Word Wagon

Applicable2U is excited to share with those that follow my educational app review blog, Word Wagon, which works on letter recognition, phonics and spelling.  Duck Duck Moose has produced a number of award winner educational apps. Bonjour! Ça va?  Hop on board the “word wagon” as we travel to France.   While there make sure to knock on the door of the Eiffel Tower.  There you will find our friend Mozzarella the mouse and Coco the bird, your little sponge of knowledge will play a variety of games while building crucial academic skills.

With the sounds of authentic french music, animated characters, engaging graphics and sounds, users will enjoy what Duck Duck Moose has to offer with their latest application.  Word Wagon was designed to guide users in pre-school through first grade.  Before heading to the Eiffel Tower (blinking button in the bottom right corner), a parent or teacher will want to select one of the four levels of play. Regardless of the level chosen, Mozzarella and Coco will guide you as they leap and run over objects on a conveyor belt.  While exploring and learning, be sure to click Mozzarella and Coco to see what magical things they will do.  What are Mozzarella and Coco hoping to teach your school aged student or child?  With the help of seven different categories: home, numbers & colors, automobiles, animals, food, Mozzarella & Coco, and All, users will certainly be building their vocabulary.

How will this occur?  Level 1 – works on upper and lower case letter recognition. With the support of lettered grid boxes, users will be instructed to drag and drop letters into place.  Level 2 – works on the sounds that letters make as they build words.  Level 3 – works on spelling those words chosen from the various categories with no more than 4 letters.  This level might be a challenge for some as the grid box no longer has a letter hint. However, it is hoped that through the support received from Levels 1 and 2, users will be able to spell words based on individual sounds.  Level 4 – works on spelling of those words with no more than 6 letters.  Regardless of which level is chosen, Coco will verbally and visually reinforce each letter thus spelling a word.  Your new word is dropped into the “word wagon.”  Those words selected from the conveyor belt and added to your wagon will be collected in a “heart” notebook.  Your notebook becomes like a brag book of stickers.  In addition, users will begin collecting stars that they will be able to interact with later in the game of learning.

Developmentally, Applicable2U thinks Word Wagon is a definitely thumbs up!!  As a teacher, I really liked that Duck Duck Moose thought to not only repeat the letters that make up the word but to also animate and highlight those letters of the object being spelled.  Visually it shows students those “funny” rules that the english language has when spelling.  In addition, it is encouraging the development of  such sounds patterns as: “ea”, “ou”, “ee” , “ow.”   If you would like to learn more about Duck Duck Moose, please visit their website here. If you can’t wait, then begin downloading Word Wagon from your iTunes library here.