Coming soon to an iPad near you… Teach Your Monster to Read: First Steps goes mobile!

With all the same functionality and features that your little monsters loved about the online game, this iPad version will be just as fun and educational, helping young children to practise the initial steps of reading.

Teach Your Monster to Read: First Steps is built on the principles of synthetic phonics and follows the teaching sequence in the “Letters and Sounds” programme

The game develops children’s speed and accuracy of letter recognition by taking them on a fantastic adventure through a magical world where they meet island kings and collect letters to win prizes. It also explores blending and segmenting, and introduces “tricky” words in a fun, interactive setting. It is aimed at beginning readers, both those who are on track and those who need more support.

Teach Your Monster to Read: First Steps app features the voice of Simon Farnaby from BBC’s Horrible Histories.

To register your interest in hearing about the Teach Your Monster to Read: First Steps please email us.

This article is written by Mara Dettmann, a freelance writer based in Paris where she runs http://www.the-continentalist.com

I stumbled across TYMTR while browsing Usborne’s website for educational kids’ books back in mid-February – and Lee, my three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, was captivated from the start.

First, some background on our situation: I’m German and my husband’s British; Lee spent the first three years of her life in the UK (where she went to a British childminder and nursery) but is now attending a German preschool. Though I’m hoping for Lee to be fully bilingual I also want her English to progress at native-speaker level – especially since she’s (re-)entering the British educational system this fall.

How we use TYMTR

TYMTR has become a firm part of our evening routine, and Lee has become quite attached to her monster and its adventures.

If it were up to Lee, she’d play the game hours on end – but to ensure the information sticks to her long-term memory and limit her screentime I keep it at one letter a day. If I think she needs additional practice with a letter I quit the game before her monster gets her prize, so she has to review it again the next day. She is not a fan of this technique and protests heavily, but it does help.

As far as I can see, Lee learns the most from the princess minigame. Flowers and factory are too fast-paced for her – though playing the game has definitely improved her cursor skills – while sheep and aliens don’t really challenge her any more. Initially, Lee needed my help in understanding what exactly she had to do; now, she goes through the game independently (though I still supervise).

Supplemental tools for early literacy development

For us, TYMTR is part of a bigger home learning project to instil a general love for learning within Lee, in the languages, maths and sciences alike.

Specifically for her English literacy skills, we read a lot – bedtime includes at least four picture books. Lee’s a big fan of dinosaurs and lift-the-flap books, so one of her favourites is Usborne’s See inside the world of dinosaurs

After our daily TYMTR session, Lee will normally finish her screentime with a few educational music videos – she especially likes They Might Be Giants kids’ songs. From Here come the ABCs she currently likes best ‘The alphabet lost and found’ and ‘D and W’.

When we’re out and about, we also make a point of talking to her about the letters and numbers that surround us – mostly on billboard posters, sometimes on license plates (less fun since you can’t sound out the letters into words). Most recently, I’ve started making flashcards that have a word on one side and its picture on the other, with which we play to make simple sentences – like ‘the dog is small’.

We practice basic writing with crayons and an electronic learning pad, the LeapFrog Scribble & Write.

It’s hard to say how much influence each single method is having on Lee’s introduction to reading – but together, they’re all reinforcing each other in a positive way. By turning early reading into a game rather than a challenging task, TYMTR has been an important tool for getting Lee more interested in how letters fit together to form words from a phonetic standpoint. And she loves it: though she’s already completed the game once, she and her monster are now on their second round through the islands.

Written by John Jones, Father, Head of ICT at The International School of Monaco and an ADE (Apple Distinguished Educator).

My monster is now four and a half. Ever since I can remember she has been fascinated and absorbed by books. From her earliest days, a book was something that calmed and engaged her. Indeed, she even had favorites such as the Bernstein Bear classic Old hat, New Hat, and Little Fish by Guido Van Genechten, long before she even recognised a single letter.

Therefore, since those early days of exposure to letters and words, I have been excitedly counting down the time until she and I would be able to pick up a book together and begin the invaluable journey of learning to read. That time finally arrived earlier this year.

However, I quickly became aware that things were a little more complex than perhaps I had expected. Teaching children to read takes effort, patience and endurance; three qualities I have sprinklings of but never a surplus. Indeed, expertise would also be helpful, and that is where, I’m afraid, I am very thin on the ground.

Yes, I am a based in Primary Education, but my specialism is ICT. As far as teaching English is concerned, the youngest year group I have taught is Year Four and by then they have moved significantly past the initial sounds and phonics stage. Therefore the only card I had left to play to help my daughter start reading was by calling upon my Twitter PLN. Sure enough, it was by sourcing those tweachers that I came across the amazing ‘Teach Your Monster to Read’.

As soon as I established an account, my daughter was hooked. The premise is that your monster has crash-landed on a strange planet, but my helping the fantastical Island Kings to recover their letters, they in turn help you to fix your spaceship. As you travel from island to island, you practice learning more difficult sounds and do so my playing some simple but addictive games. Along the way you are able to choose from a variety of presents with which you can dress or feed your monster. It is often the subtle touches that make a difference and in this case those rewards really added incentive for my daughter.

The graphics are beautiful in their simplicity and wonderfully complimented by the voice of horrible histories’ Simon Farnaby. The games are addictive and also served the dual purpose of helping my daughter get used to using a computer mouse. The only shortcoming of ‘Teach Your Monster To Read’ is that my daughter loved it so much, her monsters spaceship was rebuilt and ready to leave within a week! I really hope there will be another instalment of this superb reading tool available soon.

After completing Teach Your Monster to Read, I instantly advised our Early Year department at the International School of Monaco to set up accounts for our younger pupils. So far the feedback has been 100% positive and the site will become integrated within the curriculum next year. As far as my own monster in concerned, she has not looked back. Teach Your Monster Read gave her the foundations to tackle more complex phonic sounds; she is gaining confidence everyday and her reading is noticeably improving. Interestingly, she still refers back to the game when she notices the phonic sounds referenced in Teach Your Monster to Read.

I would wholeheartedly recommend the game to any parent or school that wants to help their children get started on that invaluable and life changing journey to literacy, whilst having a whole lot of fun on the way.

A few weeks ago we visited Snowsfield Primary School to meet and film the students and teachers who are using Teach Your Monster to Read.

Snowsfield are big fans of Teach Your Monster to Read and use it regularly. In this video, teacher Matt Rogers and his students give us an insight into how it works and why they love it.

If you’re a teacher or a parent there may be a few ideas on how you can use the game with your little monsters.

Let us know what you think, and if you’d like to be included in a future video, do get in touch!

We have a fun-filled Easter themed activity this month!

The Island King has hidden 10 Easter eggs in this picture. Can you help the Monsters find all the eggs?

Once you have finished finding the eggs colour in the picture and send it in to Teach Your Monster to Read. We’d love to see them!

To download and print the picture click on this link: Easter egg hunt

Happy hunting!!

Teach Your Monster to Read attended the Education Show last week, where we had the opportunity to talk to lots of teachers about the game.

It was a successful day, with many teachers telling us that they had introduced the game to their students and were enquiring when the next game was due out. Those that hadn’t heard about the game were keen to give it a try and introduce it to their students.

The visit to the show was also insightful and inspiring with a number of new resources and projects catching our attention; for example, Lead to Change – an education hub set up in Stoke to encourage young people to learn about leadership and education; SEN Assist and Early Shakespeare – two thoughtfully made resources that offer original material for Early Years and SEN students, and The Playclub Project – a fantastic project that helps parents to get involved with their young children’s education at home.

Teach Your Monster also attended the Education Resource Awards. We didn’t come away with an award this year but we were honoured to have been nominated and it was great to to see 2Simple’s, 2Build a Profile win. For a full list of the winners, take a look at the ERA website.

This was the first year at the Education Show for Teach Your Monster to Read and we’ll certainly be going back next year. If you have any highlights from the show , please get in touch as we’d like to know what we missed!

Colour in and label your monster.

The monster has been feeling ill and he needs some Spring colour to help cheer him up.

Can you colour in the monster and make him feel better?

Download the activity worksheet here: March Activity

Have fun!

We’re excited to announce that Teach Your Monster to Read is a finalist in the Education Resources Awards this year, in the Early Years Resource and Equipment category. The Education Resources Awards are produced by BESA – the trade association for education suppliers.

The awards focus on the resources, services and people that really make a practical impact on learning and the day-to-day work of the teachers in the classroom. We’re really pleased to be a part of this celebration and amongst some of the best educational products and services in the industry.

Teach Your Monster to Read has some tough competition in it’s category from 2simple: 2 Build a Profile, Reflections on Learning: WordWand and TTS Group: Turtles and Mobile Mini Phone.

Good luck to everyone who has been nominated. Here’s a link to all the finalists: http://www.educationresourcesawards.co.uk

The awards will be announced on March 15th. Wish us luck!

