Articles by Jaymi Thiessen - Literacy and Phonics App Reviews

HOMER Learn and Grow App Review

Jaymi Thiessen on February 8, 2024

HOMER Learn and Grow is an educational app tailored for children ages 2 to 8. The app boasts a diverse range of activities and aims to cover key developmental areas such as reading, math, social-emotional learning, creativity, and thinking skills.

In this review, let’s take a closer look at the quality of literacy instruction in the app so you can decide whether or not it’s worth using in phonics instruction.

The Learning Path in HOMER

The learning path of HOMER takes children through a series of lessons that gradually build upon their knowledge. Overall, it’s personalized and systematic but can improve its parent involvement.

Systematic Instruction

HOMER Learn & Grow takes a personalized approach to learning with an introductory quiz that helps determine each user’s starting point and their appropriate learning path. This ensures that the educational content is developmentally suitable, adapting to the unique needs of users with different ages and ability levels.

The “Learning Path” is an easy-to-follow line and indicates that the instruction in this game is systematic. Systematic instruction means that there is a carefully pre-planned sequence of skills that will be introduced and practiced. These skills will move from easier to more difficult as the game progresses.

There is also a “practice” area for players to leave the path and practice specific skills. The HOMER app explains why they have chosen this approach and clearly shares the evidence that supports it.

Transparency and Communication

While it is commendable that the app has a clear learning plan, it could be more transparent with educators and parents about the details of this learning path. Sharing a description of skills along the learning path or a “Scope and Sequence” would improve communication about specific learning goals for children.

Phonemic Awareness Activities

Phonemic awareness is the ability to work with individual speech sounds (phonemes) in language. It is a foundational skill for learning to read. HOMER has many activities and methods that help new readers improve this important skill.

Practicing Letter Sounds

The foundational skill of phonemic awareness is addressed by the HOMER Learn & Grow app, particularly in its introduction of letter sounds. The app excels in its letter sound accuracy, presenting clear and precise representations of phonemes.

Note: the letter sounds within the HOMER app are delivered (and limited) to an audience that speaks American English.

Learning Short Vowel Sounds

Knowing vowel sounds is crucial to literacy development. Every word has a vowel sound. Children cannot read any word without first knowing vowel sounds. Short vowel sounds are a common place for new readers to get stuck. The HOMER App has a great deal of practice and repetition in recognizing, producing, and hearing these sounds, which is truly valuable in learning to read.

Sound Articulation Exercises

Another admirable feature of HOMER is its inclusion of facial animations that show users how to articulate sounds. This type of modeling can be helpful for children learning to make new speech sounds or identify them in words.

While the app successfully incorporates these visual aids, it’s worth noting that the quality of the facial animation may fall short in providing detailed assistance. This feature could be improved by increasing the detail in the animation, showing a real mouth making the sound, or including a short description of what the tongue, teeth, and lips are doing to make each sound.

The game also has a feature where a child can listen to a specific sound and then record themselves repeating that sound. Then, they can listen back to how they made the sound. This is a fun and helpful way for children to be able to hear how they make a sound and how it compares to the sample sound.

However, any sound, no matter how inaccurate, can be recorded and practiced by the child. The game will give positive feedback for any articulation of a sound, even an incorrect or completely unintelligible one. Therefore, parents and educators should monitor this gameplay and consult with a speech-language pathologist (SLP) if they have concerns about speech production or articulation for their child.

Teaching Letter Formation

An important skill in early literacy is learning how to print letters. The HOMER Learn & Grow app introduces letter formation through videos that model the formation of the letter while a child’s voice narrates what they are doing to make the letter. This is referred to as a ‘verbal path’ for the formation of letters and can support a child’s memory of how to form that letter. There are also opportunities for children to trace a letter with an animated line guide.

Accuracy of Letter Formation

Unfortunately, HOMER’s model videos and tracing games do not follow common letter formations approved and used by occupational therapists and educators. This can cause children to practice letter formation in an inaccurate way or a way that won’t align with what’s taught in schools.

