SentenceBuilder for iPad

Sentence Builder for iPad teaches students about grammar and descriptive writing through the process of creating sentences. After selecting from three different levels of play, students are shown a few columns of words and a picture. They'll use one word from the columns, in a grammatically correct way, to describe the picture. 

While creating these descriptive sentences, students will get practice ensuring that subjects agree with verbs, that pronouns match with antecedents, and that verbs agree in tense and number, among other important grammar skills. They'll also learn to pay attention to details. For example, they may see a picture of a cow holding balls and create the sentence "The cow is holding four orange balls," only to have it marked incorrect because the cow is only holding three green balls. Stats track how many sentences students attempt and whether sentences were formed correctly on the first, second, or third try.

Despite the silly graphics and sometimes cheesy animations, Sentence Builder for iPad has some solid academic potential. As students build sentences, they'll encounter simple grammatical mistakes and common areas of confusion. By design, the app seems to set students up to choose from options that contain mistakes often made by emerging readers and writers. It also gives them opportunities to learn from these mistakes, albeit intuitively and through trial and error.

When students build a sentence correctly, they'll not only see the correct sentence, but they'll also hear it pronounced out loud. Unfortunately, Sentence Builder doesn't include specific rules or explanations to help students understand why certain sentences are correct. An added component that helps students understand the why behind the rules of grammar would be a nice touch that could greatly improve the app's learning potential.