Samson's Classroom

Samson's Classroom is an online resource for teaching sight words, spelling and reading comprehension to children in grades K-5. We've been using this for the last month and the kids are really enjoying it.

There are 3 sections to Samson's classroom:

The first area is SIGHT WORDS where children are taught 224 of the most commonly used English words.  The sight words are divided up into lists that are taught in 5 steps. 

First, the words are introduced by showing the word being spelled one letter at a time while the voice says the word and each letter as it is shown.  It will repeat the same word and spelling over and over until the child presses the arrow to go to the next word.  

Next, they are given a set of letters to choose from to spell the word.  

In Step 3, they have to click on the correct word when they hear it. 

In Step 4, the child must spell the word using the entire keyboard (rather than just a few letters like in Step 2)

Finally, in Step 5 players go on a treasure hunt for the correctly spelled word.

Students can easily see their progress and navigate through the lists:

SPELLING

In the spelling section students (or parents) have the choice of creating their own lists or using the many lists already included in the program.  We are using both.  Below is a screenshot clip of Emma's spelling lists.  The 4 icons at the top are the choices the player has. They click on a circle (green ones are already completed) to begin a task.

The first one is a learning activity.  The list pops up (and can be printed) and the child can click on the word to hear it read, hear it in a sentence and hear it being spelled.  The other 3 icons are all games. In the one pictured below, students must choose the missing part of the word. If they get it correct Samson karate chops the board.  In the second game, students make Samson run across the screen gathering letters.  There is a spider that chases Samson and ties him up in "silk" if the player is not fast enough.  I cannot for the life of me figure out how to play this game.  It took Emma a few weeks, but now she can play it.  I guess it's the way gamers move characters.  I wouldn't know.  LOL  Third, is the walrus game.  The player must spell the word correctly to get Samson to jump across blocks of ice.  If you wait too long or misspell a word a giant walrus jumps up and starts to bite the ice and eventually Samson falls in. (This one I like. :) )

The games are fun and they're a great way to reinforce spelling.

It is very easy to add spelling lists.  You can choose to activate lists so that your
 student can only see the ones you want them to see.  You can leave other lists deactivated until later.

Finally there is the READING section which gives students practice at reading comprehension.  This would be great for kids getting ready for standardized tests. 

Students read a passage and choose the correct answer.  If they choose incorrectly
the text will turn red so the student can find the proper answer.

In Reading, students earn Hammer points so they can try their hand
at swinging the hammer.  Emma loves this.

Samson's Classroom is not just an online game sight though.  They also have a large Resource section that includes worksheets, games to be printed, flashcards, lesson plans and award certificates.  I'm really impressed with the number of worksheets and activities that can be printed to go along with the spelling lists.

a few sample worksheets- we used these yesterday because I had to be out
for several hours today

a sample of an award certificate that can be printed

One last thing to mention is that parents can see their child's progress easily in their account.  You can view all of the children at once, by level.  Then, by clicking on their name you can see detailed charts of what they have completed, what they need to work on and what hasn't been attempted yet.

Emma (9) has been using this as her main spelling program.  I took the words from our current spelling program and entered them into the program and she is set for the year.  It didn't take long to enter the words at all.  More words can be added at any time.  Occasionally, a word is not in Samson's Classroom's database.  You can request a word be added by the click of a button.  We have found this too be too difficult for my very beginning readers. Connor, who is 11 and has Down syndrome likes to play on this, but hasn't really progressed with it.  He can't enter the letters fast enough so he is stuck at the same level.  (He doesn't seem to mind though.)  However, this has been really great for my first and 4th graders.  We are really enjoying this and plan to continue with it for the rest of the year.

Here is a video you can watch that will show you Samson in action.

Click to try a demo.

Purchase Samson's Classroom for 1 student for $30 a year or pay $50 for up to 4 students.  This is an amazing value for an internet subscription program.

Click here to visit Samson’s Classroom and become a better reader. Play fun games that will help you master sight words, spelling and reading comprehension!

