Trudy's Time and Place House

Publisher: Edmark

Reviewed by Kirsten Dykes

SCHOOL SUBJECTS: geography, telling time, learning direction, problem solving

GRADE LEVEL: PreK to 1 (age 3-6)

PLATFORM USED FOR EVALUATION: MAC

HARD DISK OR CD-ROM?: CD-ROM

TIME TO PLAY: unlimited

RATING: 9

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROGRAM:

This program teaches children in several different areas. When you are on the main screen, you can choose from five different areas to work in. When they ride on the rocket ship, they get a chance to learn about the world and different oceans, continents, and landmarks. They get a chance to locate areas and are told a little bit about that place. Another area the children can play in is the Jellybean Hunt. Here they are an ant and they are shown a jellybean on a large map and asked to go get it. They get a chance to learn north, south, east, west, right and left here. They get to see the jellybean through both a "birdÕs-eye" map and in a "driver's seat" perspective. The also learn how to follow directions and give directions. In the sandbox they build cities with railroad tracks, mountains, lakes, and houses. They develop spatial visualization skills and they get to exercise their creativity. In the calendar clock area, children get to play around with months, days, time and seasons. They begin to learn how to estimate time and it also builds on their time unit vocabulary. In the last area, children learn how to tell time. They develop time-telling skills at the hour, half hour, and quarter hour intervals. The also have a chance to compare digital time to analog time. This strengthens their recognition of number sequences on both types of clocks. There is a lot of sound in this program. The children are either hearing music, or the characters are talking back to them and encouraging them. The graphics and sound are both excellent. There is also the option to print out pictures that the students have taken while up in the rocket ship.

EVALUATION OF THE PROGRAM:

This program is very motivational. If the child gets something wrong, the cartoon characters encourage them to keep trying and will give them hints if they need help. Between all the different areas, I think the student gets to exercise all different parts of their mind. For example when they are working in the sandbox they are being creative and when they are working with time, it is a skill that will help them for the rest of their lives. Both females and males are equally represented in this program and I think that both sexes would have a wonderful time working with Trudy in her house. One of the biggest strengths this program has is that it is fun yet it is still very educational and the constant reinforcement is great for kids. I think that this is great to be used in both classrooms and at home. It is a fun way for children to pass time while at home and it is also teaching them necessary skills for life.

Application Of The Program:

Teachers would appreciate this program because it helps them reinforce what they are already teaching in front of the class. For example, this program would be great to use after teaching the class about the continents and the oceans. The student could then go into the rocket ship and be quizzed on where different oceans and continents are. The same thing would be true for teaching time. After the teacher taught the kids briefly about time, they could get the chance to see if they can do it by themselves. The clocks come to life and help the students match digital time with analog time. Or they can work with just one type of clock. This program would be great to use in teaching geography, learning the seasons, learning different directions, and in time telling. I think this is great tool to have in the classroom and both students and teachers would love it.