"When the right software is paired with a computer and enthusiastic children, the computer can sing or draw; tell stories or write stories; play individual games or operate a robot; and take its place beside books, blocks, toys, paint, and crayons in the lives of young children."
- Patricia Hutinger & Joyce Johanson

Literacy Software

Interactive Commercial Software

Storybook types of programs, such as those made by the Living Books and other companies, help children gain early literacy skills by giving them the opportunity to explore the sound and meaning of words which appear on the screen. A selected word can turn into the picture representation in some programs.

A good example of this literacy boosting functionality is found in the software, "Green Eggs & Ham." In "Green Eggs & Ham", when children click on the word "eggs" they are rewarded for their mouse click with a popup picture of eggs, and the word "ham" produces a picture of ham. This helps children learn that words and pictures have meaning.

Advantages to Using Interactive Software

Pictures in the story come alive for children. When a child clicks on a character or object on the screen, something happens.

Actions by characters on the screen relate directly to the words in the story. An example is "Storytime Tales," which contains simple graphics and one sentence of text for each page.

Children may find it easier to understand the meaning of the story when they see graphics that relate directly to the content of the story. They begin to relate words with meaning and actions.

When reviewing and selecting software to support children's emergent literacy, look for programs that will help children develop phonemic awareness, increase letter identification and recognition, add new words to their vocabulary, and encourage reading for a variety of purposes. Some of the activities may include word play, such as rhyming or repeating sounds. For example, "Hippos hop high."

Many electronic storybooks "read" the story to the child.

Children may benefit from text-highlighting features, which:

highlights an entire sentence at a time
highlights each word as it is read
allows a child to click a word and see it highlighted
speaks words aloud when clicked
reads the story in different languages, including Spanish, German, French, and Japanese

Check programs to see what options are available to best meet your children's needs. All of these options are aligned with language arts standards to foster emergent literacy behaviors.

For more information about emergent literacy, check the ITLC Online Workshop 1, Literacy Foundations.

ITLC Workshop 1 Literacy Foundations

Living Books Software

The Living Book Series has a variety of software for early literacy. Many of the titles have limited availability, but may already be in your classroom or found on e-Bay or through software clearance warehouses, such as ClassSource.com and Surpluscdrom.com.

	http://www.ebay.com
	http://www.Surpluscdrom.com
	http://www.ClassSource.com

Living Books

The Art Lesson*
Arthur's Birthday Deluxe*
Arthur's Computer Adventure
Arthur's Reading Race
Arthur's Teacher Trouble*
Berenstain Bears in the Dark
Dr. Seuss's ABC
Dr. Seuss The Cat in the Hat
Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham
Harry and the Haunted House
Just Grandma and Me*
Little Monster at School*
The New Kid on the Block
Ruff's Bone
Shelia Rae, the Brave
Stellaluna*
The Tortoise and the Hare*

*available in Riverdeep's Living Books Library

	Riverdeep Living Books Library http://www.riverdeep.net/products/living_books/index.jhtml
	Creating Literacy Based Communication Boards http://aacintervention.com/litboards.htm
	Curriculum Activities with Interactive Commercial Software ITLC Technology Integration Workshop
	Storybooks on Computer - An Overview http://www2.edc.org/NCIP/library/ec/Storybks.htm

Tool Software for Literacy

Many software programs are available for teachers and children to use to create customized activities and books for the classroom. The Center for Best Practices in Early Childhood identifies such programs as "tool software" because they are used as tools to create a product.

Most tool software programs:

contain a library of clip art
allow the importing of images (either drawings or in digital format)
provide a recording feature (for printing)
offer the opportunity to add text.

Use of tool software often makes activities more meaningful to children because they are part of the creation team. When classroom books are created from programs such as HyperStudio or BuildAbility that use the children's pictures and drawings, these books soon become children's favorites to read again and again and to share with families and visitors.

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For more information, view ITLC workshop 5--Multimedia Authoring Software.

ITLC Workshop 5--Multimedia Authoring Software

Tool Software

	BuildAbility (Don Johnston) http://www.donjohnston.com/catalog/buildabilityd.htm
	Clicker5 (Crick Software) http://www.cricksoft.com/uk/products/clicker/default.asp
	Early Learning Toolkit (2Simple) http://www.2simple.com/ivt
	Easybook Deluxe (Sunburst) http://www.ccvsoftware.com/c/product.html?record@CDSB900+s@TX88wow34.3k.
	eZedia MX (ezedia) http://www.ezedia.ca/products/eZediaMX/
	Graph Club 2.0 http://www.tomsnyder.com/products/product.asp?SKU=GRPV20&Subject=Math
	HyperStudio (Sunburst) http://www.hyperstudio.com
	IntelliPics Studio 3 (IntelliTools) http://www.intellitools.com/
	iPhoto (Apple) http://www.apple.com/ilife/iphoto/
	Kid Pix 4 (The Learning Company) http://www.riverdeep.net/products/kid_pix/kpd4.jhtml
	Kidspiration 2.0 (Inspiration) http://www.inspiration.com/productinfo/kidspiration/index.cfm
	Kid Works Deluxe (Knowledge Adventure) http://smartkidssoftware.com/nddav13.htm
	Photo Kit Junior (APTE) http://www.apte.com/products/dpakjr/index.cfm
	Read, Write, and Type! (Talking Fingers, Inc.) http://www.readwritetype.com/
	Scholastic Keys (Scholastic/Tom Snyder Productions) http://www.tomsnyder.com/products/product.asp?SKU=KEYKEY
	Storybook Weaver Deluxe 2004 (Riverdeep) http://www.riverdeep.net/products/%20%20storybook_weaver/storybook_weaver_deluxe.jhtml

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Other Software to Support Children's Emergent Literacy Behaviors

	A to Zap! (Sunburst) http://www.genesis-technologies.com/k12pubdetails.asp?Prodlinks=SUN001
	Bailey's Book House (Riverdeep) http://www.riverdeep.net/products/edmark_house_series/baileys_book_house.jhtml
	Chicka Chicka Boom Boom http://www.rmlearning.com/26545.htm
	Clifford Phonics (Scholastic) http://content.scholastic.com/browse/search.jsp?query=clifford
	Clifford Reading (Scholastic) http://content.scholastic.com/browse/search.jsp?query=clifford
	Curious George Reading and Phonics (Knowledge Adventure) http://www.rmlearning.com/27248.htm
	JumpStart Advanced 1st Grade (Vivendi) http://www.rmlearning.com/28433.htm
	JumpStart Advanced 2nd Grade (Vivendi) http://www.rmlearning.com/28434.htm
	JumpStart Advanced Kindergarten (Vivendi) http://www.rmlearning.com/28435.htm
	JumpStart Preschool Fun 3 Pack (Vivendi) http://www.rmlearning.com/28820.htm
	Let's Explore the Airport with Buzzy (Humongous Entertainment) http://www.kidsclick.com/descrip/airport.htm
	Let's Explore the Farm with Buzzy (Humongous Entertainment) http://www.kidsclick.com/descrip/thefarm.htm
	Let's Explore the Jungle with Buzzy (Humongous Entertainment) http://www.kidsclick.com/descrip/jungle.htm
	Let's Go Read! An Island Adventure (Riverdeep) http://www.gzkidzone.com/gamesell/p21120.asp
	Reader Rabbit Learn to Read with Phonics (Broderbund) http://www.learningcompany.com/
	Reading Blaster (Knowledge Adventure) http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/reviews/reading/7/rbkinder/merge.shtml
	Sammy's Science House (Edmark) http://www.riverdeep.net/products/edmark_house_series/sammys_science_house.jhtml
	Stanley's Sticker Stories (Edmark) http://www.riverdeep.net/products/early_learning/stanleys_ss.jhtml
	Stickybear Early Learning Activities Deluxe (Optimum Resource, Inc.) http://www.stickybear.com/
	Thinkin' Things Collection 1 (Edmark) http://www.riverdeep.net/products/critical_thinking/ttc1.jhtml
	Travel the World with Timmy! Deluxe (Edmark) http://www.riverdeep.net/products/other/travel_world_with_timmy.jhtml