About the List of Early Elementary Learning Apps
This is my ongoing list for Early Elementary Learning Apps.For Baby to Preschool apps visit my other blog post - Learning Apps for Toddlers and Preschoolers.
Please Note: This list we be continually updated. I know it is not complete, but I feel something is better than nothing.
This list began 2 years ago when I asked my Aunt, who is a 1st and 2nd Grade teacher to help me find some apps to help a friend. The list has continued to grow as I have begun to educate my own kids.
Elementary (Kindergarten-5th)
My Favorites Apps:
We use these as core curriculums, but public school kids can use these for home study and tutoring.
- ABC Mouse www.ABCmouse.com (PreK-2nd) - My favorite. Excellent Tablet App. Easy for any age to use. Now through 2nd Grade. "Give your child a head start with ABCmouse.com’s full online preschool, pre-k, and kindergarten curriculum--games, books, songs, and more!"
- Reading Eggs & Math Seeds - (3-13 Years Old., app and online) - Updated July 2020. Since 2017 this app has been a regular part of our child's learning plan. We subscribe yearly to Reading Eggs and Math Seeds. Son 1 has used this for the past 3 years, and we both love it. He has finished Reading Egg and has moved onto Reading Eggs Express. He is now on Mathseeds lesson 164 and will complete lesson 200 and the full program this year. It has been a great addition to Time4Learning. I am sad the Math Seeds doesn't continue into 4th Grade. My 2nd Son is just starting the Kindergarten curriculum. He has done Reading Eggs Jr. and is ready to start Reading Eggs and Math Seeds. It is harder than the ABC Mouse lessons because it won't let him continue if he doesn't put in the correct answer, which I love because he can't "game" the system, so for PreK and Kindergarten we use it in combination with with ABC Mouse. For Son 1 and 2 we routinely back them up and have them review lessons when things start to get hard. This has worked out great. I can't say enough good about this program. Initial Review in 2017: We are in the middle of a 6 week free trial. This is a good app (mostly user-friendly, but it does require some adult help). Pros: Good activities, good repetition, and fairly easy to use. Cons: My son gets bored (only because it demands the correct answer before moving on). It has variety, but it doesn't fit his learning personality (we gave it 6 months and it became a perfect fit). Maybe in time (yes, in time it became an awesome fit). I recommend you do a free trial before buying it.
- Time-4-Learning.com (PreK-12th Grade) - One of my favorites for 1st to 12th Grade. Good once you child can efficiently use a mouse and computer (Pre-K and K also available, but the app is not as kid friendly as ABC Mouse).
- Starfall: (PreK-1st app). Aug 2017 it has been moved to my favorite list. My Kindergartner is loving it right now. We paid the $35 for a year subscription. The advertise: "Learn to Read with Phonics, Learn Mathematics - www.starfall.com Starfall: Starfall has been teaching children to read with phonics for well over a decade. Our systematic approach, in conjunction with audiovisual interactivity, is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children."
- Brain POP & Brain POP Jr: (All ages - free app) Moved to favorites in Aug 2017. Every week this app (free) has an educational video about science, history, or social studies. My Kindergartener listens over and over. Last week was about Amelia Earhart (I'm a pilot, so this was cool). They advertise: "BrainPOP - Animated Educational Site for Kids - Science, Social Studies, English, Math, Arts. Animated Science, Health, Technology, Math, Social Studies, Arts & Music and English movies, quizzes, activity pages and school homework help for K-12 kids, aligned" WWW.BRAINPOP.COM
- Hooked on Phonics (PreK-2nd Grade) - July 2020 on our favorites list. We subscribed for a life time plan. We downloaded the app and set up an account for Son 1 and 2. My 2nd Son is greatly enjoying their new PreK portion of the app. Son 1 is in 3rd grade but needs still needs to continue to develop his phonics skills, so we use this app to help him review and practice his phonics. I recommend making this affordable app part of your child's learning plan.
Others Recommended Apps:
Great for supplemental learning, home study, and tutoring.- RAZ kids raz-kids.com. "Raz-Kids delivers hundreds of interactive, leveled eBooks spanning 29 levels"
- Keyboarding Without Tears - This one was recommended to me through a homeschool group. It took about 4 hours of fiddling to get it set up, but I did it! Why did I stick with this one. I looked all over the web for good apps (for android) and nothing seemed to pan out. This one has an android app. Before you use the app, just make sure the full account is set up on the desktop. If you don't it will tell you to upgrade the app and send you to itunes (remember, I am using android, so itunes won't work). Once I had the educator and student set up (not very user-friendly, so I recommend using their guide), the app on Android worked fine. It is designed for K-5th Grade. Link to Purchase Program ($6 for 1 student).
- Cool Math (my kids love it) http://www.coolmath.com/
- National library of virtual manipulatives nlvm.usu.edu/
- Sumdog - My Aunt (2nd Grade Teacher) used it but went to Moby Max instead. https://www.sumdog.com/
- Spelling City Spelling & Vocabulary Website: SpellingCity free. https://www.spellingcity.com/ Recommended by Time-4-Learning Parents as a supplement to the Time-4-Learning core curriclulm.
- Xtramath.org - Recognized the need for an individualized math practice program. XtraMath spread rapidly to other classrooms by word of mouth and the program continues to evolve to meet the needs of the students, teachers, and parents. https://xtramath.org
- ABCya.com | Previewd Mar 2017. $5/Month. Minimum Free. App Available. ABCya is the leader in free educational computer games and mobile apps for kids. The innovation of a grade school teacher, ABCya is an award-winning destination for elementary students that offers hundreds of fun, engaging learning activities.
