Assignment 3

There are many different resources available for both educators and parents to help their young children early literacy skills. One of the many resources available is a set of books called BOB books. They have different sets of books based on the skills of the child that the books are aimed at. Each set contains 12 books that progressively more difficult. There are BOB sets directed at pre-readers and a set that introduces the alphabet to young readers. The sets go all the way up to introducing reading, sight words, word families, complex words, long vowels and the sets go in order of progressive difficulty as well. The pre-reading skills set of short books introduces the child to the sounds and shapes of letter.The alphabet set dedicates each book to two letters of the alphabet. They introduce the child to the different letters of the alphabet and the sounds that the letters make. These two sets would be particularly good for the age group that we are studying because it lays the ground work for literacy. It introduces the the basic tools that are needed in order to become literate. These sets of books are easy for parents to use with their children. The books are short and repetitive which makes it easier to use with young children.

The iPhone application iTot Cards is an application that consists of digital flashcards. It offers flashcards of the alphabet, animals, numbers, shapes, food, colors, and other objects. The young child, or the adult, can pick the category, there is even a shuffle category to mix up all of the cards together. You can switch the language of the flashcards from English to Spanish, French, or Chinese. After picking the category and the language the app shows a picture of the word, or the letter and then says it so the child can hear it through the speaker. If the child taps the picture on the flashcard it will keep saying it over and over again, swiping the page will turn it to another flash card. This application is great for young children, it shows them what the word stands for, it is easy to operate, and the animal flash cards even make the noises that the animals make. It is a good way to introduce the alphabet and basic words to an a young child. Hearing the word or letter and seeing the letters, and the picture illustrating what the word means all at once helps the child see how the letters work together to make a word. This application would be great for parents to work with their young children with, or even to let them navigate on their own for a small period of time. Unlike regular flash cards it is possible for a young child to work with these on their own because the application says the word to them. The problem with this as an educational devices is the unclear effect of technology on young children. It seems that this would be useful in short time periods, and not for an extended period of time.

There is a national organization for educators and parents alike called Zero to Three. This organization focuses on the overall health of children when they are in the age range in the title. The early years are the most formative and this web site guides parents and educators on how to work with children in this age group. Part of the online resources for this organization are online versions of booklets on early literacy. There is information on what parents and educators can do to lay the groundwork for early literacy among the children in their care. They also offer information on the research behind language development and early literacy in young children. On top of these resources, this organization offers tips for picking books for young children as well as literature on why it is important to read to infants. This is a great resource for parents and educators there is so much useful and pertinent information on this website. Although it can be difficult at first to locate the literacy information, once you locate it, it is well organized and easy to use.

Another tool that can help give young toddlers the basic building blocks for early literacy is a interactive reading tool offered by Leapfrog called Tag Junior. This is a handheld device that works with Leapfrog interactive books. They offer a similar device for older readers with older books but this device is easier to hold by small hands and offers books for younger readers. There are books with recognizable characters like Disney princesses and Curious George that teach young readers colors, and the books have short sentences. The handheld device reads the pages of the books when touched to the pages of the interactive Leapfrog books. Unlike regular books, the device has dialogue that is not written that is said by the characters when the device is placed on the illustrations. This makes it much more entertaining for younger children to participate in the story. It is relatively easy for parents to download the required software for this device to work. It is possible to program the device to even say the child's name when turned on. However, you have to load the books onto the device prior to using it and it can only hold so many books at once. So if a child wants to read more than what is available the parent has to stop and reload the content on the device. Also, this device is not available to those who do not have access to a computer because it will not work unless it is setup through a computer first. Overall, if the parent has the technology this is a fun supplemental device to give the child time to interact with a story, either alone or with a parent. It gives them the opportunity to handle books and get familiar with them, and it can read to them. However, there are some technological issues that can make it difficult to operate and possibly less than user-friendly.

The Nick Jr.'s A-Z is a smartphone application that has characters based off of the Nick Jr. channel Moose and Zee. This application is a game for young users, not exactly for 0-1 age range but users 2 and older can play a game where Moose prompts the child to find a letter in a picture. The situations in which the letters are placed are not so busy that the child cannot locate them. Moose also offers hints to children who are not finding the letters very quickly. He also offers information like the letters can be big or little. Prior to the search scene, Moose shows the children what the uppercase and lowercase letters look like. The application also does not put the letters in alphabetical order so the child does not get used to the technical order of the alphabet. Moose also offers words that the letters start with.  This application helps children with the recognition of letters. In some cases the child may not be sure where to locate the letter and guess and then see what the letter looks like. This game offers children the ability to recognize and find both uppercase and lowercase letters. These are the fundamental tools for children to begin to become literate. The application,however, does not offer the phonetic sound of the letter which is also a crucial key in early literacy. This application is free and easy to download by parents who have the right technology. It can be a fun way for the child to feel as though they are playing a game when they are actually also learning letter recognition. The advantage of smartphone applications that promote literacy is that, unlike traditional books they are completely portable and can easily fit in a pocket or a bag. The applications have the capability of being completely accessible 100% of the time. There are many different tools that are available to both educators and parents to help them promote early literacy in their young children. From traditional books to new technology like smartphone applications, there are many different options available in this day and age.