iFlash is a simple Flash Card stack for children learning to read.
It contains flash cards for the Alphabet, Numbers and simple word blends, teaching children how to sound out words and also how to recognise patterns.
All word groups are based on a common sound root. E.g. all words in the ‘it’ group will contain the common ‘it’ sound. There are three types of words… words that end with the sound root (e.g. sit, hit, bit), words that begin with the sound root (e.g. chair, cheese, chalk), and words that contain the sound root (e.g. room, zoom, broom).
The two distinct parts of the word, the sound root on which the group is based, and the modifier, are coloured differently so the child can easily recognise the different parts of the word and at the same time learn to sound words out based on known patterns.
Word and sound root types are grouped onto pages to make it easy to concentrate on related skills. That is to say, all three letter words that end with the sound root will be on one page, all four letter words that begin with the sound root will be on another page.
The current version contains:
* The Alphabet
* Single digit numerals
* Three letter word blends where the sound root is at the end of the word. e.g. ‘it’ words such as sit, kit, hit.
This provides a good starting point, and we will be adding more word groups and sound roots over the coming weeks to help expand your child’s reading skills.
How does it work? Open the App and select a sound root. The screen of your iPhone or iPod Touch will display a word from that group, and you can flick to the next word just by tapping the screen. My 3 year old figured out how to use it in about 30 seconds flat, so it is pretty intuitave.