Simplex Spelling Phonics - Advanced Phonograms - Top Learning App for Kids 9+

Simplex Spelling Phonics - Advanced Phonograms is another top learning app by Pyxwise Software for iPhone/iPod/iPad. It is a powerful educational app designed for kids 9 and older to teach students how to spell over 750 high frequency English words via 52 lists organized by spelling patterns. 

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 Simplex Spelling Phonics - Advanced Phonograms is a unique app featuring a combination of phonics lessons, spelling/word patterns, syllabication. As with other learning apps in the Simplex Spelling series its uses the “reverse phonics” (phonics encoding) approach which breaks each word down further into individual phonemes to improve phonemic awareness, a critical skill in achieving literacy.  It offers a progressive learning system where students build from one lesson to the other. It supports US, UK and Canadian English spelling of words, and alphabetic and QWERTY keyboard layout. Teachers will be glad to know that the can create up to 40 different user account. 

 

Simplex Spelling Phonics - Advanced Phonograms has been reviewed by several reviewers at Review for Dev. Overall it is a unique and powerful learning tool for teachers, homeschoolers and parents. Beautifully crafted and well designed app for upper elementary students to learn advanced phonics skills, such as syllable rules, contractions and vowel combinations via 52 lessons. Some of the best comments are: “Highly recommended for classroom teachers, special educators and parents.”; “a great spelling/phonics app that is clearly designed by people who understand reading instruction”; “Wow! This is such a great App.” “This is an amazing app for in-depth work on phonics with multiple spell modes and keyboards with excellent visual cues for help and correction.”; “this is one of the better advanced spelling apps available”.

 

There is no real downside to this app besides suggestions to make it even better such as voice options and the ability to be able to add one's own words.

Based the reviews and comments from Review for Dev …. Simplex Spelling Phonics - Advanced Phonograms is now a Fun Educational Apps TOP PICK!

Below, you will find all the comments from the reviewers are Review for Dev.

 

Simplex Spelling Phonics - Advanced Phonograms is available for download via the iTunes App Store - Universal App

 From Review for Dev:

 

 

 

Libby C.: I am a special education teacher working with elementary students with a wide range of disabilities, including speech language, physical, emotional and learning disabilities. I use apps with my students to motivate and engage them as we'll as to improve skills and remove barriers to learning. Rating What I liked Simplex Spelling-Advanced Phonograms is a beautifully crafted and powerful learning tool, designed to teach spelling and phonics including syllable rules, contractions and vowel combinations. There are many ways to customize the lessons for multiple users. You can set the volume level, choose American or British spellings, upper or lower case letters and a qwerty or alphabetical keyboard. Each lesson contains explanations and helpful phonics hints so that children will be successful. Detailed reports show the number of correct attempts for each skill. Suggestions This really is an almost perfect app. I only have a couple of minor points. I would have liked the contractions sections to be organized accordingly to difficulty and to include the expanded version of the phrase. While this is a valuable teaching tool and useful for the classroom, it might be nice to have a game element to keep kids engaged. Lastly, I really hope that the developers will update Phonics 1 so that younger children can also enjoy the larger keyboard and gorgeous graphics. General opinion Simplex Spelling-Advanced Phonograms is a beautifully designed educational app, which will help upper elementary students learn advanced phonics skills, such as syllable rules, contractions and vowel combinations. With 52 lessons, and multiple ways to customize the learning for individual students, Simplex Spelling delivers a very powerful learning tool. Highly recommended for classroom teachers, special educators and parents.

Anny G.: I am an Autism Inclusion teacher in Seattle. I am also the parent of a preschooler and a toddler. I am an avid reader, who also enjoys spending time outdoors. I use iOS devices in both my home and work environment daily. Rating What I liked This is the first spelling app I have tried that actually teaches students to spell. It's short lessons are easy for my students to understand, and I liked how they could review the lesson during the exercises without leaving the exercise. I love this app looks like school and not a game, and wasn't babyish. I have a hard time finding age appropriate materials for my 6th graders who are reading and spelling at a much lower grade level. I also liked the multi leveled hint system, the hints weren't too obvious, and made my students think about the other sounds they heard. Suggestions I would like to see more words in each level, and the opportunity to choose which words students need more practice on. I would really love a way to export student use data. I would also love to be able to make custom word lists for students. A way to organize the different users into class periods would also be great. General opinion This is a great spelling/phonics app that is clearly designed by people who understand reading instruction. I was able to set it up and implement it into my reading intervention class in one day, and every student who used it reported that they liked it. It's rare that I find an educational app that allows multi-user support, and this can support a full class of students. This app is great, and I look forward to continuing to use it with students

