I’m pleased that last month we introduced the new Rock ‘N Learn Sight Words DVD that covers over 60 sight words. It’s been our most successful new product launch ever.

To create Sight Words DVD, we consulted with a team of four teachers, collectively having over 50 years classroom experience (both with regular students as well as students with remedial and special needs). These teachers have discovered what works and doesn’t, and they’ve had the benefit of many hours of workshop training in effective reading instruction.

Our education specialty retailers also provided suggestions on what they and their customers wanted to see in a sight words DVD, including flaws they saw with existing DVDs. The two recommendations we heard most were: 1) don’t make it boring, and 2) don’t make it confusing.

Addressing the first recommendation, we wrote fun songs and humorous dialogue combined with fun, engaging characters. It’s some of our best music and animation ever. We tested sections with children to make certain the DVD would hold interest and encourage kids to read along. We also ran scripts and video past our educational consultants and listened their suggestions for improvement.

Now, about their advice, “Don’t make it confusing,” our retailers said that the top complaint with some sight words DVDs is that the words are arranged to picture objects that have nothing to do with the words being taught. That may help kids attend to the shape of the word, but it’s also highly confusing. Learning to read is similar to learning a new language. Imagine if you were learning a new language and the word for “table” looked like a fish.

Rock ‘N Learn Sight Words presents the words in a way that makes sense in context. For example, if students are learning “up” and “down,” they see the characters going up and down.

Below is a video example of Rock ‘N Learn Sight Words DVD:

Sight Words Example

What do you think about Rock ‘N Learn’s new Sight Words DVD?

Noting this trend, Rock ‘N Learn offers 32 videos accredited with the SMART Standard Compatible Content seal. These programs can be played on Smart Boards or any other interactive whiteboard hooked up to a computer or DVD player. Teachers love the clear visuals and ample opportunities for class participation that Rock ’N Learn videos provide. According to one teacher, “The Smart Board allows my class to share ideas while we watch clips from Rock ’N Learns Writing Strategies DVD during essay workshops.”

Another teacher writes, “I love using Rock ’N Learn’s science videos in my classroom. The animation and illustrations make difficult concepts easier for students to grasp.  They even have a few interactive diagrams accessible from the SMART Exchange.”

And a reviewer for the 2011 Learning Magazine Teachers’ Choice Award stated, “ My kids loved watching Phonics Vol. 1 and singing to the music. They were also interacting with the DVD when the announcer invited the children to participate… It’s a bonus that the DVD includes read along stories and free access to online worksheets that support each skill.”

At Rock ‘N Learn, we’re thrilled to participate in the interactive trend that is changing the way students learn. We’re hearing about amazing results in the classroom with our videos and our new iPad apps.

Please share your thoughts.

Our four iPad apps help kids practice stories that build in complexity based on a logical sequence of phonics rules. They are perfect for young children just starting to read or older students still struggling to build their reading skills. Later, I’ll tell you about an unexpected benefit of these apps for learning to read that surprised even our developers.

Our first iPad app, Phonics Easy Reader 1, provides practice reading stories having simple sentences with short vowels, consonant-vowel-consonant CVC words, common word endings, and words ending in s and plural s. The second iPad app, Phonics Easy Reader 2, lets kids practice reading sentences with consonant blends, consonant digraphs, and silent e to make long vowel sounds. The third iPad app, Phonics Easy Reader 3, allows students to practice reading words with long vowels and r-controlled vowels.

Our fourth iPad app, Phonics Easy Reader 4, provides practice reading stories with more complex sentences that incorporate words with diphthongs – sometimes called gliding vowels because they have two adjacent vowel sounds in the same syllable, such as in words like “boy” or “cow.” This app also covers other vowels sounds along with words having multiple syllables, ending sounds, and silent consonants.

These apps also include words that cannot be sounded phonetically – memory words – at the beginning of each story.

To use the apps, learners have the choice of having each story read to them or trying to read the stories for themselves. Here’s where the fun kicks in:

The unexpected benefit is that because learners can touch any word to hear how it is supposed to be read, they can also touch words out of sequence to make up their own sentences. And these can be a little ridiculous or slightly nonsensical – lots of fun for kids learning to read.

Why is this a benefit? Too often, struggling readers are given the most mindless tasks during reading. It’s boring for them (and boring for their instructors). The best phonics instruction occurs within the context of helping children think with text. But it’s difficult to get beyond boring activities that essentially involve memory work. Students lack the skills to compose and write down their own stories or sentences when they are still learning to read basic words.

