Mr. Thorne Does Phonics

YouTube sensation Mr. Thorne from London, is at it again. This time he is taking over the iPad world with his amazingly entertaining and educational videos on the building blocks of reading and spelling through the phonics model. What is Phonics?  Why is it so critical for our children to learn in this manner?  Phonics is teaching children how to connect the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters and to then teach them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations of unknown words. By teaching the strategies behind the model of phonics, a child’s frustration level will decrease as they read and spell words.  As a teacher or parent one of the many goals we have is to encourage our child to learn and to love reading.

Many might say that in order to teach children to read and spell phonically is dry and boring.  A colleague of mine said at times she feels as though she  needs to find ways to shake it up a bit.  Well, with the help of Mr. Thorne’s video apps for the iPad- Letters and Sounds and Blends and Spelling, phonics will be shaken up.  In conjunction with books, worksheets and discussions, children will begin to understand how to segment and blend words all in the palm of their hands.  So how does Mr. Thorne jazz this boring subject matter up?  With a great deal of modeling through body and facial visuals, repetition, opportunities to pause and discuss and examples, users will become more confident readers and spellers. Throughout, Mr. Thorne is constantly asking for your participation and providing opportunities to challenge as he changes locations, his crazy glasses, and hair style.  In addition his free spirit, calming teacher voice and movement will certainly add a sense of ownership and comprehension for all types of learning styles.

In our exploration of Mr. Thorne we did find other ways of accessing his educational videos via YouTube.  So why would educators or parents want to download his applications for the iPad.  For MANY reasons!!!  With two simple simple downloads from your iTunes Library, Mr. Thorne’s phonics videos will be at your disposal no matter where you are.  Videos are a part of the application, so there is no need to have internet access.  Technology is wonderful, however, every educator has had some negative technology fluke occur when they were not prepared.  Whether you are being observed by an administrator, working with a small group or even your entire class, Mr. Thorne’s videos will not break up while watching or require any streaming from the internet.  With a very clean and manageable menu, Letters and Sounds and Blends and Spelling can be accessible for all parties: educators, parents and children.  Applicable2U also loves how videos are tailored to a users current academic needs.

As you begin your phonics journey with Mr. Thorne, you will want to start with the Letter and Sounds application.  Here users will be provided an understanding of phonics and the importance of phonemes.  Along the way he will share through only video coverage, Alphabet Sounds, Digraphs and Trigraphs, Tricky Words and a Challenge.   Once letters and sounds have been mastered, download and move on to his Blends and Spelling videos app, where he will break up blends and spellings into two videos and share those Tricky words and apply it all together into a Challenge.

Applicable2U is very impressed with the effort that Mr. Thorne has put into modeling phonics in a fun way.  Both Letters and Sounds and Blends and Spelling can be incorporated at home and in school for individual or group implementation.  To learn more about Mr. Thorne, please visit Mr. Thorne Does Phonics website here.  As an both a parent and an educator, you will not regret the money that you will spend on these two iPad applications.  To download either from your iTunes library, please click Letters and Sounds or Blends and Spelling.