Product review: Montessori Words & Phonics by L'Escapadou

Here's a review I wrote years ago, when my kid was actually using Montessori Words & Phonics. It remains my strong favorite. This app taught both my kids to read in about 6-8 months, to the point where they could read Level 2-3 books such as Frog and Toad are Friends or Mouse Tales. I did not intervene at all. One of them was in Chinese immersion at the time, so literally no English reading was happening elsewhere. As far as lazy parenting lifehacks, this is aces. Best $4 I ever spent.

This is by far the best reading app I've seen. I've seen some other pre-reading apps that are nice (for learning short letter sounds and learning to blend sounds), but there are very few apps that handle the period between short sounds and full-on reading. This app elegantly teaches digraphs, diphthongs, long sounds, etc. I like that it's not overly cutesy or gushing, but instead relies on a kid's innate sense of accomplishment, and makes that accomplishment easy to attain and increase. My kid is so proud of figuring things out himself, and I've seen marked improvement; he proceeds quickly from guessing to knowing.

The app is based on Montessori's movable alphabet and utilizes the same self-correcting idea of many Montessori materials. 

Features I love:

1) The movable alphabet letters change sounds depending on how the letter sounds in the word. If the word has a short A, then the alphabet A sounds short. If the word has a long A, then the alphabet A sounds long. Nice touch.

2) For the most part, the complex sounds in the word are highlighted together (so the spots for T and H light up together if TH appears in the word). The unwelcome exception is NG, which the program pronounces literally N and then G. Also, QU is not pronounced together, like KW, but rather like K then W; I find this unnecessarily confusing.

3) You can choose a particular sound by itself. So only CH words, or long A words (under which falls A-E, AI, and AY).

4) Though I believe this app would be useful for any kid, it's particularly great for kids in Montessori. 

A few things I'd like to see in a next version, mild irritations, but not that big a deal:

1) Ability to turn off the "cheat" in the upper right corner. (ETA:) there is an option that allows the user to see the answer, which can be turned off (I figured out after I wrote the review). I've come around to the idea that it could be useful at the beginning. 

2) Option to learn only one version of a sound. So, only A-E, rather than all long A sounds together. Currently A-E and -AY (as in hay) are practiced together, for example.

3) Improved diction. The short E, for example, sounds like short I. Mostly the diction is fine, but the few exceptions are pretty confusing. It's the only way in which this program makes learning harder rather than easier, so of all the suggested improvements, I believe this is the most important. Also, as mentioned above, changes to NG and QU.

4) Teaching suggestions. It would be a simple but welcome fix to include a help section, not just teaching the mechanics of the program, but also giving suggested teaching tips. For example, recommended order. Obviously there are several levels, but within the digraphs and diphthongs, it would be useful to have an ordered list from easiest to hardest. (Montessori teachers have a fairly standard ordered list, e.g.) Or recommended settings for new users (upper case v. lower case v. Montessori writing, e.g.). For the most part, the way the app is set up does the teaching itself, but there are certainly a few thing that might help.

All in all, I would certainly buy this again, and would recommend it to anyone who is teaching a beginning or advanced beginning reader.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Project-based learning using portfolios

Image
 One type of teaching that easily gets lost in afterschooling is project-based learning. It's something that takes effort on the part of both teacher and student, and as such, it tends to feel trickier than just doing your daily Duolingo or ixl.  But one of the things I loved about homeschooling full time was being able to follow my kids' interests. While I had a lot I wanted to cover, there were moments where it made a lot of sense to step back and say, "You're clearly interested in _______, so how about we do a project around that?" Full disclosure, projects take time and effort. And because of this, my tendency is to reserve projects for areas of student interest. As a teacher, you can cultivate student interest, by thinking about the sorts of things that inspire your kid, and talking to them about what you want them to learn through a lens of what attracts them.  As an example: a child inspired by art will be likely to enjoy learning about Renaissance science ...
Read more

PUT! ART! IN! YOUR! HOUSE! Part II

I previously discussed creating an art nook and using it to enrich history learning and to learn about art history at the same time.  Today, it's time for music. Music history is one of those areas easily ignored or given short shrift, but given how sticky music is for minds, it need not be. And listening to music has demonstrable positive effects on mood, memory, and brain function . (The more involved a person is with the music, the greater the effect; so, inattentive listening may not produce more than a mood boost, where playing an instrument boosts executive function , among other things.) Short of committing to a serious music program, one may still curate a musical curriculum that will begin to familiarize you and your children with new music. The more exposure a person has to music, the more likely she will be to engage with music more fully in life. So I see this as a sort of initial step, a necessary condition of music literacy. The good news: it's as simple as playi...
Read more