The Old Schoolhouse® Product & Curriculum Reviews
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Read, Write & Type Learning System Review by Christine Field
Talking Fingers Inc.One St. Vincent Drive
San Rafael, CA 94903
1-800-674-9126
http://www.talkingfingers.com/
This CD program is an adventure in reading, writing and typing! The game aspect of the program consists of 12 steps, guided by a computer villain named Vexor who tries to steal letters. Lefty and Rightway, two helping hands, help your child get around Vexor through 40 levels of challenge.
In step one, children connect sounds with letters, learning to type the letters as well. Step two challenges your child to look at a picture, identify the sounds in each word and type the letter(s) that make up the sound. Step three has the child build words by typing sounds, connecting the sounds with correct finger placement on the keyboard. In step four, children begin reading and writing simple stories. In step five, they begin to create their own stories! Step six has a simulated email feature allowing your child to send and receive email. In step seven, your child plays a game to help build their typing skills. Step eight is a sound game where the child practices sound recognition.
The Reading Game is featured in step nine, providing extra help in reading comprehension. A Spelling Game is played in step ten. The last two steps provide further practice and play to hone reading, writing and typing skills.
Another feature allows the parent to print out progress reports, allowing you to pinpoint areas of difficulty.
This is a full program. In addition to CD activities, the system comes with an activity book, 18 little reading books, a laminated keyboard to allow your child to practice dictated words in the car or at home and two sets of stickers.
One of my first questions I always ask when looking at a phonics program is whether it is research based. Read, Write & Type has been used in classrooms for over 10 years and the users of the program have shown significant improvement. The uniqueness of this program is the melding of reading, listening, writing and typing skills.
I tested this system with my little emerging reader and he really enjoyed it. It can be the cornerstone of your phonics program. The colorful, fun feel of this system is a winner!
