Letter Tiles for Learning

We were very excited over this app and will use it instead of the letter tiles on the board, but it frustrates my 7yr old (and me!) The lesson we tried it on was AAR level 2, lesson 10. It was very challenging to divide the syllables and often took five or more tries. My son even exclaimed “I hate this!” because he was getting so frustrated. Also, I don’t know if you can put divided syllables back together. We ended up giving up because we just could not get it to work. In order to label syllables, you have to slide the screen over to access both syllable tags. That is fine, but unless you slide on a specific blank spot on the bottom, it is difficult to do. This also really frustrated my seven year old and myself as it often took several tries to slide the bottom over to access what we wanted. I believe the app will be excellent for lessons that do not need syllable division. Unfortunately many of the lessons require it.

**UPDATE: Based on the developer’s advice I drug the first letter to a line that is NOT the first line and was able to add multiple words to a line and do “change the word” again. Changing my rating from 3 stars to 4. Fixing the first line bug and allowing the user to adjust the size of keyboard area are what it will take to get the 5th star.** Previously the app would reopen with the orientation last used but now it will only open with the locked orientation so I have to unlock it every time I use the app and relock it when I’m done since the app is far less functional in portrait mode. Far more important, I can no longer put two separate words on the same line. Once I put the first word it will only let me start a second word everywhere on the screen EXCEPT the line with the first word. Update: After trying to use it further I found that the latest update made the app unusable for many activities. For example, I can no longer play “change the word” with my child because I can’t add a new letter in after taking one out.

We have loved using this app with my K and 1st student. It is so much easier than keeping physical tiles out of the babies’ mouths. Sadly the most recent update has made it extremely frustrating for mom and kids alike. The tiles are much larger and don’t all fit on the bottom by the time you add in the consonant teams. This throws off my kids when they can’t find the sounds they are looking for. It’s counterproductive to expect a 5 and 6 year old to scroll the screen over; their brain is already processing so much just trying to connect the sound with the written letter. Please bring back the old layout!