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Clifford Phonics
(Early Reading)
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Publisher: Scholastic
Learning Areas: Letter recognition, beginning letter sounds, rhyming words, three-sound words, picture/word matching, silent ‘E’ rule.
Age Range: 4 - 6 Grades: K - 2
System Reqs: Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP Mac OS 7, 8, 9,OS X Classic Mode(see below for detail)
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Program Description Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program Computer Requirements
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Clifford Phonics is an early reading program designed around one of children’s favourite characters, Clifford the Big Red Dog.
The story behind this game is that Clifford and his friends are going to help out at the Wordy Word Carnival (Click here). The main attraction of the carnival (and the goal for the player) is the float parade. The player must go to the different booths and play a variety of phonics-based games to earn prizes, which they can use to decorate their floats. Upon completing at least one level in each game in the carnival, the player can send their float out into the parade and watch the grand celebration.
There are 12 different booths to visit, each one contains something fun for the player. Many of the booth activities involve letter recognition and letter sound recognition. The High Dive (Click here) booth requires the player to help fill a tub with water so the diver can use it. In order to do this, the player is given a letter and a series of buckets with pictures on them. By choosing the picture that begins with the letter, the player will fill part of the tub. The game gets more difficult as it progresses. To start, the player is given the letter sound, but later they are only given the letter name. They must determine its sound on their own. There are audio clues if the player moves the pointer over a picture or the letter.
Another good activity with an increasing level of difficulty is the Word Match (Click here). In this activity, the player must connect all the hoses on the balloon machine in order to fill each balloon for the float. To do this, she must match words on either side of the machine. Initially, there are three words on one side accompanied by a picture (ex: mop, car, fan), and the same word/picture choices on the other, so matching is quite simple. At the next level, there are no pictures, but there are three words on one side and four on the other, so matching is more difficult. At the final stage, there are 3 words on one side and four pictures on the other, so matching requires more effort. For players who cannot manage to read the words, placing the pointer over any word or picture prompts an audio clue.
There are numerous other activities that have similar gradations of difficulty. Also, there are some fun activities that provide more passive learning opportunities. One example is the word ball booth. The player clicks on a ball, and it turns into a letter and forms part of a word. After clicking on three balls, a three-letter word is formed, and the word is read for the player. This activity is a fun distraction that requires no work from the player, but it does carefully model the act of sounding out words.
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Click Images To Enlarge
Going To The Wordy World Carnival
Starting Letter Recognition at "High Dive"
Starting Level at "Word Match"
"Silly Stories" Reading Game
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This program is for any early reader (4 – 6) who enjoys a fun game and can use some tutoring on letter recognition, letter sounds, rhyming sounds, and sounding out words. Its changing level of difficulty means that it remains challenging for slightly stronger readers.
The Clifford series of educational software has been consistently good over the years, and Clifford Phonics is no exception. The presentation is fun, thoughtful, and positive. The individual activities are carefully thought out so that they meet specific educational requirements.
The program, as a whole, covers a variety of skills, without trying to address too many learning areas. There is a tangible goal (creating a float and joining in the parade.) Each activity has several levels of difficulty, but in order to attain the final goal, the player must only complete one level in each activity. In this way the program allows success for less skilled readers while still providing challenges to somewhat stronger readers.Also worth mentioning is that there are 10 different games & each time you return to a specific game, the exercise is different. We observed with our testers that they enjoyed playing the program repeatedly even though they had already "won the game" once. Overall, Clifford Phonics is a very strong contemporary program.
Reviewed by Kevin Dempsey who teaches English & Art grades 4 - 9
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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PC: Windows 98, Me, 2000, XP, Pentium 90 or higher, 16MB Ram, 4X CD-ROM, 8-bit sound card, 256 colour 640x480/SVGA monitor, 35 MB free hard drive space.
Macintosh: Power Mac, 7, 8, 9,OS X Classic Mode, 16 MB RAM, 4X CD-ROM, 640 X 480 display with 256 colours, 13" monitor, 35 MB free hard drive space, 4X CD-ROM,
or to see other reading programs
Disney Ready to Read With Pooh - ages 3-6
Clifford the Big Red Dog: Reading - ages 4-6
Let's Go Read 1: An Island Adventure - ages 4-6
Ariel's Story Studio - ages 5-9
Carmen Sandiego Word Detective - ages 8-14
Robinson Crusoe - ages 8 -16
Language Trek Grades 5 & 6 - ages 10 -12
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