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Luv'N Lambert Life

Luv'N Lambert Life

A blog about living with Epilepsy, IBHS, Homeschooling and so much more

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handwriting

Fundanoodle {Crew Review}

October 7, 2013 by Dana

If you are looking for a fun and unique way to introduce handwriting skills to your child, Fundanoodle is it!  Fundanoodle is a brand new series of handwriting tablets and tools, developed by Carolina Pad.  These tablets make handwriting fun for young children.
Fundanoodle features Max the Monkey and Alphie the Explorer.  Max and Alphie take your child through a series of worksheets to complete in order to build handwriting skills.  They are great encouragement as your child learns to write using the Fundanoodle workbooks.
For this review, we were given a Fundanoodle Magnetic Dry Erase Lettering Practice Board that is designed to be used with all ages and with most of the available Fundanoodle products.  The dry erase board is of average size and has a front and back side.  The back side of the board is an unlined area for drawing and writing practice.  The front side of the board has a series of three sets of blocks: one plain, one with green start and red stop lines with a dotted line in the middle, and one set with only dotted lines in the middle.  Under these blocks are two sets of lines with green start and red stop lines on the top and bottom.  Underneath those lines are two more sets of lines in simple black.
Fundanoodle uses green lines to represent where a child should start their letter writing and red lines to show them where to stop their writing.  This also represents green for the top line and red for the bottom line.  The colors give the student a visual to follow and seeing this visual allows them to memorize where they should stop start when writing.
Since this dry erase board is magnetic, this allows the child extra space for fun magnetic practice.  The child can use letter magnets to look at as they practice writing their letters.  Word magnets could be used with the lined section to create sentences as well.  It’s just a fun addition for the board to have a dual magnetic purpose and we really appreciate that little extra fun element.
For this review, we were also sent Fundanoodle’s I Can Write Upper Case! from their Comprehensive Handwriting Development Program.  The cover of this neat writing tablet features an adorable cat and dog which immediately appealed to Laycie.  The cat states “Let’s learn to write upper case!”  This was perfect for Laycie who has been working on writing with her therapists using another top handwriting program.  Her Fundanoodle I Can Write Upper Case! writing tablet went well with her lessons for practice at home and is more affordable than the competing program that she uses during her therapy so it’s something I am looking to add into our homeschooling to build those skills at home.
I Can Write Upper Case! was created to be used with students ages 4-5 which of course would depend upon your child’s personal skills.  The suggested grade level is Pre K to K.
The writing tablet itself comes with a spiral binding, perfect for laying flat.  The cover is cardboard, allowing for a sturdier writing surfaces for practicing within the writing tablet pages.  The writing tablet is full color and intriguing for children with it’s eye catching colors.
The first page of the writing tablet introduces you and your child to Max and Alphie, whom you see frequently throughout the writing tablet pages.  The second page is a section sharing Tips for Parents, which focuses on proper handwriting technique and posture for handwriting.  There are also alternative learning positions that are suggested here.
All of the pages within the writing tablet are only printed on the front.  This keeps the students focus on the page they are working on instead of drawn to previous pages completed or upcoming pages to learn.  I didn’t really like the wasted paper but I do understand the reason it is done.  The backs of the pages did make great pages for drawing and practicing letter skills though and we put them to good use doing so.
The third page of the writing tablet is the instruction page.  Here you will find instructions explaining the green go lines and the red stop lines for writing.  You will also find Max’s personal terms for each line type which your child will be using for learning their writing skills.
At the back of the tablet are reward stickers.  As your child completes each page, they will need to find the correct sticker to place on the page.  Each page has a different sticker related to the page itself.  This is a great way to encourage fun learning skills and to encourage completion of their work.
The writing tablet begins with focusing one by one on each letter of the Alphabet.  The child will fill in the letter boxes with each letter, then write the letter on lines at the bottom of the page.  This can all be completed in each lesson or you could simply break it down.  A child could work on one set of boxes for three days in a week, writing the letter being learned, then come back later on to review by writing the letter on the lines.  There are many ways this can be worked on to best benefit the child’s learning.
We personally chose to work on writing a little at a time.  Writing is a skill that Laycie has just become ready to do, so for her, writing lots of repeating letters is not fun.  Instead, we used the above method of working on one row of letters at a time and coming back another day in the week to complete another row of letters.  This was easier for Laycie and when she was done, she was able to place her sticker onto her writing page, knowing she had completed her work.
In the back of the writing tablet are more writing pages for practice.  We haven’t gotten around to using those yet but they will be used once Laycie completes her main letter pages.  They will be a fun way to review all the letters at once for her.  We have reviewed the full letter page chart to compare the letter forms, discuss the letters themselves as she is still learning to recognize several letters at this stage of her learning.
We really like the Fundanoodle program and as I stated above, I plan to purchase more of these products to learn at home with.  They are very affordable.  I Can Write Upper Case! is a 12×9 tablet and can be purchased for $5.99 plus shipping from Carolina Pad.  The Magnetic Dry Erase Lettering Practice Board can be purchased for $9.99 plus shipping.
There are many other writing products to choose from that are just as reasonably priced.  To see more reviews of Fundanoodle, please click the banner below.

