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Educational: 4.7
Overall Design: 4.5
Ease of Use: 4.3
(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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Disney's Ready to Read with Pooh is a well designed introductory reading program that will help young children develop many of the foundation skills that will allow them to begin to read.
Similar in design to "Ready for Math with Pooh", "Ready to Read" is set in A.A. Milne's famous 100 acre woods with Pooh as your guide. You begin at the " Tree House" and then start off by choosing the North, East, or West Woods; each offering 3 activity areas. If you go to Pooh's house, you play "Pooh's Honey Pot" activity which asks you to place each of the lettered honey pots in correct alphabetical order on the shelf. (See right).
Each activity has 3 levels of challenge. At level 1 in "Pooh's Honey Pot", the screen will highlight each jar (letter) in alphabetical sequence to place on the shelf teaching you the basic alphabet. At level 2, you have to spot the right letter in sequence yourself, and at level 3 you put the letters on the shelf yourself in non-sequential order. (i.e. a, r, p, b etc.) With each level, the bar is raised. With each activity completed, Gopher will pop up and give you a reward that he puts in your tree house.
In "Tiggers Don't Climb Trees" you place the correct letter on the quilt (see right) hanging from the branch of the tree, to complete the spelling of simple words. In "Rabbit's Signs", you trace the missing letter in a word as a means of learning how to actually write the letters of the alphabet. (See right)
One of the activities that our kids loved the most was " Detective Tigger" where Tigger reads you a story and asks you to select and place various objects in the picture that will match with the various descriptions in the story. At the end, he asks you a question to "solve the mystery ". This activity develops both listening comprehension and problem solving skills.
The program has 9 separate activities in all, with 3 levels in each activity, and lots of story telling narration, songs and things to click and see in between. The program also has one of the most thorough (and useful) Parent Guides we have seen.
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"Both my four and five year old love this program and they actually like playing it together. We have had the program for three months and they are still using it." - Allison, mother of two boys - Alex and Stuart
"I like listening to and watching Tigger. My favourite was helping Tigger find the right answers in the story." - Andrea. age 6
"My son came running to show me how he had won a funny doorbell contraption from Eeyore. He was able to choose his own funny doorbell sounds. He really likes this program." Eric, father of Tim - age 6
With parental assistance, Ready to Read with Pooh works very well for 3 and 4 year olds. Without parental assistance at this age, the child can have lots of fun with all the "click and see" and the songs and storytelling, but may have difficulty understanding how to do the activities themselves. Most 5 and 6 year-olds will be able to navigate the program on their own and the learning value of the program set at it's highest level of difficulty can extend to 7 year olds.
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The animation, the Winnie the Pooh characters, the narration and the music are all extremely well done. Tigger and Pooh even sing the instructions to some of the activities. The program is intuitively easy to navigate for children in this age range.
The learning value of Ready to Read with Pooh touches on many of learning areas that start reading skill development in a young child. We found the progression of challenge within each activity to be the appropriate next step up in the learning process. The supportive feedback provided by Pooh was credible and encouraging to the children we have watched using the program.
If you, as a parent, are able to spend time with your child on this program, the Parent Guide is exceptionally well done. It offers all kinds of suggestions for off computer activities that extend from each of the 9 learning activity areas of the program as well as a progress tracking chart that will tell you specifically what your child has actually done and how well they are able to learn and exercise the various skills that are being taught.
If your child likes Pooh and friends, and you want to encourage the development of the basics for reading, this is a great program.
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Pricing and Online Ordering
(or call toll free -1-800-250-9229 )
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Platform: Macintosh 68040 processor System 7.1 or higher 8MB RAM, 16MB RAM disk space, 2X CD-ROM drive, 8-bit sound card.
Platform: Power Mac: 10MB disk space, 256-color video display, 2X CD-ROM drive, 8-bit sound card
Platform: Windows 3.1/95/98, IBM PC or compatible, 486/66-MHz or higher 8MB RAM, 10MB disk space, 2X CD-ROM drive, 256-color VESA, PCI, or other local bus video 8-bit sound card, Microsoft-compatible mouse
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or to see other reading programs
Clifford the Big Red Dog: Reading - ages 4-6
Clifford the Big Red Dog: Phonics - 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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