Kid Phonics 2
Davidson
1-(800)-556-6141
Grade Level(s): 1-3
Subject Area(s):
Reviewed
by: Suzanne Long
Software Description
Kid Phonics 2 is a reading program based on phonics instruction. It is fun to watch as six characters take you through a wild, west town. The program contains seven components with which students can work. While in the town, students can choose to go to the following: the Jailhouse, the General Store, the Word Rodeo, the Silent Letter Stagecoach, the Hotel, the Dance Hall, and the Wild West Times. At the Jailhouse, words are scrambled and students are asked to blend the letters back into their correct order. At the General Store, students are asked to build words. They choose a picture from a variety of pictures. Then the students choose letters and letter blends to put together the word for that picture. They can continue, by using the word to create a sentence. At the Word Rodeo, students can build compound words. They can also build words by adding prefixes and suffixes to root words. At the Silent Letter Stagecoach, students must decide whether or not a given word can be changed into another word with the addition of a "e." Students can also find the silent letter in words, such as in the word "write." At the Hotel, students can listen to three "old timers" have a conversation using homonyms. These words that sound the same, but are spelled differently, are shown in speech bubbles. At the Dance Hall, each of the six characters performs a phonics-themed song. The words are displayed so that viewers may follow along. Lastly, at Wild West Times, students can use the sentences written at the General Store, as headlines for the Wild West Times newspaper. These headlines can then be printed.
Accuracy of Content
Some of the activities in this program will fit into a first grade curriculum and some of the will into a second grade curriculum. Practice with prefixes and suffixes would more likely be used in a second grade classroom. Also some of the words were difficult, such as unscrambling "springboard" and "loyalty." Some students may lack the prior knowledge to work on some of the words. For example, students are asked to create the word "bookends" in the General Store. Without knowing what a "bookend" is, a student would find this activity impossible to do. When building sentences, I found that even a silly sentence was accepted with praise. For example, I built the sentence, "Your blanket rips soft" and was given the praise, "pure poetry." However, the components are not sequential and students can choose whatever activity they wish to work on, and they can bypass words that they do not know. Also the program is free of bias. The words given can fit a general population, and the characters are both male and female animals and monsters.
Technical Quality
This software was very easy to use. All activities were simply explained and help was offered throughout the activities. Once a teacher gave an explanation of the menu, a student could independently use the help buttons, icons and other features. The sound and animation were quite lively. Lots of positive reinforcement was given for correct responses. Simple statements, such as "Try again," usually followed incorrect responses.
Use of Technology
The software should repeat words in specific activities. In the Silent Letter Stagecoach, a word with a silent letter in it was only given orally one time. A feature could be added that allows the student to have the word repeated. For example, the word "pterodactyl" was given. If students are not familiar with this word, they may need it repeated. Also in the Word Rodeo, only the word to be added was spoken by a character’s voice. None of the possible answers were spoken by a character’s voice. Students have to say the possible options to themselves. Some children may need to be given all of the options both visually and orally.
Role of Students
Students may use this software according to their needs. They can choose which activity to go to; the activities are not built upon each other. That is, success in one activity does not determine success in the next. Students can value their own construction of knowledge by creating a front page of a newspaper and printing it. They can do this independently, or they can construct sentences and pages with a fellow student. Students can also keep track of their success by clicking onto their student chart. The chart keeps track of words built in the present session and words built in the past session.
Role of Teacher
Students can work on this software independently, although teachers will need to give students a brief introduction to this software. A demonstration of the software could be given to the whole class using a projection system.
Teachers may also change the program to fit specific needs of individual children. By going into the control panel, a teacher can change the types of words to be built or decoded. A concentration can be placed on short vowels, long vowels, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, double consonants, vowel digraphs and vowel diphthongs. The control panel also gives the teacher access to each student’s chart, which tallies the words built from session to session. The software package only contains a short introduction to the program. The teacher will not find supplemental materials or ideas, such as games or lessons.
Classroom Usage
Kid Phonics 2 can be used to provide practice with word and letter sound knowledge. It would be especially helpful in a phonics rich curriculum. This software could be used by individual students or with partners. It could also be used in a whole class lesson if the activity pertains to the lesson objective. I think this software would best be used for practice by individuals or by a small group. For instance, if a handful of students were having trouble with consonant blends, they could work together on building words with consonant blends.
Critical Summary
This software can be beneficial to allow students to practice word building and decoding. Students can also build knowledge of homonyms and compound words. The construction of the front page of the newspaper may motivate students to create many sentences. This part of the program may need to be monitored because of the ability to create non-sensible sentences. Also, many difficult words are included in the programs.
Overall Rating (on a scale of 1 to 10) 8
Explanation of Rating
The software provides interesting graphics, characters and activities. The student will enjoy using it as they learn more word and letter knowledge. However some of the words are difficult and need to be repeated. Also the software’s guide (for the standard package) contains only simple directions for the user; a school package of the software might come with a teacher's manual, including lesson plans.
Last revised: January 15, 2003