It's hard for me to believe that I have a child in the first grade. I am blessed that my son loves school, and enjoys learning. When we met with our son's teacher a few weeks ago to discuss his progress this year, she was so pleased with his eagerness to learn and commented on what a wonderful reader he is. B loves to read, and it's a good thing because first grade focuses heavily on reading. At this age, kids are learning to recognize words by sight (sight words), which in turn helps them as they begin to build sentence structures, and even learn to spell words on their own.
Reading is something that I have focused heavily on at home with B. Since he showed an interest in it early on, we began working on sight words, and have continued to do so, even after the start of the school year. One of the ways that we work on building reading skills at home is by using a fantastic program that's available in the App Store for iPad, Andy Helps You Read. This awesome app is designed for elementary-aged kids who are learning to read or could use a little extra practice honing in their reading and comprehension skills outside of the classroom.
I've never felt that it was a teacher's job, or school's job to teach my kids to read. It's something that I set out to do as their parent, early on. We've had much success with Andy Helps You Read. We've been using it after school and on the weekends, and the best thing about it is that it's so much fun to B, he doesn't even realize that he's working on boosting his reading and vocabulary at home.
Andy Helps You Read is a fun app that kids will love to use!
Andy Helps You Read was developed by Jordan Price, and Walter C. Wade. The app download is just 99 cents and is so worth it to have this amazing tool at your disposal. There are 20 lessons to enjoy and work through, and once your child completes the lessons, you can print out a certificate of completion for your child.
Our thoughts on the app...
This app includes a parent portal, which I love. It offers lots of helpful information and tools for parents to help their child succeed with use of the app. There's also an Andy's Helpers video, which features kids showing/telling you and your child how to complete the lessons. I think it's helpful for kids to be able to hear instructions from other kids, and it helps to take some of the pressure off. Once B realized that this was actually going to be fun for him, he was very excited to get started and give the app a try.
First, select your lesson, and then choose whether you want to work on Word Practice, Flashing Practice, or Reading Practice.
We started with lesson #1, and worked our way through all three sections, starting with word practice. The words were listed in two columns, and the idea is for your child to read the word (if they're able to) and then click on the word so the app reads it back to you. If you have a beginning reader, you can use it in reverse order. Just tap on the word and the app will say the word out loud. Have your child repeat the word.
B works through words in a later lesson.
The flashing part of the lessons were B's favorites!
The flashing practice section of each lesson is a lot of fun. A letter, number or symbol flashes on the screen and then disappears. Then, your child uses their finger or stylus to write or draw what they saw. The round takes your child through a series of several flashes, and then at the end, gives you a side by side view of what flashed on the screen, and what your child wrote.drew, for comparison. B actually spent close to an hour just enjoying the flashing practice in the first two rounds. He wanted to go back and do them over and over again. Since he needs extra practice with writing, this is a fantastic tool for him! It's much more fun than having to sit at the table and practice on a writing tablet.
Reading practice, another favorite!
Andy Helps Your Read gives your child simple stories that will challenge their reading skills. You can choose to have your child read the stories on their own, or you can have the app read it to you/your child. B loved reading these stories out loud. Throughout the stories, there are highlighted words that will reappear later on in the quiz section at the end of the story.
At the end of the story, your child will be asked to fill in the blank with words from the word bank.
I wondered if the app would be challenging enough for B since he's already such a great reader. I was pleasantly surprised by how well he responded to Andy Helps You Read. He genuinely wants to sit down with this app and use it on his own. When we tell him that it's time for reading, he asks to have some time with the app after we spend time reading physical books. The extra practice is wonderful for him and is just furthering his love for reading. His vocabulary is expanding every day, he's learning how to spell more difficult words, which is helping him during his spelling tests at school, and he's improving his writing. The stories and fill in the blank practice are wonderful, too. This will be the first year that B has to take a state issued end of grade test, and I know that I won't have to worry about him because his reading and comprehension skills are blossoming and getting better and better with each passing day.
Spending quality time together, working on improving reading and comprehension, thanks to Andy Helps You Read.
