PocketPhonics app for iPhone and iPad
Developer: Apps in My Pocket Ltd
First release : 19 Jan 2009
App size: 0 Bytes
Teaches reading using the synthetic phonics method as outlined in the national curriculum. Guides children through the literacy journey, beginning with helping them to learn and write their first letter sounds and ending with them able to read the apps 43 stories by themselves.
+148apps.com “there’s no denying that “PocketPhonics” is an amazing app. A universal app—it works with both iPhone and iPad—PocketPhonics teaches the basics of reading and writing to young kids. Most surprising? It seems to work.”
+Macworld app of the day "Teach your kids to write with this innovative educational iPhone app that follows the UKs national curriculum ... help young children understand letters, and start the road to reading."
+Technology in Education: “If you are working on phonics for your kids, this is the best application to have.”
+Wall Street Journal: ‘boy wont put down his moms iPhone, where shes downloaded "PocketPhonics."’
+pragmaticmom.com: “This app feels like you have a teacher or a tutor working with your child one on one.”
PocketPhonics is split in to 12 groups of letter sounds, each group is followed by a set of storybooks that use those letter sounds. Kids read storybooks that are on the right level for them.
In the first group of letter sounds, there are six sounds to master before the child will be able to read their first storybook. Most children aged 4+ will start to read their first storybook within 10 weeks if they are using the app for 15 mins everyday.
Parents and teachers can easily monitor children’s progress online. They can see what stage the child is currently at, any letter sounds they are having difficulty with and what storybooks have been read. Furthermore, teachers and parents are also emailed a certificate when a child completes a task.
Children can tap an unfamiliar word in a story, and the app will sound out the letters to help the child understand what the word says. If that’s not enough, they can tap again to hear the actual word and see a picture that illustrates its meaning.
The storybooks gradually introduce high-frequency words like “the” and “to” that follow less common spelling rules.
As the child reads a story, the child’s ability to read certain keywords in the storybooks will be tested to make sure they can read them and understand their meaning.
At the end of the story, the app tests the child on the new words in that story. Each word is spoken in turn, and the child has to select the written form of the word. Only once they are able to correctly identify all the words on this level, can they move onto the next level.
Specifically, children master the following skills:
* writing letters (more UK handwriting styles than any other app)
* recognising 72 letter sounds (e.g. ‘ch’ are the letters that make the initial sound in ‘chat’)
* blending letter sounds together to make words (e.g ‘ch-a-t’)
* hearing a word and selecting its written form (e.g. the app says, “chat”, the child has to select ‘chat’ from a group of words)
How it works
* 7-day free trial with no commitment and full access
* The £1.49 monthly and £14.99 annual subscription unlock access to all books and phonics levels for an unlimited number of children
* The subscription gives you access to more books as they are added
* Once subscribed, your subscription auto-renews each month or annually. However, you can easily turn auto renew off via the Settings app
* Payment will be charged to your iTunes account at confirmation of purchase
* Subscription automatically renews unless auto-renew is turned off at least 24-hours before the end of the current period
* Cannot cancel current subscription during its subscription period
* Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable
Privacy policy:
http://appsinmypocket.com/privacy
Terms of use:
http://appsinmypocket.com/terms