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Filed Under: 2013, ages 4-5, Carolina Pad, crew review, Fundanoodle, handwriting, handwriting skills, I Can Write Upper Case, kindergarten, learning to write, pre-k skills, Review, schoolhouse, upper case, upper case writing

Logic of English: Foundations A {Crew Review}

September 13, 2013 by Dana

Logic of English teaches children to read, write and spell through multiple sensory techniques.  Through the use of Logic of English curriculum, children learn to master the English language with little trouble.  Beginning with phonemic awareness and building strong reading skills, this program works to teach children to read, write and spell from the very beginning.
Logic of English Foundations Level A was created as a beginning program to introduce the letters and sounds of the alphabet, as well as blending and word decoding.  Writing is taught from the very beginning through this program too.  Children can learn to write the lower case alphabet using either manuscript or cursive as the parent chooses.  
There are 40 lessons taught in Foundations A.  8 assessments help to ensure the child is learning what’s necessary within the program and the review keeps the lessons fresh.  22 phonemic awareness, 28 phonogram and various other games keep the lessons fun and give the child a way to make learning real.  
Teacher training videos are available online to help you prepare for teaching and better learn to use the Logic of English program and Foundations A.  These videos cover various subjects that are meant to help you better understand the program.  After the introductory video, there are 10 sections which you can view to learn how it all works.  There is also a Training Manual available to download to go along with these videos.
The Foundations A Teacher’s Manual is a hardcover book, with the fun Foundations A image of a Dragon towering over a castle talking to an adorable bug.  The manual begins with a Scope and Sequence of all 40 lessons for this portion of the Logic of English program.  This allows you to look ahead and see what is taught when in the program, to prep ahead and to keep up with standards as needed through the program.
The next section of the Teacher’s Manual covers what supplies are needed for using the program, speech tips for learning the techniques and sounds used in the program, how to use review lessons and much more.  This section also discusses whether or not to use Manuscript or Cursive in teaching writing to young children.  This is something that is completely up to the parent, but this section explains why to use these fonts.
Terms used throughout the book are also covered in this section so that the parent has a better understanding of each of the terms used before reading them in the Teacher’s Manual.  This is yet another way Logic of English has thought ahead to prepare you, the teacher, for using this program.  After these brief sections, you jump right into the lessons.  A Phonogram Chart is found at the beginning of Lesson 1 and an Index can be found at the end of the book for easy search.  
Each lesson begins with a list of the lesson’s objectives, along with what materials are needed to complete the lesson.  Teacher Tips are included on each page to help you expand lessons and help children learn the importance of each lesson taught.  There are also multi-sensory tips throughout to expand the lessons outside of the book.  Vocabulary and Book List suggestions are other ways shown in the Teacher’s Manual to expand the lessons.
For this program, I chose Manuscript as our writing font.  Our Foundations A Workbook came in Manuscript to allow us to concentrate on this font as we worked through our lessons.  The cover of this workbook complements the Teacher’s Manual with an image of the same Dragon and Bug writing their Alphabet in blocks with chalk together.
Inside the Foundations A Manuscript Workbook are color-filled pages for each lesson that build phonemic awareness in print.  There are also plenty of opportunity for writing, beginning with Lesson 1.  The lesson games are also found within this book.  Lesson readers are found in the back of the book and can be removed for easier use.
Additionally, you can purchase a dry-erase board from Logic of English which is pre-lined to encourage better writing skills.  One side of this oversized dry-erase board provides a Handwriting Chart while the other side contains several lines for writing and practicing handwriting skills off of paper.  This is a fun way to expand lessons and can be used in many ways.  
The Rhythm of Handwriting Lowercase Letters Manuscript Chart also helps to encourage better writing.  Use this chart as a guide to help you explain the formation of each letter stroke to your child.  The chart breaks the steps down to make this easy to explain for you.  This chart also includes a list of Steps to Teaching Handwriting that are very helpful in advising handwriting skills.
