3. Traditional Books:
Oxford Reading Tree: Chip and Biff Series - Traditional Books: On the National Curriculum for Junior
and Senior Infants in Britain and Ireland. Tried, tested and proven. Easy access for a child.
Traditional School Reading/Exercises
Initial source for Fionndel and Nuggs project idea
Interactive Story Book for Kids Learning to Read
4. Overview
An interactive book for the iPad that is aimed at helping children learn to read.
Target group: broadly at 5 to 7 years olds (and their parents) Specifically at 6 to 7 year olds
Reading Level: First Class (some advanced senior infants)
Equivalent of stages: 7 to 9 Oxford Reading Tree
Learning approach:
Learning through play
Phonics
Whole Language
Listening
Reading
Promoting:
Vocabulary
Meaning
Comprehension
Reading Fluency
Confidence
Interactive Story Book for Kids Learning to Read
5. Overview
Content
Fictional story
2 Chapters + 3 exercises (current version)
Balanced approach to interactivity/narrative:
Touch/Tap/Drag only
Word sounding/blending
Voiceover
Exercises:
Memory Match game
Sentence building
Word search
Interactive Story Book for Kids Learning to Read
6. Q15-14 - Security
Q15-13 Progress Tracking
Q15-12 Instant Feed Back
Q15-11 Help/Assistance
Q15-10 Games
Q15-9 Word Exercises
Q15-8 Voice Recognition
Q15-7 Narration
Q15-6 Illustration Series1
Q15-5 Animation
Q15- Story/Narrative
Q15-3 Personalisation
Q15-2 Interactivity
Q15-1 Phonics
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Question 15 - Elements that might be found in Interactive Book that Teaches Kids to read
(Highest score top priority)
Elements to Interactive Book
Survey Results
Interactive Story Book for Kids Learning to Read
8. iPad Interactive Books for Kids:
Story Toys Snow White (tested) - separates
story narrative from interactive pages
Smarty Pants School (tested) - reading exercises
and assessments
Selfish Giant (tested) - very interactive, very
popular with child, interactions appeared to
distract from the stories
Nosy Crow (reviewed) - very popular with pre-
schoolers, good interactions, strong educational
value but not necessary for literacy
Apps for iPad (tested, observed, reviewed)
Competitive Review
Interactive Story Book for Kids Learning to Read
9. Fionndel and Nuggs
and the Tale of the
Missing Elephant
Recorded Script/Narrative
Story: 3 Chapters (38 pages/screens, 1,321 words)
399 Unique Words sounded/blended
3 Exercises (35 separate feedback responses)
How this Book Works (203 words)
Video Tutorial (541)
28 Word Definitions
word sounded out
meaning given
alternative use example (in context)
19. Improvements
In the short term the focus will be on removing bugs, improving the UX for the
exercises, and enabling user instructions:
I. Remove know bug that causes app to crash
II. Sentence Building exercise: add ‘drag and drop’ functionality
III. Sentence Building exercise: allow for checking of partially built sentence
IV. Word Search exercise: allow tap/touch to select letters
V. Word Search exercise: allow letters to be selected in any order
VI. Word Search exercise: allow for multiple words to be checked simultaneously
VII. Word Search exercise: increase words in grid
VIII. How this book works: create instructional video and incorporate into app
Future Work - Short Term
Children and Learning
Interactive Story Book for kids Learning to Read
20. Improvements
10.2 Medium term
In the medium term the focus will be on completing chapter 3 and adding new
exercises.
I. Complete illustrations for chapter 3
II. Create three more exercises that examine comprehension and meaning
III. Integrate parental settings: disable Read-to-Me, disable exercises, specify words
for Word Search exercise, progress report
IV. Add audio effects for sensory feedback to all exercises
Future Work - Medium Term
Children and Learning
Interactive Story Book for kids Learning to Read
21. Marketing
So much to do... I’ll have a cup of tea first.
Interactive Story Book for Kids Learning to Read
22. Lawrence, Lynne, Montessori: Read and Write, A Parent’s Guide to Literacy for
Children, Three Rivers Press1998
Stevens, Chris, Designing for the iPad: Building Applications that Sell, Wiley, 2011
Guardian: article re gender balance in children’s books
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/may/06/gender-imbalance-children-s-
literature
Reading Schemes - Kieran O’Regan Educational Agencies
Accessed April 2012
http://kieranoreganeducational.com/reading-schemes.html
Access November 2011
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/booksy-learn-to-read-platform/id454984042?
mt=8
Starfall's Learn to Read with phonics
Accessed April 2012
http://www.starfall.com/
Accessed in November 2011
geeklish: kids books on iPad
http://brodiebeta.com/2010/06/16/list-of-interactive-childrens-books-for-the-
Reading Wars: Phonics vs. Whole Language
ipad/
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~jar/Reading_Wars.html
Accessed April 2012
Accessed October 2011
Geekdad: ‘...bedtime read?’
Joan Ganz Cooney Center - Advancing Children's Learning in a Digital Age
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/03/a-quiet-read/
http://www.joanganzcooneycenter.org/
Accessed March 2012
Accessed October 2011
David Maybury (Illustrator)
http://www.davidmaybury.ie/journal/?p=10118
Accessed march 2012
childrensillustrators
http://www.childrensillustrators.com/
Accessed February 2012
References
Publications used in research
Interactive Story Book for kids Learning to Read