Our initial testing of these apps with students confirms that our Phonics Easy Reader iPad apps encourage kids to apply skills at a very basic level. By touching words out of sequence, students begin to form new sentences – even if they tend to be silly sentences. That’s fun, and kids like having fun! With regular print material, you frequently wonder whether a child starting to read is just memorizing text and not actually reading. These iPad apps make reading a fun, interactive process at the most basic level. Kids learn new words and get practice reading them in stories and also combining these words to form new sentences.

What are your thoughts about the potential for iPad apps to help kids learn to read?

“Wow!! I am ecstatic!!! This is the first prize I’ve ever won! I just checked out all of the DVDs included, and I can’t wait to receive them!!! My daughter, Reagan, will be thrilled as well! She is a 6-year-old who LOVES to learn and will truly enjoy all of the DVDs. She can read at a 4th grade level and loves learning new things! We are so blessed by God to have her! We adopted her and took her home from the hospital when she was 2 days old. Ever since she’s brightened our life and the lives of all she comes in contact with!  She will be thrilled with the plethora of new topics to grow in and learn about. When I taught 1st & 2nd grade in the early to mid 90′s, I used the cassette tape of Addition & Subtraction Rap with my class. I recently purchased the new DVD for my daughter. Our whole family sings & dances to Addition & Subtraction Rap! What a blessing!”

Lisa, thank you so much for entering our contest, being our winner, and allowing us to share your response. And to everyone else… watch for more giveaways from Rock ‘N Learn!

1. Get rid of heavy backpacks that frequently cause back strain and even contribute to serious conditions like scoliosis.
2. Electronic textbooks should cost less than paper textbooks, which have become quite expensive.
3. Help the environment by reducing paper waste.
4. Provide a portable Internet experience larger than a smart phone yet easier to carry than laptops.
5. Allow students to connect with a community of learners nearby or worldwide.
6. Assist teachers with the goal of providing differentiated instruction, addressing how students learn in a variety of ways.
7. Enable interactive content with touch, sight, and sound.
8. Entertaining videos can be embedded within text.

In fact, what impressed me most about my first experience with the iPad was how great videos looked. Even Rock ‘N Learn video samples viewed from YouTube looked amazing.

Certainly we’ll see plenty of tablet computers that compete with the iPad—perhaps a few that offer advantages over the iPad. However, we were immediately impressed with the Apple iTunes store, and how it does a good job approving apps before they are placed on the Apple marketplace—leading to better quality apps that actually work as intended.

Excited about the possibilities, we immediately started developing Rock ‘N Learn iPad apps for learning to read and released our first app in August. Last week our second app received approval and is available on iTunes. More are on the way—very soon—and we have lots of exciting ideas in planning or development.

And now for Reason Number 9 why I believe tablet computing will revolutionize education: A generation of young teachers are entering the profession that grew up with personal computers in their homes. Many of them have used social media and smart phones for some time now. They do not share the same nostalgia for printed books common among older generations. A few even met their spouses over the Internet. I’ve heard from parents with teenagers that teen parties can be an unusual gathering these days. You’ll likely see teens sitting around with their smart phones texting each other and posting on Facebook—maybe to others in the same room!

My son-in-law is a high school social studies teacher. This year he started a new job closer to home to avoid an hour and half commute into the inner city school where he had worked. He’s technologically savvy when it comes to devices, even writing apps for interactive white boards, building his own computers, and reading several tech blogs. So I suggested he volunteer for any technology committees that might be at his school. He got appointed to one, and three days ago he walked into my office to show me his new iPad issued by his school for each of the tech committee members. He had not even had time to open the box, but he was ready to get to work and evaluate the merits of bringing the iPad to his high school. The committee had set specific goals to guide their decision-making process.

So, what do you think about tablet computing coming to education? Is this just a fad or the beginning of a revolution?

Eventually, I think that supplemental programs and perhaps textbooks will be delivered by electronic mobile devices that each student takes home. For now, just about all kids have access to a DVD player at home. So, call Kathie, Michelle, or me (Richard) at 1-800-348-8445 to discuss gigantic bulk discounts when you want to make Rock ‘N Learn available to a large group of students.

Meanwhile, we continue to work on more educational apps for the iPad here at Rock ‘N Learn, so look for an announcement soon. Exciting times!

