Parents are preparing to send their children off to school for the first time. An Australian Mother of two has developed a way to give children entering school in this technological age a head start by creating an educational iPad app.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Monument said that she, like most parents were aware that basic literacy skills developed in the home long before a child starts school.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I created the app because I wanted to give my children the best of every possible opportunity,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Ms Monument. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was worried as my kids weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t learning the correct way to write the alphabet, that they would have to re-learn it when they started school.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
After the application was released in October this year Ms Monument approached a local teacher for feedback. Ms Tanya Burton from Whitehouse Primary School in Australia agrees that Writeforschool is a resourceful learning tool for young children, and that the app that will complement the introduction of iPads into the prep classrooms in 2013.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The application combines many features that other similar writing applications fail to deliver, like a variety of accents and a choice of the writing fonts taught in Australian schools\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ms Burton notes. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The large number of fonts back up what is taught in the school curriculum; it not only includes letters and numbers but blends of letters.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The idea came to Ms Monument and she began developing the iPad application Writeforschool after her children, aged five and six began taking great interest in playing the games on her iPad.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I thought if I could make educational game for my children, they could begin to learn to write in the cursive they are taught at their school the correct way,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Ms Monument explained. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153My children love the app and its exciting graphics that can be completely personalised.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Ms Monument hopes that her application is able to help as many young children as possible get a head start for this school year.<\/p>\n