Home PublicationsL&LIssuesVolume 27 (1999-2000) September (No. 1)

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Programs mentioned in this column have not been reviewed by the International Society for Technology in Education; their appearance here does not constitute an endorsement by  Learning & Leading with Technology  or ISTE.

FrippleTown

FrippleTown is designed to complement Thinkin’ Things Collection 1 to provide a well-rounded collection of necessary higher-order thinking activities for students. I always look for that part of an Edmark product that allows for freedom of expression combined with the development of a thinking skill that transcends the targeted age group. This time my satisfaction came when I explored Skate Park where students can discover interesting number theory facts intuitively through the designs created by Flo’s artistic skating. The school version for two computers costs $59.95, and a lab pack for six costs $159.95. Edmark, PO Box 97021, Redmond, WA 98073-9721; 800.426.0856 or 425.556.8400; www.edmark.com

JumpStart Reading for Second Grade
JumpStart Math for Kindergartners

The JumpStart series has been popular, but often difficult to fit into the curriculum. The two newest titles are more specific, and it is easier to identify exactly which learning objectives can be addressed in the classroom. JumpStart Reading for Second Graders covers parts of speech, vocabulary, and sentences with nine skill-building activities and several difficulty levels. JumpStart Math for Kindergartners covers counting, sorting, and writing numbers; worksheet pages can be printed. Both CD-ROMs are Macintosh/Windows hybrids. The price is approximately $43.00 for teacher editions, which include teacher support materials. Lab packs of five are priced at approximately $117.00. Knowledge Adventure, 19840 Pioneer Ave., Torrance, CA 90503; 800.545.7677 or 310.793.0600; www.knowledgeadventure.com

Kid Pix Activity Kits Volume 1

Craig Hickman’s Kid Pix has been a huge success in the classroom. Kid Pix Activity Kits Volume 1 has been recently published by Brøderbund (now a property of The Learning Company). The four science thematic units are Creepy Crawlies, Rocks and Soil, Seasons, and Weather. The printed materials from Teacher Created Materials are more than an inch thick and well designed. These interesting and extensive science activities are for primary (Grades K–3) students. The hybrid Macintosh/Windows CD-ROM contains a version of Kid Pix, all the files for the four science chapters, and four “Learn How!” tutorials. The four tutorials cover how to use the activities, Kid Pix drawing tools, Kid Pix text features, and slideshow. So, in addition to meeting a need for primary science materials, this package is excellent for conducting school or district workshops. The cost for each Kid Pix Activity Kit is $69.95 through your authorized education reseller. Brøderbund, a division of The Learning Company; 800.685.6322; www.broderbund.com

Month by Month

Speaking of thematic units and materials useful for workshops, examine Month By Month for KidWorks Deluxe. The outrageously thick binder is full of activities and teacher materials organized into 12 months. The Macintosh/Windows 95/98 hybrid CD-ROM contains files and activities to be used with KidWorks Deluxe. Each month has a vocabulary list, calendar, interesting events, and classroom lessons. The binder is full of ideas and useful blackline masters. Knowledge Adventure, 19840 Pioneer Ave., Torrance, CA 90503; 800.545.7677 or 310.793.0600; www.knowledgeadventure.com

Writing Trek

Sunburst has released Writing Trek, a program based on the belief that how professional and academic writers conceive, organize, draft, revise, and present their work should be at the core of language arts writing programs. For example, students in Grades 6–8 (Ages 11–14) learn about creating a lead story for a newspaper with advice from a current editor-in-chief.

The 12 treks are found in six houses: Poetry Corner, Design Studio, Story Place, News Center, Research Hall, and The Theatre. Each activity begins with an exploration of concepts. Two of the projects include Historical Fiction and Creating a Screenplay: Literary Adaptation. Students can click on the backpack and practice skills on paragraphs, punctuation, sentences, spelling, and vocabulary. Five resources are built into the package: an almanac, a lexicon, a rhyming dictionary, a thesaurus, and a writer’s handbook. The Writing Trek Web site (www. writingtrek.com) provides additional materials for each project as well as a chance to post and view students’ work. Packages are available for Grades 4–6 and 8–10 also. If you are looking for stimulating writing projects for your students that come with extensive support, then examine Writing Trek. The single unit price is currently the same as a lab pack of five: $89.95. Sunburst Communications, 101 Castleton St., Pleasantville, NY 10570-3498; 800.321.7511 or 914.747.3310; www.sunburst.com

National Geographic Maps

I usually become upset when a large package of cardboard contains a lot of air and little product, but this large package came with a neat and tidy zippered CD-ROM holder filled with nine CD-ROMs packed with all the foldout maps from National Geographic Magazine through December 1997. The air seemed filled with the gravity of an ever-changing world. If you want your students to pose questions about history, map comparisons can be an excellent starting point. Compare the Bible Lands and the Cradle of Western Civilization from the 1938 to the 1946 version, and compare both to the Holy Land, December 1963 or December 1989. Does the map of Korea and Manchuria from March 1904 resemble today’s map? Begin with a local region, look for changes, and expand to cover the globe. One hundred nine years of publishing has produced more than 500 maps. The copyright dates begin with 1888, and maps can by copied and pasted into documents or school reports. The CD-ROMs run under Windows 95 or 98. The Learning Company, 800.881.9919, www.learningco.com

The Vietnam Era

Primary Source Media’s Civil War CD-ROM is excellent. The newest in their American Journey: History in Your Hands series is The Vietnam Era. Parents, students, and administrators are supportive of students using the Internet, but as many teachers know materials posted to the Internet are not regulated and can be inaccurate or purposely misleading. Maybe The Vietnam Era CD-ROM isn’t as flashy or as glamorous as Web pages, but the information is reliable. Topics include the French colonization of Vietnam and the French-Indochina War, the application of America’s Cold War containment policy to Vietnam, the rise of Ho Chi Minh and the National Liberation Front, the escalation of America’s involvement on the ground and in the air, the Tet Offensive, and more. Clearly, this Macintosh/Windows hybrid CD-ROM would make a nice addition to a library collection, but it has many classroom applications as well where students can analyze original sources and form their own conclusions. Maybe students could become detectives and determine which Web sites present the facts consistent with the primary sources contained on the CD-ROM. The material is also available online through a subscription. Primary Source Media, 12 Lunar Dr., Woodbridge, CT 06525; 800.444.0799, 203.397.2600; www.galegroup.com

Field Trap Internet Coach

Field Trap Internet Coach is a new social studies adventure from apte, Inc., another in their series designed for teaching students how to navigate and use the Internet. Field Trap focuses on the multicultural roots of the United States. The hybrid CD-ROM contains this scenario: the robot CrytoMax and the evil Orbs have taken over the Immigration Museum during a field trip. Students must find the operating chips that have been taken from the Web, so they can free their teacher and restore the history of the United States. Students explore the CD’s Oak Creek Museum to collect gears in order to collect all of the chips. Students solve puzzles—some very simple, some very demanding and arcade-like—to replace the chips. The read-along feature enables this software to be used with younger students. This is a program that can benefit from cross-age groupings, so first and second graders could learn from fourth and fifth graders. APTE, Inc., 1840 Oak Ave., Suite 320S, Evanston, IL 60201; 800.494.1112, 847.866.1872, www.apte.com

The Cruncher 2.0

The Cruncher 2.0 is now available from Knowledge Adventure. The new CD-ROM includes an easy-to-use spreadsheet, built-in projects, and six tutorials. Curriculum suggestions come from the areas of math, science, social studies, language arts, and geography. Features that enhance learning include the Notebook, Sticker Picker, and Show function. The Notebook provides a simple word processor for explaining or describing a spreadsheet. The Sticker Picker has a library of more than 300 stickers and sounds to be added to spreadsheets, charts, graphs, or the notebook. The Show function depicts the breakdown of each step in an equation. A teacher edition costs approximately $80.00, includes the teacher support materials, and covers two computers. Knowledge Adventure, 19840 Pioneer Ave., Torrance, CA 90503; 800.545.7677, 310.793.0600; www.knowledgeadventure.com

Inspiration® K–12 Education Edition
Exploring Inspiration®

Inspiration® has been a hit with teachers and students, but the inch-thick support book can scare some. Fortunately, Exploring Inspiration® is a new CD-ROM designed to teach how to use the Inspiration® K–12 Education Edition. The first of three parts is a step-by-step tutorial for creating and customizing diagrams and outlines. The second contains an introduction to visual learning methods such as concept mapping, webbing, and brainstorming. The third contains practical classroom examples, illustrating how to apply visual learning techniques to classroom instruction using Inspiration®. Inspiration Software, Inc., 7412 SW Beaverton Hillsdale Hwy., Suite 102, Portland, OR 97225-2167; 800.877.4292, 503.297.3004; www.inspiration.com

