Brainy Stories 1

Educational research demonstrates that children who often listen to stories achieve far more success in school and in life, but watching too many cartoons and videos adversely affects child development. Brainy Stories 1 relies on individual pictures, stimulating a child's imagination, in contrast to cartoons and videos which stimulate a child sensually but dull a child mentally. Our 10 texts introduce new vocabulary words, longer and more complex sentence patterns, essential usage and grammar examples, vital literacy elements young children's brains are especially designed to absorb between ages 3 and 9, though they find it increasingly difficult to absorb in later years. Our 5 'Imagines' encourage a child to conceptualize new experiences such as being only a few inches tall or living in an upside-down world. The 5 'Stories' are all beloved classics: The Lion and the Mouse, The Little Red Hen, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, The Elves and the Shoemaker, The Three Little Pigs. A progress screen awards a choice of prizes (dragon, mermaid, puppy, etc.) and tracks how many times each Imagine or Story is heard. Each story has 2 'Can You Do It?' exercises to spur thoughts and activities.

Our incredibly successful mission to build language and literacy skills for young children began in 2011-2012 with a DVD containing 50 stories and over 300 rhymes. We raised 459 at-risk Title I kindergarten students' mean vocabulary scores from the 27th to the 47th percentile in 8 ½ months; three years later on Georgia's statewide reading test, they failed to meet the minimum standard less than half as often (7.6% vs. 16.13%) as their system peers, and scored in the highest range 35% more often (39.6% vs. 27.02%). Our article describing the project won the ACEI Distinguished Education Research Article Award for 2016 [ Walter Evans, et al. "Empowering Young Children in Poverty," Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 30 (2016): 211-225]. Our website hearatale.com contains many more free stories, rhymes, and other resources—including 100 stories translated into foreign languages. Our apps Rhyme A Zoo, Brainy Phonics, Brainy Sight Words, and Brainy Words 2000 are free at the App Store. Brainy Make A Rhyme and Brainy Make A Story are under development. For more information visit hearatale.org.