App review by Mieke VanderBorght, Common Sense Education | Updated November 2014

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Intro to Cursive, by Montessorium

Name: Intro to Cursive, by Montessorium
Item: Intro to Cursive, by Montessorium
Rating: 3
Author: Mieke VanderBorght

Effective tool for letter-tracing drills only; needs more breadth

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Grades

Pre-K–2

Subjects & Skills

English Language Arts, Critical Thinking

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5 images

Practice tracing individual letters, see the whole alphabet at once, or draw in the sand.

Tap the requested letter and write it again.

Two-letter phonograms offer limited practice connecting two letters.

See a letter, then write it from memory.

Pros: Simple aesthetics and no-nonsense presentation make the learning goal clear.

Cons: Letter-writing practice only; cursive demands whole-word writing.

Bottom Line: Simple tool for teaching kids to write single cursive letters; needs more.

How Can I Teach with This Tool?

Teachers can use Intro to Cursive to jazz up more traditional paper-and-pencil worksheets. Kids hear letter names and sounds as they practice writing -- and even identify letters by name or sound -- so some letter learning is built in. Give kids a good sense of why they might want to learn cursive. Developers have a few blog posts and articles about the importance of cursive, in which they point out its historical meaning, among other things. The real beauty of cursive comes out in whole words, of course, so be sure to supplement single-letter, on-screen practice with real, paper-and-pencil practice writing complete words and sentences. Have kids write letters to each other or to pen pals across the world -- or even just across the hall. Check how kids write on paper to help them learn to write legibly. This app's deliberate demonstrations on how to write letters may be particularly useful for kids having trouble writing legibly.

What Is It?

In what's essentially an electronic cursive workbook, kids choose uppercase or lowercase letters, which are presented by letter name or sound, and trace single cursive letters, one at a time. After randomly presenting and demonstrating how to write three letters, the app pauses for review: Kids tap the requested letter and then trace again, this time without a demonstration. This activity repeats, seemingly endlessly. Kids can also work from the chalkboard, where they choose the letter(s) or two-letter phonograms they want to practice. A final activity offers a virtual sandbox in which kids can write or draw on their own, or watch a cursive letter appear and disappear and then attempt to write the letter from memory.

Is It Good for Learning?

Just because apps can have lots of bells and whistles doesn't mean they need to. Intro to Cursive seems to follow that philosophy, with a clean, aesthetically pleasing look, and one simple, well-presented purpose: have kids practice writing cursive letters. Without distractions, kids can easily focus on dragging a fingertip across the screen to draw letters by tracing an outline, or from memory. If they write a letter incorrectly, they get immediate feedback.

On the other hand, the app leaves unexplored a number of opportunities for taking advantage of the digital platform. For example, it would be beneficial if kids could mix and match letters to write words. For teachers, algorithms could help focus attention on kids' strengths and weaknesses, and keep track of their progress as they write more legible letters. These are the kinds of features you might expect considering the app's relatively hefty price tag.

Learning Rating

Overall Rating

Engagement

Aesthetics are engaging, with crisp, sophisticated graphics. Activities are only mildly more exciting than traditional paper-and-pencil worksheets, however.

Pedagogy

Kids draw uppercase and lowercase single letters or two-letter phonograms in cursive script, following arrows that demonstrate correct formation. They also hear letter names and sounds.

Support

Play is straightforward and easily accessible once kids learn what the icons do -- erase board, hide tracing guide, and so on. Lacks a way to track progress, so provides no sense of kids' learning paths.

Common Sense reviewer

Mieke VanderBorght Researcher

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