Fantastic Apps! - Learning to Read Phonics Apps by Emmy Chen

I absolutely love the iPad app 'Phonics Silly Sentences - Short Vowels, Flash Cards, Matching and Sentences.' I love the whole series made by Emmy Chen and it is so worth the $2.99 price!

My almost-five year old boy is still behind in his speech but I've started him in a reading program that I got for free from Funnix and I downloaded a bunch of free versions of different apps, of which the Silly Sentences series is by far my favorite. He knows the alphabet, letter sounds and so now I've started to teach him sight words and beginning phonics. So far he is doing super well - he's learned about ten sight words so far and is learning the concept of sounding out words. Don't get me wrong, he's not reading yet, but it's a promising, solid start!

The app was easy enough for my son to do by himself but I would not recommend that. Sitting and playing together, saying the sounds and words aloud with my son was really helpful. He loves matching the pictures to the words and sentences and it is making a connection between sentences and specific sentences which has been different than other books and apps we've used.

So go get it. It's a great phonics app. We got the whole series.

Love,
Amanda & Cubs

Using the iPad as a Preschool Educational Tool Rules

We are a technology household. Daddy works from home so he is at his computer, iPhone, and iPad for many hours of the day. He and I believe that technology is a part of tomorrow no matter what and so we allow the kids to share an iPad. While they're young, we believe we're teaching them care and respect for their iPad (or whatever item you might have) and we have basic rules to keep it from being an electronic babysitter or just another toy.

1. Two to an iPad
Why? In this house, I need interaction - talking! My late-talker must use the iPad with me, dad, grandpa, even his sister, so that he is not just quiet. He must describe what he's doing, even if he's just repeating back what I'm saying. He describes what he sees, what the characters are doing, he laughs, he looks at me, kisses me, smiles, and laughs some more...:) 

2. Educational Games Folder Only
Why? I want to be able to integrate this iPad into his education for a long time, so I need for him and the other kids to see it as a learning tool and not a big Nintendo DS. Handing it to them and letting them do whatever does not set any rules or boundaries and opens the door to abuse and destruction of the item.

3. iPads are for Practice
Why? You are the teacher or leader so any initial lesson should be coming from you. Allowing youtube or TV to teach your kids the ABCs makes the TV the teacher. Sing the ABCs, put together an alphabet puzzle, and allow technology to support what you have already taught. With our iPad, I search for apps to reinforce ideas I've taught, like Seasons HD to show more visuals and games of the four seasons. 

4. Alone Practice is within Sight and for an Hour at the Most
Why? Actually, alone time doesn't even happen everyday. It's good to just let them become bored because that's when they figure out something to do! My son needs practice thinking and creating so just letting him alone is good, but sometimes on weekends when Daddy and I catch up with a show, my son sits next to us doing his thing.

5. And During Practice Time, Airport is On!
Not only are we preventing him from accidently buying or signing up for anything, but we are also protecting him from any inappropriate websites or youtube videos. He navigates well and for now we've kept the airport switch a secret...he navigates too well not to stumble upon a bad link.

6. Put it Back
Why? Like with their other belongings, they must take care of it and learn proper use of it. Leaving it on the couch is unacceptable - plugging it in at the same place teaches them to respect the item. Teaching this young I am hoping will prevent them from losing it if we ever take it out into the public.

Any others?

Love, Amanda and Cubs

Two Great Alphabet Writing Apps for Toddlers and Preschoolers: iWriteWords and Little Sky Writers

We have an Apple iPad and we are incorporating it into our home-preschooling one game at a time. Two games I have found to be great is iWriteWords and Little SkyWriters We bought the Handwriting edition of iWriteWords ($2.99) and the iPad app Sky ($1.99) and I love them because it fills a gap in what I've been teaching him at home

Elijah has this great wipe-clean book called Learn to Write your Letters ABC (it's in the Amazon list to the right) and we write the alphabet upper- and lower-case everyday. However, I'm afraid of over-correcting, creating frustration, and taking his enthusiasm for it down to nil. With both of these apps, he must follow the letter correctly, lifting his finger where he should and finishing the letter correctly. And they're still fun.

Little Sky Writers is a simpler app. Once I showed Elijah how to do it, he liked guiding the airplane. I liked that he had a point to reach, and a check to know he'd done it correctly. By pressing the alphabet icon, I was able to see how many he'd gotten correct after he was done, upper- and lower-case. And he loved the voice and the sound effects. My only wish was that there was some kind of "Great job!" at the end of each letter, but that's just me.

iWriteWords is a fantastic app for the price. I like how you can make the letters bigger for little fingers. Elijah understood this one right away and I was able to tell him "Touch the four" if he didn't finish the letter correctly, and he understands that better than "Go to the end." And you can re-play their handiwork - watch it and enjoy. But they made it a little too fun to mess up the letter, so I know when to take it away because I hear the squeaky noise and giggles repeatedly.

These apps were good for my Elijah with the speech delay because I was able to have him repeat words that the man in Sky Writers said or the words the lady said in iWriteWords. He also must tell me which one he wants by saying "I want -" to first get the app, and again for the features in the game. And if he does a good job, I encourage him to say "yay!" and pretty soon, he's engaging in spontaneous speech.

There's another review with a video for Little Sky Writers here by Best iPad Hacks. The iPhone Mom wrote a great review of iWriteWords here and if you search for it on youtube, you can watch kids play it. Both are well worth it in alphabet toddler game world.

Love,
Amanda & Cubs