See what others are saying about Samson's Classroom on The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.




disclaimer: I received  4 one year subscriptions to Samson's Classroom  in exchange for an honest review

Zoo Whiz

Zoo Whiz is an online, educational game website for 5-15 year olds. We were given accounts for 5 for my children aged 4, 7, 9, 11 (with special needs) and 12.  The ZooWhiz educational content is drawn from a bank of over 17,000 learning activities. There’s comprehensive coverage of math, punctuation, spelling, grammar, vocabulary, word skills, phonics, and reading.

Students earn coins playing educational games that they can then use to play games in the arcade or use to "buy" animals for their zoo. There are two levels of membership: free and premium.  With a Premium account children can spend an unlimited amount of time on ZooWhiz and there are more animals available for "purchase" that they cannot get with a free account.

a screen shot of the main screen where players choose to "learn & earn,

There are 3 different areas in the Learn and Earn section -  Reading, Words and Math.  Students click on the Learn and Earn house which takes them to a screen where they can choose which area they would like to work on.

The Reading section provides an introduction to letters, phonics, and spelling. Sound – letter correspondences are systematically introduced for all 44 phonemes. Writing and word skills are expanded and developed by covering spelling, grammar, punctuation and more.

To help students learn to read, integrated speech is used in the first 4 ZooWhiz Reading modules. Each activity uses spoken instructions, audio reinforcements and corrections.

screen shot of an activity in the reading section

The Words section covers all essential word skills and concepts including: letter tracking, matching, sorting and recognition, preparatory skills for very young readers and spellers, spelling patterns and rules, phonics, prefixes, suffixes, synonyms, antonyms, homophones, homographs, homonyms, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, adverbs, regular and irregular verbs, word origins including idioms, clichés, metaphors, similes, etc, punctuation and grammar.

screen shot of an activity in the Words section

The Math section covers all essential maths skills and concepts including: numeration, addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, chance, patterns, Algebra, data, graphs, measurement, shape, space, and geometry.

screen shot of a math problem

Parents have the ability to set the "age floor" so your child can work at a level that is appropriate for them.  This way your children can't be earning coins for doing work that is beneath their level (or you can drop it down so they have the ability to earn more coins if you like.)

Parents can select the age level for each section with the pull down menu.

Now for the part the kids love the most.  The Zoo and the Arcade.  Students can collect animals for their zoo.  (There really isn't a zoo but they can see a list of all the animals that they "own".) This can be motivating for students that love animals.  It's also an opportunity to learn about the animals.

a screenshot of Emma's Zoo

Once a student has an animal in their zoo they can learn all about it.  Each tab reveals different information including habitat, diet, threats and detailed info.

Students can also spend the coins they earned in the arcade.  Games include a cupcake making game, shooting soccer goals, a tetris like game and much more (typical arcade games).

What we like:

ZooWhiz is a fun way for kids to learn math and English topics.  The topics really are very broad.  It's also a good way for them to be exposed to animals and learn about them.  I allow my children to play on it frequently.  They seem to enjoy it.

Parents can log into the children's accounts and see exactly what they have been working on.  I always like to see what progress is being made and what they are accomplishing (and areas that may need attention.)

Parents can click on the individual smiley faces to see more details.

What we don't like:

The biggest problem with Zoo Whiz for younger children is that it does not give audible directions in the math or word sections Children are expected to read them, which is not possible for those that can't yet read.  I don't have time to sit and read directions for online learning games.

My 12 year old son felt that the animals "cost too much" and he was not motivated enough to want to continue playing. The younger children did not have this issue though.

Pages are slow loading and it takes several steps to log in to the website, making it difficult for younger children to do it by themselves.

One thing to note is that ZooWhiz is Australian so the speakers do have an accent.  Not a problem for us, but something I thought was worth mentioning.

a comparison of the free vs. premium accounts

Purchase a 1 year Premium subscription to Zoo Whiz for $14.95. (a 75% off offer) Check it out by signing up for a free account.  You have nothing to lose by signing up since it is free.  Children can play for a limited amount of time each day with a free account.  They also offer a 14 day money back guarantee for Premium accounts.






See what others are saying about Zoo Whiz on The Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.




disclaimer: I received 5 year long Premier subscriptions to  Zoo Whiz  in exchange for an honest review

Review - This Week in History from TJ Ed

This Week in History is a really neat resource that I am happy to have the opportunity to tell you about.  TWIH is an online weekly "bundle" of resources that relate to every day of the year.  It is a cross curricular resource that incorporates math, science, language arts, geography, current events etc. all tied to events in history.

