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Educational: 5.0
Overall Design: 4.5
Ease of Use: 4.5
(4.0 = good, 4.5 = very
good, 5.0 = excellent)
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Program Description Commentary Who Is This Program For
Why We Selected This Program Computer Requirements
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Let’s Go Read 1: An Island Adventure is a reading tutorial for beginning readers. The tutorial is introduced as an adventure game in which Robbie the Raccoon must learn to read in order to understand the sign that has just been nailed to his tree. He is worried his home may be in danger so he enlists the aid Emily, the squirrel. The player’s job is to help Robbie on his quest, as Emily takes him to Letter Island.
As the player explores Letter Island with the two characters, letters of the alphabet are introduced one by one. With each encounter, Emily and Robbie lead the player through a series of games that explore letter recognition, sound recognition, and beginning sounds of words. Although the skills developed for each letter are similar, each game is unique and fun.
The initial letter encountered is "T", who wants help sorting coconuts into two groups: those marked with "T" or "t", and those marked with other letters. He then requests help selecting shells for his crab friends, and the player must distinguish the "t" sound from other letter sounds. Finally, Robbie and Emily ask for help sorting T-shirts for the crabs. These shirts have words and pictures on them, and the player must sort them based on whether or not they begin with the "t" sound.
In between letter encounters, the three adventurers must travel in their flying ship. Along the way they encounter word clouds, and the player is asked to repeat the word in the cloud. There are three simple words (for example: at, the, end) encountered on each flight, and each word is seen several times before the final challenge when all three words appear at once and the player must identify each word. This activity helps develop sight vocabulary in a simple yet entertaining manner.
After passing through the word clouds, the ship happens upon a book, which when taken aboard and read, turns out to contain many examples of words beginning with the most recent letter encountered. The books are repetitive and alliterative, and the player may read along or have the book read aloud to her or him.
At any point the player can opt to return to the ship, where many options are to be found, (including a simple "quit" function with automatic saving feature.) He or she can select any of the letter books discovered to reread again. Also the player can click on the photo of any of the letters already encountered to visit them again.
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"Letter Island"
Picking "T" shirts
Meeting the Vowel "A"
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"My daughter really enjoys this program. Her ability to use the microphone to learn to sound the letters and get a response from the program really made this engaging for her ." - Heather, mother of Cary, age 5
"This program teaches the basic phonics of letters really well and more thoroughly than I have seen in other junior reader programs. In my experience, Edmark generally do make very good programs." Lynn, teacher at the grade 1 level.
Let’s Go Read is for early or beginning readers who have little or no letter recognition or sound recognition skills and minimal sight vocabulary. It is a strong and thorough tutorial that will help reinforce these skills as they are taught in school or at home.
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Let’s Go Read 1 is a very well-developed reading tutorial that is fun and entertaining. It is an engrossing adventure game that can easily be played by young children with minimal assistance. This program covers a wide range of skills in a thorough manner, including letter recognition, sound recognition, beginning sounds, sight vocabulary, short vowel sounds, long vowel sounds, and pragmatic book skills. It also encourages the player’s vocal participation by inviting and replaying letter sounds.
There is both obvious and subtle reinforcement of the specific skills being taught. For example, when a particular letter’s sound is being explored, the characters use that sound repeatedly in their praise and encouragement.
This program also has the capability of speech recognition. Using your computer's microphone, the user can read out loud and the computer listens and responds. Voice activation lets children command the computer with their voice and "record and playback" lets children hear themselves read. Get your microphone hooked up to your computer to get the full effect and value out of this program.
The characters of Robbie and Emily play important roles, with Robbie deciding to learn to read and inviting the player to assist, and with Emily serving as an example of someone who has already achieved success. This program is not only strong in its skills development but also in the positive attitude towards reading that it promotes.
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Platform: Mac: Mac OS 7.5.6 - OS X (Classic), 68030 (25 MHz or faster recommended), 68040, or PowerPC 6 MB memory (RAM) unused, 7 MB for PowerPC 13" or larger monitor, 256 or more colors Double-speed (2X) or faster CD-ROM drive. Speech Recognition Requires: PowerPC Hard disk with 11 MB free 12 MB memory (RAM) unused High-quality microphone (included in Speech Kit)Platform: Macintosh 68040
Platform: Windows Win 95/98, Me, 2000 Pro, XP, 486/66 MHz, Pentium® or better Hard disk with 6 MB free 8 MB memory (RAM), 16 MB recommended Super VGA graphics, 640x480, 256 or more colors Double speed (2X) or faster CD-ROM drive Windows-compatible sound card. Speech Recognition Requires: Windows 95 or later 90 MHz Pentium or faster Hard disk with 21 MB free 16 MB memory (RAM) 16-bit sound card with high-quality microphone input High quality microphone (included in Speech Kit)
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or to see other reading programs
Disney Ready to Read With Pooh - ages 3-6
Clifford the Big Red Dog: Reading - ages 4-6
Clifford the Big Red Dog: Phonics - 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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