M-SS-NG L-NKS

A quick update on a familiar title—M-SS-NG L-NKS is available on CD-ROM from Sunburst. Students fill in the missing letters using their knowledge of word structure, spelling, grammar, meaning in context, and sense of literary style. As students correctly fill in the blanks, a picture is revealed. The four categories for the reading passages are literature, encyclopedia, science, and custom. Some of the books used in the literature section are Charlotte’s Web, Julie of the Wolves, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Be sure to specify Macintosh or Windows. A single unit costs $89.95, and a lab pack of 10 costs $99.95 (nope, this is not a typo). Our friends at Sunburst report that the company has been purchased by Houghton Mifflin, but they plan to continue to be in Pleasantville. Sunburst Communications, 101 Castleton St., Pleasantville, NY 10570; 800.321.7511; www.sunburst.com

Internet Coach Puzzle Center

Creating puzzles for classroom use or for students to create and pose to each other is now even simpler with the Internet Coach Puzzle Center. Create crosswords, anagrams, word paint, word scramble, word shape match, word search, and secret codes by visiting www.apte.com/puzzles. apte, Inc., Northwestern University/Evanston Research Park, 1840 Oak Ave., Ste. 320-S, Evanston, IL 60201-3686; 847.866.1872; www.apte.com

JumpStart 1st Grade 2000

JumpStart 1st Grade 2000 from Knowledge Adventure is the revision of their popular product to incorporate the national curriculum standards for first-grade students. Curriculum categories include phonics, addition and subtraction, money, measurement, spelling, reading comprehension, fractions, telling time, science, synonyms and antonyms, and art. The Macintosh/Windows CD-ROM education version costs approximately $40.00 and includes teacher support materials. Knowledge Adventure, 19840 Pioneer Ave., Torrance, CA 90503; 800.545.7677, 310.793.0600; www.knowledgeadventure.com

Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers

Greenwood Electronic Media has produced Critical Companions to Popular Contemporary Writers. It includes 25 volumes on today’s popular authors. The list includes some of my personal favorites Pat Conroy, Tom Robbins, and Stephen King. But, of course, I haven’t missed any books by John Grisham, Michael Crichton, Robin Cook, or Tony Hillerman, who are also covered. I was disappointed I did not find Barbara Kingsolver, but the list represents a chunk of the paperback profits of the last 20 years. The cost of the CD-ROM is steep, but any school teaching critical analysis and comparisons of authors should examine and consider this product for inclusion in the library. Pricing begins at $495.00 for a single copy, but rises gently for additional network licenses. Greenwood Electronic Media, 88 Post Rd. West, Westport, CT 06881-5007; 203.226.3571; www.greenwood.com/gem

Survivors: Testimonies of the Holocaust

Knowledge Adventure and Simon & Schuster Interactive have released Survivors: Testimonies of the Holocaust, a new software program produced by survivors from the Shoah Visual History Foundation. Students in Grades 8–12 can learn directly from survivors, who can make the people, places, and events of the Holocaust clearer and more potent than traditional classroom textbooks can. Four survivors provide their firsthand accounts along with in-depth information about the Holocaust, World War II, and European history. The three main objectives are to help students comprehend the Holocaust through a survivor’s experience, to provide a basic knowledge of the history and geography of the Holocaust, and to increase students’ tolerance and understanding of other ethnicities, races, and cultures. The teacher edition contains two Macintosh/Windows hybrid CD-ROMs and teacher support materials for a cost of approximately $50.00. Knowledge Adventure, 19840 Pioneer Ave., Torrance, CA 90503; 800.545.7677, 310.793.0600; www.knowledgeadventure.com

Project Sphinx
Caves of Blue Falls

Fizz & Martina have been busy getting involved in new math adventures. In Project Sphinx, students in Grades 4–5 solve problems as they help Fizz & Martina’s rock band, Sphinx, get off the ground. It takes a total of five sessions for students to complete the introduction and each of the four episodes. Students practice listening, note taking, and decision making as they solve word problems. In Caves of Blue Falls, students in Grades 2–3 work with measurements, units of money, and time as they search for and discover caves deep below Blue Falls. Each Fizz & Martina episode costs $79.95 and comes with a Macintosh/Windows hybrid CD-ROM and a complete guide with blackline masters and sample answer keys. These materials are particularly good if you are teaching your students to understand and apply the problem-solving process. Tom Snyder Productions, 80 Coolidge Hill Rd., Watertown, MA 02472-5003; 800.342.0236, 617.926.6000; www.teachtsp.com

Copyright © 1999, ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). All rights reserved.