There are two ways to access This Week in History.  First, you can go to the website and secondly, you can receive it in a weekly e-mail.  I really like getting the e-mail as it is a reminder to me to use it and everything is right there for me without having to go to the website to sign in. The e-mail is optional so if you prefer to just go to the website you can do that too. I think it would be nice to get a daily e-mail so each day would be right there ready for me but having the weekly e-mail is a nice convenience.

The content is searchable by date, topic and keyword.  Subscribers also have access to the entire year at any given time. So, you can plan ahead or choose a date that is special to your family (birthday, anniversary etc) and use it that way.

Here are some ideas for using This Week in History:

1. In advance, you review the coming week's resources and consider how they fit with your interests, your kids' projects, etc., and plan how to use it. 

2. On the day of, you get up and review that day's resources, print out a few pdfs and preview a few topics, and then invite the children to discover with you. 

3. In the moment , you bring up the site and wander your way through it like a treasure hunt. 

4. Review the archives (available at the bottom of each week's article, or by searching by date or keyword) to explore for a date of interest, like a child's birthday, your wedding anniversary, or even some random date chosen by your child-of-the-day, and explore what is notable about that date.

I haven't ever used this by planning in advance, but I love being able to go to the page each day and find something to learn about with the kids.  We've learned about opera, people in history, states, patents, and so much more.  This has been a fabulous summer resource to keep the learning going all year long. I will continue to use this throughout the year.

If you are a fan of Delight Directed Learning this would make an absolutely wonderful basis for your homeschool.  You could also easily create your own unit studies and lapbooks.  If you are a traditional textbook family then this would make a nice addition to your normal routine as well.

a partial sample of one day

See more sample pages.  I love how everything is clickable so all of the work is done for you.  You'll find a bit of history and lots of links to explore then questions for discussion and activity ideas.  Lots of fun and learning all in one place.

Prior to this review I had never heard of Thomas Jefferson Education. It is based on an educational philosophy and a methodology by which great individuals throughout history have been educated. Discovered and articulated by Oliver and Rachel DeMille, Thomas Jefferson Education is based on 7 Keys of Great Teaching and the 4 Phases of Learning. Read more about the founders and find TJEd on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Purchase This Week in History for $9.99 a month. It appears you have to set this up as a subscription through Paypal which is not something I've ever done, so I'm not exactly sure how that works.  It is explained on the website.  Visit the TJ Ed store to see other books, e-books, audio CDs and mp3 downloads.

See what others on the crew are saying about This Week in History on the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.



disclaimer: I received a free full year subscription to This Week in History in exchange for honest review.

Professor B Math

I first heard of Professor B math several years ago but didn't really know too much about it.  I was happy to have the chance to review this for the Schoolhouse Review Team. Professor B claims a student can learn 3 years of math in one year.  I think this would be a great way to catch a student up that might be behind where they "should" be.  We tested Level 1 of Professor B.

Professor B Math is an online math program available in 3 levels.  The lessons have no audio and are "taught" by Professor B (shown below).  The parent must read the lessons to the child.  It requires no prep time whatsoever but you do have to do the entire lesson with the child. There is no busy work involved though the lessons have a lot of repetition.  A pdf workbook is also provided but not every lesson has pages to work.

Professor B has three levels and covers the following topics:

LEVEL I

Pre-K though 2nd grade and remediation of older learners.

Introduction to Addition/Subtraction Facts 

Counting to One Hundred 

Lower Addition and Subtraction 

Higher Addition and Subtraction 

Place Value Fractional Parts & Order 

Time 

Money

LEVEL II 

3rd grade through 5th grade and remediation of older learners.

Multiplication/Division Facts and Problem Solving 

Introduction to Fractions 

Fractional Equivalence 

Addition and Subtraction Fractions

LEVEL III 

6th through 8th grades and remediation of older learners.

Multiplication/Division of Fractions

Decimals 

Percents

There is a free placement test on the Shop Our Products section of the website. You will also find sample lessons there. Professor B runs on java and is presented in a power-point style.

