You may have noticed a little blurb about Rainbow Sentences in my post, These are a few of my Favorite Apps, but I would like to take some time to go into more detail about this fantastic app which incidentally is nominated for Best Education App! You can always find more information about all Mobile Education Store apps at
http://www.mobile-educationstore.com/
First, you set the stage at the settings screen. Select the on or off mode for the following: audio instructions, correct answer reinforcement, and record correct answer. The final option is great for building expressive language skills and practicing articulation of speech at the sentence level.
Next, you need to chose a complexity level. The first one is the easiest because you only need to sequence about five words into a grammatically correct sentence order.
The second level is a little more challenging as you now need to correctly word order seven words.
The last level is the most difficult and can contain as many as fourteen scrambled words.
Another option is, line color coding. In the example below, the subjective parts of the sentence are coded in blue, while the predicate portions are red.
If you need to provide a little more support, you can color code the words and the lines. Now, clients can match words to designated line colors.
Just when you thought you had seen all possible options, you find one more: word grouping! Challenge your clients a bit by selecting this option and just a few lines are shown. Users must group words together into an accurate sentence with minimal cueing.
I have been using this app for months with all different age levels and abilities, thanks to the plethora of setting options! One thing that everyone particularly enjoys is the reinforcement of completing puzzles after accurately word ordering several sentences. The app stores the puzzles for you so when you return to your profile, you can pick up where you left off.
You can also view your puzzles under the STATS section. There is nothing I love more than an app that handles data collection for you! You get a nice break down of how many items clients answered correctly on their first, second, and third attempts for each complexity level. Plus, you can email this information!
I saved what I believe to be the best part of this app for last: the play lesson feature. When you are shown a scrambled sentence, you get the option to select the "show" button which in turns brings up the "play lesson" selection. This teaching tool shows clients how to formulate a sentence by answering a series of questions (who, what, when, where, why) all while color coding these parts of a sentence. Brilliant!!
It is easy to see why Rainbow Sentences was nominated for Best Education App! There is still time to cast your vote for it by going to this link:
http://www.bestappever.com/v/edgm/1/427578209
You can get this amazing, visually reinforcing teaching tool for your iPad at iTunes for $7.99- such a steal!!
