New Releases - Uncle Albert's Magical Album
VTech Software has released several software titles to appeal to schoolchildren. Uncle Albert’s Magical Album is an educational adventure CD-ROM for children ages 9 and up. Uncle Albert teaches science, logic, compass directions, weights, vocabulary and creative thinking, combining multiple path navigation, infinite solutions and spectacular graphics to evoke action, develop reflexes, and encourage children to experiment and learn. Unlimited navigational paths and multiple solutions encourage “thinking outside the box” and draw on a child’s sense of observation, logic, and desire to explore and experiment.
VTech also publishes Zoo-phonics School Edition, a CD-ROM developed by teachers to help young children become strong readers and spellers. Zoo-phonics is a methodology developed to teach children reading and spelling through an oral, visual, kinesthetic and tactile, whole-brain approach to learning. Children learn the alphabet through use of animal characters, letter shapes and sounds. They learn to connect phonics, spelling, reading and writing, as well as other skills, like alphabetizing, sentence building, and upper and lower case letters. Fifteen interactive activities keep children involved, and a 190-page teacher’s guide includes worksheets for further learning.
For students grades 4-6, Pirate Island is a trivia game featuring over 1,400 age-appropriate questions in history and language arts. In the same series, Alien Escape poses questions about science, technology and math. Both games host 1-4 players on three skill levels, and feature a Question Maker allowing students to write their own questions and categories for the games. The games include nine categories of questions. VTech Soft, Inc., Tustin, CA, (714) 734-4800, www.vtechsoft.com.
This article originally appeared in the 04/01/2000 issue of THE Journal.