Once you log in to the e-learning section of the website you come to this screen where you can access the lessons and the workbook, It also gives instructions for how to use the program.



The first lessons use combinations of fingers to teach how many.  Later objects are also used for counting.

I love the way Professor B teaches place value.  It really makes sense.

Here are two partial worksheet samples from Level 1.

A worksheet to be done orally

A sample written worksheet

A printable certificate is available for each level

What We Like:
I like the way Professor B teaches math.  Descriptions are thorough and often different from other math programs.
There is no teacher prep involved.
No busy work.


What We Don't Like:
The pages are slow loading (see the sample lessons for an idea of what I mean). I don't like waiting.
The lessons can be too long causing the child to lose interest.
I have to read as if I am the bee and it doesn't feel natural to me. (There is no audio at all in Professor B. Read why here.)
The font is small.
There are times when you can clearly tell that this is designed for a classroom.
It doesn't keep track of which lessons you used so you need to come up with a way to remember where you are (more difficult when using with more than one student.)
The website can be confusing especially when first starting out.

Will We Continue to Use this?

Ellie (4) absolutely loves Professor B and I think it has been very helpful for Connor (11 with Down syndrome) so yes, despite the lengthy list of things I don't care for, the benefits outweigh my personal dislike for some parts of Professor B.

Pricing is as follows:
1 level $20 a month
2 levels $35 a month
3 levels $45 a month

If you purchase by the month it will be set up with automatic renewal and be charged to your credit card until you cancel. You can also purchase one year for $220 per level and receive a free mug and t-shirt. You can call to get a free 30 day trial. 678-765-6655

Visit the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog to see what other crew members think of Professor B. Feel free to ask questions in the comment section and I will answer if I can.

 Professor B also sells a textbook version of arithmetic and algebra, t-shirts and mugs.







disclaimer:  I received a one year subscription to Professor B (all 3 levels) in exchange for an honest review.

Time 4 Learning

Time 4 Learning is an online home learning system for grades preschool through middle school.  We were given 4 one month memberships as a free trial. Emma (3rd grade), Connor (4th grade with learning disabilities), Jenna (K) and Ellie (pre-school). Each child is given their own log in information and access to 2 levels of learning for  preschool and K levels and 3 levels for the older children (one above and one below).

Time 4 Learning covers Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies for most grades. It can be used as a full curriculum or as a supplement to what you are using now. We used this as a supplement to our current curriculum.

This is Ed Mouse.  He is a friendly character that greets you each time you log in.

With Time 4 Learning you get:

·                                 Online Curriculum for Preschool to 8th Grade

·                                 1,000+ Student-Paced Animated Lessons

·                                 Math Exercises; Printable Worksheets

·                                 Language Arts from Phonics through Reading

·                                 Science ; Social Studies In Most Grade Levels

·                                 Automated Reporting for Easy Record Keeping

·                                 Detailed Lesson Plans for Parents

·                                 Lessons Correlated to State Standards

When you sign up you decide on a grade level for your student.  If you find that it needs to be changed you can request to have it adjusted at any time. I did this with Connor and had no problems doing it.

We occasionally had some trouble running this in Google Chrome(my preferred browser) and ended up using it mainly in IE or Firefox. You can run it in trouble shooting mode if this happens. I also had some trouble with error messages popping up.

My feelings are mixed about Time 4 Learning. It is comprehensive almost to the point of being overwhelming.  I had a lot of trouble navigating and figuring out the best way to use it. I think that there is just a learning curve and that once you learn your way around it isn't a problem. I just wish it were a little more user friendly.

 I really wanted to like Time 4 Learning and to some extent we did.  Ellie (my almost 4 year old) and Jenna (she'll be 6 this month) did enjoy it.  The preschool and Kindergarten games were fun and once they were logged in they could play and learn to their heart's content.  The biggest problem was getting them to take turns. :) The preschool level covers all sorts of things like shapes, colors, letters, numbers, animals, weather etc.  Jenna really liked to play the games on Ellie's level more than her own (and Ellie would see things on Jenna's that she wanted to do.)  Connor (10 with Down syndrome) just really did not like much of anything we tried with this one (which could just be that I never was able to get him matched to his most appropriate levels because his abilities are scattered). Emma (8) didn't really care for it either.

A screenshot of Ellie's screen.

The screen icons are actually larger than this. I had to make them
smaller so they would all fit in a screen shot.

and Ellie's level 2 screen:

On the left side you can see three round buttons.  The first one brings you to the home screen, the second button toggles between the two levels and the third one brings you to the playground.)  The playground opens in a new window which can be confusing for little ones when they want to get back to the main screen.  Often times Ellie will close the windows and we have to go back through the process of logging in again (which means I have to type in her user name and password because she doesn't know how to do that.)

The K screen looks a little different. This is the welcome screen in the K level.

The third grade level looks like this too only with more subjects.

After choosing Math and Under the Sea (not shown) we come to a screen like this.  You can see the first two activities have been completed and there is an arrow pointing to the next activity.  This is a "suggestion".  They do not have to be done in order, but it is best to do them in order because they build on each other.

This was the screen after selecting Searchers of the Sunken Ship.  Again you can see the arrow pointing to the next activity. Then a quiz that can be taken once the activities are completed.

Once children spend time on lessons they are then rewarded with "playground" time. There are all kinds of games from Pac-man and Space Invaders to puzzles and educational activities. There are 6 sections of the playground: action games, activities, kid places, two player games, puzzles and educational activities. In Kid Places, it takes you to various internet sites like PBS kids, Arthur and Starfall.

A partial view of the playground.
Every section has MANY games and activities

The amount of time a child has to work on lessons and the amount of time they get on the playground can be adjusted by the parent.  In the parent section you can set the minimum lesson time (0 to 59 minutes) and a maximum playground time (also 0 to 59 minutes).  The playground timer runs from the time you open that page.  If your child accidentally leaves that window open and does something else the time will just run out.Your child cannot access the playground until they have completed the minimum lesson time that is set in the parent area.

screen shot from second grade math

I like the idea that you could use this for your core curriculum if you wanted to.  It's not really the style of learning that we like (which is more Charlotte Mason/unit study/living books) so it's not something I would purchase for our family but if you are more inclined to a textbook approach to learning this might interest you. (I do think I would consider it if I was ill or pregnant with morning sickness and unable to function....it would work great for that.) You can really get a better idea of what is available by watching the 60 second tour, and then play with samples on the demo page. They also have an FAQ page and a page of screenshots so you can see what the pages look like. You do have to enter your name and email address in order to watch the demos.

I also like that it is completely online with nothing to download to my computer. However, we recently lost our internet for a couple of days (thanks to Irene) and many were without power in our area for over a week which could be a problem if you are relying on it for your main curriculum. Power outages aren't really a regular occurrence so it probably isn't really an issue.  It just "came up" while we were doing this review so I thought I'd mention it.

One very helpful feature in the parent section is for reports like the one below which can be printed out if you'd like (though printing is not yet available for the preschool level). This would be great for those that need records for portfolios. They also have an optional reading list an science supply list available. Two things that are available that we did not use, are printable worksheets (samples here) and a parent forum.

For levels above preschool you can generate and print reports from the parent area

I think I would have liked this better if I had the ability to choose assignments for the children to complete each day and have those be the only lessons that would show up.  Instead you have to figure out how many lessons you want them to complete each day in each subject and expect them to do it (or help them to make sure they do the right ones).  They can just pick and choose, but the lessons build on each other so it's best if they are completed in order(as mentioned above).

A subscription to Time 4 Learning is $19.95 a month for the first child and $14.95 a month for each additional child. This is too expensive for my family to consider especially with 5 kids in the targeted age ranges. Maybe if this was your core curriculum it would be worth that price. They do offer a 2 week money back guarantee.

Overall, I think Time 4 Learning has a lot to offer if you are willing to spend some time figuring it all out and shelling out the money to pay for it.You can see what others thought about Time 4 Learning on the TOS crew blog.

**editing this review to say that Connor really missed having this once it stopped being available.  Time4Learning has offered me a free month with my first paid month so I think I might purchase this for him

disclaimer: I received 4 subscriptions to Time 4 Learning for a one month trial in exchange for an honest review.