This CD is aimed at the lower grades, but older students find it fun to explore. A lot of incidental discussion can take place about Grandmothers, the ocean, the sky etc.
Arthur's Teacher Troubles
This CD is very good for middle to upper primary. There are a lot of examples of incidental print in the environment. This means that there is a lot of scope to explore different genres. A good activity is to make a list of all the different types of writing seen in the CD, and to see if similar types can be found around the school. It would also be valuable to discuss the purpose of each type of writing, e.g. for advertisement, to show people where to go or how to find things etc.
For a fun activity, in most pictures there is a paper plane to find.
Cute note:- while he is waiting for you to decide which option you will choose, Arthur does a cute dance which is a combination of many different styles. My younger students have been known to copy him.
Tortoise and the Hare
Of course, the moral of the story is important, however the concept of slow and fast is a good thing to pick up on. Also, listen to the theme music for the two different animals and compare them.
There is a dragonfly hidden in each picture waiting to be found.
New Kid on the Block
This is a great CD for older students. It does not have as much in the illustrations to click but is very good with the words. If you click a word, there is often an animated sequence to describe it.
Little Monster at School
This monster has wonderful manners! This is great for discussing objects that you find in different rooms of the house, sequencing a day's activity and how people can work and play together. His little dance while waiting for you to choose an option is really good. Again, our younger students often ask to watch the dance and they join in.
Dr Seuss's ABC
Hmmmmm - One hates to be critical of a great book, but I just don't think this one translated all that well. I'll start with the positives.
For a crazy story for kids to kill time with, this one is interesting. It has the rhyming element in it that is important for early learners, and also the fact that the pages are linked with next and previous letters is a point in favour. The screen is uncluttered to those students who need less on the screen.
Now the areas that I have a few problems with. It is not always obvious to the child where they should explore - this is a minor point, but students I was working with were confused at times. Although the letters are explored, their sounds are not, for example we hear "Big B, Little b, what begins with B?" but we don't hear the sound that it makes. Several of the words explored were ones hat the students are familiar with, however there were others that were totally unfamiliar to the students and were words that they were not likely to encounter in their social environments. Those of you in the Northern Hemisphere might have a better chance of relating to the vocabulary, but here in Australia we found it very different to our own use of the language. This makes comprehension of what is happening on the screen a little more difficult. The last point is that the illustrations are not always good representations of the objects they are depicting.
Still, if you have this CD you can still use it in several creative ways. We explored it one page at a time while going through our regular alphabet and phonic activities. In this way you can use it as a part of a whole programme and you can capitalise on its strong points without worrying too much about the shortcomings. The other thing to remember is that I have been looking at this title with special needs students in mind. You may see it differently.
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