Green Eggs and Ham
Reviewed by: Jason McCoy
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Publisher
Reviewer
Annotation:
This product is a CD-ROM version of the ever popular Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss. The animation is brilliant, and stays true to the Dr. Seuss tradition. The text and animation were in perfect collaboration with one another, as the animation always went along with the text. The animation was lively and vivacious. Musical accompaniment was engaging and lent to the overall sense of festivity. This CD-Rom was fun to watch.
I
was very please with the presentation of the text in this product. Non-readers could enjoy this product and
gain a lot in terms of reading. Several
features of this product make it a valuable tool in teaching beginning
readers. To begin with, the text was
presented as it was read. The words
were highlighted as they were spoken.
Words were not highlighted one at a time, but rather in groups and
phrases. This design compliments what
research has indicated about how we read in phrases; not individual words. Also, words with a higher decodablilty level
were converted into icon form. For
example, the text “would not eat it with a goat” was read in full, and then the
word goat turned into a picture of a goat.
The designer of this CD has obviously kept abreast with the latest
research on reading; which has begun to emphasis the importance of
decodability. Another feature of this
product which aids in teaching reading is the games available. For example, one rhyming game presents a
word, such as coat; and the player must click on the picture that rhymes, in
this case goat. Then the click is made,
the goat is suddenly outfitted with the coat, and both leave the screen. I thought this was an interesting and
creative way to teach the important reading skill of associating similar sound
patterns.
Overall, I would give this product an A+, although there were a few technological glitches which could be corrected. For example, a few times block and pieces would be missing from the animation. However, the most valuable aspect of this product is not the animation, which is wonderful, but rather the presentation of the text in a research approved manner.