Juba, a whole-brain online learning adventure for children ages 3-6, immerses children in a multi-sensory experience of imagination and discovery, nurturing their natural desire to explore, create, share, and learn. This week, Juba won the 2011 Education Software Review (EDDIE) Award for Early Learning Pre-Literacy Website.
Juba uses over 2,000 real-world images and sounds of people, places, things and animals from around the world to support instruction of literacy, language development, and STEM topics. The interactive curriculum engages students with open-ended questions, fun facts, and over 700 activities that develop understanding of colors, sizes, shapes, counting and positions.
To foster imagination and personal expression, Juba features a creative tool kit so kids can paint, draw, type, and audio record. And Juba includes an English/Spanish language toggle that supports ELL and bilingual instruction by allowing users to seamlessly hear and see all content in Spanish as well as English.
“We designed Juba to allow young children to explore, make connections, and create—key components that help imprint knowledge in the brain,” said Sarah White, President and Founder of Six Red Marbles. “We are truly delighted to partner with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to bring this whole brain learning program to kids and educators.”
Juba supports cognitive, emotional, and motor skills expression; rewards curiosity and imagination; encourages autonomy and decision making; and develops independent learning and verbal skills, all while meeting the play objectives in state Pre-K standards.
Juba was developed in alignment with the latest educational and neuroscience research. Since studies show that children learn best when curriculum and pedagogy meet their personal needs, Juba balances traditional learning time with opportunity for personal discovery. The program’s reinforcement structure nurtures positive emotions about learning, thus fostering the most beneficial environment for developing a lifetime love of learning.
“Impacting achievement for millions of young learners requires a commitment during this pivotal time in their education and development,” said Mike Lavelle, President, HMH Education Group. “As a company dedicated to providing the best in Pre-K solutions, we are excited to offer Juba to students and educators. This program is the next step in HMH’s ongoing mission to provide early learners with the best tools necessary to prepare them for the ever-changing world of K-12 education.”
Juba has already won numerous awards, including: 2011 Best Educational Software (BESSIE) Award for Early Learning Pre-Literacy Website, 2011 Tillywig Brain Child Award, 2011 National Parenting Center Seal of Approval, 2011 Mom’s Choice Gold Award, and 2011 SIIA CODiE Award Finalist for Best Education Technology Solution for Productivity/Creativity.
Juba can be used alone or in conjunction with any other Pre-K, Head Start or Early Childhood curriculum. It features a Teacher Dashboard that provides real-time tracking of student progress; a digital portfolio of students’ multimedia creations, demonstrating growth over time; and access to comprehensive reporting. The program is aligned to key national and state standards including the NAEYC, HeadStart and Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge and to HMH’s Splash into Pre-K curriculum, an integrated program for early learners released last month. Combining Juba with Splash into Pre-K creates a complete, research-based solution that layers proven scientific methods with a fun, vibrant learning environment.
For more information on Juba, please visit http://hmheducation.com/juba.
About Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
With education products and services used by 57 million students throughout all 50 U.S. states and 120 countries, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is a global education and learning company. The world’s largest provider of materials for pre-K–12 learning, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is leading the way with innovative solutions and approaches to the challenges facing education today. Through curricula excellence coupled with technology innovations and professional services, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt collaborates with school districts, administrators, teachers, parents and students, providing interactive, results-driven learning solutions. Its Educational Consulting Services group works to increase student achievement in underperforming schools by developing, implementing and supporting education transformation through sustained district partnerships. With origins dating back to 1832, the Company also publishes an extensive line of reference works and award-winning literature for adults and young readers. For more information, visit www.hmhco.com.
About Six Red Marbles
Six Red Marbles is an award-winning provider of educational solutions for the early childhood through higher education market. With roots dating back more than 90 years, the company has developed thousands of creative, effective multi-media educational materials. Six Red Marbles developed The Natural Learning ApproachTM, built on four pillars: the latest neuroscientific research on how kids learn best; Tribal Pedagogy, grounded in learning by necessity, imitation, and story-telling; creativity; and an interactive online 24/7 delivery. Juba™ is developed and owned by Six Red Marbles. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is selling and marketing Juba.