Here is a powerful educational iPad app for teachers of sentence construction, sentence transformation and spelling: Transformation Sentences ($1.99 in the App Store; requires iOS7). It would be very useful for teachers of students who are learning to read – primary, high school, adult and ESL.
It was developed specifically for several teachers at Dickson College who wanted an app to support the Scaffolding Literacy program in the Secondary Introductory English Centre. Students here have just started learning English in Australia and will later move to ESL classes. The teachers wanted an app that wasn’t full of fancy bells and whistles but supported the teaching of literacy skills. The app has been used very successfully in class.
YouTube video demonstrating the features of the Transformation Sentences app: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slX6TwDG0gU
Features include:
Sentences: Enter text, rearrange and drag individual words. Use for prediction games, cloze exercises etc
Spelling: Separate a word into letters or sounds.
Shuffle: Places all words in a sentence into random order. Students then reassemble the sentence.
Extra words: Add extra words and label parts of a sentence (eg. Who? What? Where?).
Save data: Save up to 10 sentences or spelling lists in folders. Send the folders to other iPads via Bluetooth or wi-fi (this enables the teacher to type a paragraph just once, which is then sent to the students’ iPads).
Draw: Use your finger as a pencil to write words directly on the screen.
Customise: Choose font, size and background.
(The app was created by my son Bryan Hathaway).