My Word Wall

App Title: My Word Wall

Grade Level: Pre-K - 1

Purpose: A   The app allows children to practice alphabet and basic words.

Program Functionality: A  I love the way this app is designed. The main home screen has an uncomplicated layout with ABC and word writing right in the center. The 4 games are on the bottom and have cheerful graphics to entice you to explore. The home screen is easily referenced by the house icon at any time during game play.

 
Overall Educational Value: A  This game allows children to see, hear, say, and write alphabet and basic words. The four games offer a variety of activities for a variety of skills. See & Find is a picture to word matching game. It has two levels: 6 cards or 8 cards. When you make a match, the word is read. Hide a Word sports a darkened screen, with a spotlight to swipe around to look for a word. This is fun for my first graders - they don’t get tired of finally spying that word! Bubble Words is perhaps my favorite. It is a spelling game that features a mix of words: cvc, cvce, and words with other vowel and consonant combinations such as ou, oy, or, ar, and st. It would have been great to have a way to set this to practice developmentally... cvc words only, cvce words, then other vowel patterns, etc. The last game is Jigsaw Words - simple puzzles to put together to build words.

Cost: $ .99 for iPhone, iPod app.  iPad HD version call Word Wall for $. 99.

Recommendation: Pre-school through 7 years will enjoy and benefit from this game.
Classroom Use Examples / Ideas: We use this 2-3 times a week in word study time in first grade. The students return to this app for the fun and I keep it on their iPods for the learning impact.
Developer Website: Punflay, Emantras
iTunes Link: My Word Wall
 
Reviewer Name: Carolyn Wojtera
Reviewer Blog: Teach with Tech

Review of Simplex Spelling HD by Kathy Burdick

Name of App: Simplex Spelling HD by Pyxwise Software

Free or Fee: $2.99 when reviewed

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Simplex Spelling HD helps students learn over 220 Dolch sight words through “reverse phonics.” Since sight words are high frequency and may not follow the rules of the English language it is difficult for students to sound them out. But what is great about Simplex Spelling HD is that the phonogram for each letter combination that makes that sound, single or multiple letters, is provided for each word. For example, when you tab on the hint button for the word find f and ph are shown as options that make the sound heard at the beginning of the word. Some of the letter combinations have an explanation as to the spelling rule applied and why a particular letter is used. In addition to the use of “reverse phonics”, Simplex Spelling HD uses spelling to build literacy since students are required to spell the word using a keyboard (ABC or QWERTY) after hearing the word said and used in a sentence as opposed to learning the word solely based on sight and memorization. Students can press the speaker button to hear the word and sentence repeated as many times as necessary.

Simplex Spelling HD is incredibly easy to use. There is a tutorial to guide beginning users, a question mark button that tells the user what each symbol means, a progress button that allows teachers, parents and students to see how many words have been mastered from each list and a home button that navigates back the beginning page. Multiple users can be added to the app making it perfect for a household or classroom that has fewer iPads than children. The sight word lists range from pre-primer to third grade making this app for many reading levels. In addition to learning the sight words, which increases reading ability, students are supported with positive feedback (whether they used the hint button or not) helping to build confidence as well. Simplex Spelling HD is an excellent tool to support literacy and help young readers grow!

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