By Matt Rogers, ICT Subject Leader and Year 3 Teacher: Snowfields Primary School

When I first discovered the wonder that is Teach Your Monster To Read, I was immediately taken with its interface and design – and I could see straight away how it would come to be loved by the children at Snowsfields Primary. The fact that it uses the voice of Simon Farnaby is an huge bonus (especially as I’m a teacher who loves Horrible Histories!)

We have been using the program for around 3 months, mainly with our children in EYFS. However we have also begun to use it with our pupils in Key Stage 1, as both a preparation tool for the Y1 Phonics Screening Check, and as a way of engaging the children with Phonics through an interactive medium. The program is a perfect mix of both engaging content and stimulating ‘graphics’ to keep the children entertained and most importantly LEARNING!

The main point I have to make about Teach Your Monster to Read is that it works! We have seen first-hand the difference that it has made to our children, when used both as a whole class/small group session (our Reception and Nursery classes have a class monster they travel with together), and also on an individual level; the children are ‘glued to the IWB/Computer screen’.

I am a Year 3 teacher – I have worked both in EYFS and Key Stage 1 prior to this- and I understand phonics and the role it plays in children’s learning. I know the game itself is initially targeted at the early Phases within Letters and Sounds and so would not necessarily be appropriate for the children in my class. However, we have one child with ASD who is absolutely addicted to the game. In the 2 years I have worked with him we have made very little in the way of progress in terms of phonics, but since the introduction of Teach Your Monster to Read we have seen a dramatic improvement in both his engagement with phonics and the retention of what he has been learning. It’s definitely the ownership of teaching his monster what he ‘already knows’ that drives him on!

The children (and I) are really looking forward to the next instalment of the game, where we can continue our learning journey!

This article is written by Alison Anderson, a Kindergarten Teacher in the US. She explains how game is used in class and why it works so well.

The kindergarteners at my school enter with an incredibly wide range of literacy abilities, so we know we need to quickly focus on their reading skills immediately in order that everyone, from the high achievers to the ones still struggling to recognize their letters, will end the year strong. Not always an easy task. Therefore, it becomes a joint effort for all the teachers who work with the Kindergartners, to support the building of their literacy skills.

My job only allows me to see the Kindergartners in the computer lab for a short time once a week. When I think about where they need to be by the end of this year in order to succeed as 1st graders, I know any time we can spend reinforcing literacy will never go wasted. So, I searched to find a program that they would not only like and get excited about, but also truly help them learn to read, no matter what skills they had upon entering Kindergarten.By some divine intervention (I’m pretty sure it was a tweet, but I can’t remember from who) I found the site Teach Your Monster to Read. The title was too cute not to investigate further and I am so thankful I did. Funded by the Usborne Foundation, a quality children’s book publisher from England that truly understands quality literature for kids, it is no surprise the site provides such high quality instruction. What does surprise me though, is the beautiful graphics, ease of navigability and high level of engagement of this online program for the students- because it is completely FREE but it feels like playing a software game that should cost a good amount of money to access.

Here is my list for “why” this game works so well with the Kindergartners in the computer lab:

1. The graphics are of an incredible high quality- from the minute I introduced the little monsters, the Kindergartners couldn’t wait to get their “hands” on them… they wanted to watch them run through the demos, hear them talk, customize them for themselves and guide them through the phonics worlds! These little guys are eye candy and the kids loved them immediately

2. It’s a game that gives students multiple points of motivation. The strong readers feel successful because they are moving through the different “worlds” quickly. The ones who are still need more work on phonics earn prizes for their monsters each time they master a letter sound. Either way they all get excited and keep working because they want to see what happens next, staying involved and excited for the game.

3. The monsters are endearing characters and give the students ownership. When my Kinders come into the lab, they ask about their monsters right away and I tell them their monsters have missed them! They haven’t learned anything more about reading since they were gone! They need to get back on the computers and help their monsters learn! The students love to click on the screen, log in with a quick/easy Kindergarten friendly password, and see their monsters just where they left them last.

4. We can take breaks from playing the game and use the monster characters for other lessons. Art projects- we can draw them with digital tools or on paper to hang up around the lab. Storytelling- we can give our monsters names and unique personalities and write letters to them or tell stories about them. Across the curriculum- integrate them into other skills- like using them for math or science problems.

As the year goes on, I am excited to watch the Kindergartners master phonics as well as think of more ways to use the monsters to teach. Halloween has passed this year, but the monsters will definitely be staying in the lab with my Kindergartners and I, thanks to Teach Your Monster to Read.

The original article was posted on www.gettingsmart.com – a website dedicated to sharing articles and resources on digital learning. Thank you to Alison and GettingSmart.