Title: Reader Rabbit's Reading 6-9
Overall Rating: (A)
Source: Broderbund
Software Help/Support Center
Playing Time: 30 Stories and 15 learning activities
Software Release Date: 1998
Cost: $9.99 Amazon.com
Operating System:
PC and MAC
Number of Players: One player at a time
Special Equipment/Facilities Needed: This particular
software program requires a mircophone (for record and playback feature) for
the PC and a microphoneinput and mircophone (for record and playback feature)
for the MAC.
Subject Area: Reading/Language Arts
Objectives: Overall objectives: to allow children
to enjoy continuing success in reading, develop young reader's reading and thinking
skills and strategies, help children use letter-patterns, letter-sounds, and
contextual clues in decoding new words, assist young readers in recognizing
multisyllabic and compound words, further develop and expand on sight-vocabulary,
enable children to read 30 short stories independently, and continue to develop
oral reading skills, including word emphasis, voice inflection, and pacing.
Objectives of each activity is impiled in the activity title. (Found in manual).
Brief Description: The Reader Rabbit's Reading
6-9 uses slow and steady steps to help the students in their progression through
the stories and activties. Students progressively move through a series of 30
story books (each about 30 pages long) and 15 learning activities. All the stories
are persented to the child in the same manner. First the theme is introduced
by a narrator along with any new words in the story; the narrator reads a page
from the story; the child is asked to read the same page aloud and record it
on the computer. The student can then compare their reading to the narrators
reading.
Entry Capabilities Required: Students must be able
to recognize the letters and sounds they make, recognize beginning sight vocabulary,
and can read simple new words using their decoding skills and contextual clues.
Rating: (1-5)
Relevance to objectives: (5) This program does
meet it objectives by allowing students to use their thinking skills and strategiy
skills in the debriefing. It also allowes students to use letter-patterns,
letter-sounds, contextual clues in decoding new words, recognizing multisyllabic
and compound words, and increases vocabulary. It also gives the students a
wide variety of stories to read independently, develop oral reading skils
like word emphasis, voice inflection, and pacing. found in manual.
Provides practice of relevant skills: (5) In
each of the activiites a different skill is practiced. For example in the
MIT'S SOUND SORTER children focus on the beginning sound of each word. This
activity helps student with the ability to visually and auditorily connect
the sounds they hear with the written letter the see. It also makes that one
to one connection of written and heard word.
Likely to arouse/maintain interest: (4) This
program offers many different opportunities for children to explore. Their
interest is more likely to be maintained due to the self-control of each story
book and activity. However, does take some time to get through the each game.
Likely to be comprehended clearly: (5) The activities
and story books are well designed to help young students comprehened. Each
activity is self controlled by the student. Each story is introduced by the
narrator along with any new words in the story. The story can be reread or
the student can record the story on and then play it back for better clarity.
Technical quality (durable, attractive): (5)
This program uses a well balance of color to stimulate the childs learning.
The animal use makes the reading activities less threating to young children.
Game: Winning dependent on player actions (rather than
chance): (5) In this program there is
no winner or loser. This program is used to master the fundamental skills
in Reading and Language Arts for 6-9 year olds.
Simulation: Validity of game model (realistic, accurate
depiction): (5) The Reader Rabbit series
is based on an animated environment that is very close to the students real
world. For example: the animals in this program look much like a real animal,
except the Learning Company has taken images of real live animals and added
some animation to created the critters used in the program. The critters in
this program now have the ability to walk on two legs, talk, and wear clothing.
Evidence of effectiveness (e.g. field-test results):
(3) The evidence of effectiveness is based soley on a review by SuperKids
Software at (http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/reviews/reading/7/rrr69/merge.shtml)
and my own short play around time. According to SuperKids it is a "must
have-it program!" The article also states what one father says about
his daughters experience with the program. He said that his daughter loved
the the idea of clicking on a picture of an ear and listen to her own recording
of the page she read. He also stated that he was "impressed by the way
she tried to mimic the voice inflection patterns in the story." In my
own experience with the software I felt that when each new word was introduced
it wasn't just heard every once in a while it was reinforced through repetition.
I also feel that through the gradual progression of reading difficulty and
pacing a child can remain in control of their own learning. Another thing
I found interesting was that students could click on a word to hear how it
is pronounciated before they attempt to read it.
Clear directions for play: (4) This program has
a very small user guide and is not needed to begin play. Students begin by
signing in under their user name, then they must decide what book they want
to read. Once this is done they just need to go to the map and click on the
book they want to read. The one thing I feel will take some time for some
students, not all, to learn is what object to click for what activity.For
example: in order to see the map you must click on the Reader Rabbit.
Effectiveness of debriefing:
(4) The debriefing comes in the line of Think Back questions and Use Your
Imagination questions. Think Back question are aimed at a childs ability to
comprehened what was read to him or her and Use Your Imagination is aimed
at getting the child involved by having them respond to the question in a
personal or silly type way.
Sources: (The Learning Company and (http://www.superkids.com/aweb/pages/reviews/reading/7/rrr69/merge.shtml)