Christmas and Chanukah and Ramadan and the holidays and birthdays… are all coming and have I got the THING for you
I haven’t been this excited about a tech product since my 36 year old son was a tike of about 6 yrs old!
When it comes to computer games and technology I’m not a huge fan. It takes a lot for me to get excited about something that’s not paper and pencil or purely mental strategizing. Things I’ve been excited about in the past, I could count on one hand!
Off the top of my head, Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?; The Leap Frog reading system; Prodigy online and BreakoutEDU. Honestly, that is about IT.
UNTIL NOW!
Enter the OSMO. The top reason I think this device is fantastic is that, like the Leap Frog, it adapts to the learner so can be used for school aged children from pre-school thru HS age. The OSMO covers language arts; math at all levels; physics; drawing, spatial reasoning and logic.
Who am I? I have taught all age groups. The past 5 years I have been teaching math intervention to small groups of students of all ages and abilities. My biggest experience has been with the math tiles and the Newton (physics) component. I have introduced the OSMO to some of my coworkers and they have really love it. Like most schools, iReady is THE adopted learning program across my district. The OSMO does not collect data which can then be analyzed. OSMO involves hands on manipulation of materials which is lacking in iReady. OSMO system also performs in far fewer (in some cases ZERO) verbal cues. This allows for children of ALL levels of English fluency to engage in the spelling, phonetic and math skills being presented by the device. The players do not require headphones. All the pieces are out in the open. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but as soon as a person (of any age) puts on a pair of headphones, engagement with the outside world stops completely. Teachers can look at iReady data and allow that to guide their instruction, but it is meaningless when it comes to pinpointing exact skills that are both lack and excel in. Because I use this in an open classroom, small group environment, I turn the sound OFF completely. This means students are talking with those around them and verbalizing math tasks. Their friends are pausing their own play to help each other and offer suggestions on passing a level. Students call out to me for help when they are stuck. This is something I have NEVER seen with iReady. iReady is good, but for other reasons.
Here I am going to review each app as listed in the product description. I am also working on creating videos for viewing pleasure on youtube so you can see the tasks in action.
Since this is going to be a longer post. I want to start off with something honest to pay attention to. The kit requires a device. It is compatible with iPad, iPhone and Kindle. The purchaser must be aware of which device will be used with it most. If the purchaser does not have a compatible device, those need to be purchased separately. The entire kit is useless without the appropriate device. All of the compatibility specs are clearly listed, so the purchaser must do their due diligence in purchasing a compatible device, if need be.
OK, on to the review and description!
The magic is in the downloadable apps. The physical base and manipulative pieces are strong, durable and high quality materials. They are not, however, electronic.
All of the apps include the feature of creating personalized profiles based on age. If your child is higher or lower in a certain ability, then I would suggest inputting that they are at a younger age. For example, my 5th grade students are really working at a 3rd grade level in math, so, I created generic profiles for 3rd graders and just have them click on that. The program increases in rigor as they play from level to level, so it all works out in the end. Another example, the 2nd graders that I had were not reading yet and could not identify beginning sounds. I actually had to set the letters app to Kindergarten level to meet their needs. Again, as they played and advanced through levels, it became increasingly more challenging.
Math Tiles
Skills; subitizing, decomposing numbers, number sense, adding, subtracting, multiplying
Pre-K to 2nd grade. Children should know the standard dot patterns on dice. We call this subitizing. As they progress in their ability to recognize numbers AND work with numbers by counting and adding they can be challenged further by working with the number tiles AND non standard dot patterns. Non-standard dot patterns are not part of this OSMO system.
Math skills included in this app cover number sense, decomposing ALL numbers (ways to make all numbers i.e. 7 is 3 and 4 or 5 and 2; 37 is 30 and 7 or 25 and 5 and 2 etc.) as the program increases in rigor, students are multiplying and adding and performing order of operations to obtain answers. I also teach students to work smarter not harder and to be mindful of building off previous answers. This teaches students to work logically and methodically. If they have just built a 37 and there are a variety of numbers to work next, they should analyze which is closest (or EASIEST!) to get to from where they are?!
Letter Tiles
Skills: phonics, spelling, vocabulary, Spanish and English
One side of the letter tiles has upper case letters and the other side has lower case. They come in a set of blue and red so that in 2 player games children are competing with their own color. The skills involved in this app cover beginning sounds, missing letter sounds, matching a picture to the word and spelling entire words in a ‘hangman’ type setting (without the violence of any acutual hangings!) A picture-not a sketch or drawing- but true life like picture is presented. Based on level selected, the player must match beginning letter; missing letters or all letters. Both word matches and letters becomes increasingly more difficult as students progress. Example; at Kindergartel level there might be a picture of a cowboy hat with __at showing. The student must select the /h/ tile for the beginning sound. The same hat at a higher level might indicate ranch or corral (because the hat is sitting on a fence post on a ranch) and the screen displays _ _ _ _ _ . So, the player knows that the answer isn’t hat an has to try other letters start guessing the word.