This is especially important for the formation of the letters <b> and <d> as they are so often confused by children. Additionally, the game accepts and rewards many formations of the letter, even inaccurate ones. Parents and educators should carefully monitor this part of the game to see that letters are made appropriately and accurately.

Reading Practices

When it comes to reading, the HOMER app offers several learning activities that follow specific types of phonics instruction.

Synthetic Phonics

The HOMER Learn & Grow app uses synthetic phonics to teach children to read and spell. Synthetic phonics uses individual letters and sounds that are blended to read words. It’s a simple, logical, and evidence-based method of teaching reading and spelling.

“Tap to Read” Decoding Exercises

The HOMER app has a “Tap and Read” game where players tap individual letters in a word to hear their sound. Then, the sounds are blended to read a word.

In the app, blending is first done slowly while visually represented by a sloth on roller skates gliding under the letters as the sounds are repeated. Then the word is blended more quickly, which is shown with a hedgehog on roller skates gliding under the letters. The player can click on the sloth and hedgehog to repeatedly hear the slow and fast blending of the sounds into a word.

This game does a great job of visually representing and modeling what phoneme blending is and how words can be ‘sounded out’. That said, this game can be quite passive for new readers since it blends the words for them. Parents or educators should encourage their children to participate and verbally blend the sounds into words along with the characters on screen.

Continuous Texts and Story Reading

The HOMER app has a “Stories” feature which includes classics like Where the Wild Things Are and other books that match the interests of each child or student. The learner in the app can choose to read these books on their own or have them read out loud. These story-reading options are a great feature of the HOMER app, supporting a child’s motivation and comprehension in early reading.

Early Readers

There are also books along the “Learning Path” in the reading section of the app. The first reader is called The Boys Like to Run. Many of the words in this book, such as “run”, are decodable. This means the child has been taught how to blend sounds together and those practice words are in the book. This helps children practice their new decoding skills in connected text.

Unfortunately, many words in the first book are irregular, referred to as “sight words” on the app. To read this first book, a child would need to know how to sound out some CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words, have nine words visually memorized, and be able to connect these words in a sentence. This may be a challenging task for some children. Simple changes like replacing the word “boys” with “kids” in the book would increase its decodability and increase the confidence of a reader attempting their first independent reading of a book.

The HOMER app also asks to record the learner reading the decodable sentence out loud. While the recording may be helpful for a child to think about their fluency in reading a sentence, the app does not check for accuracy. It also praises the child for any attempted answer. Again, it is best to have adult supervision to see that a child is practicing reading correctly.

Spelling Lessons

HOMER Learn & Grow impressively integrates effective early spelling instruction within its platform. The app uses Elkonin boxes in a gamified format, providing a dynamic and interactive learning experience for young readers.

The inclusion of Elkonin boxes is a notable pedagogical choice, as it aids in modeling the segmentation of words into their distinct phonemic components. The instructions in the game present a whole word and then clearly segment the word into its individual parts. The explicit modeling of segmentation is an important phonemic awareness skill necessary for early spelling.

HOMER’s commitment to mixing educational content with interactive gameplay proves to be a valuable asset in making early spelling instruction both enjoyable and effective for kids.

Is the HOMER Learn & Grow App Worth It?

HOMER Learn & Grow stands out as an easy-to-use and enjoyable educational app for young learners.

Its incorporation of a systematic synthetic phonics (SSP) approach for both decoding (word-reading) and encoding (spelling) contributes to a robust foundation in literacy skills. The app successfully combines fun and cuteness with educational content, creating an engaging learning environment.

However, there are a few drawbacks. Though it may seem like a child could use Homer independently successfully, certain features don’t provide the necessary feedback to be effective. This means that adult supervision is required in certain features like the articulation of letter sounds or encouraging active participation in sounding out words. Additionally, some changes could be made in early books in the app to build competence and confidence in kids learning to read.