As a parent, I am truly thankful for Andy Helps You Read. We take the iPad with us wherever we go, and B loves to dig into the app and work his way through the lessons. We haven't completed all of them yet, but when we do, I'll be very happy and proud to print out a completion certificate for B. Andy Helps You Read isn't just another reading app for kids. This app was purposefully designed to help your child succeed in reading. For just under a dollar, it's so worth it to invest in your child's education and to download this wonderful app. I'm so glad that we did.
Andy Helps You Read is available in the App Store. It's just 99 cents, and would make a wonderful gift! Connect and stay up to date with all things Andy Helps You Read on Facebook.
Special thanks to Andy Helps You Read for allowing us to try their wonderful app.
I've never felt that it was a teacher's job, or school's job to teach my kids to read. It's something that I set out to do as their parent, early on. We've had much success with Andy Helps You Read. We've been using it after school and on the weekends, and the best thing about it is that it's so much fun to B, he doesn't even realize that he's working on boosting his reading and vocabulary at home.
Andy Helps You Read was developed by Jordan Price, and Walter C. Wade. The app download is just 99 cents and is so worth it to have this amazing tool at your disposal. There are 20 lessons to enjoy and work through, and once your child completes the lessons, you can print out a certificate of completion for your child.
Our thoughts on the app...
This app includes a parent portal, which I love. It offers lots of helpful information and tools for parents to help their child succeed with use of the app. There's also an Andy's Helpers video, which features kids showing/telling you and your child how to complete the lessons. I think it's helpful for kids to be able to hear instructions from other kids, and it helps to take some of the pressure off. Once B realized that this was actually going to be fun for him, he was very excited to get started and give the app a try.
We started with lesson #1, and worked our way through all three sections, starting with word practice. The words were listed in two columns, and the idea is for your child to read the word (if they're able to) and then click on the word so the app reads it back to you. If you have a beginning reader, you can use it in reverse order. Just tap on the word and the app will say the word out loud. Have your child repeat the word.
B works through words in a later lesson.
The flashing part of the lessons were B's favorites!
The flashing practice section of each lesson is a lot of fun. A letter, number or symbol flashes on the screen and then disappears. Then, your child uses their finger or stylus to write or draw what they saw. The round takes your child through a series of several flashes, and then at the end, gives you a side by side view of what flashed on the screen, and what your child wrote.drew, for comparison. B actually spent close to an hour just enjoying the flashing practice in the first two rounds. He wanted to go back and do them over and over again. Since he needs extra practice with writing, this is a fantastic tool for him! It's much more fun than having to sit at the table and practice on a writing tablet.
Andy Helps Your Read gives your child simple stories that will challenge their reading skills. You can choose to have your child read the stories on their own, or you can have the app read it to you/your child. B loved reading these stories out loud. Throughout the stories, there are highlighted words that will reappear later on in the quiz section at the end of the story.
I wondered if the app would be challenging enough for B since he's already such a great reader. I was pleasantly surprised by how well he responded to Andy Helps You Read. He genuinely wants to sit down with this app and use it on his own. When we tell him that it's time for reading, he asks to have some time with the app after we spend time reading physical books. The extra practice is wonderful for him and is just furthering his love for reading. His vocabulary is expanding every day, he's learning how to spell more difficult words, which is helping him during his spelling tests at school, and he's improving his writing. The stories and fill in the blank practice are wonderful, too. This will be the first year that B has to take a state issued end of grade test, and I know that I won't have to worry about him because his reading and comprehension skills are blossoming and getting better and better with each passing day.
As a parent, I am truly thankful for Andy Helps You Read. We take the iPad with us wherever we go, and B loves to dig into the app and work his way through the lessons. We haven't completed all of them yet, but when we do, I'll be very happy and proud to print out a completion certificate for B. Andy Helps You Read isn't just another reading app for kids. This app was purposefully designed to help your child succeed in reading. For just under a dollar, it's so worth it to invest in your child's education and to download this wonderful app. I'm so glad that we did.
Andy Helps You Read is available in the App Store. It's just 99 cents, and would make a wonderful gift! Connect and stay up to date with all things Andy Helps You Read on Facebook.
I hope you'll give this wonderful app a try!
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