Parched Planet

***** Educators Choice Award - SIIA Innovation Competition
***** Flawlessly Designed - Children's Book Review
***** 2014 Kapi Award - Honorable Mention
***** Amazing! - Common Sense Media
***** Editors Choice Award - Children's Technology Review
***** A Masterpiece - Teachers with Apps
***** Near Perfection - Mobile iEducator


Parched Planet is a state of the art, elementary science book based on the desert biome. Developed in collaboration with the New Mexico University’s Jornada Experimental Desert Research Program and a team of educators, Parched Planet includes both interactive enhancements and universal design accessibility features.  

Parched Planet is part of our Crack the Books series of interactive science books.  Crack the Books are the first digital books that can be ADJUSTED FOR READING LEVEL without sacrificing curriculum content. Targeting 3rd to 5th grade science and social studies core curriculum concepts, our digital books allow for reading level adjustment from 1st  grade to 8th grade, making it possible for all kids to access the same content regardless of their reading ability.

Designed with the goal of improving reading comprehension, fostering a love of learning, and building reading confidence, Crack the Books gives educators a powerful new teaching tool to help all students, from children with special needs to those who are academically gifted.

Parched Planet covers a variety of topics, including descriptions of all Earth’s major deserts, range and climate of deserts, plant and animal wildlife, adaptations, desertification, and desert threats.  Students will learn about all major desert  types including rain shadow, trade wind, coastal, and polar deserts.

Crack the Books features hundreds of supportive audio and visual elements including beautiful high definition photographs, integrated video footage, fun facts, custom animations, custom images, and interactive charts, tables and globes. There are comprehension supports built into the text, with pop up definitions for associated new vocabulary.  Students may further interact with the content by creating bookmarks, highlights and study notes.

For students with special needs, there are additional settings for common classroom and assessment accommodations including text to speech, answer dictation, image reinforcement and text zooming. 

Features:
Lexile certified reading levels from 1st to 8th grade
Visual supports for comprehension
Over 100 high-resolution images
Videos and custom animations
Interactive globes and maps
Built in vocabulary definitions
Interactive glossary with record feature
35 leveled chapter tests across 6 chapters
Custom tests
Built in test grading
Text to speech
Integrated voice over features
Text zoom
Bookmarks for multiple readers

Requires iOS11 and above