Montessorium: Intro to Words app for iPhone and iPad
"Drawing on the Montessori system, Alpha Writer has been designed to make learning to read and write a joy." - Financial Times
The possibilities are endless when children begin to understand the written word. Intro to Words guides your child so that they can learn to write, read and spell phonetically, and compose their own words and stories with original illustrations! Based on the proven methodology of Montessori.
——
WHY PHONETICS?
A phonetic word or phrase means every letter has a sound. Examples include JAM, WET, or GUM. A child can decode these words without needing to memorize tricky English language rules, and that means they are the perfect introduction to writing and reading. Explore an entire section of just phonetic words in Intro to Words.
WHAT’S A PHONOGRAM?
Phonograms are two letters that come together to make a unique sound, like SH, AI, or OW. Children use these two letter combinations to construct words like SHIP, RAIN, and COW. Your child will listen as a gentle voice pronounces phonograms in Intro to Words, then it’s their turn to give spelling a try.
MORE ABOUT WHAT YOUR CHILD WILL LEARN:
• Basic foundations of language
• To write, read and spell phonetically
• Identify consonants and vowels
• Phonograms - writing and pronunciation
• Letter sounds, pronunciation and composition
• How to compose, identify and spell phonetic words
• To write, create and read stories
• Fine motor skills
CHOOSE AN ARTIST
We offer over 100 unique, phonetic illustrations, from 3 different internationally acclaimed artists: Zeptonn, Mike Lowery and Marloes de Vries. Pick your favorite to work with, or rotate between all three!
CREATE YOUR OWN STORY
Let loose in the storyboard section of Intro to Words! Your child has access to all illustrations, letters and phonograms to create a masterpiece of their own. Play alongside your child for moments of learning as a family.
SOUND GAMES
Enjoy a game of I-Spy to help your child become familiar with letter sounds. Listen as Intro to Words introduces three objects, followed by “I spy with my little eye...something beginning with sss” for example. Your child will be prompted to select an object that begins with that letter sound! “Which object starts with sss?”
THE PHILOSOPHY BEHIND INTRO TO WORDS
A tested and proven aspect to the Montessori method is that writing comes before reading. Intro to Words places an emphasis on the phonetic sounds used to build a word rather than spelling or reading comprehension. Children can learn the letter sounds and combinations of letter sounds at their own pace!
——
We would love to hear from you.
· Visit our website: www.montessorium.com
· Follow us on Twitter: @montessorium
· Join us on Facebook: @montessorium.
Pros and cons of Montessorium: Intro to Words app for iPhone and iPad
Montessorium: Intro to Words app good for
This is a wonderful app to strengthen the phonetic learning in young children as well as for beginning readers/writers. The app has two different section; the Alpha and the Writer.
In the Alpha Section, the app interacts with the child when it ask to find a specific object within the ones available. There are transportation, animals, clothing, body parts and more to pick from. Once the child has picked an item, he/she will hear the sound of it and then a voice will say the word. The child has to use the letters on the top of the screen to be able to write the word. For example, for the box the child would have to select the letter B, O, and X and drag them on the table.
In the Writer section, the child will have the opportunity of practicing how to write short sentences for a story. Using the alphabet as well as images, the child is able to write little sentences like “the plane is fast”. In a way having the opportunity to apply the learning done in the first section of the app is wonderful. The child is learning and has fun at the same time.
As he/she completes a little story, mom or dad can use the camera to save what the child has written in the camera roll on the device your are using.
I think this app is a great introduction to phonetic as well as how to write little sentences. It doesn’t overwhelm the child with rules like capital letter and punctuation. However, the app is flexible to allow the child to include images in his sentences to make it more fun to learn at the same time. For us, we have used the app as a supplement after learning the phonics while homeschooling. My son enjoyed being able to write little sentences by himself has well.
I would recommend this app for anyone who have a child in the ages of 3-5 years old (or older for kids who are struggling in learning how to write and spell).
A neat app that got my son interested in an instant.
I was happy to see that kids are supposed to associate letters with their corresponding sounds and not to learn alphabet. The app is a lot better than ANY other program I have ever seen before.
Suggestions
1. Repositioning letters would constitute another activity to help children stay motivated.
2. However the creators should prevent screen from switching to next pic/word when dragging a letter.
3. If the doggy barked when the word is composed... Or something more significant than that sound... But I may be wrong.
Some bad moments
I am a Montessori trained teacher and I am very upset that I wasted my money on this app. I expected a learning program/game thats based on Montessori principles and would reinforce the use of the moveable alphabet at home. I cant find instructions for this app and there are no levels to follow any rule of progression. What you see on the screenshots is all you get. I am very disappointed.
I was expecting much more than this! Please update this app to make it worth 5 bucks! Right now it is a waste of money!
This app is aimless, pointless, and deeply flawed in design. Absolutely wasting time and money.
I dont mind paying $5 for a really good learning app for my child but theres nothing special about this one compared to any other .99c app - wouldnt recommend it to others, pretty sure my son will bore of this in a few minutes and I just wasted my money.
Weve been waiting for this app to be released ever since our son was enamored with both the Numbers and Letters app by this developer. Once again, were in love! Highly engaging and adorable...such clean design and UI. The repetition of the sounds and interaction is really going to boost our child into spelling and reading. Yay!
This is one of the most engaging apps that Ive seen. It takes learning to the next level. Highly recommend!