New SigningTime DVD-Rachel and the Treeschoolers!

[Kerileanne99]

Oh, wow! I am really excited about this!
Rachel Coleman now has a preschool DVD out to teach, and of course incorporating ASL and all the fun elements of ST.
Here is a link to watch a clip:
http://www.signingtime.com/treeschoolers/?utm_source=Signing+Time+News&utm_campaign=d0816aa5a0-newsletter_oct_2012&utm_medium=email&mc_cid=d0816aa5a0&mc_eid=a31eec05fd

[danyellalee]

Have you ordered or watched this?  My daughter loved the Baby Signing Time and Signing Time series...they've helped her immensely.  She has Down syndrome, and *loves* music.  Those series really caught her interest and at 3yrs old she knew over 200-250 signs (more that we did! :-)

She's five now, and I would love to broaden her learning experiences with this new Treeschoolers series, if they have a similar appeal as the other series did.

[A_BC]

Thx Keri for sharing, My DS is a big fan of ST, PT and BST. I am sure this will be a big hit for him! I especially like the themes of this DVD : "This episode teaches weather concepts, problem solving, rhyming, sign language, classification, storytelling, persistence, kindness, and courage." I hope Rachel will come out with more DVDs like this.

[Kerileanne99]

Sorry I am just now reading this...
Just to be fair in my evaluation, I just watched the entire video by myself, after Alex had gone to sleep...

Let me just say that Alex BEGS for ST in our house. We routinely use ASL, even sign along at reading time, and she is using ASL as a bridge to learning other languages. She thinks of Alex, Leah, Rachel, and Hopkins as her close friends....

...I ordered the Treeschoolers DVD the day I received the introductory email with great anticipation. It arrived very quickly, with great fanfare for Alex. She opened the package herself, and even started it playing...but it wasn't long until she was screaming and crying for me to turn it off! She won't even watch it and becomes very agitated if I suggest it:(

SO! Thinking that something simple had scared her (maybe the thunder?) I endeavored to watch it the first time...And was IMMEDIATELY disappointed.  This is NOT a video that teaches signing! In fact, I am hard-pressed to say how non-hearing or HOH preschoolers could use it at all! It does has the option to turn on subtitles, but other than very specific audiences (such as BrillKids ), the preschoolers the video is targeted for would be unable to read it! I at the very least expected a small window with Rachel translating!
There is SO incredibly less signing that I feel duped into purchasing it under the Two Little Hands label >

Also, the 'science' behind it is extremely minimal at best, and very disappointing, if not incorrect!  They sing a whole song defining clouds as 'tiny, tiny, tiny bits of ice.' Thunder is 'just the sound lightening makes.'

Absolutely ZERO new signs if you have ST videos, and Rachel does not even sign along with the songs.  Also, WAY too cartoony, nothing like ST in my opinion.

I think my nearly three-year-old summed it up when they showed a bright purple cloud showing rain, trying to define a 'cloud'--Alex said "is that supposed to be a cumulonimbus cloud, mommy?"

Sorry, but I HATE it and cannot in good conscience even relate it to the ST, BST, even PT videos! Is is a completely separate, (substandard!) product, with very, very little to do with ASL.

Sorry to disappoint! Of course, only my opinion, but you might wait to read other views before purchasing...I wish I had!

[TheyCan]

Thank you so much for your review!!

[A_BC]

Thx Keri for the review, I was about ordering it even though DS already knows those signs. I was actually hoping for a more substantial content explaining the why and how of the weather in addition to some good manners. Oh well, DS still enjoys reviewing his good old ST videos, so we'll stick to those for the moment.

[danyellalee]

Thanks very much for the review!  The signing and singing are what my daughter loves best, and it sounds like we'll stick with the other series for now. 

I wonder if you're able to give this review to the Two Little Hands company?  It would be a shame for them to bring out more products like this one under that label if they are so far off of what most ST fans will be expecting.

[Krista G]

The way I understand it is that there are so many children that love Rachel that they decided to branch out and create this new series to teach preschool age children other things.  I wonder how it will be received.  It was interesting to read your review Keri.

[nickiv_123]

I love it and can't wait for more... It's not supposed to be an instructional sign language related video (although they mildly incorporate it). They already have well over 30 signing videos. However, I do agree they should be more accessable for a Deaf/HH audiance, preschool-aged kids particularly.

[Korrale4kq]

I highly appreciate your review Keri. I too thought that the program was going to be signing intensive.

[MarthaT]

Great review!

[seastar]

My daughter LOVES this DVD. We watched it for the first time today and she was ecstatic throughout with a look of pure joy on her face! It probaby helped that she has recently developed an interest in weather and is hoping for snow every day. (She was convinced it would snow on November 1st & she cried bitter tears a number of times during the day when it didn't)

While I agree that it is too cartoony & not enough signs, there is enough in it for me to recommend it as an educational DVD.

[Eliana]

After graduating from the Signing Time series, my family has enjoyed the first three Rachel and the Treeschoolers DVDs. We are anxiously awaiting delivery of the next 3 episodes. There is a Kickstarter campaign open to fund episodes 7-9. I thought I'd post the link here in case there are other families who might like to support it.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/twolittlehands/rachel-and-the-treeschoolers-three-brand-new-episo

I'm one of those who wishes there was more signing in these videos, but there is a lot of other educational content and music that make them worth watching, in my opinion.

[CedarMom]

We LOVE these 3 videos! 

1.  While they are more of a regular preschool program than a signing show, they were perfect for my kids who had not learnt signing.  The videos were fun, beautiful, and the songs were fantastic and totally captivated my two boys. 

2. While they might not be advanced enough for some of the children in this forum, they are a step or two ahead for "typical" preschoolers and introduced new topics in an easy and interesting way.  We are new to early learning, my boys loved these videos, they got my kids really interested.  I highly recommend and support these shows, they are a million times better than most regular programming for kids!   

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