Sentence Workout

Features
Price $19.99
Age Range Lower Primary & Upper Primary
App Type Learning App
Version Reviewed 1.4.3
Android Available?
Lite Version Available?
Help Provided?
Sharing

Bloom's Thinking Process
Creating
Evaluating
Analysing
Applying
Understanding
Remembering

Adaptability
Includes recorded voice
Add own voice
Includes text
Includes images

Review Comments
Sentence Workout uses a soccer theme to give students plenty of practise creating sentences. This is an expressive language and literacy app. There are a large number (37) of sentence types from which to choose. They vary depending on the type of pronoun and phrases you choose. They range from simple noun+verb sentences (e.g. "This is a car") through to more complex sentences including adjectives, adverbs or prepositions (e.g. "He is eating icecream under the tree"). There are two activities: Say it: The student sees an image. The student answers a question (spoken and written) by recording their voice. The adult scores the sentence as correct (with a tick) or incorrect (with a cross). The student can listen to the answer. The speech rate of the voice is quite slow. Create Sentences: This is a written sentence task. The student sees an image. The see the parts of a sentence in squares below. They drag the parts up to the top to form a sentence. This is a really useful app for sentence construction. I wish they could make the voice more realistic. The male voice is unusually slow and quickly becomes annoying. This app is ideal for pairs or up to five students to play together. You can set the app so that each student has a turn playing the game.

Review Comments

Sentence Workout uses a soccer theme to give students plenty of practise creating sentences. This is an expressive language and literacy app.

There are a large number (37) of sentence types from which to choose. They vary depending on the type of pronoun and phrases you choose. They range from simple noun+verb sentences (e.g. "This is a car") through to more complex sentences including adjectives, adverbs or prepositions (e.g. "He is eating icecream under the tree").

There are two activities:

Say it: The student sees an image. The student answers a question (spoken and written) by recording their voice. The adult scores the sentence as correct (with a tick) or incorrect (with a cross). The student can listen to the answer. The speech rate of the voice is quite slow.

Create Sentences: This is a written sentence task. The student sees an image. The see the parts of a sentence in squares below. They drag the parts up to the top to form a sentence.

This is a really useful app for sentence construction. I wish they could make the voice more realistic. The male voice is unusually slow and quickly becomes annoying. This app is ideal for pairs or up to five students to play together. You can set the app so that each student has a turn playing the game.

Use	Rank (*)
Written Sentences and Questions		Ranked 11th of 20
Sentences		Ranked 8th of 13

(*) This app has been ranked according to its' effectiveness to achieve the learning goals and strategies listed. Some apps may rank highly for achieving a specific use and lower for other uses. Some students will learn and engage with one app more than others, because of the individual nature of us all.

Learning App
Learning apps are designed for a specific purpose. The authors claim to teach a goal, skill or concept.

Bloom's Thinking Process
Bloom's Taxonomy is classification system used to explain the behaviours important in learning. Apps range from simple memory tasks such as flashcards apps through to creative apps which ask students to create an original story or video.

Bloom's Creating
The student creates new ideas, products or ways of viewing things. Activities include making, animating, designing, constructing, planning, producing and inventing.

Bloom's Evaluating
The student justifies a decision or course of action. Activities include counting to check, hypothesising, critiquing, experimenting and judging.

Bloom's Analysing
The student breaks the information into parts to explore understandings and relationships. Activities include explaining, ordering, inferring, comparing and organising.

Bloom's Applying
The student uses the information in a new situation. Activities include implementing, carrying out, using, illustrating, classifying and categorising.

Bloom's Understanding
The student comprehends the new information. Activities include describing, predicting showing understanding use a multiple choice.

Bloom's Remembering
The student recalls information they know. Activities include matching, 'fill in the blank', making a choice, answering using a multiple choice, naming a group.

Learning Connection
How well does the app teach the targeted skill or concept? This is the area where we refer to current research and pedagogy to evaluate the efficacy of the app.

Authenticity
Authenticity looks at the manner in which skills are learnt. Authentic apps use real life or genuine activities. Students learn in context rather than in a contrived or rote fashion (such as flashcards).

Feedback
Feedback needs to be specific and result in improved performance. Feedback should be supportive and encouraging rather than negative. Data should be available to support decision making.

Differentiation
Differentiation is the ability to customise the app to suit the student. The ability to record you voice, customise text, add pictures and alter settings enables individualisation of the app.

User Friendliness
User friendliness is a measure of how well a student can use the app independently. Some apps are simply intuitive to use. Others include audio or visual prompts which support the student.

