Monday, March 18, 2013

Reading Comprehension Camp- App Review and Giveaway!



I am SO excited to share this review on the Reading Comprehension Camp (RCC) app by Smarty Ears!  By the end of this summary, I guarantee that you will want this one in your toolbox!    Be sure to read all the way to the bottom, because I have a giveaway for you!!  There are so many great features to RCC that my head is spinning just thinking about where to begin.  Let's just take it from the top.

You have your usual, "Add Player" screen with an option to upload profiles from Smarty Ears' Therapy Report Center app, which incidentally is FREE right now so grab it!  You can select up to 4 players to participate in the quiz that follows story readings.  Score!  Nothing better than tracking data while playing at the same time on one iPad!!



Next, it's time to select a story.  There are 50 short stories divided into 5 levels of difficulty.  The higher the level, the longer and more challenging the story.  You can select from three edit buttons on this screen: display quiz scores on stories; display all story levels in a tab at the bottom of the screen; and display level ID on each story.






There is one more tab in the lower right hand corner of the select a story page: Create your own.  Pretty sure I said, "Cool," aloud when I discovered this feature!!  This link takes you to a page where you can upload your own image to represent your story, and then write and record your own story!  You can even create story comprehension quiz questions.




Now, I am going to show you a story from each of the five levels starting with a level one story.  Immediately following each story is a sample quiz question.  You can customize the types of questions you want to be included in your quiz by selecting all, some, or just one type.  If you select just one question type, you will only have one question to answer at the end.  I would love to see more items added for each question type!!























Want the app yet?  Well, there's still more to share!  You can change the image size and font for reading to best suit the age level and needs of your clients!  I liked the larger font with smaller images for my first graders.




Here is a breakdown of the types of quiz questions that you can select.  As you can see, there is a pretty good variety here!  My only wish is that you could select certain questions for each student.  A girl can dream, right?  Right now, you can select which player you would like to answer each question by tapping on the profile picture.  




The Smarty Ears folks really thought of everything when they designed this app!  They even created a "Hint" button for the quiz.  When tapped, this button shows you a highlighted area in the text that helps you answer the question at hand.  Love this!!  This feature makes it so much easier to go directly to the section you need rather than replay or re-read the entire story!




As usual, there is a report page that easily collects data from the quiz and calculates percentages.  You can opt to email this information directly to the Therapy Report Center or your work email.





If you would like your own copy of this dynamic reading comprehension app, you can purchase it for $19.99 at iTunes.  Or, you can try your luck in this raffle first!

Disclosure:  The generous folks at Smarty Ears provided me with a code to review this app and one to raffle!   The opinions expressed in this review are unbiased.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

12 comments:

  1. Looks like a great app. Would love this. I only have free apps.

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  2. I currently have some RTI groups that are working on reading comprehending skills. I would love using this app to supplement my reading passages and offer a fun way to practice strategies! The built in data collection would be very helpful too!
    ~Sherrie M

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  3. I would love this and more importantly my students would love it. I'm crossing my fingers:)

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  4. It would help if I read the question :)
    I don't have any Smarty Ears Apps, but I've read some reviews for Social Quest and Langage Empires...I would love to try either!

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  5. This app looks great!! I use Articulate It daily!!! thanks for the giveaway!!

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  6. I've been dying to get my hands on this app!! Articulate It is one of my favorite Smarty Ears App!! They make the best apps!!

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  7. Social Quest and Language Empires are my favorite.

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  8. I don't have any Smarty Ears Apps yet, but I'd love to have one!

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  9. I don't have a favorite because I don't own one. I think this one looks GREAT! I also think Language Empires looks good.

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  10. Articulation scenes is my favorite articulation app! Would love to win this app as I have a large amount of students working on story comprehension.
    Margo V.

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  11. Custom boards is my favorite but I also have Match2say!

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  12. ArticulateIt! or Language Adventures are my favorite Smarty Ears apps.

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