MathGirl Number Garden

App Title: MathGirl Number Garden

Grade Level: Early Elementary (K-3)

Purpose: A   MathGirl Number Garden gives great practice with counting flowers and hands in patterns, the foundations of adding and multiplying. The developer website says this game is created for girls. Oh, no! Please don't tell my first grade boys! They love this game as much as the girls do. I had to scramble for an explanation about the game title... I actually told my class that this game was written by a girl who calls herself MathGirl because she loves math so much. Whew! It worked... boys and girls both benefit from and love to play this game.

Program Functionality: A  This is simple to understand for students: triangle button to play, house button for home/menu, flower button for garden. Answers at lower levels are multiple choice, higher levels have numeric keypad to type answer.

Overall Educational Value: A  Super! I want my students to see objects in groups of 5's, 10's, and to think in terms of adding those remainders by counting on from the big number. Example in photo: 5, 10, 15, 16, 17 (15+2=17). This game has 10 levels, helpful for teachers to differentiate in the class or to use this game to support concepts being taught throughout the year.

Cost: $1.99

Classroom Use Examples / Ideas: At the beginning of the year, I had students who couldn't hold up a given number of fingers without counting them... even 5! Seeing the gloves in level 1 and 2 with 10 or less fingers held up gave them a fun way to practice that until they had automaticity with that skill. At the same time, there were children that were already seeing those groups of 5 or 10 and ready to practice skip counting. Differentiation was as simple as telling a student they could work to a given level.

Developer Website: Icanology, LCC MathGirl Games

iTunes Link: Click here.

Reviewer Name: Carolyn Wojtera

Reviewer Blog: Teach with Tech