advertisement

red line
SuperKids Software Review - The Parent's and Teacher's Guide to Childrens' Software
free newsletter! spacer tell a friend! spacer contests
spacer
software
  reviews
  bestseller list
  price survey
  what's new
  product support
  search
spacer
educational tools
  ask a scientist
  math worksheets
  vocabulary builders
  hangman
  iPhone/iPad apps
  logic games
  brain food
spacer
educational insights

feature articles
spacer
marketplace
  iPhone/iPad apps
  reading corner
  movie corner
spacer
SuperKids home
  about SuperKids
  advertise!
  humor
  links
  help
spacer
  * * *

Promotions




  * * *

spacer all reviews > > > reading

Reader Rabbit's Reading 4-6

The Learning Company

ages 4 to 6

Rating Scale
5 = great,    1 = poor
Educational Value
5.0
Kid Appeal
4.5
Ease of Use
5.0

Reader Rabbit's Reading 4-6 Screen Shot System Requirements

PC / Mac Price Survey

Product Support

Reader Rabbit's Reading 4-6 is an ambitious program designed to teach reading through "the development of phonemic awareness, letter sounds, word families and sight words in a purposeful, contextual fashion." Or so said one of our teacher reviewers! What does that mean? It means that if you looking for a systematic, phonics-based reading program for your child, this is it.

This entry in the Reader Rabbit series takes our character down the reading path through "Letter Land," a path littered with 40 sequenced storybooks of the genre familiar to those of us schooled before the advent of whole language programs. ("I see. I see Sam. Look, Sam! Look!") In addition to the basic reader books, the user must work through "skill house" games that teach basic encoding and decoding techniques (m + at = mat, h + at = hat).

Educational Value
Reader Rabbit's Reading 4-6 follows a controlled vocabulary approach to beginning reading instruction (i.e. there is a finite set of words used in each book, each used in a progression, with repetition). While favored by many phonics proponents, it is unlikely to be appealing to a whole language purist. Our view is that different children learn in different ways. With some, phonics is the superior approach, with others, whole language may be more successful. But in either case, a child's ability to read well ultimately will benefit from the decoding skills this program teaches.

The program is purposely designed for school use in K-2, as well as at home use. Although our more experienced teacher reviewers felt Reader Rabbit's Reading 4-6 contained "excellent" educational material, they felt it unlikely they they would consider building their reading curriculum around a software package. One thought it had excellent potential for home-schooling a beginning reader.

Kid Appeal
This is a strong education title, and is lighter on entertainment content than most comparable products. We tried it out with kids 4, 6, and 8 years-old, and none of them were captivated by the program. "I liked it at first because I liked the other Reader Rabbit's," said our 6 year-old. "But this one was boring." Our 8 year-old said, "I didn't see much point in the books. We don't read 'Look, Look' books in school. There are more interesting books than that." This program does not appear to be a good babysitter surrogate -- but that really is not its intent.

Ease of Use / Install
Installation was simple on both the PC and the Mac. Both parents and kids found using the program intuitive, although the older children were frustrated by the structured pace of the program. The consumer manual was very good, and the teacher's manual excellent.

Best for... / Bottom-Line
Reader Rabbit's Reading 4-6 is appropriate for a typical kindergartner. Advanced pre-schoolers would benefit, as would slower 2nd and perhaps remedial 3rd graders. If you want a highly structured, phonics-based program, you've found it! But if you are looking for something the kids will go off and work on by themselves for an hour after dinner every night, you will probably be disappointed.

See SuperKids' comparisons with other Reading software titles, and the Buyers Guide for current market prices of the PC and Mac versions of this program.

System Requirements
PC: Windows 3.1/95/98, 486/66 or faster cpu, 10 MB hard drive space, 8 MB RAM , Super VGA (640x480x256 color), 2X or faster CD-ROM, Windows compliant sound device, mouse.

Mac: Macintosh, 68040 or PowerMac, 10 MB hard drive space, 8 MB RAM, 256 color or better display, 2X or faster CD-ROM.

Reviewed on:

  • PowerMac 6400/200 with 32MB and 4XCD
  • Pentium90 with 32MB and 2XCD
  • return to top of page



    Go to: About SuperKids Educational Software Review
    Questions or comments regarding this site? webmaster@superkids.com
    Copyright © 1998-2024 Knowledge Share LLC. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy