Arthur's First Grade

PC version requires:
Windows 95/98 or NT40, 486/66 MHz , 2x CDROM, 16Mb RAM, 20 MB HD, 16 bit sound card, 256

Mac version requires:
60MHz PowerPC, System 7.1 or later, Sound Manager 3.1

Description:

Arthur fans who get this program receive two disks. "The Bionic Bunny Contest," is a series of activities where the player can choose from favorite Arthur characters and accomplish different good deeds through games. There are Binky's Crossing, Go For Baby Kate, Mr. Grumpbones Walk, Francine's Sweet Measure, Brain's Pronouncing Machine, Grandma Thora's Quilt, or World's End Cleanup. Binky's Crossing asks the player to determine patterns to help him cross the stream (think Frogger). Arthur is trying to make baby-sitting D.W. and Kate fun in Go For Baby Kate. Players must follow directions (jumping to specified squares on the rug) in a race to reach Baby Kate on the other side. Mr. Grumpbones is elderly and has forgotten some of the places he likes to go. Arthur and Buster help him as he asks them to describe (picking from provided adjectives) the places he is picturing he likes to go. Early readers can move the cursor to the cards if they need the choice cards read to them. Once the right adjectives have been chosen, the scene changes from black and white to color and comes to life.

In Francine's Sweet Measure, players venture to The Sugar Bowl to help its proprietor measure wrapping paper for his candy using candy as the tool of measure. Level one is easy, two is harder, and level three gets into "halves" to familiarize players with the "easiest" fraction. (And boy, they all know about halving things, don't they? ) Brain has invented a machine that displays words as people say them. But oh, no! There's a glitch in the program and we have to help by finding the correct sound to complete the word. This is one of the most useful activities in the program because the child can learn to associate the symbols with their sounds (it even uses some letter blends). D.W. and Arthur's Grandma Thora needs help finishing her quilt. At level one, players choose beginning sounds for words and by level three the challenge becomes spelling entire words. World's End Cleanup can be one or two player. Kids can choose to help Arthur or Muffy as they make their way through a gameboard park and pick up litter by choosing the correct answers to math problems. Level One requires choosing correct sums and by Level Three some of the problems have numbers missing in the equation (such as missing addends or subtrahends.) Every so often, a character will be "missing," and the child will follow clues to help Arthur find the missing character on a small map of the town. Progress for different players can be tracked and printed.

In Arthur's 1st Grade Activity Center, there are three sections from which a player can choose. In the Music Machine, players are provided with short musical selections played on a clarinet, piano, flute, and drums. These can be combined, played, and saved to give mini-concerts to make any budding musician proud. The Story Maker lets the child write stories illustrated with provided pictures and print them in "book" form. The Print Activities section has different activities divided into sections called cut & paste, color & learn, puzzles & games, and more fun. These are simple, printable activities reinforcing standard first grade skills. Here you'll find a word search, a math color by number, a crossword puzzle, and many more kid-friendly activities. (Answers are provided on separate sheets that do print out when you print the puzzles themselves.)

Features:

• Printable activities (off or on)
• Printable certificates
• Ability to track progress for different players
• Three ability levels on each game

Technical Aspects:

Report and Conclusions: