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Educational: 4.5
Overall Design: 4.8
Ease of Use: 4.5
(4.0 = good, 4.5 = very good, 5.0 = excellent)
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Reader Rabbit First Grade: Capers on Cloud Nine
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Publisher: The Learning Company
Learning Areas: Phonics, Word Building Skills, Spelling, Vocabulary Development, Identifying Patterns, Addition, Subtraction, Money, Colours, Music and Problem Solving,
Age Range: 5 - 7 Grades: 1
Minimum Reqs: Windows 95/98, 2000, ME & XP or Mac 8.6 - 9.1 & OSX
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Program Description Commentary Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program Computer Requirements
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The new (2001) Reader Rabbit 1st Grade program provides a range of early learning exercises in math, language skills and knowledge and logical thinking, all embedded in an engaging mystery story about rubber boots and umbrellas falling from the sky. As you become involved in the story, you are asked to help solve the mystery and that leads the child to playing the learning activities in order to win important articles that will help unravel the mystery.
One of the first activities is Cloud Spelling Challenge which begins by showing players words with missing sounds. There are picture clues to identify the words, and the player must select from a number of letters to complete the word. When the player points to a letter, the appropriate sound is made to help her decide if it is the one she wants. As the game progresses, fewer letters in the word are shown until finally the player must build the words from scratch.
Another good language activity is the Flowerpot Phonics which involves beginning-middle-end sounds of words. The player is given a three-letter word. He must change one or more of the letters to end up with another word. For example, the starting word might be “bag”, and the player must change to “rag” and then “rug” to match the word and picture of a rug he was given.
There are also some strong math activities in this game, some involving money, some involving addition and subtraction of objects. The money activity, which takes place in a sandwich shop (see bottom right), involves the player matching the target price for items she wishes to purchase for her sandwich. Each time the player is given a selection of coins, not always including every type, but always with enough options to solve the problem multiple ways.
Many other activities are found throughout, including a clever pattern and music activity that requires a player to place “singing marbles” in their appropriate place to recreate a scale or music pattern.
Outside of the main program, there is an area called Learning Creations which has three simple, but well designed learning type activities. Paint A Picture is a good basic art program where they can make their own pictures. Make Some Music allows a child to hit piano keys and see their musical notes being notated on the treble and bass clef on the screen . They then can click on play and hear the music they have just created played back for them. There is also a calendar type game that will help then develop their understanding of time, days of the week, the months of the year and the four seasons.
As with other Reader Rabbit programs, the software adjusts automatically to the skill level of the player, tracks their performance level in each of the activities, and if you want to skip the story line and get straight to the activities, all you have to do is hit the space bar to instantly move ahead.
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Cloud Spelling Challenge
Flowerpot Phonics
Raingear Forest Math
The Sandwich Shop
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"I sat with my daughter and watched her play this program. I was really impressed with how the story was designed to make her think about what she had to do to get to the next place in the story. She has played this program for hours on end." Lillian , mother of Nadya, age 5
" In the area where you could play the piano, I was able to show my daughter the relationship between the keys on the piano and all those dots and lines on the "music paper". This was a unique and very effective way for her to understand what music notation was all about and she had a lot of fun creating her own songs and then playing them back." Martha, mother of Abbey age 7.
" We already have the earlier version of Reader Rabbit Grade One and was curious to see if this one was as good. It is and my son now plays with both programs. " Sandra, mother of Peter, age 6.
Reader Rabbit 1st Grade is for children who have basic skills in literacy and numeracy and would benefit from practice and skill development in both these areas. It is generally intended for children who are in grade 1 but may be suitable for some who are slightly younger or older. A child who enjoys animal characterization, a good story and enjoys working towards a goal will find this program very satisfying. We also suggest that when you first get this program, that you sit down and explore the program together, so you can make sure that your child is aware of all parts of the program. (i.e. Discover that the practice mode allows you to play the program's activities without the story, or you can open up the Learning Creations separate from the core program)
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As is always the case with the Reader Rabbit Grade based programs, this program identifies specific educational goals and sticks to them. It is a good, solid educational program that does not attempt to accomplish too much. The program is simple to operate and the learning areas are good exercises in all the right areas for this age group.
The entertainment aspect of the software was clearly thought out with this program. The interactive nature of the adventure story is cleverly designed, and our testers responded very positively to this part of the experience. We also liked the Learning Creations activity area as it is a real bonus of simple but very engaging art and music activities that can be played separately from the core program
- Kevin Dempsey teaches Grades 3 and 4 in Fort Ware, British Columbia and is a Learning Village reviewer.
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Platform: Windows® 95, 98, ME, 2000 Media: CD-ROM CPU: 166 MHz Pentium® or faster, RAM: 32 MB, Hard Drive: 100 MB available, CD-ROM: 8x Speed, Sound: Soundblaster 16 or compatible, speakers (Stereo recommended) Other: Mouse, internet access, color printer
Platform: Windows® XP, CPU: 300 MHz, RAM: 128 MB RAM
Platform Mac: System 8.6-9.1, and OSX Media: CD-ROM, CPU: 180 MHz or faster, RAM: 32 MB, Hard Drive: 100 MB available, CD-ROM: 8x Speed, Sound: 16-bit Stereo Sound, Other: Mouse, internet access, color printer
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or to see other multi-subject by grade programmes
Reader Rabbit 1st Grade - ages 5-7 - 2001 Edition 
Reader Rabbit 2nd Grade - ages 6-8 - 2001 Edition
Madeline 1st and 2nd Grade - ages 5-8
The Cluefinders 3rd Grade. Adventures - ages 6-8
The Cluefinders 4th Grade Adventures - ages 8-10
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