LetterSchool is one of the most popular and highly effective handwriting
apps currently in the market, specially designed for pre-school age children.
This innovative app was developed by Sanoma Media Netherlands B.V, and features
three progressing levels – tap, trace and write – to learn every letter. It has
incorporated attractive colors, sounds, phonics, and counting in order to turn
using this app into a game-like experience, making it more appealing to
children.
Even though the app has been fully created with children in
mind, it is recommended that the parents review the settings depending on the
preferences and proficiency level of their child prior to using it for the best
results. The app offers 3 profiles with different styles of writing.
- Handwriting Without Tears
- D’Nealian
- Zaner-Bloser
Each of these typesets can be changed if needed even halfway
of completing it and it is designed to save the progress up to 3 different
children if more than one child is using the app. Get your child also involved
in choosing a typeface since they are more likely to engage with enthusiasm if
it is one that they feel attracted to. However, try to get involved as much as
possible when the child is using the app since one has to ensure that the child
is using good techniques when writing. For example, when I was using this app
with my daughter, she used to use both hands to write, kept rotating the iPad and
tend to use odd angles when writing; things which need to be corrected early on
before becoming a habit. She needed regular reminders to use her dominant hand
and keep steady and correct posture.
The app offers writing help for both uppercase and lowercase
letters. It also has a section for numbers (from 1 to 10). You can see the
uppercase letters on the opening screen and swipe or adjust the settings to see
the screens with lowercase letters and numbers.
Apart from the colorful and attractive interface, the app
designers have used plenty of audiovisual techniques to make the writing
process more entertaining to the child. For example, every letter has a very
catchy jingle at the start, and a unique sound it makes. This helps to get the
start of the phonics in the young mind of your child.
I believe it would be even better if the specific object
that is connected to each letter is designed to change when attempting, giving
the child a better understanding of the phonics. Or it can simply be repeated
before you more on to the section with handwriting.
It is also important to know that the phonics used in this
app can be different from the standard sounds that your child may be learning
at school. For example, they have used the word “ice cream” when teaching the
uppercase letter “I”, whilst most schools use a word similar to “inch” in order
to introduce short vowel sounds to the child. For the lowercase of the same
letter, they have used the word “igloo” which is, in my opinion, a better
choice. They have used the word “xylophone” for the uppercase letter “X”, and
the sound “zuh” in the jingle for the letter.
Learning how to write a letter by hand is the main focus of
this app. They have added the handwriting part after the introducing jingle of
every letter. There are 3 steps in the process of learning to write each
letter.
Tap
On this step, the child simply has to tap on the starting
point of the letter, and there is an attractive animation that draws the shape
of the letter to the end. There are more starting points in the more
complicated letter. For example, a letter like “C” has one starting point while
the letter “M” has 4 points to tap in order to complete the four lines that
make the letter.
Trace
On this step, the child gets to fully trace the letter
following the animation. They have designed a variety of animations (hearts,
grass, bubbles, etc.) to encourage the child to complete the tracing of the
letter each time. There are a starting point and a white line that guides the
child to trace the letter from the beginning to the end.
Write
As the final step, this shows the starting and the endpoints
to the child, and the child gets to write the letter completely from memory. It
is similar to writing in a chalkboard, without any animations or other
distractions. There is a chalk line to guide the child that disappears as they
complete it. Unlike the previous steps, the accuracy of the line has to be good
on this step since the chalk line disappears if the child’s finger strays off
the line. If they make a mistake, the app shows them the starting point again
and they have to go back to the beginning. After a few faulty attempts, they
get an arrow guideline showing them the correct path.
Suggestions for Future Updates
While I quite admire the user interface, the animations and
the ability to select different styles of writing on this app, there are a few
suggestions that I would like to make as well.
Better to have more options to customize the
overall process. For example, I would have liked to skip the initial states and
go for the final steps in simpler letters.
The constant audiovisual prompts can be annoying
at times. While these can be helpful for a child at the first stage, it can be
distracting for an adult using the app to teach.
There is plenty of letter writing apps in the app stores. Do
I think that this one is better than others?
The answer is yes. It has a great
interface and features to attract children, and a well-thought-out process to
help a child learn writing letters. If you are looking for an app to help your
child write, this is one you should try.
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