Rock 'N Learn Sight Words DVD Review and Giveaway

I was thrilled when I was offered the opportunity to do another review for Rock 'N Learn. I love the DVD's I won late last year. It is important to me to be able to share products I think would be of interest to my readers, so I was thrilled when Rock 'N Learn allowed me to offer a giveaway in exchange for reviews of the 2 DVDs I won. Just recently I was asked if I would like to review their new DVD Sight Words. I was a little leery because I am not a big sight words fan. I know sight words have a place in the learning of reading, but I am a big believer in learning to read by phonics.  However, I thought it would be neat to check out the DVD as teaching sight words can be a supplement to phonics, so I accepted the offer.

This DVD was great. With the name "Rock 'N Learn" I am expecting lots of music to aid in the learning of the concepts in the DVD's. In the first two DVD's I reviewed there was not as much singing as I expected. Surprisingly, there were a lot of songs in this DVD. The songs were fun and lively in addition to using repetition to help the children learn the words. When the sight words are being sung they are also highlighted on the screen. But best of all, the children are able to see the words in action. For example, when the word up is being sung and highlighted the robot Chip is going up and when the word down is being taught he is going down. I know how important it is that words be taught in context, so this is a big plus in this DVD. 

Another thing I liked was the use of rhyming in the songs. 

Sight Words starts out by teaching a set of a few words and each word is highlighted individually. Then the children are taught to read short phrases while the characters are playing a fun game. "Come in," and "Go out" are two examples I remember. Then Brad and Susan help Festus find his stuffed monkey while learning "where," "here," "there," "it," and "is." All of these, plus several more are set to music. The children are slowly introduced to new words while reviewing old words. And as the DVD progresses the phrases are longer that are being read.  Then at the end they are actually "reading" a story set to music and singing in Karaoke style as the ball bounces to each word and they follow along.

The girls (all three of them) were riveted to the screen for the ENTIRE DVD!

That about says it all!

Here check a little clip out for yourself. This is actually Amelia's favorite song:

Tabitha says she likes all of it. When I asked her to narrow it down and pick a favorite it was very hard for her to do. She says that the karaoke song and the Where is it? songs are her favorite.

The DVD also includes two bonus sections. "Word Shapes" and "Pronouncing t-h-e."  The first time Tabitha watched the "Word Shapes" bonus she sat through it, but got bored part way through and didn't really want to watch it again. In case you have never seen words taught by there shapes, this is what I mean:

In this bonus section they will show the empty shapes, wait a few seconds for the child to guess the word, show the word in white and then trace it in black. They do this for every word taught on the DVD. I have to say she had a lot more fun watching it the second time. At first she did not want to watch. She even got mad that Amelia had the audacity to want to watch it. I told her, in order to have more fun she should try to actually guess the word and then write it while it was being written on the screen. Amelia went to get a piece of paper to do just that. Tabitha sat watching for a while and then she too joined in on writing the words. She was in charge of the remote so she could pause the DVD giving them time to write. I have to say, they had a lot more fun. 

In the second bonus they are taught when to use the two different pronunciations of "t-h-e." If you are not sure...well, I suggest checking out the DVD. Hehehe.

All in all, I highly recommend this DVD. It kept the children's attention and teaches all the pre-primer Dolch words (plus more) in a fun way.

You can check out all the great DVD's Rock 'N Learn has for a wide range of ages at their website.  You can also check them out on Facebook and Twitter.

Would you like to win a Rock 'N Learn DVD of your very own. They have generously allowed me to offer a giveaway so one of my readers can win one of your choice. Just fill in the Rafflecopter form below. You do not NEED to fill in every entry. However, the more you fill in, the better your chances of winning. 

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