Montessori Crosswords for Kids app for iPhone and iPad

4.6 ( 8416 ratings )

Games Education Educational
Developer: Pierre Abel

2.99 USD

Current version: 5.2, last update: 4 years ago
First release : 07 Aug 2010
App size: 25.2 Mb

Based on the proven Montessori learning method, Montessori Crosswords helps kids develop their reading, writing, and spelling skills by building words from a set of 320 word-image-audio-phonics combinations using a phonics-enabled movable alphabet.

• Editors Choice Award ( 4.8 stars out of 5 ) "It is an extremely powerful early reading experience." - Childrens Technology Review
• "Best literacy app in my opinion" - Sue, National Board Certified Teacher
• Featured by Apple in "Apps for Learning to Read" & "Apps for Learning to Write"
• Commonsensemedia.org - “Montessori Crosswords is a great way for kids to develop literacy in an engaging way that feels like play."

• More than 280,000 units sold!
• Used in schools to learn phonics and spelling (65,000 units sold to schools)

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Montessori Crosswords helps kids learn and understand two fundamental concepts:

• First, the app helps kids understand that words are made up of sounds or phonemes (phonemic awareness). For each word, your kids can touch the empty rectangles where letters must be dragged to complete the word, and hear the sound the corresponding letter produces.

• Secondly, the app helps kids memorize the phonics associated with letters by providing a phonics-enabled alphabet where kids can touch each letter and hear the associated phonic.

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Montessori Crosswords allows you to select words according to their difficulty or sound categories:

• Level 1 displays a three-letter word with no difficulty for beginning readers (CVC words)
• Levels 2, 3 & 4 offer more complex words that contain more complex phonics (as long vowels sounds or blends), and also offer the option to automatically create multi-word crosswords in tens of thousands of different combinations
• Alternately, you can choose from 44 sound categories (i.e. choose words that contain a specific sound (for example, long a, “k” sound, and so on).
• You can also create custom word lists based on letter clusters
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To create an enjoyable experience, the app also includes sounds, animations, and interactive visual effects that are displayed after a word is completed.
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More Features:

• Digraph Support : "oo", "th",... are displayed as a whole unit
• R-Controlled vowels support ("car","horn",...)
• Capital, lower-case, or cursive letter display
• Setting to show only letters are in the word to spell (great for beginners!)
• Setting to force spelling from left to right
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Users & Reports

• Create any number of users
• Check and export activity for each user in the Reports section
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Common Core State Standard (CCSS):
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1b Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.2 & CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.1.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
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More reviews:

• Wireds GeekDad - "5 Favorite Apps for Elementary School iPads" - "An excellent tool for learning spelling and early literacy (...) It can build from simple to more complex words making it usable by students from prep through to grade 3 or 4"

• Teachers Reviews:
-Sue on Iear.org - "I just have to say I love Montessori Crosswords both as a parent (to 2, 7, and 8 year olds) and K teacher. I like that the app is appropriate for the developmental levels of my students and all three of my kids"
-Cindy - "This is one of my favorite educational apps. I highly recommend it for the children who are learning to read and spell. The kids also love the interactive artwork."
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Email questions or suggestions to [email protected].

Pros and cons of Montessori Crosswords for Kids app for iPhone and iPad

Montessori Crosswords for Kids app good for

Educational and fun! Thanks for fixing the sizing bug so quickly. It is nice to see a company that cares about good customer support.

My two kids really like this ap. My 6 year old likes to use it to practice spelling and it makes her feel grown up because I do the crossword and she does this game.

this is an excellent app for working on sound sequencing, blending and identification of initial, medial and final sounds. Reinforcers are loved by elementary kids and adults alike and is varied. worth the purchase. Thank you.

I think this app is well done and deserve a greater attention from homeschooling families. Not only it will help you child to discover the sound of each letters but it will introduce spelling while making crosswords. My son, Dominic – age 7, has tested this app with me sitting next to him. Dominic is a bright child but he struggles a little with his reading. So I was curious to see how well he would do. He started with the first level in the app which introduce simple word with 3 sounds. He quickly found this too easy for him and decided voluntarily to go to a harder level. So he went to the 2nd level which introduce 2 words with consonant blend. He had some difficulties with some of the words but he excelled nevertheless. I found that it was nice to have the sound of the letter being pronounced when he selected the letter before dragging it into the crossword. Each time the child gets the crossword, an animation happens and you can interact with it. The child can also have the word be repeated simply by clicking on the image. Finally, the word’s spelling is hiding on the side so that if the child has trouble with it, he/she could discover how to spell it properly. Dominic said that he liked this app which sort of surprised me because he had problems with his reading ability. But recently, I realize that he is getting more comfortable in reading and I see some improvements. I think he loves the fact that he can interact with the animation when he completes a crossword. For him it is some sort of reward. Personally, I think that the rewards are always the same (even though the colours change) and I would like to see different types of rewards. Nevertheless, this app is fabulous and I highly recommend it to help you child to discover the spelling world (as well as the fun of doing crosswords…)!

My four year old grand-daughter is loving this app, It is her favorite game to date and teaches while having fun.

I am very pleased that such strong educational content is coming out for the iPad. Both my kids really enjoy this application

Some bad moments

A nice app but fundamentally broken in many ways. Most obviously, the app is not navigable by a child that cannot read fluently. Instead, the parent needs to manage the app at all times. This is fine but it limits children who may want to explore the app or switch between apps and come back to a new activity. This app assumes that the parent is there every step of the way. The instruction screens are always there and there are lots of sub-menus you need to read. It would be much better if a parent could configure a reading level and then let the child play and join in when necessary or fun. Instead the app becomes a teaching prop -- theres nothing wrong with that but there is so much more that the app could do. Just be aware.

Sound for letter L is the same for M only deeper in sound, this cant be right...

My 4 year old is in Montessori program and this is a fun app to reinforce the phonics she is learning.

My 3 year old LOVES this app. In his Hall of Fame for sure. And mine too - because this app is actually really helping him learn to spell. Great educational app. Cheers!

I recently enrolled my four year old daughter at a Montessori pre-primary school. I then bought this app which she tried and loved, as it allowed her to practice what she had started to learn at school. The app is also designed to be fun and rewarding for kids. Within a week I received an email from the head mistress telling me that my daughter had started to read. A lot of that achievement can be credited to the help she got from practicing with this app. I give this app a full five stars!

Montessori Crosswords is one of the best language learning apps we have found. It is always highly recommended. My nephews love this app.. There is a lot more to this app than just the crosswords great detail has been spent perfecting every part of the game and making it both fun and educational.

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