Montessori Letter Sounds

$4.99, iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch (OS 7.0 or later)

Teaches: reading, phonics

CTR Rating: 92%

CTR Review

This is a responsive, dual-language early English reading skills app that delivers a whole-lot-of early reading skills curriculum bite for the money. Children earn marbles as they complete four types of phonetic exercises, or they can freely experiment using five open ended letter exploration modes. The most powerful and noteworthy feature is the ability to turn on a second language for the instructions, from six available (American/British English, French, Italian, Spanish and German). Game modes include I Spy, Letter Sounds, Mix and Match and Sound it Out. All four steps are included in this version but two games are locked at first and get unlocked as the children play and win marbles. There are also options for script, cursive or capital letters; and you can record your own. As with any phonics flashcard-style activity, children (and some adults) will be confused by some of the items used to illustrate words. They may call the the "Narwhal" a "Fish" for example. We also didn't care for parts of the main menu that advertise other apps from the publisher (you should be able to turn this off in the Settings).