Charlene E.: I am currently a teacher at an all boys high school. I teach Information Technology with an emphasis on Java programming. I hold a MSc in computer science from the University of Cape Town and a teaching diploma. I am married with 2 young children. I love my iPad and seeing how I can use it to enhance my life! Rating What I liked This App is very comprehensive in terms of the selection of words. The way that the context of the words were given in sentence really helped. I also appreciated the hints as this was helpful to my son. There were some very simple words as well as some challenging ones. The instructors voice was clear. I liked that you could change the spelling to UK version. Suggestions I would like the accent of the instructor to change as you change from US to UK or to Canadian so that you hear the words in the accent you are learning in. This helps with pronounciation. I struggled initially with the master and scoring feature. I also battled to remember what the icons represented. Perhaps they should have a word written on them to describe the icon. The interface is a little boring. It would be nice to see pictures of the words like in gold or toe or aloe. I would like to see the audible sentence in text after you have spelt the word. General opinion Wow! This is such a great App. As a homeschooling mom to be I am definitely going to use this App once my children have passed through the other Simplex Apps. It's also great that you can change it to British Spelling since I am South African and we use the British system. Even my 4 year old could follow some of the simpler words. I will recommend this to the school I teach at in South Africa.

Jana D.: I am a first grade teacher who loves technology. I am currently in charge of my schools Ipads. We have two per classroom and hope at some point to get more. I enjoy testing new things and trying to see where I can help students and teachers improve. Rating What I liked I liked how it gave the different options for students to hear the words and then the little bits of help for those that struggled with the spelling at first. I liked this because lower level students would have less of a chance to get frustrated about the task at hand. The voice used to speak was easy to understand as well. It seemed kid friendly in appearance. Suggestions I think that it might be helpful to have some simpler words to start out with and then build up to the harder multi syllablic words because younger children would have a hard time being able to get all the parts of the word. If younger students are expected to use this then it must be age appropriate. Simpler to more complex would keep the children always challenged. I also think that there should be differences in what happens in each level. It seemed repetitive and the students lost interest after a few minutes. General opinion I think that the principle behind this app is a great one. It is definitely easy to use and does give the students a way to practice how to spell words. I don't think that it is appropriate for a kindergarten or even possibly a beginning year first grade student because the starting words are not reasonable for that age level. If there were some better graphics or multiple different things that could happen within this app it would be even better

Valerie M.: I am a SAHM who demonstrates and instructs teachers, OT's and SLP's on technology. My husband is a quadriplegic with a background in computer programming & our daughter has CP but is very bright. We are always looking for innovative apps that are engaging & fun to use. We have eager kids of all ages to work with as we expand iOS use in rural MS. Rating What I liked This is an amazing app for in-depth work on phonics with multiple spell modes and keyboards with excellent visual cues for help and correction. This app has an extensive list of phonemes and using lesser known homophones in sentences not only teaches spelling, but increases vocabulary. Suggestions Noted sluggish start on iPad1. Enrollment should capitalize the user name. It would be nice if keyboard choice was offered after naming user. Voice options would be helpful. This has been least appreciated teaching voice. FWIW, ironically, my kids like British voices. Kids were easily lost in homophones of lesser known words, however, and presence or option of presence of reminder of goal would help after a miss. Ability to create or reorder own lists for groups fitting classroom materials. Ability to exit or skip a group from lesson intro page Ability to email or print res General opinion This is an amazing app for in-depth work on phonics with multiple spell modes and keyboards with excellent visual cues for help and correction. This app has an extensive list of phonemes and using lesser known homophones in sentences not only teaches spelling, but increases vocabulary. While there is room for enhancement primarily in customization, this is a very useful educational tool.

Jose F.: I am an elementary school teacher that is hooked on exploring and finding new apps with which to engage my students. I work with fourth grade students, but also have a strong interest in photography. Since most of the apps I use are for work and/or to aid in my productivity, those are the types of apps I prefer to work with and review. Rating What I liked The challenging level of the words in this version maintained my higher level fourth students engaged. I like the ability to be able to reset scores and start lists over. Being able to add a number of students helps teacher allow a number of students to utilize the app without deleting each student's data after each use. The blending function that is part of the "Hint" is very useful. Suggestions I like the purple color of the background, but can't help but think that it is a bit too dark for an app on a screen. The ability to be able to add one's own words would also be very helpful for teacher to create their own lists of specific words for students in their classrooms. General opinion This is a great challenging spelling app for gifted or older students. There are 52 quizzes. Each one gives a mini-lesson for spelling goal, along with the word in a sentence. The words are broken up into spelling and there is a blending function as part of the "Hint". It could be a bit more colorful but overall it's a great spelling app in particular for gifted students.

