Since becoming a parent, one of the things that I have learned is that no two children are the same. This has become apparent over the years just in my observations of my own sons. It was especially noticeable academically when both of my boys first began to read.
While my older son learned how to read right away and without any difficulties, this was not the case for my younger son. The moment that I realized that he was a struggling reader, I began to tutor him at home and I used visual aids and technology to help him finally learn how to read fluently.
My son had a lot of trouble with letter recognition and sounding letters out when he first started reading. As a Literacy Specialist, I know that many children also struggle with this in the beginning. Jesse the Jack’s ABC Zoo is an iBook and app that teaches children the alphabet in a new and creative way.
Using eye-catching animation and well-known Jack Russell Terrier, Jesse the Jack, ABC Zoo illustrates the full alphabet and pairs letters with animals and colors to assist with association and learning. The storyline involves Jesse’s real world and the world of learning he creates when he falls asleep.
The iBook allows children to replay words or sentences that they have difficulty reading or pronouncing through the use of touch narration. I also love how the Story mode allows kids to observe a variety of animations and illustrations including ones that enable them to identify correct animal sounds.
Additionally, the Play modes allow children match animals to their name letter sounds. Each correct answer is rewarded with “Jesse treats” which can be accumulated to direct kids to a page of 12 different Jesse tricks. It’s such a great way to use positive reinforcement to motivate children to be successful.
The app ($1.99). and iBook ($.99) are available TODAY, October 22nd, on iOS (iPhone, iPad, coming to Android early 2015) for download. CLICK HERE to open up the world of letters and reading for your child! You can also check out Jesse the Jack on Facebook!
Let’s Discuss: What difficulties did your child have when they started to read and how do you think this app would have helped them?
GIVEAWAY:
Our Sponsor is giving away 3 Jesse the Jack’s ABC Zoo app downloads to 3 readers of Tough Cookie Mommy!a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: This sponsored post is part of a campaign collaboration with Best Buddies Learning LLC. All opinions are my own. I only recommend products or services I use personally and I believe will be “family friendly.” I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.
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That is so much better than a flip-book! Would keep them more engaged!
A very hands-on creative book, much preferable I am quite certain to kids. I want to test it on on my one son.
My daughter would have loved this. What a great way to teach kids! Hand-ons is the way to go for many kids.
Just recently my Mom asked me how I learned to read-I don’t remember!! I actually had what would be considered today a learning disability-double vision-I had a lot of trouble with math-still dislike it intensely to this day even though I ended up being a bookkeeper! But reading–guess I loved it so much I managed to figure it out. I so want all children to read and this sounds like a great way for those with a bit of trouble to learn.
my daughter is still learning to read and she often struggles with little words like and, is, it, the, etc. she just guesses instead of reading them, since they are little.
My little gal is beginning to read. I think this would help realize that reading is fun and not really a chore. I believe it would help her get her sounds and letter down.
This is a great teaching tool that will re-enforce good reading habits from and early age.
I don’t really remember my children having difficulty with reading, I was lucky in that area.
My daughter started reading very early but this looks very helpful!
Jesse is adorable! I would have loved to learn from a character like that when I was little.
When my son first started reading his biggest problem was pronunciation. Mostly he would always mix up the pronunciation of the letter ‘b’ and ‘d’. This would really help many kids not just my own with a similar problem.