Also included for us to use with this program were Phonogram Game Cards.  These come in Blue Bookface and Red Manuscript.  This game is included to help ensure phonemic awareness and encourage using the correct sounds when learning to read.  This game is a great way to get children thinking and reacting to the sounds the words make.  The cards are the perfect size for little hands to use too.
Another inclusion in our program are the Basic Phonogram Flash Cards.  These cards provide the phonogram sound on one side and how to pronounce the sound, along with words that use the sound on the back of the card.  This helps you, the parent, to know what the sound is and provides words that the child and you can relate to the sound as you cover each one.  This is a great way to learn these sounds and also get your child thinking about words that use the sounds discussed in a lesson.
My favorite part of the program extras has to be the Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript Tactile Cards.  These cards have been created to teach children the strokes needed to write in Manuscript form.  They don’t just teach the child the letter itself though, but instead breaks the strokes down first so the child can get the hang of making that line shape before using it in a letter or word.  
The best thing is these cards have TEXTURE.  Your child can TOUCH and FEEL the line or letter shape and not just see it.  This helps the brain relate to the letter, allowing the child to better understand how it’s written verses just seeing it in writing.
These cards include Lowercase, Uppercase, Numbers and Strokes so one set is all you need.  They are large enough to hang them where a child can see them across a room but not overly large where they can’t hold them and feel them as they learn.  The back of each card also explains the process needed to complete the letter or stroke providing another easy way to explain the writing process to your child.
Last but not least, we were also given access to the Logic of English Phonograms App.  This app is yet another way to practice the sounds of the letters.  It’s easy to use and provides 10 guided levels for learning Phonemic sounds.  It can be used by multiple users and tracks student progress easily.  This is a great tool to use along with the program at a great price of $2.99 at time of this review.
We’ve only been using Logic of English Foundations Level A for a few weeks and because of Jax being sick, we haven’t used it exactly as planned.  We have only been able to work through when we can, but trust me, Laycie has made sure Momma does her schoolwork for this program several days a week.  She LOVES it.  
She enjoys practicing her writing on the dry-erase board, which we write on together.  This also promotes bonding time between her and I, which is limited with a sick baby brother these days.  The lessons are short and easy to complete together.  I’ve even had her sister teach her one or two, always checking behind that the work is done right and discussing what she was taught together.
She enjoys completing the colorful workbook pages and is so proud when she gets them right, which is very often.  She also loves loves loves the texture cards.  She’s a very hands-on little girl and loves to feel things as she processes them, so they work amazingly for her.
She wasn’t thrilled with the Phonogram App but I really feel she’s simply not ready for that yet.  I think as she becomes strong in letter sounds, she will enjoy using it but at this time, it only frustrates her.  Her big sister played it a little while but she fizzed out from boredom as she has already mastered those skills.  It’s been helpful to big brother though, who often needs extra review when it comes to reading skills.
Overall, this program is amazing and one we will most likely continue to use.  The price for the complete program is reasonable.  You can purchase Foundations Levels A and B together for $193.50.  Foundations is for younger students just learning to read.  I’d consider this program to be Kindergarten level, though some preschoolers will also do well with it.  Struggling readers will also benefit from using Foundations.

 We only used Foundations Level A for our review and the cost break down for it is as follows:

Teacher Manual: $34.20, available in print or PDF
Manuscript Student Workbook: $16.20, also availabe in Print or PDF or in Cursive for the same price.
Rhythm of Handwriting Manuscript Tactile Cards: $25.20, available in cursive for the same price.
Manuscript Handwriting Quick Reference Chart: $9.00, also in cursive for the same price.
Phonogram Game Cards, Red Manuscript: $9.00, also in Green Cursive for the same price.
Phonogram Game Cards, Blue Bookface: $9.00
Basic Phonogram Flashcards: $16.20
Student Whiteboard: $10.80

The Logic of English Phonogram App is available for purchase through iTunes for $2.99.

Additionally, you can purchase Doodling Dragons: An ABC Book Of Sounds for $13.50 but this was not included in our set of Foundations Level A for review.
To read more reviews of Logic of English, please click the banner below!

