Talk

StoryApptations! is mash-up of traditional and digital story time. It is framed around the Every Child Ready to Read initiative: Talk. Sing. Read. Write and Play. The initiative introduces literacy and language practices for children between 0-5 years old. We frame our app activities, ebooks, or storyapps with literacy and learning in mind. Here are some ways to do so at home...with apps.

Talk- The key to apps as a literacy and language tool is using apps to encourage your child to talk with you about what they are doing and thinking while you (the parent) introduce higher vocabulary.  Talk is about enhancing your child's narrative.

The popular Dr. Panda or Toca Boca apps offer an incredible array of environments and experiences that naturally allow for context-driven, context-specific vocabulary for the parent and "open ended" play for the child.  Open ended play describes the child's ability to have choice in a given situation. Usually, the characters they interact with will respond to whatever the child does and it is not limited as to where or what a child can touch, or how (in what order) the interaction takes place. A child learns on his or her terms and interest. And word associations prefaced by a child's chosen interest is perhaps a way to increase the use of the vocabulary you present. Additionally, in these open ended environments it's easy to pick a character that your child is interested in and let that become the starting point of a story. Have your child narrate what the chosen character is going through and what is happening. Best thing about apps is much like a book, the child can return to it again and again and retell stories about the characters he or she interacts with.

For example: Dr. Panda's Hospital can be used to expand on a talk about medical conditions, health, and sickness. The app makes it easy to incorporate words like "patients" (and even "patience"), ste-tho-scope, disease, doctor, pro-ce-dures, and other multisyllabic words. These more challenging words introduce more complex language sounds to a child. And the app provides a child with a visual reinforcement of the use and real-life encounter of the words. Suggestion: The adult is the doctor, and the child is the assistant and together you discuss your patient's needs and how you came to that conclusion.

Another app that provides context driven vocabulary is Smart Fish's: Frequent Flyer. This is a great app that provides a process from beginning to end of traveling by plane. There is a lot of fun detail to talk about and you can talk in terms of beginning, middle and end. Your child will get to choose what to pack, pass through security gates, strap in and take off, collect his or her baggage, even write a postcard. The detail is really amazing.

Lastly, I also recommend apps that record. An example is WeAreWheelbarrow's digitalization of Nick Bland's "The Very Cranky Bear". This is becoming the 'story app' standard. These types of apps give your child opportunities to retell their favorite page, or retell the story in their own words. Talk is story telling!

Next up: a brief summary on Sing.

Sing

Sing- the purpose of Sing is to promote phonological awareness--the appreciation of the sounds of our spoken language. The emphasis in this practice is really more about listening, not necessarily looking. While there are a ton of great YouTube videos of songs, when a child listens and sings along with a song, the child is hearing the sound and rhythm of our English language. A child is also learning to comprehend what is being said. And, a child is learning to discriminate between words--where a word ends and another begins.

Singing along with songs helps with word segmentation. Every note associates to a single sound or syllable. Clapping along with the song accentuates the breakdown of words into their sound parts.

Since most children's song have a rhyming structure, children's songs can also help with finding sound patterns (similar ending sounds generally have same ending spelling). This is the onset/rime skill a child will need in order to spell. (ex. B-and vs. H-and--of course this is really more a phonics skill.) So, look for songs that tell a story. Many children's artist, like Laurie Berner and Dan Zane tell a story through song--and they are also pleasing to the adult!

So, while the Internet has proliferated with YouTube songsters and songstresses presenting their songs in a visually appealing manner, Sing is still, first and foremost, the practice of listening. It is singing without necessarily seeing. This of course is not a "rule". There are songs that are enhanced by visual understanding. This is merely a consideration to diversify experiences--in this case, focusing on developing great listening skills...and giving one an eye break from the mobile device!

There are video song I have seen that do display the words used in the song. Two examples that comes to mind that are catchy and fun are Pharrel's "Happy", and Todd McHatton's "I Think I'm a Bunny" where the word "happy" and "monster" are written out, respectively in the song videos.

Recommended Children's Song Artists:
Bari Koral
Laurie Berner
Liz Buchanan
Dan Zane
Todd McHatton
Brian Vogan and His Good Buddies
They Might Be Giants

Next up: a brief summary on Read

Read

Read - This practice is based upon preparing your child to read, not learning to read. What defines a "reader" requires two broad skills: 1. the ability to relate sound to a letter symbol. 2. The ability to comprehend.  Broadly speaking, "Read" practice is getting a child to notice words, notice print, notice letters, notice letters form words. How can an app help us help our child?

A bit of history: Many "ebooks" were mainly static pictures of the book being converted into a digital format or books where text size could be manipulated to some degree. Children's book format (in particular, picture books), presented a different need.

Today's "story apps" take print awareness and interactivity to a whole new level for children. Story apps are enhanced books in app form.  They have touch point animations. When you touch something on the screen it says something, or does something, or both. An excellent example of a defining story app that emphasizes "reading" is "The Monster at the End of This Book" by Sesame Workshop. This app features highlighted text as a narrator reads. There is on screen playful animation with an emphasis on text. Words represent how they sound: bigger for louder, smaller for spoken quietly. Even the word "monster" turns pink and furry if a child touches the word, or if the story is read to them using the feature called "Read to Me".  Using "Read to Me" a child hears and sees the text as it is read by a pre-recorded professional narrator. Additionally, there are engaging interactivity to keep the child wanting to "read" the entire book by turning the next page.

Additionally, many story apps now include the ability to record. When a child can retell the story, or sequence the events, it is a testimony of his or her's comprehension, not to mention a vocabulary building activity. Retelling stories is also the learning art of developing narrative skill.

Tips: Choose story apps where the animation enhances the story, not detracts from it. Click the image to see in App Store.

Write

Write. Writing, at this stage, in general, is about focusing on motor skills. It takes coordination to make curves in the formation of the letter "S" and "C". Perfecting hand and eye coordination and experimenting with lines, dots, swirls are actually ways to help a child begin the journey of penmanship.

Drawrite takes a child through a story journey where lines they see of certain objects become the same lines used in making a letter. The letter "j" for instance is a hook for fishing. A child begins by repeating a hook shape on a picture and then is guided into writing the letter "j". They draw. They play. They write.

Another scribble app that allows a child to experiment with lines is Gil Weiss' Doodle Fun.  A monster is hungry and the child can draw something in t's mouth for it to eat.

Should your child exhibit ability to control his or her lines, then writing letters is the next logical step. It is recommended that you start with letters in your child's name and family. Have the child say the letter and practice writing it. Little Writer teaches a child how to write his or her letters by helpful tracing steps. It is extremely customizable, with the ability to select letters you want to display and even words, you can add. If your child knows must of the names of the letters, you may want to begin letter phonics, helping a child learn the sound of the letters.

Drawrite

DoodleFun

Little Writer

Play

The purpose of play is putting it all together! A child takes in all that he or she experiences: the sights, sounds, images, ideas, and concepts. And then they simply experiment! For a child there is little difference between what is and what can be. It's like dreaming out loud in a big amazing world where anything is possible. And so, the choices of all that we have our child see, hear, talk about--all that is "appropriate" is the safety net for healthy and happy play!