Phonics with Syllable Slam and Syllable Chunks
Introducing the multimedia “Phonics Little Red Hen Reading App” – the syllable slamming reading app. This app is also know as “Ready Hen” and teaches reading using phonics. It breaks a word’s syllables down into manageable syllable chunks. To achieve this, it uses an enjoyable classic story with and interactive syllable highlighting interface that includes song and dance. Along the way, the readers can narrate the story themselves. They can also create talking “blobs” and other characters that can be moved sized and rotated; these help reinforce the reader’s comprehension of the story. The background artwork has a classic storybook look. It is expressive, vibrant and beautiful but is not animated. Instead, animation is focused on syllables and words. This animation is triggered on the tablet device through two tapping interfaces – the “read” interface and the “listen” interface.
When she discovered that…
read As the story is tapped, it is narrated. As the narration progresses, the syllables of every word are highlighted in red.
listen As a word is tapped, that word is pronounced and each syllable “pops out” as it is read; the font color is highlighted in red and the font size increased.
syllable slam To further reinforce the concept of phonics or syllable chunks, each page has an associated syllable slam.
Talent
The impressive talents of a narrator and an artist have been leveraged. These talents were combined with the animation to create an awesome final app – “Phonics Little Red Hen Reading App.” Similar apps focus their animation on the background art. Apps developed at mycomputerbooks.com won’t do this. Instead, animation will focus on words and syllables.
Spanish
Spanish Each page is also narrated in Spanish
Spanish Narration
Narration
self narration With a simple record feature, you, or better yet, your new reader can narrate the story yourselves.
speed control Perhaps those syllable slams are coming on too fast and you need to slow things down a little; or maybe, you want to go lickety-split; or just sound silly. There is a speed control for that.
Add your own images and attach recordings to them
image recordings Step back from the pages of the story for awhile and think about what is going on. Then, add your own images and attach recordings to them. These recordings might play on character conflicts in the story, build intrigue by creating your own subplots, or maybe they could just be fun thoughts.
Song and Dance
One way to get reluctant readers to learn through phonics is through song and dance. Students who may not connect with a book just might connect to a catchy toon. The Ready Hen app has adapted two catchy 1920’s tunes to sing and dance to. One is “Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue” and the other is “Yes, Sir! That’s My Baby!”
Theme Song
The Discussion
The classic story of the Little Red Hen tells a tale with an important moral. The tale is of a hard working hen and some lazy farm animals. It teaches the rewards of working hard and helping others. This version of the story tells another may be more valuable lesson. May be the Little Red Hen caused some conflict by being a little bossy in her manner; may be she wasn’t so nice to the other farm animals. A children’s group discussion towards the end of the app talks through this conflict.