Research is just being published showing the negative effects of social media distractions. One report finds that college students get 20 percent lower grades when they use social media while studying compared to those that don’t. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean a direct cause. Maybe those who are less dedicated are just more susceptible to distracting activities and procrastination, as the authors of one study point out.

But even if you could totally shelter your child from distractions, would you want to? I’m wondering whether we might be seeing a generational shift in the way people function in modern society. Could it be that we are raising an entire generation capable of becoming air traffic controllers? Seriously, an increased ability to multitask in high-tech ways could become necessary for future survival or at least career success; I’m not sure. Kids may be building important cognitive skills when engaged in role-playing video games such as those that require snap decisions or collaboration for solving problems.

It’s an interesting question and one that hooked me when I was asked if the music found in many of our learning materials just adds one more distraction. I defended our programs by stating that the music used in Rock ‘N Learn media is usually there to help make repetition more fun, especially when memorizing basic facts.

So, do I recommend “no rules” when it comes to kids and distractions? Absolutely not.  I believe that as more research comes out, we will get a clear understanding of just how bad social media can be on productivity, for children and adults. (Okay, it’s a little ironic that I’m going to make this claim and then ask you to respond to my blog.) Much about social connectivity can be beneficial.

I do suggest that parents establish rules when it comes to distracting activities. Set clear limits; be firm and matter-of-fact about them. “If you don’t follow the rules, you lose your cell phone for two days.” Incidentally, I’m a proponent that punishment should rarely be for long periods of time. Otherwise, you are more hesitant to apply it—which leads to power struggles and testing limits. “You’re grounded for the rest of the school year!” Yeah, right.

Monitor what your child or teen is doing with social media at night. Do they sleep with a cell phone under their pillows? Studies are starting to show severe effects of sleep deprivation, especially for teens—perhaps even lasting brain damage.

One other point: Let’s model good behavior for our kids. If you really want to set an example, have dedicated study time where you turn off the distractions and read a book yourself while your child is doing homework. That may be a bit extreme for some parents. Perhaps, but please don’t ever let your child see you texting while driving! Even talking on cell phones during traffic models dangerous behavior.

What do you think about kids being too distracted to learn? Please post a comment.

Phonics is a method of teaching beginners to read by showing them the relationship between letters and their sounds. Phonemic awareness refers to the ability to hear and tell the differences between words, sounds, and syllables. When developing phonemic awareness, learners come to understand the relationships between sounds. They also learn to alter or rearrange sounds to create new words.

By using both auditory and visual components, Rock ‘N Learn phonics DVDs are highly effective at helping students develop phonemic and phonological awareness. Students listen to sounds and make important letter-sound associations. The programs move from simple to complex and give ample practice with each skill as the lessons progress.

Rock ‘N Learn’s recently revised phonics DVDs specifically address these elements of phonemic and phonological awareness:

Phonemic identity: Learners identify a common sound in different words.

Phoneme isolation and oral segmenting: Students recognize individual sounds and practice dividing words into their separate sounds.

Blending: Individual sounds are blended together to form words.

Rhyme: Learners work with rhyming words. This method is sometimes called word families in phonetic instruction.

Hearing syllables: Multisyllabic words are broken down into their parts.

It’s easy to get educational terms confused, and often it can seem like a lot of jargon. Nevertheless, educators may need to document how specific elements are addressed. Hope this helps in understanding how Rock ‘N Learn addresses phonemic and phonological awareness.

Anything you want to add? Feel free to post a comment!

This is especially true with things like reversals in reading and writing, difficulty paying attention, poor visual-motor coordination, speech concerns, memorization difficulty, hyperactivity, and poor organizational skills. Maybe your child needs extra help, maybe not.

Public schools know that it’s tough to gauge what might be real problems until around third or fourth grade, so they’ve tended to hold off referring for evaluations and extra help. Unfortunately, that can be too late. Much is changing through programs called Response to Intervention (RTI), which allow school systems to use part of their special education money for assessment and individual help earlier. You can ask what kind of RTI program your child’s school has in place.

Here’s what I recommend for parents wondering whether their children need extra help:

1. Talk with the teacher

If you’re ever uncertain about your child’s progress, schedule a phone call or conference with your child’s teacher. Truthfully, most teachers love to see concern and involvement from parents. Start the conversation in a positive tone. Find something you genuinely like about the teacher and offer a compliment. For example, “My son really appreciates the kindness you’ve shown him.” This will immediately put the teacher at ease that you’re not calling to point blame. (Don’t do this as manipulation though; be sincere.)

