Blue ribbon software

Teaching Pre K-8, Apr 2001 by Gasser, Tina

EDITOR'S CHOICE

April is a time for new beginnings when we celebrate, among other special days, Earth Day. You'll love the software programs we're reviewing this month -just in time for adding a spark to your end-of-the-year curriculum!

Get a Clue

Get a Clue Junior Mastery Edition is an exciting vocabulary development program for grades 4-8 that will challenge your students' knowledge of words and increase their vocabulary power. This CD-- ROM from Lyceum Communications, uses the WATS system (Words and Their Stories) which uses inductive reasoning to guide students to a working definition of 150 target words.

The game format motivates students without taking away from the learning process. The pace is fast and students get frequent positive reinforcement with graphics and sound. Students can be introduced to the program with a diagnostic test to determine where they should begin, or students can start at number one and progress through the program.

Get a Clue has 150 words divided into five areas: roots and prefixes, mythical and historical allusions, words commonly confused, foreign words and strange and unusual words. Each area is divided into three skill levels with 10 lessons in each level. Each lesson teaches one target word and provides students with strategies for learning the target word. As students complete a lesson, the target word is recorded along with their score.

Each lesson begins with Derivation, a story about how the word came about. At the top of the screen is all the pertinent information about the target word: the word, the phonetic pronunciation with audio, the part(s) of speech. The second strategy is a series of five clues to guide students to the word meaning. Clue 1 applies information from the story. Clue 2 draws on prior knowledge. Clue 3 infers meaning from the context. Clue 4 asks them to finish an analogy. In Clue 5, they analyze content to complete a sentence. After the fifth clue, a dictionary definition is given. Bonus words provide practice with related words. Each lesson ends with a Performance report.

The online version has 50 words per level and an Online Teacher Module with a gradebook and quizzes to assign or print offline. For more information, visit www.getaclue.com or call 888-- 321-2583. The CD is $99; online is $5/user, $50 minimum.

Forests & Paper Forever

Forests & Paper Forever, by TAPPI, couldn't have come at a better time! My class had just started a unit on the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest, and this software tied in perfectly with our curriculum. The CD-ROM is an engaging, colorful program about forestry, recycling and maintaining environmental balance.

I teach second grade. Many of my students were able to use this software independently, but because of the ESL population and my low readers, I used Forests & Paper Forever with a group.

Using the virtual forest, my students were able to use this software to learn more about many of the animals that we were researching in our study of the temperate rainforest. Students could hear the sounds that animals make as well as learn what kind of habitat all of these animals live in.

One feature of the program is the educational assessment games at the end of each section. We were able to play these games as a whole class, but they would also be very appropriate for students to play on their own.

I was also able to use the pre- and post-test assessments to see how much the class had actually learned from the software and to track student progress. A glossary, Internet resources and a tutorial for writing a research paper are also included on the CD.

My class absolutely loved the movies that are incorporated into the software. They liked being able to see the animals in their habitats as well as seeing how the paper making process works (something we probably would not have had time to cover, normally). The videos kept the kids very engaged!

Forests & Paper Forever is a terrific resource to use for Earth Day. The software teaches students about the environment around them as well as showing them how we use paper resources in our environment.

For more information, call 800-291-- 3145 or visit www.tappi.org/paperu/ Mac/Win95, $14.95.

Don't forget to check out the hottest website of all: www.TeachingK-8.com

Tina Gasser

Second Grade Teacher

Mantua Elementary