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There’s No Place Like Space! (Dr. Seuss/Cat in the Hat)
November 17, 2011
By: Carisa Kluver
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Rating: Not Yet Rated!
There’s No Place Like Space! (Dr. Seuss/Cat in the Hat)
November 17, 2011
By: Carisa Kluver
The Digital Media Diet
Dr. Seuss helps youngster learn about the solar system!
Young readers will love learning with There’s No Place Like Space!: All About Our Solar System. This non-fiction title, published first in print in 1999, was created to give children ages 5-8 the chance to explore a most engaging and factually accurate tour of our solar system, with a familiar tour guide, The Cat in the Hat. The learning library series was created in the late 1990's by Random House with a talented team of illustrators, writers & educators, who mimic Seuss's rhyming verse and quirky illustrations beautifully.
And now the Cat-in-the-Hat Learning Library books are available as enhanced books, with the help of Oceanhouse Media. Featuring light animation and interactivity along with great background music and sound effects, these titles offer exceptional learning about a list of topics frequently covered in elementary school science classrooms. Tap any bold word for a definition and tapping Thing 1 & Thing 2 usually gives additional facts about the topic. You can also record your own narration. Not many non-fiction titles can engage such early readers, but The Cat in the Hat’s Learning Library stands out in both print and digital. Familiar faces like Dick & Sally, along with Thing 1 & Thing 2, take young readers on a series of 19 unforgettable adventures with a range of popular science topics, like outer space and dinosaurs.
In the app, the interactive elements can sometimes over shadow comprehension for distractible young readers, but this is more than balanced out by a wealth of nicely presented educational content. Additional features added to the app include word-by-word highlighting, touch-to-hear text and images that are named when tapped. If an image is also represented in the corresponding text, that word lights up as well, reinforcing word recognition. For those familiar with other Seuss omBooks, this series is a little different. Each app has arrow instead of swipe-style page turning and also includes a home button but no 'auto-play' setting. Nice navigation with a thumbnail page guide and intuitive settings round out these well-made digital books. Links to leave the app, but are thoughtfully hidden behind a 'parental gate' that requires fluent reading.
Overall, this series is as fun as it is educational, pairing animated and interactive 'pop-up' style elements with high-quality science content. Some of the interactivity is just for fun, rather than story-related, but all of it keeps kids engaged. When sharing these titles in my child's classroom, the Cat-in-the-Hat Learning Library apps have been the most often re-requested. Children will be drawn in by their familiarity with the characters and then entranced by the extraordinary natural world. A great introduction for young scientists to space concepts, planting the first seeds for a love of physical science!
Highly recommended.
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Author/Illustrator:
Tish Rabe/Aristides Ruiz
Developer:
Oceanhouse Media, Inc.
Length (time):
8 - 10 Minutes
Based on non-digital book: Yes
Allows Own Narration:
Yes
Uses Motion: Yes
Age: 3 - 9
Languages:
English •
Length (pages):
38 Pages
Story Synopsis - There’s No Place Like Space! (Dr. Seuss/Cat in the Hat)
The cat in the hat arrives at Dick & Sally's house in a space ship (along with thing one and thing two). He tells them 'their mother won't mind' if they come with him to 'dance on the moon and play games in the sky'. They take a trip to visit all eight planets (updated to eliminate Pluto). Details of each planet's weather and other facts are included at each stop as well as words in bold which can be tapped for vocabulary definitions. A pneumontic device is also given (Seuss-style) for memorizing the order of the planets. Planets visitited include: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune
Vocabulary words include all the above mentioned planets and: space, moon, sun, planet, clue, combined, connect, star, favorite, universe, mysterious, telescope, discover
Orientation: Landscape
Format: Universal
Options:
Read to Me, Read Myself, News On/Off, Sound On/Off, Home, Pageguide, Record, Links to: AppStore, FB, Twitter, Email, Web
App Release Date:
2011-11-16
Size: 31.64 MB
Version: 2.3
Lite Version Available: No
There’s No Place Like Space! (Dr. Seuss/Cat in the Hat)
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