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Reading Blaster for 1st Grade By Pam Gleichman Tribune Media Services The best selling and award winning Blaster series (Math Blaster, Reading Blaster, Spelling Blaster, Writing Blaster) of children�s software has been completely redesigned and updated to include extensive grade-based curriculum and newly designed characters. Reading Blaster 1st grade sends you off with G.C., Max Blaster and Mel to the Planet of Lost Things to return long-lost items to children throughout the galaxy. You�ll find the missing items and send them back to their grateful owners. Along the way, you�ll play five colorful activities while learning important reading skills. The program focuses on sequencing words to make sentences, sequencing sentences to make a story, building words from sounds, spelling three- to six-letter words (the program includes more than 1,500 vocabulary words), using punctuation and capitalization, following directions, classification, identifying nouns, verbs and adjectives, recognizing short and long vowel sounds, and recognizing beginning and ending sounds. Each game has five skill levels that cover first-grade reading content, as well as a review of the previous year�s content and challenges for the next grade. Reading Blaster 1st grade is an all-around winner! Kid testers were immediately engaged and wanted to play for long periods of time. The program successfully combines fun with an amazing amount of educational content. The Treasure Room, which offers printable puzzles, stories and action packed reward games, really motivates children. In addition to the many skills covered by the program, parents and teachers will also be impressed with the printable word search puzzles, (based on 300 sight words) printable stories and the progress tracker. Publisher : Knowledge Adventure, 19840 Pioneer Avenue, Torrance, Calif. 90503, http://www.blasternaut.com , http://www.KnowledgeAdventure.com , (800) 542-4240. Category : Reading. Age : 5 to 7. Installation : Easy. Use : Very easy. Graphics : Wonderful. Written Materials : The user�s manual is included on the disk. It can be printed or read using Acrobat Adobe 3.0, which is included on the disk. System Requirements : Windows 95/98 � Pentium 90 or faster, 16 MB RAM (32 recommended), 256 color Super VGA graphics, 4X CD ROM drive or better, Mouse, Hard drive, Windows compatible sound card, Printer highly recommended. Power Macintosh � 256 color graphics and minimum 640 x 480, 32 MB RAM, System 7.5.3 or higher, 4X CD ROM or better, printer highly recommended. Tested Version : Windows 95/98/Power Macintosh CD-ROM. Cost : $29.95. Rating : Four and a half stars. Reading Blaster 1st grade successfully motivates children to practice reading skills and engage in active learning. Also available as completely new programs� Math Blaster 1st Grade, Math Blaster 2nd Grade, and Reading Blaster Kindergarten. Math Blaster 3rd, 4th, 5th and Reading Blaster 3rd, 4th and 5th will be newly-packaged versions of current Math Blaster, Reading Blaster and Spelling Blaster software. DEAR PAM : Recently, I went into a chat room. Although I found it interesting, there was some "lingo" that I did not understand and was too embarrassed to ask about. Do you know what any LOL, BBL, FWIW, TTYL and HAND means? DEAR READER : They�re acronyms, which are abbreviations for phrases. LOL means "laughing out loud," BBL means "be back later," FWIW means "for what it�s worth," TTYL means "talk to you later" and HAND means "have a nice day." For a complete list of acronyms, go to http://www.4chatroom.com/learn.shtml and click on Chat Room Common Abbreviations. WEB SITE OF THE WEEK OREGON COAST AQUARIUM http://www.aquarium.org/ See life at sea level. Take a virtual tour of the Oregon coast and over 170 species of aquatic animals. See the famous star of "Free Willy," Keiko the killer whale. Talk with fellow fish lovers � all without touching a drop of water. RATING KEY : ***** � Outstanding; **** � Very Good; *** � Good; ** � Fair; * � Not Worth Purchasing. Pam Gleichman welcomes questions/comments from readers. Write to Pam at Tribune Media Services, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Suite 1400, Chicago, Ill. 60611. Send e-mail to [email protected] . © 1999 Tribune Media Services, Inc. Techno file index Mail Tribune Copyright © The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA