Island Reading Journey

Reviewed by Anise Hollingshead
Published by Sunburst

Age Group: Age 8 and Up
Type: Language Arts
Price: $90 (School Version)

PC version requires:
Windows 95/98

Mac version requires:
Mac version available

Description:

Teachers looking for supplemental review activities for class-assigned books will enjoy using Island Reading Journey. Each of the 100 books offered has an essay, cloze (fill-in-the-blank paragraphs using vocabulary words), test, and 2 word activities. Possible word activities include: Dominoes - line up matching words and parts of speech to make a bridge, Decoder - a cryptogram, Crossword, and Scramble - anagrams. All of these activities, except Crossword, have randomized games, plus Decoder and Scramble can have new vocabulary words added by the teacher.

Features:

  • 100 common elementary novels
  • 4 different word attack activities
  • Printable bookmark
  • Teacher options
  • Progress reports
  • Simple interface

Technical Aspects:

Installation was straightforward and the game had no problems. The interface is pretty simple, but an online manual would have helped. No audio instruction is needed, so the hearing-impaired can play easily.

Report and Conclusions:

This is an excellent program to correlate with assigned reading in the classroom. The word attack activities give a good workout in parts of speech and vocabulary practice. The tests and essays are easy for students to follow, and for teachers to print and grade. The ability to add words is nice, but would have been even better if possible for all the activities. Additional books to be downloaded from Sunburst/s site would also have been a great way to extend the life of this program.

Homeschools can also benefit from this program, especially if they have multiple children. The price is a little high for home use, but it has a lot of content. I plan on using this with my 5th grader (as soon as we finish the one book she's read recently that's on the list, she's read some of the others, but too long ago to test on), and recommend it for anyone who's looking for enrichment programs for their language art students.




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