Welcome Back

Since starting this blog several years ago my life has taken on a few changes, nonetheless, my views regarding the importance of early childhood technology education have not wavered. In fact, they have gotten even stronger than ever.

In the fall of 2012, I was blessed with my 1st grandchild and he is amazing. I doubt anyone who knows me will be surprised to hear one of the 1st gifts my grandson received was an iPad. In fact, the iPad was a shower present from my son…. DGS was still in utero at the time.

You might say, the Apple (literally and figuratively) doesn't fall far from the tree. :)

Over the last couple years, I have watched this newest member of our family connect his physical world and his digital world in ways I could never have imagined. One of the most mind boggling examples of this, is DGS (dear grandson) can identify all of his ABCs and he is not yet two years old. Previously, this ability might have been classified as some form of hyperlexia, but I assure you DGS is quite the social butterfly. I have seen many, many other examples of these technology learning shifts in my DGS that I cannot recall seeing when my own children were little, and I hope to share some of these future posts.


For now, I wanted to take a moment to reconnect with those who have followed my journey since the start and welcome those who are just joining me.


My goals are to still share the great apps I come across, but I feel the need augment my reviews and share my experiences; how I see technology may be shaping the minds of the youngest of learners. Additionally, I have invited others to share their experiences of how they see technology shaping the early childhood learning environment. I promise it will be an exciting journey and I hope you will share it with me.


Thank you,

Keri

Saturday, February 5, 2011

App Review: Wild About Books ~by Random House

Wild About Books by Judie Sierra pictures by Marc Brown is brought to life in this app by Random House. Essentially this app is a remake of the original story into an interactive book. The story is wholesome and entertaining about a bookmobile librarian who brings the world of reading alive to the animals at the zoo. As the story unfolds, I am reminded of pop-up books. When you tilt the iPad the graphics tilt, but the actual interaction is somewhat limited in comparison to other similar products. There are not many interactibles and the ones that do exist are not easy to locate. There is no sound or movement to guide the learner where to tap. There are nature type sounds, and the book has the option of being read aloud from either the beginning of the book or where the reader last left off. Arrows at the bottom of the screen allow for movement between digital pages. As the page is being read aloud each word highlights but individual word selection was not possible. The font is smaller than I would have expected in a child's story.
Bottom line if this is one of yours or your child's favorite picture books then it is sure to be a big hit. The "hyenas shared jokes" page was my favorite. The hide and go seek frog on this page will be a big hit with the younger ages. It is a good interactive book with some engaging features, but it isn't a great interactive book and I think the $4.99 price is a bit steep.
With vocabulary such as pretentious and redundant the average 2 to 5 year old may not be quite ready for this literary treat.
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