Lastly, there is room for improvement in the app’s accuracy of letter formation. Addressing these concerns could further enhance the overall effectiveness and appeal of HOMER Learn & Grow for a wider range of young learners.

To learn more and compare phonics apps like HOMER Learn and Grow, check out the resources at phonics.org.

Endless Reader App Review: Phonics Games

Jaymi Thiessen on February 7, 2024

Endless Reader, a popular educational app designed for young learners, captivates children with its animated letters and engaging gameplay. Aimed at making the initial steps of reading enjoyable, the app boasts a visually appealing interface and straightforward activities.

Beneath the surface, certain aspects of the Endless Reader app warrant careful consideration, especially regarding letter sounds and phonetic accuracy. In this review, we explore both the positive attributes and the concerns surrounding the Endless Reader app in its effectiveness as a tool for early literacy development.

Endless Reader App Description

The Endless Reader app begins with an alphabet displayed on a friendly monster’s face. Players can explore the alphabet sequentially or select specific letters and words to work on. The initial experience includes the first six letters for free, with the option to unlock additional paid word “packs.”

Once a word is chosen, it appears on a paper background, with the entire word pronounced clearly. Adorable animated monsters then playfully scramble the letters, prompting players to drag each letter back to its designated outline. The letters ‘come alive’ as they are touched on screen. Each touch or drag produces a sound associated with the corresponding letter.

Subsequently, a longer sentence is presented, with three words missing. Players must strategically place these words back into the sentence based on their outlines or shapes. Once the word is successfully reconstructed, a vivid scene unfolds, where the word’s meaning is brought to life by a group of charming monsters. The sentence is then read aloud and the player moves on to play the next word.

How Endless Reader Works

The educational goal of the Endless Reader app is to introduce early readers to “sight words.”

The app describes sight words as “the most commonly used words in school, library, and children’s books.”

However, this definition is not entirely accurate. A sight word is any word that a person can recognize instantly. What Endless Reader is describing in its description are “high-frequency words.” These are words that are most frequently used in written language.

The goal of the game appears to be to turn these highly frequent or common words into sight words through repeated exposure.

What Does Endless Reader Do Well?

Here are some of the “pros” of Endless Reader if you’re considering it for your child or student.

Adorable, Animated Letter Characters

The visual appeal of the cute animated letter adds an element of engagement for young learners. The vibrant and friendly design makes the learning experience more enjoyable.

Simple and Straightforward Gameplay

Endless Reader excels in its simplicity. The straightforward gameplay ensures that children can easily navigate and play the game independently. There are no distracting ads, pop-ups, or loud music interfering with a child’s focus and attention.

Builds Language Comprehension

The enactments of the sentences aid in language comprehension and provide grammatical context for how the word can be used. This feature enhances the understanding of vocabulary and sentence structure in a fun and interactive way.

Alphabet Matching for Beginners

Matching the same letters together may support letter recognition and help children differentiate individual letters from one another.

Valuable Learning Goal

There is evidence that learning a small number of high-frequency words alongside phonics can support students learning to read texts. It makes sense to have a game with a focus on improving a student’s recognition of words that are frequently used.

Concerns With Endless Reader

Learning a small number of irregular high-frequency words can help children with overall reading ability. However, the methods used by Endless Reader could be improved.

Inaccurate Letter Sounds

One of the critical components of early reading development is a solid understanding of the connection between letters and sounds. This is called a grapheme-phoneme correspondence (GPC). Unfortunately, Endless Reader falls short in this aspect, potentially hindering the progress of young learners.

A notable example of the app’s letter-sound shortcoming is the addition of sounds to certain consonant letters. For example, the letter <N> represents the sound /n/, but Endless Reader’s pronunciation of the letter <N> sounds like “neh.” When teaching letter sounds to kids, it’s important to clip the sound entirely so children hear one accurate sound, not multiple.

Learning these sounds inaccurately may confuse children and eventually hinder their ability to read and spell words. This could potentially be an even larger problem for children who have difficulty with speech sounds and articulation. Unfortunately, most consonant sounds in Endless Reader are inaccurate or unclear.

Misrepresentation of Sounds in Words

Another concerning aspect of the Endless Reader app is the mismatch between sounds in words. For example, the word ‘eat’ has two sounds: /ē/ and /t/. However, in the Endless Reader app, the word ‘eat’ is represented by three sounds /ē/ /ă/ /t/. This is inaccurate. Ideally, the <ea> letters in this word would stay connected and make one sound /ē/ (long e).

Additionally, in the app, the letter <E> in the word “cake” makes a short /ĕ/ sound. This misrepresentation not only confuses young learners but also undermines their ability to apply phonetic decoding skills when encountering new words.

Regular vs. Irregular Words

Some high-frequency words can be easily sounded out or decoded. For example, words like ‘in’, ‘it’, and ‘on’ are frequent and easily learned by blending the sounds to read the words. Other words, like ‘said’ or ‘of’ are very common, but do not follow typical phonics patterns. These words are sometimes referred to as “irregular.”

There is some evidence that suggests pointing out the irregularities in these words helps children recognize them. Notably, Endless Reader teaches these irregular words in the same way as the words that are phonetically regular and does not show where the irregularities occur.

For examples of resources that do make this differentiation see: The University of Florida Institute and Heart Word Magic videos.

Subpar Word Choices

The Endless Reader app says, “We have added a few words that are not usually regarded as ‘sight words’ so we can present a complete A-Z collection of words for each level”. Even with this consideration in mind, Endless Reader’s word selection has room for improvement.

For example, the first word for the letter c is ‘cake.’ This is not a particularly common word in children’s books. The words ‘can’, ‘came’, and ‘come’ also start with the letter <C> and are much more frequently occurring in children’s texts. Choosing words that are higher-frequency in this game would have more impact on improving a child’s reading ability.

Is Endless Reader Worth It?

The Endless Reader app has a cute and simple approach to introducing high-frequency words to new readers. However, the inaccurate sounds it teaches can cause children to learn letter sounds incorrectly. This could negatively impact word-reading and spelling development.

Addressing these issues is crucial for ensuring that young learners develop a strong literacy foundation, setting them on a path toward successful and confident reading. Parents and educators should be aware of these challenges and consider looking elsewhere for “sight word” practice.

Want to learn about more effective phonics instruction programs and learning apps for kids? Browse the resources on phonics.org including expert reviews and recommendations.

ABCmouse Review: Quantity vs. Quality for New Readers

Jaymi Thiessen on February 7, 2024

ABCmouse.com is an educational app tailored for children ages 2 to 8. It offers more than 10,000 activities and 850 lessons that foster learning in a variety of subjects.

If you want to know the quality of ABCmouse lessons, keep reading. This review takes a close look at the literacy lessons and games available in the app.

Rewards in ABCmouse Lessons

ABCmouse lessons provide in-app rewards to motivate and engage young learners. Children earn tickets for completing lessons and games, which they can then use to purchase items such as accessories for their avatars or virtual pets to play with.

Rewards can be engaging for young children. However, research suggests extrinsic rewards may actually hinder an inner desire to learn. ABCmouse’s focus on games and rewards may also introduce distractions from the educational parts of the app.

How Does ABCmouse Work?

ABCmouse.com can be played in a free-form style where children choose from a large selection of activities based on their interests. There is also a “learning path” option where children follow lessons in a structured, step-by-step way.

Different subjects are introduced along the learning path including literacy-based activities. A description of this learning path or Scope and Sequence is easily accessible on the ABCmouse.com website for educators and parents to refer to. Additionally, the path can be customized by an adult to best suit the needs of an individual child or student.

One questionable aspect of this structure is that children are expected to read and spell words outside of the provided learning path. Learners in Kindergarten may be given challenging tasks such as spelling words with diphthongs, a concept that is not introduced until grade 2 on the learning path. This can be discouraging for early readers as they try to complete tasks that exceed their current skills and abilities.

