Exploring Verbs Sterling Edition
© 2008 Laureate Learning Systems
Designed for children with special needs, this program uses eight scenes (such as children playing at a camp) to train children on 50 early developing verbs like singing, jumping or running. After you set up an account for every child, children sign-in and press "go." They are taken to the last point in the program. First, they see a scene, and then are asked to identify the verbs -- for example, "The girl is singing. Find the girl that is singing." Once a child can identify each vocabulary item, the program automatically moves to the next scene. There are two types of reinforcement for correct answers: either the noun animates or characters perform a short skit using enriched language. The software features eight activities including: Optimized Intervention (tracks student responses and guides the user through the curriculum); Exploration (open-ended activity that lets students select an item on the screen, hear the word, and see the associated text and animation); Identification (students must identify nouns from selected scenes); Mixed Explore/Identify (program alternates between the Exploration and Identification activities); Testing (used to document pre- or post-training performance), and Three Supplemental Activities (Word Introduction (Cards) presents a single word and its associated animation; Word Introduction (Scene) introduces vocabulary items one at a time until a full scene is displayed, and Animated Routines). The items are well illustrated and the speech is clear; this looks and feels very much like the type of software that Laureate is best known for. We were able to run in on a very old iMac with no problem. Prices are $195/each for 1-4 copies, $136.50/each for 5-9 copies, $117/each for 10-19 copies, $97.50 for 20-49 copies, and $975 for a Network License.
$195, Windows, Mac OSX
Teaches: language arts for special needs, reading, grammar, phonics
CTR Rating: 88%