Next, let the teacher know that you welcome any suggestions on ways you can help your child at home. Ask the teacher for tips and activities that might benefit your child. The teacher will naturally begin to tell you how your child’s progress compares with grade-level expectations, along with what you can do to help. Schools love it when parents become engaged in the education process.

What if you home school your child? You probably already have some support from a network of other parents who are homeschooling. Privately discuss your concerns with them, not in the presence of any child, and consider their suggestions.

2. Keep it positive

This is good advice not only for interaction with the teacher but vitally important for what you say around your child. For instance, you might say something like, “I’m so proud that you are learning to read. With more practice, I think you can become a super reader. Let’s find some really fun books that you would love to read. You’ll get even better with practice!” A librarian or manager in a bookstore can help find a series of books that gets your child excited and engaged.

Something you don’t want to do: I’ve seen parents make negative comments about their child, either to their child or within earshot. Your anxiety about education could increase the stress your child feels when doing any kind of schoolwork. If your child believes you and others see a deficiency, it could become part of your child’s self-view. “I’m no good at this!” is the not kind of self-fulfilling goal you want to promote. Be an encourager.

3. All children benefit from practice

Remember that old joke on how you get to Carnegie Hall? Usually there’s nothing magical about placing children in remedial classes or special education. I’m not saying they won’t benefit, I’m just suggesting that you can encourage lots of practice at home and produce some of the same great results. One of my daughters showed signs of reading difficulties midway through elementary school. By helping her find a series of books that she loved, slightly above her level, she read a whole lot more and became a great reader. She later qualified for Advanced Placement classes and got high SAT scores, which led to an academic scholarship. You never know.

I don’t believe that just some kids need a little extra help in their education. All kids benefit from lots of practice. That’s how we develop expertise with any skill—athletic, musical, whatever.

Remember that it’s true that parents need to read to their children, beginning at an early age (it’s never too early) and continue even after kids can read on their own. The research is solid on this advice. One fond memory my younger daughter has (actually we both have) is when I read to her during her recovery from a tonsillectomy at around age 14. It was a book for teens based on The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and she loved it. Thinking back, I would have read even more to my kids.

Educators, more and more, are recognizing that students learn in a variety of ways. Get your child plenty of books. You can also use educational videos. Unlike complicated learning kits, educational videos allow you to be as involved with your child’s learning as you choose. I don’t recommend videos before age two, but even up to fifth grade and beyond, kids really love highly entertaining educational videos that also provide entertainment value. If you’re super busy like many parents, you can let your children watch independently, or if time allows you can watch along with them and follow up with activities suggested by the videos.

What do you think? Post a comment.

Fred Dias, science teacher

Congratulations to our most recent iPad winner, Fred Dias. On October 1, Brad Caudle, Rock ‘N Learn VP, used a random number generator to select the winner from almost 5000 entries. Fred is a teacher at Deerfield Beach Middle School in Deerfield Beach, Florida. This is Fred’s seventh year to teach science to 7th and 8th graders. Prior to teaching, Fred was a business coach and consultant who felt the calling to teach science to kids. Wow. We couldn’t be more pleased to have someone win our contest with Fred’s dedication and commitment to making a difference through education.

Fred learned about our iPad giveaway while visiting our main Rock ‘N Learn site, after purchasing Rock ‘N Learn Physical Science from a Barnes and Noble in Boca Raton, Florida. Fred said he asked the sales assistant at the store whether this was like Schoolhouse Rock and she said, “Pretty much.” Fred added that although he loves Schoolhouse Rock, he was pleased that our DVDs are not the same. Our science DVDs include lots of “great dialogue along with the songs that teach students real content in an intelligent way.” Fred does not play the entire video to his students; rather he uses short clips to supplement specific lessons. He really likes the way our science videos show students how to approach an actual test by going through questions and helping kids understand the process of arriving at correct answers. Fred told me that he transcribed the lyrics to the “Scientific Method” song from the DVD, and the students enjoyed performing it and making a video. Each class actually competed for the best overall performance.

I asked Fred to give me a quote about education. He said, “Knowledge is power and nothing is more powerful than what you know. The students don’t fully relate to this at their age, but as they mature it starts to sink in.”