There is also a two player game where students spell words together, or take turns. Each of them has their own color tiles. The system keeps track who placed the last letter to spell the word and gives them points. This has never gone well with my students as they feel intimidated when they “lose.” So generally, they just end up helping each other to spell the words as a team. Something that can be done without the competition factor. But some kids are competitive and thrive in that kind of environment. If you are an adult who happens to be bad at spelling, this might be a really fun way to compete against your own child in an environment that levels the playing field and allows the child to be victorious over the adult! How empowering for them! Alas, that’s the kind of parent and teacher I am. I am THRILLED when my children and student are correct and I am wrong! My defeat is actually my own win! That’s how I see it anyway.
There is a Spanish version! By adjusting the settings to Spanish, all the words are in Spanish. So non native English speakers can play OR English speaking students wanting to learn vocabulary in Spanish can do so by changing the settings!
Tangrams:
Skills: spatial reasoning, geometry,
If you are not familiar with Tangrams….you’ve missed out! Tangrams is an ancient Chinese puzzle. (Tell the kids this! It completely hooks them!) There are 7 pieces: 2 small triangles; 1 medium triangle; 2 large triangles; 1 square and 1 trapezoid. Designs are made with all 7 pieces. This puzzle leads to spatial awareness,logic and creativity. When given a black outline of a design, the player must create that design using all 7 pieces.
I got really good at this one year when I was teaching 2nd grade. It was an activity center and my introverted students would play with it for a very long time. I have hence become quite rusty. I was playing alongside one of my students the other day and they were building the pictures much quicker than I could!
The OSMO levels for Tangrams include showing the colored template so that the player copies the diagram and places the shapes exactly where the screen directs them to place them. In mathematical terms this falls under geometry with transformation; translation; reflections; scaling and orientation. It’s amazing that a child as young as kindergarten can perform complex geometric procedures which will be revisited in depth during the middle school years.
Newton:
Skills: spatial reasoning, physics
This app also falls under some geometry as well as physics of motion and movement. On this screen, items fall from the top and the player must draw lines which the items then bounce off. It amazes me that the developer could pull this off! Every time the player draws a line, the app recognizes it instantly and the items start bouncing off it! If their hand is in the way, it bounces off their hand! The player has to position these blockages to guide the falling objects to bounce and hit a target. I will definitely make a video of this because a picture paints 1,000 words. As the rigor with this app increases from level to level it becomes too difficult for me to engage with! The students are thrilled when they can surpass the level that I can…and I am equally impressed by how brilliant they are!
Masterpiece:
Skills: creativity, art, drawing, spatial reasoning
This is a drawing app. It is also fantastic. I teach math and whenever I bring out the OSMOs I make the students play the math components. The avid readers and artists are always begging me to play Masterpiece and I rarely allow it. I feel badly about this because I really want to foster their creativity.
All of the above mentioned are INCLUDED in that Genius starter pack. Both Masterpiece and Newton engage in drawing. Any whiteboard and dry erase markers will do, however, OSMO sells those as well. If you end up purchasing Monster, it comes with the OSMO whiteboard & markers so you could use them with some of the components of this starter pack. Just wanted to clarify that!
Pizza Co:
Pizza Co.:
Subtraction, planning, coordination, timeliness, teamwork, problem solving.
My students of ALL ages NEVER tire of this!
In Pizza Co, students take pizza orders from cartoon patrons and receive Yelp Reviews for their endeavors! This is a non verbal exchange. The patron presents their order by means of ingredients which pop up above their heads. If a patron indicates no meat, the player must create a pizza for them. Upon sliding it into the oven, the patron provides their review by means of a smiley face above their head. The patron moves off screen to eat and when they are ready to pay, the pizza tray turns grey. The player must flip the pizza tray over, go collect the money and give change. If they are struggling to calculate the change, hints show up rather quickly on the screen. The settings can be changed to include a variety of coins or just dealing with dollars.
My students beg to play this everyday. I see it as a two player game. One person is the chef, the other works the register. After a certain amount of time, I have them switch roles. Sometimes it seems as though the chef has complied with the patron’s request, yet the patron is unsatisfied. So, the student has to intuit what was wrong, if anything, and why they got a bad yelp review…and try to fix that for the next patrons.
Monster:
Story telling, listening, drawing and illustrating,
This app SO cool! HOWEVER, if you purchase the Genius starter pack then read carefully!
Monster is an app which is NOT included in the Genius starter pack. Creative starter pack comes with ANOTHER base, which you might not need! It also comes with the whiteboard and markers pictured here. These will come in handy with Newton & Masterpiece which DID come with the starter pack. Again, the purchaser needs to do their due diligence and click wisely.
There is a simple Monster app add on which is less expensive.
In this app the character starts a story and asks the player to draw something for his story. Like magic, the character reaches down and pulls that drawing up off the white board and into the screen! It is the most engaging thing EVER!
This requires a quiet spot-something I rarely have in my classroom setting-so that the player can hear the whole story that is going on. This is great for listening skills, comprehension, drawing and engaging with texts.
Products listed in this review:
