Review by Dana Villamagna, Common Sense Education | Updated October 2012
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Montessorium: Intro to Words

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  • Download from App Store

Well-crafted app lets emerging readers and writers develop reading skills through word building

Subjects & skills
Subjects
  • English Language Arts
Skills
  • Creativity
  • Critical Thinking
  • Communication & Collaboration
Grades This grade range is based on learning appropriateness and doesn't take into account privacy. It's determined by Common Sense Education, not the product's publisher.
Pre-K–1
Common Sense says (See details)
Teachers say (2 Reviews)
Price:  $4.99
Platforms:  iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch

Take a look inside

4 images
Choose from four activities and three artists' illustrations.
Kids drag and drop letters and letter combinations to make words.
Play a favorite Montessori letter sound game called "I Spy with My Little Eye."
Kids can spell phonetically (no spell check) in the storyboard activity.

Pros: Kids can compose words on their own or participate in formal word-building activities.

Cons: More instruction is needed, especially for kids unfamiliar with Montessori methods.

Bottom Line: Basic reading skills are developed through word building, word play, and letter-sound recognition.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Montessorium: Intro to Words' storyboard can be an excellent way for teachers to introduce very young kids to the concept that word building (spelling) empowers them to express their thoughts and ideas -- even in just one or two words -- which can be highly motivating for kids. This app helps kids express themselves and practice building words phonetically and writing sentences, even if their fine motor skills aren't yet ready to compose words or sentences using pencil and paper. Introduce kids to the movable alphabet (and all the sticker pictures available on the app) and encourage them to write anything they'd like: words, phrases, or a sentence. Use the other three activities on the app for more formal letter sounds and spelling practice (and consider playing the "I Spy" game in the classroom with real objects for extra fun). It will likely be important to explain to (or remind) kids that letter combinations, such as "oo," "ch," and "ar," work together to form new sounds and build words.

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Standards:

Montessorium: Intro to Words helps kids learn letter sounds and empowers them to try their hand at forming words. Four activity choices include the traditional Montessori "I Spy" letter-sound game and activities using the Montessori movable alphabet. Kids use the movable alphabet and artful sticker-like images to write their own stories on a storyboard. When using the movable alphabet, kids hear the sound of each letter clearly pronounced as they drag it into position to form a word. There's no spelling checker on the storyboard feature; kids can spell phonetically. In two other activities, the narrator pronounces a word next to a colorful drawing and asks kids to choose the letters or letter combinations that spell that word.

Kids can learn essential literacy skills like letter sounds (including diphthongs, digraphs, and r-controlled vowels), spelling, and word recognition on this well-crafted app for emerging readers and writers. The four activities build on one another, giving kids a chance to develop skills and then practice them. The storyboard is a particularly unique feature that allows kids to build words according to their own ideas and illustrate them with artist-created, sticker-like pictures. It doesn't include a spelling checker, so kids can spell phonetically without correction. There's also no letter or word spacing, so the storyboard can look somewhat disorganized -- but also very natural, the way kids often initially write on a page. Kids who haven't been introduced to more complex letter-sound combinations may initially find all the letter combination options listed on the app confusing, and more up-front instructions would be helpful.

Overall Rating
Engagement Is the product stimulating, entertaining, and engrossing? Will kids want to return?

This attractive and easy-to-use app is in line with the Montessori method, which emphasizes learning through play and exploration. Once kids have figured out what to do, they can have a lot of fun learning about spelling.

Pedagogy Is learning content seamlessly baked-in, and do kids build conceptual understanding? Is the product adaptable and empowering? Will skills transfer?

Kids build literacy concepts as they listen to the narrator carefully pronounce each word, emphasizing letter sounds. Kids can reflect as they choose letters by listening to each sound and comparing it to the sounds of the target word.

Support Does the product take into account learners of varying abilities, skill levels, and learning styles? Does it address both struggling and advanced students?

Although the app doesn't track learning data, kids can save images of their storyboard creations. Clear narration makes letter identification tasks accessible to young kids.

Common Sense Reviewer
Dana Villamagna Classroom teacher
About our ratings and privacy evaluation.

Key Standards Supported

Reading Foundational Skills

  • RF.1.2

    Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).

  • RF.K.3a

    Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary or many of the most frequent sound for each consonant.

  • RF.K.2d

    Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonent-vowel-consonent, or CVC) words.* (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)

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Teacher Reviews

(See all 2 reviews) (2 reviews) Write a review
Featured review by
Hollie B. , School district administrator
School district administrator
Works well with students who already know letters and letter sounds
Would work good in reinforcing and practicing what is being done in the kindergarten classroom, and would work well as a center activity. Advanced students could use this as enrichment in the beginning of the year, then other students could begin to use it as well as they learn their letter sounds. In first grade this would be great for remediation and practice for students who still struggle with their letter sounds.
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