What's New

Updates for iOS17 compatibility

App Description

***** Educators Choice Award - SIIA Innovation Competition
***** Flawlessly Designed - Children's Book Review
***** 2014 Kapi Award - Honorable Mention
***** Amazing! - Common Sense Media
***** Editors Choice Award - Children's Technology Review
***** A Masterpiece - Teachers with Apps
***** Near Perfection - Mobile iEducator

Blades is a state of the art science book based on the grasslands biome. Developed in collaboration with the Department of Biology at Doane University and a team of educators, Blades includes both interactive enhancements and universal design accessibility features.

Blades is part of our Crack the Books series of interactive non-fiction books. Crack the Books are the first digital books that can be ADJUSTED FOR READING LEVEL without sacrificing content. Our digital books allow for reading level adjustment from 1st grade to 8th grade, making it possible for all kids to access the same content regardless of their reading ability.

Designed with the goal of improving reading comprehension, fostering a love of learning, and building reading confidence, Blades gives parents a powerful new teaching tool to help all kids, from children with special needs to those who are academically gifted.

Blades covers a variety of topics, including the structure of grass, plant and animal wildlife, adaptations, benefits of grasslands, and grassland threats. Kids will learn about all major grassland ecosystems including tropical savannas, steppes, prairies, pampas, and velds.

Blades feature hundreds of supportive audio and visual elements including beautiful high definition photographs, integrated video footage, fun facts, custom animations, custom images, and interactive charts, tables and globes. There are comprehension supports built into the text, with pop up definitions for associated new vocabulary. Kids may further interact with the content by creating bookmarks, highlights and study notes.

For kids with special needs, there are additional settings for common accommodations including text to speech, answer dictation, image reinforcement and text zooming.

Features:
Lexile certified reading levels from 1st to 8th grade
Visual supports for comprehension
Over 100 high-resolution images
Videos and custom animations
Interactive globes and maps
Built in vocabulary definitions
Interactive glossary with record feature
25 leveled chapter tests across 4 chapters
Built in test grading
Text to speech
Integrated voice over features
Text zoom
Bookmarks for multiple readers

Requires iOS11 and above

iPad Screenshots

(click to enlarge)

Blades - The Grassland Biome screenshot 1 Blades - The Grassland Biome screenshot 2 Blades - The Grassland Biome screenshot 3 Blades - The Grassland Biome screenshot 4 Blades - The Grassland Biome screenshot 5

App Changes

  • September 19, 2013 Initial release
  • October 11, 2013 Price decrease: $39.99 -> $18.99
  • October 26, 2013 New version 1.1
  • November 08, 2013 Price decrease: $18.99 -> $9.99
  • March 08, 2014 New version 1.2
  • March 22, 2014 Price increase: $9.99 -> $18.99
  • April 26, 2014 Price decrease: $18.99 -> $9.99
  • October 14, 2014 Price increase: $9.99 -> $18.99
  • October 19, 2014 Price decrease: $18.99 -> $14.99
  • September 01, 2015 Price increase: $14.99 -> $29.99
  • November 08, 2016 New version 1.23
  • November 08, 2016 Price decrease: $29.99 -> $5.99
  • October 29, 2019 Price increase: $5.99 -> $9.99
  • July 15, 2020 New version 2.0
  • July 15, 2020 Price decrease: $9.99 -> $4.99
  • December 10, 2020 Price decrease: $4.99 -> $1.99
  • August 06, 2021 Price increase: $1.99 -> $7.99
  • October 04, 2023 New version 3.0.0

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