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Power up your child's skills for school
By JEANNE ROGERS Before you buy educational software for your children, you should ask yourself some questions. Is it beneficial to the child, or is it meant strictly as entertainment? Will it challenge the youngster? Does it teach a new skill or reinforce previously learned skills? Will it hold the user's interest? Will it be used only once or twice, or will it keep the kids interested for months or years? You want software that provides computer quality time for your child, and you should keep in mind age level, technical aspects of the program, educational value and repeat play. To help in those decisions, parents may want to check out reviews. Several online software review sites are available. Most provide a buyer's guide, rating scale and description of the software. -- Super Kids (www.superkids.com) offers a title index, a bestseller list and a price survey. The software reviews include installation information, kid appeal and educational value. The search by subject is a time saver. -- Kids Domain (www.kidsdomain.com/review/kdr.html) reviewers include technical aspects of the product and offer a summary of key features. Software reviews are indexed by title, subject and age group. -- LearningWare Review (learningwarereviews.com) offers reviews by topic. It uses a scale from 1 (worst) to 5 (best) to rate the programs. The site includes links for software companies, such as Disney, Riverdeep, Edmark and Children's Software Online. Here are some options for kids of various ages: Colors, Shapes & More
This Flash Action Software provides your preschooler an opportunity to learn numbers, colors, shapes and word meaning. Designed for ages 3 to 6, this software uses repetition of sight and sound to introduce basic readiness skills in four activities: Mix & Match Music, 12 Nimble Numbers, Shape Stackup and Super Sandbox. Bright colors, music and animated characters make this fun. Your child will definitely benefit from the mouse practice that is needed for play. Following spoken directions, your child will click, drag and drop bugs, shapes, toys and so on while playing 12 Nimble Numbers. Words used in the four activities include above, below, longest and tallest. Youngsters will at first find the program interesting. Several prekindergarten and kindergarten students who used the program thought that it was fun and that they would love to play it again. However, even a 4-year-old immediately identified the repetition, saying, "There's that lady again." Be prepared for the children to ask, "What did she say?" The listening required for the activities is a skill not yet developed in preschoolers, even with the directions repeated. Kids' attention spans would not allow using Colors, Shapes & More for more than 10 minutes at a time. It's affordable and succeeds as an alternative to flash cards. Huggly's Sleepover
This thinking adventure will provide your preschooler with creative computer time. Huggly and his playful monster friends need help preparing for their annual sleepover party. That's where you come in. Enter Huggly's house and you will find a bedroom, kitchen, library, bathroom, backyard, basement and rumpus room. At each location you are given a task to complete. As you move through the house you will be told what to do. There are decisions to make, activities to play and items to locate. The create-a-story activity uses a combination of pictures and words, which is a good vocabulary builder. Highlighting the text helps prepare a preschooler for the left-to-right movement needed when reading. (But the movement is right to left when prompts are given to the child to print the story, read it again or create a new story.) The make-a-poster activity provides an opportunity to be creative, and just wait until you see your child's work of art hanging on the wall. Each room of the house has something of interest to a child. The music, color and animation will entertain. There is a bit too much dialogue, causing long moments of inactivity for the player. The accompanying booklet gives adequate directions for installation, which is a snap, and a brief description of each room and activity. Kidspiration
Kidspiration will help children in kindergarten through third grade organize their thoughts by creating pictures of their ideas. "I don't know what to write about" is a common phrase heard in classrooms. Kidspiration allows the user to make "mind maps" or "webs" to brainstorm ideas. This is a crucial step in the writing process. In Picture View, kids have access to more than 1,200 symbols. They will be able to group objects and rearrange them as they organize their thoughts. Used as a prewriting activity, Kidspiration will help children visualize what they want to write about. Kids are able to make a connection to the written word through the Writing View. Here kids write sentences about their map or web. There is an audio player as well, where kids can hear what was written, or they may read and record it for themselves. Graphic organizers, webbing and cluster options are included, making it usable for several years. No doubt Kidspiration will aid in building thinking skills and improving organization skills. Although marketed for Grades K-3, it is probably good for all elementary levels. Inspiration 7
Inspiration 7, designed for the older student all the way into the college years, is a more powerful organizational tool than Kidspiration. Two main views -- the Diagram View and the Outline View -- allow the student to work with ideas in a clear, concise, organized manner. There are several types of diagrams to create using Inspiration 7. You could be planning a book report, making a to-do list for work around the house or preparing information for a term paper. Choose the diagram to work with based on your outcome. There's the concept map, idea map, web and storyboard. Make the transition to outlines with the click of the mouse. Create study notes for chapter tests. Prepare a course outline for college. Plan your summer vacation. The Getting Started manual explains the software design and includes a tutorial. The directions are easy to follow. The Template Guide includes more than 40 templates with precise directions and benefits. This software is user-friendly and one that won't collect dust. Mathville VIP
Mathville VIP is designed to be an extension of classroom learning for middle school students. Critical thinking and problem solving are needed to complete tasks in this virtual village. The software opens on Main Street. As you click your way through town, you earn credit and stars. Success is measured by the way you handle the basic needs: food, clothing and housing. Kids will appreciate the challenges as they wander through Mathville VIP. You start out with 0 credits, 0 stars, 10 points each for food, clothing and housing. You need to get a job to earn credits. Stars are earned when you complete a math activity at the Hobby Shop and Sports Hall. Be careful. Every time you enter a building, points will decrease for food, clothing and housing. So spend time earning credits and solve the math problems to stay in the game. Applied math skills include number concepts, geometry, measurement and probability. Middle school students will find this software interesting and challenging. Spatial sense, graphing and mental math are brought into the program in such a way that you forget you are using mathematics. The software is available from www.mathville.com. Spell Way
Spell Way will help you practice while having fun. Ten activities aimed at middle schoolers provide challenge and edutainment. Play the Millionaire game. The practice round provides a chance to spell six words correctly. Type in the word that's spoken as you climb to $1-million. There are five helping hands to assist, such as using the word in a sentence. But be careful. Once used, words can't be used again in the same game. Compound Concentration, word ending and homophone games will provide plenty of practice. You can customize the word pool to your child's needs. More than 400 audio files are available, as well as directions to create additional audio files. "Record your words as a record of achievement" encourages the use of a spelling journal. Middle school students will see a connection to the frequently used word wall in elementary school. Spell Way was beta tested at Sexton Elementary School in St. Petersburg, where Laura Woods and her school gave it high marks. It is available at www.wordville.com. - Jeanne Rogers is the technology specialist at Deer Park Elementary School in New Port Richey.
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From Tech Times
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