New Product News – Jan/Feb 2013
Improving Numerical Literacy with Team Ten
Team Ten is a set of plush toys in the shape of numbers zero through nine created by NumbersAlive! to encourage a child’s interaction with numbers. The colorful toys come in multiple colors and sizes, and each number has a back story. The team of ten numbers is lead by their team leader, Zero the Hero, who is the most powerful number because of his ability to combine with other numbers to create a higher value. Created by the Numbers Lady, a.k.a. Rebecca Klemm, who has a PhD in statistics, the plush toys can be combined with books also based on the characters, making math both fun and entertaining through stories and adventures. NumbersAlive! hopes that this will lure more students to move towards STEM (science, technology, engineering, math), a part of education that many students tend not to like. For more information, please visit numbersalive.org.
Story Bayou’s Brush of Truth Book App Gets Tweens Reading
In an attempt to increase literacy among children ages eight to twelve, Story Bayou has teamed up with writer and mom Julie Landry Laviolette to produce this app that allows kids to choose their own path in the story that they are reading. The story has a total of 125 pages, with sixty-five decision points and twenty final endings, taking the reader through an adventure where they act as the main character. In order to be compatible with Common Core State Standards, lesson plans are provided. This app, compatible with both Mac and Android platforms, is like an interactive “choose your own adventure” book, combining the virtues of a videogame with a book to transform the reading experience for the digitally savvy tween.
Rainbow Sentences Turns Reconstructing Sentences into a Fun Game
There are a lot of reading apps out there, but Rainbow Sentences takes reading to the next level by teaching children how to rearrange words and create their own sentences. By color-coding each part of the sentence, children are asked to match the words to the color. The sentence is also accompanied by a picture that represents the sentence. The child has the option of listening to the app read the sentence, as well as record sentences that are correct for future review. When a child gets the answer incorrect twice, a short lesson will come up to teach the child why the sentence was incorrect. There are many levels to the game, with the sentences becoming increasingly more difficult with each level.
Money Habitudes Cards Makes Financial Literacy Easy to Understand
Getting people to talk about finances is always difficult, but Money Habitudes cards make the process a lot easier. Money Habitudes cards contain conversation starters that trainers can use in a variety of games to get a better sense of a person’s financial status. The person playing answers a variety of questions based on how they relate to a statement, and at the end the cards are sorted out into a Money Habitude category: planning, carefree, security, giving, status, and spontaneous. This helps a person see the different categories of spending habits they belong to and the tasks they can do to improve their financial status. Because this game is about a person’s attitude towards money, there are no right or wrong answers to the questions. The cards are available for adults, young adults (ages eighteen to twentyfive), teens, and in Spanish and have been updated in 2012. Order by March 29, 2013, use the code PLA13 (all caps), and receive free shipping.
Big Start—Free Financial Literacy App for Children
With many children becoming so familiar with the iPad, an easy way to teach financial literacy is via an app. The Big Start app includes many fun games, such as What is Money? and Save, Share, and Spend. The games teach children how to identify money, how to save, what things cost, and even shows them what kind of careers they can look forward to. The app, developed by Upromise Investments, Inc., can be downloaded for Mac or Android.
