Reader Rabbit's Reading

In this Reader Rabbit's Reading series, Reader Rabbit and Sam are in search of their imagination. The student accompanies Reader Rabbit and Sam through fifteen reading lands where they will find literacy activities that strengthen their reading, writing, listening, and speaking skills. Students will participate in activities such as sound identification, syllabication, and sentence completion. In each land, the student will also find two books for a total of thirty books that they will read. With each book there is a record and playback feature which allows the student to record their thoughts about what they have read.

Younger students will enjoy this program immensely. The content is age appropriate and is geared towards children between the ages of six and nine. There are three levels of play that can be chosen from therefore addressing each child's specific need. A map shows the progress of the student and can be adjusted so that the student can either journey in order or randomly choose where to go. The latter feature is a benefit to those students who may need additional help in one specific area.

As with other Reader Rabbit Reading software, this program works well with a school's literacy curriculum. Skills learned in this program parallel those learned in the classroom and would make a perfect fit either in the classroom or at home.

Clue Finders Mystery of the Monkey Kingdom

In Mystery of the Monkey Kingdom, the user must accompany the Clue Finders - Joni, Leslie, Santiago, and Owen - as they try to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Joni's Uncle Horace. As the Clue Finders and the user journey through the rainforest in search of Uncle Horace, they face many challenging math problems. As each problem is solved, special items are collected that will help solve future puzzles. There are eight activities that must be complete before Uncle Horace can be found. Throughout their adventure the user will build their mathematical knowledge in deductive reasoning, sequencing, decimals, word problems, factors, money, perimeter, patterns, sequencing, and estimation.

This program is geared towards children between the ages of seven to nine and up. There are four different levels of play which are automatically adjusted to suit each child's individual needs. The levels range from simple to more complex. Level One is rated for students who are in the first month of third grade, Level Two for students in the middle of third grade, Level Three for students at the end of third grade, and Challenge Level which is for students who are in the first three months of fourth grade. With each activity, the user can choose to change the difficulty level. A Progress Report is available which displays the percentage correct and the number of tries and correct answers. Students who don't feel comfortable jumping right into the program or who may need more time concentrating on certain skills may play the game in practice mode.

Included in the program is a Users Manual which explains the game and gives information on troubleshooting and tech support. The game is very easy to navigate and help is available throughout the entire adventure.

Students who love mysteries and adventure, as well as math, will enjoy this program immensely. This program would make a nice addition to a classroom library.

Reader Rabbit Personalized Math

Reader Rabbit Personalized Math is geared for students between the ages of six and nine. In this program, the student must help Reader Rabbit and Sam escape Pirate Island. In order to do so, they must complete various math activities. Every time the student answers a problem correctly, Reader Rabbit is one step closer to finishing the completion of his boat in order to escape.

Students will venture through Pirate Island while playing games. The math activities are arcade style games which will keep the student engaged for long periods of time. Students will build their knowledge of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, shapes, time, and money and learn how they can be applied to real-life problems. In the game Monkey Pizza, students learn about fractions as they make pizza with toppings that cover a certain portion of the pizza. Banana Peels has students learn place value and multiplication skills. In Hidden Treasure, students must count money in order to find the treasure. These are just a few of the action packed math games that students will play as they help Reader Rabbit and Sam escape Pirate Island.

This is an excellent program for younger students who are at the beginning stages of learning math concepts. The program has a practice mode for students who are younger and newer to math. This mode allows the student to pick and choose the various games that they can repeatedly play which will help build skills in certain areas. Also, the program is very easy to navigate through and I cannot foresee younger students having any problems. Lastly, the graphics and the characters add to the overall appeal of this software.

This program is a must have for parents and teachers of younger children.

Liberty's Kids

Liberty's Kids is an interactive adventure aimed for children between the ages of eight and twelve with the goal of learning all about the American Revolution. The objective of the program is to have students develop an understanding of how our nation came to be.

