apps: The app will provide you with feedback

• Flash to Pass - Math Fact Practice
• Loot Pursuit or LP Talum - Middle School Math Concept Practice
• Common Core Concepts - Review of common core concepts
• ClockMaster - review clock basics
• Math Millionaire - An online site to review math skills, 3rd on up  

Apps With a Problem Solving Twist

• DeepSea Dual
• This=That
• 5Dice

Online Video Libraries: Online videos, some also pair with practice

• Khan Academy
• Hippocampus
• Math TV

Manipulatives and Online Tools Apps: The app allows for exploration, generally no feedback

• Geoboard
• Number Pieces Basic
• MyScript Calculator - a scribble interpretive calculator
• Fluid Math Free
• m.wolframalpha.com 
• Geogebra   http://www.geogebratube.org/
• Geometry Pad

Creating and Showing Work Apps: Screen casting or using an app to broadcast to class

• Educreation
• 30hands  
• BaiBoard
  

QR Code Integration into Math

• QR code Math Problems 
• QR Code Reader : I-nigma 
• For Chromebooks:  ScanQR app
• QR code generator
• QR Code implementation guide from Cool Cat

Teacher Resources

• K-5 Math Teaching Resources
• Mathematics Assessment Resource Service (MARS) Tasks
• Math Maven Mysteries
• Yummy Math 
• Edmodo community - use a free teacher account to gain access

App reviews and more from iDevice in the Mtns 

Apps from EdTechTeacher

Tech Links from IMESD

Targeting Maths Grade 2 is Free for Limited Time

If you are in the need of a nice math app tailored to review math topics typically found for grade 2 mathematics, download the app Targeting Maths 2 while it's free for a limited time.  Regularly $6.99.

You enter the app by creating your account on the iPad. This enables this app to be a great resource for an iPad center, since multiple students can use one iPad and have their individual progress saved under this one app.



Entering the activities area, students can choose between Training exercises or Timed exercises. 

In training excersise there are 9 different topics including number sense, addition, subtraction, fractions, and more.  Under each topic include several sub-topics, including math vocabulary.

 

Students are asked a variety of questions, in which the goal is to answer as many in a row as possible.  To check of you have completed a subtopic mastery, the student must have answered 10 questions in a row correctly, and at that point they earn a badge. They can try to obtain higher levels under each topic by answering correctly 25 or 50 in a row.

Timed topics are similar to training topics, but are provided in either 30 second, 1 minute, 2 minute, or 5 minute timed test environments.  Each timed test has 3 badge levels to achieve as well.

Badges are rewards for completing the activities with proficiency, which can be used to play one of two games called Exploding  Mice or Acrobat Splat, both addicting and hard to master.  However, in order to keep playing these games one  must obtain mastery of math concepts.



On all questions students can pull up a workspace area before answering their questions.


There are also multiplayer opportunities with 2 player, 3 player, or 4 player activities.












 




Finally, each person that has created an account is provided with a progress report they can view at any time.  This makes for a great place a teacher can go into the app, check in as a student, and view their progress report.   Progress reports are not shared via the app, however if you wanted to share it an ipad screen shot works well.

Learn Addition Algorithm with Math Edge

Math Edge has a series of apps to help children develop their understanding of basic math fact algorithms for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

Try out the MathEdge Addition Lite and determine if this app will work with your classroom environment.

There are two options to choose from when starting this app, to Play or Practice.  If you choose to play, you will be provided 25 single digit math fact problems to see how fast you can answer the entire set correctly.  While answering, if you choose incorrectly the answer you selected appears red and slowly fades out until you type in a correct answer, which appears green.

If you choose Practice, you then select which level of practice: Easy which is single digit addition, Medium which is double digit without carrying, and Hard which is double digit with carrying.  This last set is perfect for practicing problems that require you to carry.  The example below shows how the app carries the tens digit up to the top after typing in 16 as the answer to 7 + 9, and awaiting to the user to type in 10 as the answer to 1+3+6.

If you enable the volume, students will be prompted how to work through the problems in all practice environments.

Try out the app, and if it works for you, MathEdge Addition/Subtraction app is $2.99.  There are corresponding multiplication and division apps.

Talkboard - a Collaborative Drawing App

Talkboard is a simple to use drawing app providing the end user with a white background, three drawing tools, and many colors.

To begin using Talkboard, you must sign in so your work can be saved in cloud storage.  Most all our students have Google Accounts which makes this an easy to use option for our area classrooms.

 

One attraction I have with this app is the collaboration piece.  Talkboard allows you to share projects by email so others can work on a set of papers at the same time.  Students can brainstorm on an idea adding their own thoughts simultaneously.  Students from different schools can give each other math problems to solve, and watch how each other solves the problem.

Easy to see who are all currently editing this page

Inside a project are a series of papers, each paper containing content.  Easy recognizable icons show users if they are working collaboratively with someone else.

Try out Talkboard, an intuitive shared whiteboard space.