Blue Ribbon Technology August/September 2003
By Linda Lindroth

Anew school year means calendars and classroom management strategies to help those first days go smoothly. This month's software reviews feature task cards to help kids get familiar with technology, a colorful interface for the Microsoft Office suite and a journalist's approach to Colonial America.

Take It to the Computer
Take It to the Computer: Literacy and Math Centers is a comprehensive technology toolbox for literacy and math – complete with software – that can be modified for each grade level K-3. Each grade level includes two CD-ROMS with the "My ToolBox" software program, 12 "Exploring-Your-Computer Tools" cards that explain how to use the tools found in My ToolBox, 48 "Computer Activity Cards" to add to your computer center and a detailed "Teacher's Guide" in a three-ring binder. My students like My ToolBox and I find it to be very flexible as well as easy to set up and use.

The interface is a "Homeroom Screen" that features objects you'd find in a classroom. My ToolBox activities are shown on a computer screen, "My Activities" are found in a toy chest, a "Literary Book" covers the 26 literacy activities found on the Computer Activity Cards and a clock covers the 22 math activities from the cards.

My ToolBox includes a drawing-painting-keyboarding suite that works on pc and Mac and will save or open a file between the two platforms. Toolbars make it easy to paint and draw, use letter, number and picture stamps, edit text and create a slideshow with music. Slideshows are an excellent way to present work at student-led parent conferences or at an open house.

The entire package makes it possible to learn basic computer skills while successfully completing activities in literacy and math that correlate to state standards as well as the National Educational Technology Standards. What a great way to manage tech integration for the entire school year!

For information, call 800-777-4362 or visit www.evan-moor.com $299.

Max's Sandbox
Here's help for early childhood teachers who want to make sure all K-5 students can use the applications in Microsoft Office. Max's Sandbox from eWord provides a colorful interface for both Microsoft Office 2000 and XP to teach technology skills that easily transfer to the Office suite of software.

The suite of programs that make up Max's Sandbox helps to prepare kids for using Microsoft Office.

MaxWrite for Word, MaxShow for PowerPoint and MaxCount for Excel use text-to-speech to teach young students – even pre-readers – to use the professional tools found in Microsoft Office. One click takes students from the standard Office interface to a screen with multimedia features that can be switched on and off by the teacher. My favorite elements are the stamps, the templates and the "Doodle Pad" where kids paint images that can be imported into their MaxWrite or MaxShow projects.

A teacher's guide gives detailed tips and lessons for using the interface.

For information, call 908-439-2439 or visit www.maxssandbox.com $48.

QuickReads
This reading fluency software product from Modern Curriculum Press features text and instructional routines coupled with speech recognition. Using repeated text readings that relate to curriculum topics in grades two to four, students can increase their fluency, improve their phonemic skills and build their vocabulary. Using QuickReads is like having a personal reading assistant for each of your students until you have time to work with them one-on-one!

Once QuickReads is installed, the student just picks up the headset, logs in and starts using the system. First-time users will need five minutes to create a custom voice profile of their intonation, volume and speech pattern. The software monitors each student's progress, provides necessary intervention and reports words per minute, missed words and the corrected version to the student. Teachers get a detailed report, and a printable parent report is also available.

Each grade level has six themes: three in social studies and three in science. Each theme has five connected text passages with comprehension questions, and there's a review of all five passages at the end. These passages use 90% high-frequency words with 2% being more difficult vocabulary. The program is Reading First DOE compliant.

"Word Help" offers assistance with vocabulary. Students can just click on underlined words to get an audio definition and a context-based sentence reinforcing the content's theme.

"Read and Record" lets you hear the passage once and read and record at least twice. A delayed help feature provides a pause when a student has trouble reading and then fills in the word. You can set the pause to any length you choose.

The teacher report provides all the raw data from student readings, including the passage the student read, with words read fluently printed in green and trouble words printed in red. Students are motivated to try again to get all green words.

For more information, visit www.pearsonlearning.com or call 800-321-3106. $318.95 per grade level.

Precision Planner
Don't miss QuickRead's companion product, Precision Planner, also from Pearson Learning Group. Correlating Pearson supplemental reading programs with six current comprehensive reading programs, this CD-ROM can help you to integrate skill-specific lessons into your reading curriculum. Precision Planner is a planning tool that creates five-day lesson plans, matches your lessons to your school calendar and helps you to target specific skills for struggling readers. $59.95.

Christy H. Simpson
5th Grade Teacher
Southside Elementary
Pulaski, TN

Guest Review

Liberty's Kids
Liberty's Kids, from Riverdeep, has become a big hit with my students as it engaged them in the study of American history. The software, which is connected to the PBS show of the same name, puts students in the middle of a colonial adventure by allowing them to take on the roles of a pair of print shop apprentices who investigate seven historical events in Colonial times. The kids explore locations, interview historical figures and use that information, along with their journalism skills, to create newspaper front pages.

The software not only allows students to thoroughly investigate historical events such as the Boston Tea Party and the Battle of Lexington and Concord, but develops critical thinking skills as well. As the students interview historical figures, they decide if the information they've received can be used to create a newspaper article, or if additional information is needed.

My students enjoyed the two apprentice characters and often laughed at their dialogue. Despite the humorous touches in the program, the kids felt the characters were realistic, and they also appreciated the fact that we got to see many points of view of an event.

The students remarked that they hadn't thought about the opposing sides' perspectives until they viewed the software's simulations of these historical events. Their understanding of the events was more thoroughly developed, and students expressed the belief that they would retain this knowledge longer. That's every teacher's assessment dream.

After interviewing and investigating, my students were required to use their editing skills, with help from the software, to compose a newspaper front page that gave all the details of the event.

The kids enjoyed this part of the program, especially when they realized they would have a finished copy of the news page they created. When they finished working with the program, the kids actually expressed disappointment, because they had enjoyed it so much.

I hope to use Liberty's Kids in conjunction with my unit on Colonial times this year. I feel it will be beneficial to the students in many ways, and that they will develop a deeper understanding and knowledge of the historical events we explore in our social studies curriculum.

For more information about Liberty's Kids, visit www.riverdeep.com or call 800-825-4420. $69.95.

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

August/September 2003, Vol.34, No.1