To begin their adventure, the user starts out at their home base, the Print Shop, which is home to Ben Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette. Ben's assistant, Moses, is in charge while Ben is away and here the user will team up with two of the Gazette's journalists, Sarah and John, and set out to gather information about the American Revolution. The user chooses from one of seven major events to begin their adventure. The seven events are the Boston Tea Party, Battles of Lexington and Concord, Declaration of Independence, Crossing the Delaware/Victory at Trenton, Surrender at Saratoga, Winter at Valley Forge, and the Victory at Yorktown. The user must collect information on all seven events. In order to do so, the user must interview characters using who, what, where, when, and why questions. The information is gathered in a notebook along with a sketch of the person who is being interviewed. Some characters may require an object be given to them before they will give out any information. Therefore, as the user ventures on, they must pick up objects along the way. Once they have completed their interviews, they return to the Print Shop where they can edit, then publish their articles.

Additional features that are worth mentioning are the Users Guide complete with troubleshooting and tech support information. Also, the user has the choice of playing the game in practice mode which allows them access to any of the events in any order. Lastly, there are over twenty printables that students will enjoy including crossword puzzles, seek and finds, mazes, word scrambles, and codes.

This program is very entertaining and gives an excellent overview of the major events of the American Revolution. Besides learning about this important event in U.S. history, students will strengthen their listening and observation skills, as well as their ability to compose reports and articles. In addition, they will become better acquainted with the five W's, and most importantly, they will learn the importance of separating fact from fiction. This software will definitely appeal to the history buff and will nicely enhance either a school or a home library.

Hollywood High

Hollywood High is a program that is geared towards high school students and it allows them to be the creators of their own animated movies. With Hollywood High, the student is the writer, producer, and director.

The student has over thirty different settings to choose from such as a locker room scene, a classroom scene, a living room scene, or a gymnasium scene. There are twelve characters, or actors, to choose from. The student chooses for the character their role, their hobby and their voice. The character can be positioned in a scene and can be manually moved around or given directions such as exit stage left. The mood of the character can be changed, such as choosing angry, which changes their expression.

The dialogue is written the same as a screenplay. The characters name is typed, the action is put in paranthesis, followed by what they are to say. A narrator must also be included to help with the transition of scenes and to let the viewer know what is taking place. The program includes a preview and edit component which allows the student to make revisions either during or after the completion of their movie.

The program is very easy to navigate. Additional features include a pronunciation dictionary which allows the student to phonetically type in a word so that the character does not mispronounce the word. Also included in the program is an ideas machine which helps student overcome writers block and come up with original ideas.

This program is a lot of fun to work with. I feel that both English teachers and drama teachers will find it to be an an excellent supplement to teaching the elements of a story such as setting, character, plot, theme, and climax, as well as basic screenwriting.

Timeline Maker 2.1

Timeline Maker 2.1 allows the user to easily create timelines that document chronological data such as world events and biographies. The program can also be used to create personal timelines such as genealogies or health records.

The user has the choice of viewing their timeline in either a timeline chart, a chronology view, or an event entry view. Each timeline can be customized by changing the background color, changing the font, adding clipart, expanding or compressing the timescales, and choosing to show or hide certain events. The user also has the option of importing events from either .txt files or .hst files from the previous version which are converted so they are compatible with the current version.

When complete, the user has the option to publish their timeline either as a html or graphic document. This enables the user to include their timeline in web page or report documents. The user also has the option of printing their timeline as large wall charts or as a banner.

Timeline Maker 2.1 is a product of Progeny Software, Inc. and is compatible with Win 98/NT/2000/ME/XP. The cost is $29.95 and educational site licensing is available.

Storybook Weaver Deluxe

Storybook Weaver Deluxe is an educational software program that encourages students to partake in the writing process. With this program, students create their own stories with the added benefit of adding scenes, characters, pictures, colors, and sound.

To begin a story, students start at the Title page where they can add the title and their name as the author to their story. Here, they can also select a border, change their font, and add music. When complete, they then proceed to the Story page. Here they can select their border, objects to include in their story, colors, sound, and music. A paint program is also included in the program which students can use to enhance their story pages. If a student is having a hard time beginning their story, they can choose the story starter option and choose a story beginning. This will appeal to those students who are less motivated to write or for those who feel they are not good at the writing process. Once the students have completed their story they have the option of printing it. The program has a text to speech feature which allows the student to have the computer read their story back to them.