Shelly M.: Teacher who loves technology. Avid reader. Analytical. Consumer of many Apps. I would love to have the experience of being an App Reviewer and the opportunity to 'test drive' Beta versions. Sharing my perspective would be so much fun. Thank you for this opportunity. Rating What I liked A professionally produced phonics based spelling App and very user friendly. An excellent audio for voice pronounces the target word and delivers the lesson for that word. The word can be broken into syllables by the voice and a phonetic pronunciation can also be accessed. Progress is charted. The spelling language can be set to U.S., Canadian or British spelling. The method of entry can be set to either 'abc' or keyboard layout. Letters can be dragged and dropped or touched to enter. Volume can be adjusted. Mastery level can be set from 1-10. The colors were lively Suggestions Having the ability for the mastery report to be printed would be a plus. Additionally, have the mastery level control limited to access via password (known only to parent or teacher) would be a plus. While the App has very clean lines and offers no distractions, children might find some animations as rewards to be inspiring. From the envelope on the control banner email can be accessed as well as iTunes. Again, if this could be a password protected function it would be a plus. It would be helpful to have the introduction easily available for review. General opinion User friendly phonics based spelling program offering a year of spelling curriculum (750 words). A lesson is presented for every word. Words can be broken into syllables and phonetically pronounced. Progress toward mastery is provided. A choice for entry can be made between 'abc' layout and standard keyboard.

Phillip K.: I currently work as a math teacher at the high school level and I am always looking for ways to share math with my students. My wife and I have 5 kids of our own, and the iPad has been a wonderful way to help instill a love of learning in our own kids, as well as my students in the classroom. I am always looking for ways to integrate technology! Rating What I liked This is a great app with a beautiful design and well thought out format. The user has the option of working through 52 different blends. Within each lesson you are taken through 10 works that are read out loud and then you get to spell out the word. You are given a nice green box for each letter you use correctly, and a red box for each incorrect letter. I found the game to be very fun and was immediately drawn into the variety of different words. Suggestions It would be nice to be able to look at all of the users as a group in regards to their progress. I work with small groups of kids and it would be very useful to look at the progress that all of the users have towards the Long O (oe) blend. Having this ability would make it app that is easier for teachers to use in the classroom. General opinion As stated above, this is a great app with an excellent look and feel. The ability to track what blends have been mastered, as well as the option to change the number of correct items for mastery, is very useful and I could see this being a great tool to add to the classroom or homeschool curriculum.

Julie A.: I'm a speech language pathology. I love using apps in treatment sessions. In my spare time I read, surf the net, play on my iPad, watch tv, and watch movies. I enjoy attending Oklahoma State football games. Rating What I liked I really liked how well Simplex Spelling Phonics - Advanced Phonograms taught uses how to spell long and short vowels. The app also gave good hints and explanations when needed. The audio voice sounded good and was easy to understand. The app also gave great sentence examples. Suggestions The voice was clear most of the time. However there were still a few times when I had to replay the word and the sentence in order to figure out the word. I would like to see the voice improved a little bit more. I would also like to see words broken up into different levels. In one part "toe" and "mistletoe" were in the same section. Toe is an easier word to spell and "mistletoe" is tricky because it has a silent "t". General opinion I think this is a great app to teach long vowel sounds. Spelling helps kids learn to sound out words, and it can be difficulty to teach kids the difference in long and short vowel sounds. This spelling app is a great way to help kids improve their ability to sound out words through spelling activities.

Shannon W.: I'm a Mom to a wonderful toddler. I download apps weekly to keep my 2 year old entertained. My toddler is an earlier learner and is reading sentences and counting already. I am very critical evaluating apps as I feel if a developer is going to claim the app as a "learning app" then there should be some sort of learning element to it! Rating What I liked I think this is on eof the better advanced spelling apps available. I like how this app has 52 different phonetic groups and that the user can choose which level they want to master. Other comparable spelling apps only focus on either a single letter phonic or very few double letter phonics without makinging an upgrade with an in app purchase. Kudos to the developer for having ALL the phonics in one app! Suggestions I would rate this app 5 starts if it had sentences shown while leaving the "phonetic" word blank. This would immerse the user better as they would be able to follow along with the narrator as she speaks the sentence and is being asked to spell the phonetic word. Also it would be great if the app showed a picture of whatever word that was being asked to spell. For instance the word "chasm" should have a picture with the word so children can visually see what the word is General opinion I really do believe this is one of the better advanced spelling apps available. This app would help older children in the 9-11 year old age category to improve their spelling abilities and reading comprehension. I would not recommend this app to younger readers and spellers as the words are far too advanced for their reading level and vocabulary.

Disclaimer: Guest review from our partner Reviewfordev.com and Fun Educational Apps was paid an admin fee for its publication. 

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