App Reviews
By. D. Kyrie Word
Alabama Reading Standard 1.22 ) Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. [RF.1.3]
a. Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs. [RF.1.3a]
b. Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words. [RF.1.3b]
c. Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds. [RF.1.3c]
SeeSaw
SeeSaw is a digital journal portfolio of student learning. Students can take pictures and videos of themselves and their work. When submitted to the teacher it can be reviewed by parents, teachers or peers. This app is great for documenting students applying reading skills learned in phonics. The app also allows students to practice digital literacy skills while working on content standards. The app is free. It is available on apple or android devices, and even on Chromebooks. Commonsense.org is a credible site because they thoroughly described the app in many different aspects. They also allow other 3rd parties to review the app based on their use of the app. I always like to know how another teacher used or liked something before I waste my time on it.
Teach Your Monster to Read
Teach Your Monster to Read is a fun app that takes students on a magical adventure. While on the adventure, they must make choices using and building on their phonics skills. It includes grade-level appropriate sight words as well as letter and sound correlations. It is available on apple or android devices. It cost $4.99 but is free for educators.
I chose this review from Ipad for Educators because of the background it gave about the app. As a teacher, getting the information of who collaborated with the app is important because I want my students getting real content as they “play.” This app used people who knew something about phonics to create it! (Go Figure!)
Kidz Phonics
Kidz Phonics is a comprehensive reading program on its own. It is broken down into several apps to cover many grade levels and phonics skills. This makes it a little pricey. The apps start as a free lite version and then you pay to continue. I checked into the full program and its $99/year for 20 students. So it is something that could be used in the classroom. It works on apple and android devices. I chose this review site because it seems to be one most parents would google and use. It is not as comprehensive as I would want as a teacher but still informative.
My favorite of these apps is SeeSaw. I love that it can meet the needs of all my students as well as tie in digital literacy standards. I like that it is little hands friendly. The littles get left out a lot when it comes to technology. Teachers of younger grades usually only get apps because they do not require logins. SeeSaw has a QR code login. It got 5 stars on several of the different review websites and I can see why.
Thanks for sharing these apps, Kyrie. I am only familiar with Teach Your Monster to Read. After reading your post on SeeSaw and KidzPhonics and looking at the reviews linked in the blog, I agree with you; I think SeeSaw is my favorite out of these three apps. The fact that it includes digital literacy standards is phenomenal, and I love the use of QR codes in the classroom. I also love that the students' portfolio can be viewed by teachers and parents. Further, it's always a big plus when teaching resources and tools are free. Thank you for your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteHello Kyrie, Your review on Teach Your Monster to Read is an excellent tool that I can use as a librarian. We all know that in order for a student to learn how to read he or she must be familiar with their sight words. I plan on using use this tool as a Marker Space activity to introduce them to a set of new words every over week. The sight seems exciting, engaging and both teacher, student friendly. Once again Thanks for sharing.
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