My youngest has been at school a couple of weeks now, this week he is finally going full time. I have quite enjoyed easing him, and me, in with half days but I knew it was a matter of time before these whole days began. He's adjusted to school quite well so far, he is enjoying seeing and playing with friends, he's taking a liking to his teacher and he has had so much fun playing with everything that there is on offer in the Reception classroom. I do worry, however, that when it comes to the actual learning that he will struggle. My Son has been seeing a speech therapist throughout the summer to help him form his words correctly, and within such a short space of time he has made massive improvements. I've been told that with learning phonics, this will come on even more so. I am really looking forward to seeing how well he does. To get a head start, we were given a fantastic opportunity to review an app with ReadWithPhonics.
So at the beginning of last week, we downloaded the app onto my phone and I let my Son have some time playing the app each day last week. He loves technology and games, usually I limit how much time he has on there and how often, but he'd happily play all day. So, when I told him we were going to try out a new game- he was so excited and he soon got hooked. This came as a massive relief to me, as he has never been as interested in learning like his brother was. He is much better with games and playing.
The app is definitely a fun way to learn phonics. It is a progressive process which takes you from simple sounds to more complicated spelling combinations. So to begin with, you play levels using just single phonics sounds, such as 'a' 's' and 't'. a fun way to learn phonics. It is a progressive process which takes you from simple sounds to more complicated spelling combinations. So to begin with, you play levels using just single phonics sounds, such as 'a' 's' and 't'. After each phonic sound you complete, you unlock the next sound/ letter and so on. Once the single phonic sound levels have been completed, the game moves onwards to more complicated sounds. You start off on a section called 'Water World' and move forward on the map from there.
My Son took to this game straight away. I was watching him play and I noticed that the order of the letters and sounds were similar to the order they teach phonics at school. So I am really hoping that by playing this game, it gives him a bit of a head start for when they begin to introduce phonics as I have been worried he will fall behind.
There are 7 games in each stage in Water World that you complete. There are more games on the next World and so on. They start off simple, with being able to click on the right letter in a jumble of letters, to selecting the correct sounds to drag into the empty spaces of a word to then matching pictures with words. The game sounds the words out perfectly and phonetically, getting your child into the right practise for school and helping to reinforce what they have learnt. Practise makes perfect, as they say! The games are fun and interactive and the graphics on the game are playful, colourful and definitely up my boys street. There is an alien that makes sounds on the bottom of the screen and a fun 'level up' bar which shows progression. My boys always get excited when they 'level up' on any game and this was no exception.
I noticed that throughout the week my Son became very quick and confident with the app and the levels. It was really helping him to recognise the sounds and letters. As there was a similar layout with the games on each level and sound, my Son became used to the app and familiar with it which helped his confidence grow. It was very easy to use and follow. I was absolutely beaming when I put my Son to bed the other night, and he asked me if he could tell me some new words and sounds- he then proceeded, trying so hard, to say words like "suitcase" and "apple" which he had struggled with before. I have even heard him going around the house repeating "a a a a a a" so I know that he is taking on board these sounds and letters and the best thing is, he is finding it fun and interactive which is wanting him to learn and do more. It has helped to have a a positive attitude for the new term, too.
I really do recommend this app. I am looking forward to my Son playing with this more and when he reaches the harder letters and sounds, I am confident that his older brother will also find playing this game fun and help him out. The best thing is, the website- link here- is also really interactive and has some fantastic games on there and other educational offerings which children from reception to year 2 can enjoy. The full game costs £7.99 but you can begin with 3 levels free to see if you like it. The website has full details on where you can download it and on what platforms.
Has your child recently started learning phonics? What helped with their home learning? Pop a comment below, I would love to hear from you. Also don't forget to comment and let me know what your experiences are with the app too!
We were given full access to the Read with Phonics app on the Apple App Store in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of my own.
For more daily doses of parenting highs and lows, follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
So at the beginning of last week, we downloaded the app onto my phone and I let my Son have some time playing the app each day last week. He loves technology and games, usually I limit how much time he has on there and how often, but he'd happily play all day. So, when I told him we were going to try out a new game- he was so excited and he soon got hooked. This came as a massive relief to me, as he has never been as interested in learning like his brother was. He is much better with games and playing.
The app is definitely a fun way to learn phonics. It is a progressive process which takes you from simple sounds to more complicated spelling combinations. So to begin with, you play levels using just single phonics sounds, such as 'a' 's' and 't'. a fun way to learn phonics. It is a progressive process which takes you from simple sounds to more complicated spelling combinations. So to begin with, you play levels using just single phonics sounds, such as 'a' 's' and 't'. After each phonic sound you complete, you unlock the next sound/ letter and so on. Once the single phonic sound levels have been completed, the game moves onwards to more complicated sounds. You start off on a section called 'Water World' and move forward on the map from there.
My Son took to this game straight away. I was watching him play and I noticed that the order of the letters and sounds were similar to the order they teach phonics at school. So I am really hoping that by playing this game, it gives him a bit of a head start for when they begin to introduce phonics as I have been worried he will fall behind.
There are 7 games in each stage in Water World that you complete. There are more games on the next World and so on. They start off simple, with being able to click on the right letter in a jumble of letters, to selecting the correct sounds to drag into the empty spaces of a word to then matching pictures with words. The game sounds the words out perfectly and phonetically, getting your child into the right practise for school and helping to reinforce what they have learnt. Practise makes perfect, as they say! The games are fun and interactive and the graphics on the game are playful, colourful and definitely up my boys street. There is an alien that makes sounds on the bottom of the screen and a fun 'level up' bar which shows progression. My boys always get excited when they 'level up' on any game and this was no exception.
I noticed that throughout the week my Son became very quick and confident with the app and the levels. It was really helping him to recognise the sounds and letters. As there was a similar layout with the games on each level and sound, my Son became used to the app and familiar with it which helped his confidence grow. It was very easy to use and follow. I was absolutely beaming when I put my Son to bed the other night, and he asked me if he could tell me some new words and sounds- he then proceeded, trying so hard, to say words like "suitcase" and "apple" which he had struggled with before. I have even heard him going around the house repeating "a a a a a a" so I know that he is taking on board these sounds and letters and the best thing is, he is finding it fun and interactive which is wanting him to learn and do more. It has helped to have a a positive attitude for the new term, too.
I really do recommend this app. I am looking forward to my Son playing with this more and when he reaches the harder letters and sounds, I am confident that his older brother will also find playing this game fun and help him out. The best thing is, the website- link here- is also really interactive and has some fantastic games on there and other educational offerings which children from reception to year 2 can enjoy. The full game costs £7.99 but you can begin with 3 levels free to see if you like it. The website has full details on where you can download it and on what platforms.
Has your child recently started learning phonics? What helped with their home learning? Pop a comment below, I would love to hear from you. Also don't forget to comment and let me know what your experiences are with the app too!
We were given full access to the Read with Phonics app on the Apple App Store in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of my own.
For more daily doses of parenting highs and lows, follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
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