Although tablet computers offer a great interface for learning, many reading apps are full of comprimises. Often, you either get a 'guess the letter' game that doesn't tell a story, or you get a children's eBook that doesn't work on key reading skills.
SmashCards mobile lessons give you both. Built on the same curriculum as our augmented reality product, these lessons wrap five critical phonics activities in a narrative story.
Just as with our augmented reality desktop application, each mobile lesson is built around an old-school nursury rhyme (over 18 currently in production).
Learners work on critical phonics skills as part of the story as it unfolds, learning words in a broader context, rather than as isolated symbols.
Each lesson covers at least two major word families, and includes five phonics activities designed for rapid reading - segmenting, letter-sound correspondence, blending, word sorting and word identification.
These exercises, coupled with the narrative story, provide a more comprehensive environment for reading compared to similar apps that are long on flash, but short on real content.
Not sure? Try out a lesson on us, available for free download on the Android Market and Amazon Appstore.
Each lesson is designed by university early childhood reading experts, and covers at least two of the Wylie and Durrell word families.
Each lesson is, in part, a video eBook, containing between 10 and 15 minutes of narrative.
Each lesson targets five critical activities, including segmenting, letter-sound correspondence, letter blending, word sorts and word identification activities.
Instead of the augmented reality interface of our flagship product, mobile lessons make use of the tablet touchscreen to make the learner part of the action.
The learner receives instant feedback as words are built, with results being tracked across all five phonics activities to guide later practice.