This program was very easy to navigate. On each page there are four buttons - next page, previous page, stop, and trash. The graphics were easy to insert as well as the sound options. The program also comes with an editing option that students can use either during the creation process or after completion of their story. In addition, students will find the built-in thesauraus and spell checker very helpful during the editing and proofreading stage.

This program is geared towards students ages eight and up. I do feel that younger students will enjoy the program, but may require more assistance. In any case, I strongly feel that students will enjoy using this program and at the same time they will be strengthening their writing skills.

Imagination Express Destination: Neighborhood

Imagination Express Destination: Neighborhood is educational software that enables the user to create an e-book. The software encourages students to write about real or imagined adventures that take place in a neighborhood setting. With this program, student select a scene and have the choice of adding animated stickers, music, sound effects, narration, and artwork to their creation. One appeal of the software is that the characters and scenes are realistic which students can relate to. When complete, students have the choice of either printing their e-book in black and white or color, or they can choose to play their book back on the screen. The e-books can be saved and viewed at a later time. In addition, if the student decides they would like to revise their e-book, they made choose the edit feature that in incorporated into the program.

There are additional features that I feel enhances the desirablity of the software. First, if the student is having a hard time starting their story, a story ideas option is available to them. This helps students overcome writers block or it can help encourage a student who may shy away from the writing process. Next, included in the software is an option called Dear Parents. Here parents of students can view the software designer, Donna Stranger, share her thoughts on topics such as the writing process, nurturing a child's imagination, and the connection between reading and writing. Lastly, included in the software is a complete users manual which walks the user through the entire program. I highly suggest that the user first read the manual to learn what the different buttons on the viewing screen are.

Imagination Express Destination: Neighborhood is an excellent program for strenghtening creativity, expanding vocabulary, further developing writing skills, and learning about story development. In addition, I feel that learners of different ages, abilitites and development will both benefit and enjoy this program.

This program is available for purchase on-line and the cost is around $9.95. It is compatible with Win/Win95/Win98.

Animated Beginning Phonics

Animated Beginning Phonics is educational software created by Flix Productions and is geared towards beginning readers in the grade range of Pre-K to 2nd grade. It is available for Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, ME and XP. A thirty day trial period is offered through www.tucows.com and if you choose to purchase the product it costs $22.00.

Parents and teachers will find this software beneficial to the beginning reader. The program gives the user five selections to choose from. They are: upper/lower case letters, beginning sounds, ending sounds, middle short vowel sounds, and beginning reading words. The upper/lower case option has the user matching an upper case letter to its lower case letter. The beginning sounds, ending sounds, and middle short vowel sounds gives the user a set of six pictures and they must match either the beginning, middle or ending sound to its respective picture. Lastly, choosing the beginning reading words option has the user matching the word to one of six pictures. Each task has a directions button, help button, and a quit button. The software also has sound and with every task verbal directions are given.

In addition to the tasks, there is a game room available. The game room can be controlled by either a teacher or a parent and can be set up so that the user can access it only after answering a certain number of questions. If you chose not to control the game room, then the user can access it after completing two tasks. Inside the game room the user has the choice of playing one of two games. The first is an animated puzzle in which a puzzle is scrambled and the user must unscramble it. The user has the choice of either a twelve piece puzzle or a twenty-four piece puzzle. The second game is a matching game in which the user must rely on their memory to find the matching pieces. The user has the choice of either six, twelve, or twenty pairs of matching pieces. Each game has a solve button, a hint button, or an exit button.

I found this software to be extremely user friendly considering the age it is geared towards. The only downfall to this software that I found with the animated puzzles in the game area. I feel the twenty-four piece puzzle might be a little challenging for younger children. Other than that, I feel the software is very well done and will nicely complement either an in-class literacy program or an at home educational software library.

FlashCard Magic

I downloaded this software from www.tucows.com and have been quite pleased with it. The software is put out by the company Caviar Software, Inc. and offers a thirty day free trial. After that, if you choose to purchase the software, the cost is $19.95.

On the initial screen, the user is given the choice of starting a new game or learning how to play. I chose to learn how to play since it was my first time. Here you have the option of either downloading a video on how to play or selecting online help. I chose online help and here you are given the complete instructions on how to play. I highly recommend choosing one of these two options instead of jumping right in because there are many important aspects of the software that you will not want to miss.

