Jumpstart Reading for 2nd Graders

Reviewed by Carol Welch
Published by Knowledge Adventure

Age Group: Age 4 to 8, Age 8 and Up
Type: Language Arts, Thinking Games
Price: $20

Description:

Like other JumpStart titles, Reading for 2nd Graders offers skill-building activities in a fun and friendly atmosphere. Players join CJ the Frog and his assistant Edison the Firefly on an adventurous quest for the lost city of Ursalab. To find the city, players must collect jewels by mastering 9 entertaining activities - each one based on a critical 2nd grade skill.

Features:

  • 9 skill-building activities
  • Multiple difficulty Levels
  • Printable workbook pages
  • Kid's tutor feature
  • Parent's progress report
  • Skills parallel 2nd grade curriculum

Technical Aspects:

This title installed easily and ran smoothly on a Pentium 200 MHz, with 64MB RAM and a 20x CD-ROM. The graphics and audio are superb. The animated portions between the activities are like watching a movie and give depth to the adventure story. Since this title is sound-based, it cannot be played without a sound card and would not be appropriate for hearing-impaired children

Report and Conclusions:

My 8-year-old son said that given a choice between classroom worksheets and JumpStart Reading for 2nd Graders, he would choose the latter every time. When I first installed this title, I turned him loose with it. The easy-to-follow directions allowed him to work independently with minimal assistance from me. He was mesmerized for over three hours, in which time he visited all of the mysterious lands and sampled all of the activities - quite an accomplishment for a boy who can spend three hours dawdling through one reading worksheet, if given the chance!

There were several details that I found engaging about this software. CJ and Edison manage to dispense wonderfully educational tidbits on everything from tapirs to cave paintings. Players are treated to delightful (and often humorous) visual surprises upon completion of each activity - positive reinforcement at its best. Besides teaching language art skills, the activities encourage problem-solving skills and higher-level thinking. This software would be appropriate for any second grade student: offering practice and tutoring for students having difficulty in language arts, or providing reinforcement and mastery to those students who already excel in reading.

Since a player must master each randomized activity several times to gather enough jewels to reach Ursalab, there is ample opportunity for repetitive play. This makes JumpStart Reading for 2nd Graders an excellent title to accompany your child through his/her 2nd Grade year. It is also an ideal way to keep up those skills over the summer!





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