Bond Bonanza
I’ve not updated my blog for a while. A couple of reasons: 1 — busy busy busy first year as a Deputy Headteacher! 2 — in my spare time I’ve been making an ios app! This post is designed to shamelessely introduce that app. I hope to make several more over time, moving more and more to focus on a ‘gaming’ style experience for children whilst retaining the same high quality learning focus that a teacher would expect.
Bond Bonanza is my first app. It is soley concerned with Number Bonds to 20 — a key mathematical building block. Over the last few years I’ve purchased several apps with this purpose but there is only one (Bond Builder which I have already written a post on) that comes close to what I as a teacher would want to have as a tool in the classroom.
So I decided I would build one myself. It doesn’t have the assessment analytics that would be ideal (that means running a database back end, encrypting data, continually keeping security to usernames and passwords and significantly higher ongoing costs). But it does have the core functionality with key USPs that I would want to help ALL children learn their number bonds to 20, not just the usual few who would learn them quickly with or without the help of any old app.
Bond Bonanza targets questions. So children can move up from number bonds to 3, 4 and 5 up to 10 and then split the tricky step from number bonds to 10 on to 20, using number facts to 10 to support as well as bridging over 10.
To aid children and move beyond simply answering questions with abstract numbers, Bond Bonanza has the key pictorial model of a ten frame throughout practice mode. When doubling over 5 and crucially when bridging 10, the frame is animated, providing conceptual support for children to build their understanding.
Here is a complete feature list of the app:
- Animals with a ‘dance’ each — dabbing penguin, flossing frog etc
- Structured sets of questions that help children use their working memory
- An innovative ‘practice’ mode with access the ten frame support — a crucial model for developing number bond recall. Many children struggle to use their existing knowledge when moving from number bonds up to 10, on towards 20. Our double ten frames animated model bridges the gap in understanding for the majority of children who need support in building rapid recall of number bonds to 20
- A significantly longer time for children to answer each question in practice mode, to help them build their recall and confidence
- Fact mode removes questions (for that go) that have been answered correctly, focusing on questions that need recalling faster
- The time pressure is based ‘per question’, not ‘per game’. Therefore adults (as well as children) can get a true reflection of how rapid the recall is
- Coin rewards for effort. Incorrect answers also receive a coin reward
- Bonus coins for runs of correct answers, encouraging children to build their rapid recall of number bonds within the set they are working on
- A shop to spend coins
- A ‘per device’ high score screen with zero typing content entered by children, keeping privacy and online safety 100% safe — GDPR and COPPA compliant
So if you like what you read, please take a closer look by clicking the link below. Alternatively, search the App Store for Bond Bonanza:
