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Story Bayou's Brush of Truth: Tweens' book app offers free Common Core-aligned lesson plans to help integrate technology into classroom
[February 26, 2013]

Story Bayou's Brush of Truth: Tweens' book app offers free Common Core-aligned lesson plans to help integrate technology into classroom


Cooper City, Florida, Feb 26, 2013 (PRWeb.com via COMTEX) -- Brush of Truth, an educational app for tweens 8-12, is offering free Common Core-aligned lesson plans on its website, http://www.storybayou.com . Created by Story Bayou, a mom's vision to get tweens reading, the $1.99 book app has been recognized nationally for its appeal to reluctant readers.



The free, downloadable language arts lessons created for Brush of Truth include Project-Based Learning, creative writing and grammar PowerPoint presentations, worksheets and answer keys. They were developed by Cyndie Sebourn, a retired National Board Certified Teacher and owner of Apps With Curriculum, which creates Common Core-aligned curriculum for educational apps.

Brush of Truth, geared to third- through sixth-graders, is written in second person and lets the user choose how the action unfolds at critical points in the plot. Brush of Truth has 125 pages of story and colorful illustrations, with 65 decision points and 20 possible endings. The app is $1.99 on iPad, iPod touch, Kindle Fire and Android.


Brush of Truth was named 2012 Media of the Year in Interactive Book Apps by Creative Child Magazine. The app was named a "Recommended iPad Book App for Older and Reluctant Readers Ages 8-12" by Digital Storytime, and one of "6 Interactive Book Apps to Get Kids Excited About Reading" by Tecca. Brush of Truth was rated five stars by Technology in Education, a children's tech review site.

"Teachers are looking for quality educational apps that can provide more than an hour of entertainment to their students," said Sebourn, a National Board Certified Teacher who was in the classroom for more than 20 years. "By pairing curriculum with apps like Brush of Truth, teachers are provided with another tool to integrate technology into education and to help kids be 21st Century Learners. The curriculum engages students with multiple reading strategies that prompt them to think critically, incorporate technology into the classroom, reach the upper levels of Bloom's Taxonomy and align to Common Core State Standards." Brush of Truth tells the story of two tweens who find an enchanted paintbrush. They begin to discover its powers as they go in adventures under the ocean, inside a sand castle, and while rescuing a sea creature.

Julie Landry Laviolette, author of Brush of Truth and founder of Story Bayou, said book apps are an emerging trend in educational technology. "Book apps are an exciting new tool to get kids to read," she said. "It also is an inexpensive form of educational technology that reinforces vocabulary skills, critical thinking and reading comprehension." Laviolette is a mom of two and a parenting journalist. A New Orleans native, she is a former columnist and editor for The Times-Picayune. She currently lives in Fort Lauderdale, Fl., where she contributes to The Miami Herald, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, South Florida Parenting and more than 30 regional parenting publications in the U.S. and Canada.

Story Bayou, founded in 2011, partnered with Linxter, Inc., a Cooper City software engineering company, to create the mobile app. Brush of Truth was released in February 2012.

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/2/prweb10459639.htm PRWeb.com

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