Once learning how to play, I began a new game. Here I was given the option of one of two game modes - automatic or manual. If you choose automatic, your progress is automatically monitored and level of play adjusted by FlashCard Magic Adaptive Learning Technologies. So as your math skills increase, your math level is adjusted. If you choose the manual mode, then you can select the level of play. This is beneficial to parents who are monitoring their childs progress because it allows them control over the type of game that is being played. After selecting a mode, you begin with a placement test which tests your proficiency and places you where you need the most help. After the placement test, you can either choose to play in practice mode or test mode. You are not allowed to self-correct in the placement test mode, however you are allowed to self-correct in either the practice mode or the test mode.

The game view has your flashcards, statistics, time to beat, time remaining, elapsed time, and hide time. Your statistics show your stats for the current game, cards remaining and total number of cards you began with. It also shows your score by using three colored bar graphs - red, white and green. These show whether failing, between failing and passing, and above passing. Time to beat is the time you must finish by in order to advance to the next level. Time remaining and time elapsed are pretty self-explanatory. Hiding the time is an option if timing might cause any unnecessary anxiety. Once the game is complete, you have the option of quitting, starting a new game, reviewing your report card, or reviewing your progress chart. The report card view allows you to view a list of games played along with the date, problem set chosen, number of cards, number of attempts, number of incorrect answers, time to beat, elapsed time, game mode/type, and score. The progress chart shows your progress to date and the chart is automatically updated after each game. Both the report card and the progress chart can be printed. This is beneficial to both teachers and parents.

I highly recommend this software either in the home or in the school. It is a great supplement to any curriculum that teaches basic math skills.

Civil War: The Game

I picked this game up at a local store for $9.99 because of my interest in the Civil War and because it was put out by the History Channel. I can honestly say that I felt a little disappointed with the product. In my opinion, there is only one section of this software that I feel would be both appropriate and beneficial in the classroom.

The user initially is taken to a screen that gives several options. I am only going to write about two that I feel are worth mentioning. The first option is to play the game. The game basically consists of the user choosing whether they want to play against the computer, another person, or another person online. They also choose the level of difficulty. From there, the user chooses how they want to set up their game - Union or Confederate, how many units to start with, how much money, map borders, and whether they want the game to be north versus south or free for all. Now this is where I found it confusing. Once the settings are chosen, the user is taken to a screen of a map and they must strategically place their units in various locations. Here I found it hard to move my units. In addition, there is no help button, so in order to find out how to proceed, you have to back out of the game and go to the instructions on the main screen. I found this very frustrating. Once your units are chosen, you then go into battle. You have to move your troops around in order to shoot the enemy without being shot at. I felt that this was a little too violent for the classroom. In their defense, the game is rated T for Teen and has a notation that it contains violence. After awhile of shooting the enemy and moving units, the game became very boring and I quit.

The one option on the main screen that I do feel would nicely complement a unit on the Civil War is the reference option. Here the user is taken to reference section on the Civil Ware that includes documents such as the Constitution, the Gettysburg Address and Lincolns Last Public Address. The reference section also includes a timeline of events, as well as a section of authentic photographs of many aspects of the war such as military camps, hospitals, prisoners, Bull Run, portraits and forts.

Overall, with the exception of the reference section, there is very little one would learn about the Civil War with this software. However, if war games are your forte, then go for it.

My Amazing Human Body

My Amazing Human Body is interactive software that teaches all about the human body. There are four options the user can choose from. First, there is Build Me a Body in which the user has to build a body like the narrator, Seymour Skin the skeleton, and can only do so by correctly answering questions about the body. Next, there is Take Me Apart, in which the user has to put the parts of the body in the right place. Users will find this fun because it is a timed challenge. Next, there is What Am I Made Of which gives the user a closer look at the body and allows them to learn about bones and organs. This was fun to play with because there are options that simulate how the organs work, show how large they are by measuring them, or give the user an idea of what they would look like on an xray. Lastly, there is Me and My Day. This challenges the user to help Seymour get through his day without getting too tired, hungry, or thirsty. To win this challenge, the user must choose various activities for Seymour to do without over doing it.

This software is extremely informative and very fun to play with. Users from ages six on up to adult will benefit from this software. This is a must have for your educational software library.