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Filed Under: 2013, crew review, Foundations, Foundations Level A, handwriting, learning to read, Logic of English, manuscript, Phonemic Awareness, phonograms, reading, Review, schoolhouse, tactile writing cards

Handwriting Without Tears {Crew Review}

February 25, 2013 by Dana

Handwriting Without Tears is an award winning, world-renowned program created by Jan Olsen in 1977, while her son was struggling with first grade handwriting skills.  This easy-to-use, developmental elementary program has brought success in handwriting to millions of children for over 30 years now.  Every day children continue to overcome their handwriting fears thanks to this wonderful program.

Recently, Handwriting Without Tears has advanced their exceptional program to include a digital app called Wet Dry Try for Android and iPad.  Wet Dry Try includes handwriting skills for both capital letters and numbers.  It is a multi-sensory, interactive tool used to encourage better handwriting skills in young children, just like the original Handwriting Without Tears program.  This app encourages correct formation and orientation habits.

Wet Dry Try was created to appeal to many different learning and educational styles.  The app is in a game format that gives just the right amount of writing practice while still keeping the program fun.  Children work on one letter at a time, mastering the letter formation of that letter before moving ahead to a new letter.  Working in this way prevents and eliminates writing reversals commonly seen in handwriting.  A wooden frame, like an old fashioned slate and an imprint of a smiley face in the upper left corner of the frame help children learn orientation and correct formation.

From the Home screen, children can log in by choosing their name after inputting the correct information.  They can then choose between two games to learn their capital letters and numbers.  They can play Pick and Practice which will allow them to practice writing in any order or they can choose to play Winning Order to play using Handwriting Without Tear’s developmental teaching order.

As children work through this app, they earn a star for each level they pass correctly.  With each star, the level’s difficulty increases.  Once three stars are earned for the letter, the child then receives a letter card.

We used this app with our iPad generation 1.  It worked fine for us with a few mild issues.  We were not able to get our names registered in the program (app itself) and it had the occasional glitch that kicked us out of the program while using it.  I attribute the last issue to our iPad being full and needing to be cleared of excess apps that we are not using.

The Wet Dry Try app itself is a LOT of fun.  I personally played it when my children weren’t looking.  My two older children also gave it a whirl and will continue to use it as an additive for handwriting around the house.  But for this review purposes, my four year old was the reviewer of this product.

Laycie is four, turning five in April.  Developmentally, she is about 3-6 months delayed due to health issues with her Epilepsy.  Handwriting is a skill that we are just beginning to get into with her.

Laycie found this app to be fun on the first star level but slightly frustrating, especially on the second and third star levels.  She enjoyed receiving the stars as she worked through the program.  She found the Handwriting Without Tears Winning Order portion to be overwhelming though, as she isn’t ready for that much structure in handwriting at this time.  She enjoyed using  Pick and Practice, choosing the letters she wanted to give a try.  She became frustrated by having to stay on the “line” as she worked through different letters and of course, preferred the easier letters to the harder ones.  She was encouraged to keep using this app and asks daily to work on her letters.

As Mom and Teacher, I found this app to frustrate Laycie but I think with practice it will be extremely useful.  I felt she had a hard time staying on the letter line but also know that comes with practice.  I found the slate drawing and continued repeating of the letters to be helpful for Laycie and I can see how that will encourage her to perform better as she learns to write.  I will be using more of the Winning Order game with her as her skills further develop over the next year.  I will also continue to use the app with my older children to encourage better writing, but on a “fun” practice basis.

I believe this app would be perfect for children who have a little more practice with handwriting than Laycie has at this time.  It would also be perfect for use with occupational therapies, challenging children to follow the lines, and stay on the path, encouraging development in those necessary skills.  I also recommend this app to educators looking for more structure in handwriting to help build skills.

Handwriting Without Tears award winning program can be purchased online through their website.  The Wet Dry Try app can also be purchased, either on Android or iPad.  The iPad app is currently listed at $4.99 and is available in the App Store.

For more reviews of this product, please visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog!

Disclaimer – I received this app free for review from Handwriting Without Tears and the TOS Schoolhouse Review Crew in exchange for my honest opinion of the product shared in a blog post on my blog.  I was not given money in exchange for this review.  I am including this disclaimer in accordance of FTC guidelines.




Filed Under: 2013, app, crew review, handwriting, handwriting app, handwriting help, Handwriting Without Tears, HWT, pre k writing skills, slate app, Wet Dry Try, Wet Dry Try app, Writing, writing app

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