Learning to Read Words in the App

The ABCmouse.com Scope and Sequence includes 40 “High-Frequency Words” for pre-kindergarten and another 54 words in the Kindergarten program. “High-frequency words” are words that are commonly seen in children’s texts.

The games and activities in ABCmouse encourage kids to remember these words based on their visual appearance. Some games ask children to match a word to its outline or shape, which is an instruction method that does not help with learning to read.

According to experts, learning letter sounds and blending is a more efficient, effective method of learning to read words. Frequent words such as “in” are easily read by blending the two sounds /i/ and /n/ together. Memorizing the outer shape of this word does not help a child remember or identify it in the future.

ABCmouse Phonics Lessons

The phonics lessons and games on ABCmouse.com focus on word families or analogy phonics. For example, “not”, “pot”, and “lot” are all words in the “-ot” word family. Analogy phonics can support a child’s ability to read words but it may not be the most efficient or effective type of phonics to use.

The Clackmannanshire Report, a study on reading and literacy development, compared different types of phonics instruction over a 7-year period. Synthetic phonics was found to have the most impact on reading and spelling achievement as opposed to other methods including analogy phonics.

Synthetic phonics involves teaching individual letter sounds and blending those sounds to read words. For example, the sounds /p/ /o/ /t/ can be blended to read the word “pot”. The ABCmouse app could improve its phonics lessons by incorporating synthetic phonics instead of focusing on word families.

A Digital Library for Early Readers

ABCmouse.com has a large digital library of over 450 children’s books. These include fiction and nonfiction books that parents can read aloud to children and that early readers can read to themselves. The large variety of books in the collection provides an immediate library that caters to any child’s interests.

Stepped Readers

The “Stepped Readers” or leveled books in the library are intended for early readers to read themselves. The earliest stepped readers are predictable books, meaning the same sentence is repeated and then one word changes on each page. The changed word corresponds with the picture in the book. In this way, children can memorize and repeat a phrase to guess the word based on the pictures.

Words Outside of Scope and Sequence

Books in ABCmouse also have many words that are outside of the scope and sequence (or learning path) presented in the app. For example, one of the Step 2 books contains the word “gardener”. Reading the word “gardener” requires a child to know how to read a 3-syllable word with R-controlled vowels, but these skills aren’t introduced until Step 9 of the app.

Aside from being confusing, this can further encourage new readers to use pictures as a crutch to guess words in a story. This may limit an early reader from developing proper reading skills. When pictures are taken out of books, children no longer have this ineffective strategy to rely on.

Teaching new readers to rely on guessing words instead of sounding them out is not supported by educational research. It’s a strategy that readers with underdeveloped literacy skills rely on and is therefore a weak point in the ABCmouse program.

Alphabet Games: Letter Formation

ABCmouse.com includes a letter tracing game that allows children to practice the early literacy skill of forming letters. In the activity, a short video models how to make the letter and then instructs the child to trace the letter with their finger.

There are several concerns with this activity. First, it can be easily exploited by kids. A child could create any shape (or scribble) over the letter and be rewarded for writing the letter “correctly.” An adult should observe their child using this app to make sure the child traces the letter properly.

Another concern is that the video model of making the letter does not follow the letter formations commonly taught by occupational therapists or educators. For a more accurate alphabet tracing practice, you might want to try a different phonics app.

Is ABCmouse Worth It?

ABCmouse.com has a deep catalog of activities, games, and books for children to engage with. It makes educational activities fun and engaging but it also has a few shortcomings.

The educational quality of the ABCmouse phonics program is limited because it relies on visual memorization of whole words instead of teaching children how to sound words out.

Although a “learning path” is provided, the words that children are expected to read and spell often veer from this path, presenting overly challenging tasks to new learners. As a result, children may learn unhelpful reading strategies when they should be learning how to sound out (decode) words properly.

Looking for more effective phonics instruction apps to help your child learn to read? Visit phonics.org to explore the best options available today.