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From:Encore
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See Product Page
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User Rating: Amazon Sales Rank:#600 |
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1 of 1 customers found the following review helpful:
Blatant False advertising, 2008-06-18
The learning company has great software out there, but this certainly is not one of them. There is nothing interactive about this CDRom. It's no more than a read along book. Sometimes you can click on an image and it makes a silly "clown"-esque action that has nothing to do with the book. It looks like the creators started to make a kids software, but ran out of budget/time and are still trying to sell it. I couldn't believe that something like that was put our for sale so I looked and looked for a manual to make it do what the advert says it does. No manual, no interactive layers. You will have much better result if you buy the books and read them to your child. Poor Dr. Seuss, he who fought that kind of capitalistic & opportunistic exploitation of others...
Tlc Dr Seuss Reading Learning System 2008
9 of 9 customers found the following review helpful:
Very disappointing: lots of cute animation, not a lot of active learning, 2007-09-18
SOFTWARE STRUCTURE
2 CDs: 1) The Cat in the Hat 2) Green Eggs and Ham
Both CDs have main menu with 4 choices:
1) READ TO ME. As it says the software reads to your child. Entire phrases or lines are highlighted together as they are read. Some nouns change from words to pictures after they are read. During READ TO ME option there is no active cursor or navigation buttons.
2) LET ME PLAY. The story is read to your child. At the end of each page, the story pauses, the cursor appears. Ther are page back and page forward symbols. You can now use your cursor to activate "hidden clickable surprises" - which are mostly additional animated sequences. If you click on words, they are read. Some words change to pictures after they are read. Cursor is not shown or active while page is being read. Not obvious - but the page number at the bottom can be clicked to return you to the menu (NICE TO KNOW!).
3) OPTIONS. This has 3 options:
a) PAGE SELECTION - lets you go to a page you choose to have the page read to you and then page remains active in the "LET ME PLAY" mode.
b) DEMOS - lets you choose other books available and and demo them in a "LET ME PLAY" mode.
c) CREDITS - which is simply the producer, animators, etc. similiar to movie credits.
4) QUIT.
REVIEW
I bought this product for my 5 ½ year old son, whom is starting Kindergarten. I assumed it would be appropriate for him, since the age range for the product is 4-7.
The product did not live up to the expectations I had upon reading the box: "Your child will learn: spelling, vocabulary, reading, phonics, syllables, rhyming, sentence structure, reading comprehension, main ideas, problem-solving, memory skills". Further, the box says for the The Cat in the Hat CD: "Learn the alphabet and master critical letter and word recognition skills in the world of Dr. Seuss." I found no area of the program that reviewed the alphabet. And I found nothing that specifically covered spelling, phonics, syllables, sentence structure or main ideas any more than reading a book does.
Vocabulary is covered when some of the nouns change from words to pictures. Reading was covered in the LET ME PLAY mode, where you can click on words and have them read to you. Reading could be emphasized so much more by just having the software highlight individual words. Currently, when the software "reads" it highlights entire phrases or lines, but rarely individual words.
The product did not engage my child. In READ TO ME mode, both books moved too slow for him. He only got through about ½ of The Cat in the Hat in READ TO ME mode. In LET ME PLAY mode, the "clickable animated surprises" only interested him for a few pages. There is a rhyming game on page 12 of Green Eggs and Ham. The game changes each time you play it - the same 7 pictures from the book are shown, but you are given different words to rhyme them with (e.g. rain or chain with the picture of train). He did enjoy this game. Which brings me to my next point.
The product did not have enough interactive learning (e.g. games like the rhyming game in Green Eggs and Ham). It seemed like 90% of CD activity is having book read to you, clicking on words to have them read to you and clicking on pictures to trigger "surprises". The box for the product mentions 3 games on the Green Eggs and Ham CD; but we only found the one rhyming game. Which brings me to my final point.
The product's technical navigation is poor and not intuitive. In READ TO ME mode, I could find no other way to stop the product than Alt-Ctrl-Del and cancel the application. ESC key and F1 (Help) did not work. There is no active cursor in this mode. The navigation is better in LET ME PLAY mode, but there is still no active cursor while pages are being read. I liked that I could click on the page number and return to the menu; but this was not obvious!
I was looking for software that would be either the reading equivalent of the math and science games on the PBS Kids website with Curious George or a PC-based equivalent of the LEAP FROG handheld/TV games. This product was not what I was looking for.
Encore/The Learning Company has a satisfaction guarantee on the box. I wrote the company and they refunded my purchase price.
3 of 4 customers found the following review helpful:
does not work , 2007-09-09
I cannot get this item to stay downloaded on my computer and everytime we try to use it, it freeezes and we have to shut the whole computer down.
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