Pre-Reading SW Collaborates for Assessment
DaisyQuest & Daisy's Castle, Undersea Challenge
Grades: Pre-K - 2
Platform: Macintosh
Pre-Reading SW Collaborates for Assessment
Great Wave Software has re-released it phonological awareness products, DaisyQuest and Daisy's Castle, and added a new assessment program called Undersea Challenge. Shipping on one Macintosh-compatible CD-ROM, these products work together to build preliminary early language skills, helping children to recognize and compare the sounds (phonemes) that make up words, and to segment words into component sounds, blending sounds together to form words.
DaisyQuest and Daisy's Castle, updated with improved graphics and sounds, guide children's development as they listen and click the mouse at appropriate times; no reading or letter skills are required. Statistical reports can be generated, letting teachers view students' progress. These programs may also benefit ESL learners.
Undersea Challenge, a new program, is an adaptive test used for assessment that selects items based on a student's previous answers. Sequences of items test in the areas of rhyming, beginning sounds, middle sounds, last sounds, blending phonemes and segmenting. Students explore an ocean cave and shipwreck while taking the test, making it seem like an adventure game of sorts. Undersea Challenge can also recommend specific activities in DaisyQuest and Daisy's Challenge, aimed at building skills that need improvement. The combined product costs around $60 for single-user versions; lab packs and site licenses are available. Great Wave Software, Scotts Valley, CA, (800) 423-1144, www.greatwave.com.
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This article originally appeared in the 12/01/1997 issue of THE Journal.