What Are They Asking? Fun Deck 4+

This app, like many other super duper apps, is simply the pictures from the card deck placed on the iPad. There is nothing fancy or flashy about this app, but that's ok because based off your description I feel like I knew what to expect. I like it because of the portability of carrying an app on my iPad versus the tin can. I still use the tins as well. I also like the mess free environment of using the app versus cleaning up the cards, losing cards, having the cards be a distraction for my students, etc. You do lose the ability to play games with the cards (i.e. hiding cards, pulling cards out of a bean bin, etc.), but you get the excitement from your student of getting to work on the iPad. That being said, there are ways of improving this app and really utilizing the interactive capabilities of the iPad. I think this app could really be cool if you provided answer choices. Just have a button for answer choices to pop up and when the student becomes familiar with that visual and the correct question to ask, you can discontinue showing him answer choices and have him try to come up with a new question that might be asked.

As an elementary school English as a second language teacher, I love Super Duper Fun Decks. Pictures are an indispensable tool for learning language. The pictures in this Fun Deck are a springboard for language production and comprehension. Teachers can use the images in conjunction with a sentence frame in order to structure and extend the students' responses. Sometimes I project the "card" from the iPad onto a screen and we play as a whole group. Other times I use the app to work with a smaller group of students so I can closely monitor their language production and listen to them explain their thinking. In whole group playing, student partners can confer with each other write their answers on a small white board. I award points for the correct answer AND for the partners explaining why they made the answer choice. Either way has the advantage of triggering metacognition as students have to explain their thinking. The teacher can also keep score within the app of the students' correct/incorrect responses. The colorful app keeps the students engaged and learning!

Love the pictures and concept, but when I choose more than one player, it does not rotate between the two evenly, making us just give up on following the name prompts on top and destroying my data-taking. Stays on first player for way too many turns. It's a shame because the kids really like seeing their names on the app, and I feel cheated that it pretty much ruins my ability to take data with this app. Please fix this!!!