Motivation
All apps are engaging the first time they are played. However, students with diverse learning needs may need to return to the app many times. Motivating apps offer rewards,games or incentives.

Written Sentences and Questions
The child builds a written sentence or questions. They may choose a sentence or select words to build a sentence or question.

Sentences
There are rules which govern how words are put together to form a sentence. The student practises saying a whole sentence with correct grammar and vocabulary.

Domain	Score	Details
Learning Connection	4	This app offers plenty of practise at saying sentences. The ability to record your own sentences is terrific. I also like the hierarchy of sentences so the student can stay with this app for quite some time.
Authenticity	2	The child answers questions and builds written sentences.
Feedback	2	Feedback is provided by the adult in the say it section. In "Create Sentences" the app marks the correct with a green circle and incorrect with a red circle. Reports are available for both activities. These reports can be emailed.
Differentiation	3	Verbal and written instructions can be turned off. Pages can turn automatically or by swiping through. You can also set the award counter to adjust to the number of turns required before the student can play the award game.
User Friendliness	4	Both activities are quite intuitive and the app guides the student through each step.
Motivation	3	The student earns soccer balls for correct answers. They can earn a go at the soccer game when they get enough balls. The student has to flick the soccer ball into the goal. They have to see how many goals they can get in 5 seconds. Some of my students became tired of the voice (so did I).

From the App Store

Developer Virtual Speech Center Inc.
App Store Rating (from 0 reviews)
Current Version Rating (from 0 reviews)
Current Version 1.4.5

Developer's Description
Sentence Workout was created by a certified speech and language pathologist for students ages 6 and up to practice sentence structures in both oral and written forms. This is another app from the family of workouts developed by Virtual Speech Center Inc.—this time with a soccer theme. Children are welcomed by the soccer coach who encourages them to work hard. Children earn a soccer ball for each correct response, and when they accumulate enough balls, they can play a soccer game. The two activity types included in Sentence Workout are "say it" and "build your sentence." 1.In the "say it" activity, students practice sentence structure by answering questions orally. Students can audio record their responses and compare them with the native productions. 2.In the "build your sentence" activity, students practice written sentence structure by manipulating sentence parts while they are receiving auditory feedback. Children simply drag and drop different scrambled parts of the sentence into correct boxes to make a complete and grammatically correct sentence. They can then listen to their sentences and correct them as needed. This engaging and colorful app allows children to practice over 350 sentences with 37 different sentence structures: (Each sentence type includes 10 pages.) Sentence Workout is easy to navigate and allows users to employ several tools that enable them to perform the following tasks: - Enter multiple students - Change settings - Score correct and incorrect responses - Select auto-scoring - Select alternate counts for multiple students - Enable or disable rewards (the soccer game) - Enable or disable feedback sounds - Track correct and incorrect responses - Play audio recordings - Audio record student responses - View the reports - E-mail results at the end of the game

Developer's Description

Sentence Workout was created by a certified speech and language pathologist for students ages 6 and up to practice sentence structures in both oral and written forms.

This is another app from the family of workouts developed by Virtual Speech Center Inc.—this time with a soccer theme.

Children are welcomed by the soccer coach who encourages them to work hard. Children earn a soccer ball for each correct response, and when they accumulate enough balls, they can play a soccer game.

The two activity types included in Sentence Workout are "say it" and "build your sentence."

1.In the "say it" activity, students practice sentence structure by answering questions orally. Students can audio record their responses and compare them with the native productions.

2.In the "build your sentence" activity, students practice written sentence structure by manipulating sentence parts while they are receiving auditory feedback. Children simply drag and drop different scrambled parts of the sentence into correct boxes to make a complete and grammatically correct sentence. They can then listen to their sentences and correct them as needed.

This engaging and colorful app allows children to practice over 350 sentences with 37 different sentence structures: (Each sentence type includes 10 pages.)
Sentence Workout is easy to navigate and allows users to employ several tools that enable them to perform the following tasks:

- Enter multiple students
- Change settings
- Score correct and incorrect responses
- Select auto-scoring
- Select alternate counts for multiple students
- Enable or disable rewards (the soccer game)
- Enable or disable feedback sounds
- Track correct and incorrect responses
- Play audio recordings
- Audio record student responses
- View the reports
- E-mail results at the end of the game

Disclaimer: The evaluations and rankings information provided here are based solely on the opinion of the author and are for informational purposes only. Families should seek professional advice before making decisions regarding interventions for their child.