Blue Ribbon Reviews August-September 2006
By Linda Lindroth

Reading and writing will really get a boost with these two new interactive products that make it easy to focus on improving core content skills.

ReadAbout
Reading in the content areas is the focus of this CD-ROM program for grades 3-6 from Scholastic. ReadAbout uses interactive expository text and adaptive technology to increase reading comprehension, build vocabulary and impact content knowledge with 70 topics in science, social studies and the humanities.

In the "Before Reading" section, there is a Skill Brief for one of 10 specific comprehension skills and seven strategies, a vocabulary pre-teach where students build Smart Words and an instructional video to build a knowledge base about the content-area topic.

"During Reading" begins with a topic statement to generate interest in reading. Differentiated instruction tools let students click a word to get help or click a speaker button to have the passage read. Students can open their Card Sorter to look at Smart Words (and even get definitions in Spanish), or use the Text Type Tutor to review the kind of expository text being read. A Quick Check question after every page reinforces comprehension.

"After Reading" is a skill assessment using multiple choice, highlighting in passage text and graphic organizers – builds comprehension. Students continue practice with their vocabulary Smart Words. With every topic, students also choose a topic question and write a response to create a Knowledge Card. The card can be read by the teacher and edited by the student.

For more information and prices, visit www.scholastic.com/readabout or call 877-234-READ. Win XP/Mac OS X.

Essays rock when writing strategies are taught using music videos.

Essay Express
Part of the BrainCogs series from Fablevision, Essay Express™ is for grades 4-8. The program uses strategy-based activities to help students write short essays.

Rock band motivation. The Rotten Green Peppers rock band guides students to use essay-writing strategies to write rock videos. The step-by-step tutorials use stories and music to teach nine cognitive strategies for essay writing. Lively video animations and activities present strategies for before, during and after essay writing. As students work with organizing and prioritizing ideas, their writing improves.

Navigation buttons. "Extras" has links to video analogies of essays and examples of good essays. "Snapshot" lets students jump to any of the strategies or Extras. An interactive notebook organizes all the writing steps to the finished essay.

Student Performance Tracking helps teachers generate progress reports, and essay questions can be customized by the teacher. Added features include a user manual and downloadable Teacher Guide with lesson plan extension activities, reproducibles and multimedia materials.

Visit www.fablevision.com or call 888-240-3734 to learn more. Win/Mac, $89.

Linda K. Lindroth is Technology Editor and Web Coordinator for Teaching Pre K-8. She is also a Technology Resource Teacher in a K-5 computer lab in Lexington, KY.

August/September 2006, Vol.37, No.1