Rocket Reader - Sight Words

Rocket Reader Sight Words is a fun and simple way to get your preschooler or toddler reading fast! Designed by a former preschool teacher turned medical student, the idea behind the app is to teach kids to recognize words the same way they learned to recognize sounds and faces: exposure and repetition. The magic happens in two stages:

Learn mode: Your soon-to-be reader plays a simple matching game, matching a displayed word with one of four choices below. This gets your reader in the habit of mentally grouping letters into words and exercises their growing working memory. While your reader is busy matching, each match word is repeatedly spoken out loud, helping him or her associate each word with its sound.

Review mode: The training wheels come off. There is no more word up top to match, only the sound of the word being spoken out loud. Our future reader uses associations made in Learn mode to match what they hear to the options they see.

Features:
•Over 200 words with matching audio for your reader in training to learn and practice.
•Friendly construction paper aesthetic.
•Two game modes to make a fluid transition from alphabet recognition to reading short words.
•Customizable word lists to maximize focused repetition.
•Kid-friendly sounds and animations fun enough to keep kids coming but tame enough to not distract from learning.

About the Developer
As a former preschool teacher in South Korea, I helped scores of children learn to read and write in English. They would start their preschool year at age 3 to 4 only knowing a handful of English words, but by the end of the year they were reading simple books and writing in basic but full sentences all on their own. Now I have two children of my own, and work as a pediatrician. I remember my older son quickly learning his alphabet, but was too young to understand instructions for the sound it out methods. We tried one reading app after the other, but they all were either far too simple, required the kid to already be reading, or were 5% educational and 95% babysitter. We tried flash cards, but they just could not keep his attention long enough. After months of feeling like we were spinning his literacy wheels I decided to stop waiting and start coding. In just a few weeks we both were excited to have him help read stories at night, maybe not in full sentences, but pointing out every "go", "it", "the", "so", "car", "dog", and many other short words on each page.

This app is not intended as a replacement for time spent reading with your child. Please follow the recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics to limit screen time in children to one to two hours per day. Remember, "young children learn best by interacting with people, not screens."
-More information at: http://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/Pages/Media-and-Children.aspx