susiej/reviews

My “hot stuff” kindergarten graduate needs to work on his reading skills this summer so that he’ll be able to hit the ground running for first grade. His nutcracker friends were packed away with the Easter Bunny. A tutor, he would have, if we weren’t at the lake. But here, the only tutoring that goes on involves mastering this fine skill: Just how do you get the roasted marshmallow off your stick, onto the graham cracker without dropping it our burning your fingers in the process. That’s pretty much all we’re doing up here. Still, the first day of school looms ahead,and I’d like him to feel confident and ready.

But what exactly are the skills my kindergartner needs to master? If you’ve ever had the opportunity to sit behind a little kid’s table for a parent-teacher conference, you know that the teachers provide you with an avalanche of information about spatial awareness, number differentiation, phonics awareness, letter recognition, and comprehension. Each child learns differently, and in the microcosm of education, each child needs different tools. Knowing this, I ran to the library and filled our bag with a variety of books – hoping reading a lot would take care of everything.

Then the Parent Bloggers Network (thank you!) came to my rescue to ask me if I’d review the The Savvy Source and their new Savvy Quiz. (See my sidebar.) The quiz covers several questions in several categories — doesn’t take long, and you learn so much. Instantly, the results were ready, and I had all the information I needed to nurture his strengths, and build on his weak areas. Even better, the widget directed me to toys that will specifically help him turn his weaknesses into strengths.

The widget is on the sidebar here, and I encourage you to take the quiz – for free. The Savvy Source is trying to spread the word, so if you’re a blogger, and you would like to add this widget to your sidebar, (and earn some cash), let me know via email. (sjotest at yahoo.com)

PBN also sent me LeapFrog’s brand new Tag Reading System for ages 4-8, along with three books: Ozzie and Mack, Kung Fo Panda, and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. This set is heaven-sent. This is why I love the tag:

LeapFrog® Tag Reading System is a pen the child holds like a pencil. When he started kindergarten, my son’s biggest struggle was developing the muscles he needed to hold the pencil. Now, he’s happily engaged with his TAG, holding the TAG five or six times a day, building his muscles without even realizing he’s doing any work.

The TAG reads the words my child doesn’t yet know. My son holds the TAG over each word, and the pen miraculously says the the mystery word. How? A custom mixed-signal ASIC with a 32-bit RISC processor, of course. The TAG’s audio stereo system allows absolute position detection (so it reads exactly were he points the TAG). Event memory monitors my son’s progress with real-time playback. Each book is coded with an optical pattern system, licensed from Anoto, so that the TAG can determine the precise location in the book. So the TAG can jump all around the pages of the book (the way kids do), and the TAG follows right along, identifying each word or character on the page. Miracle technology.

The Tag is easy to use. Once I downloaded the stories onto the TAG, just like you load your I-Pod, my sons took over the TAG and were instantly playing games, reading stories, and creating nicknames for themselves with the TAG. Never once did they ask me for help, and I never picked up the instruction manual. They were off and running in seconds. I had more trouble figure out how to download the stories on the TAG than they did figuring out how to use the TAG. Here’s a tip. Make sure your TAG is off when you open the software. Once the software is loaded and on your computer, then turn on the TAG.

The technology advances along with my son. There are 3 levels to the TAG – you pick the level yourself by choosing 1, 2 or 3 stars. A beginning reader can use the TAG to read the entire story. A comfortable reader, who needs help, can use the TAG to help him when he gets stuck on a specific word.

GAMES! The biggest benefit is that each games requires you to think back on what was just read to improve reading comprehension. The TAG’s built-in game logic processing makes this feature the most entertaining part of the entire TAG to my son. He sits on the sofa with his brother, playing a reading comprehension game and they laugh and laugh and laugh at the TAG. The characters are engaging, funny and humorous. The stories are almost like an interactive movie that lets you highlight and repeat the funniest character’s favorite sayings. One mediates by chanting “Ommmmm marshmallows….” Incidentally, these games engage my 12 and 10-year olds too.

More GAMES!! One of the biggest problems little readers have is discovering the difference between a “b” and a “d.” Teach them the logic of the word “bed,” (b comes first, and it’s the head of the bed…) and yet it’s still too much to grasp. They need practice — the TAG gives them the right amount of practice to decode these letters, so that the recognition comes automatically.

Silly Songs and Rhyming: The best, silliest songs come from Ozzie and Mack I highly recommend this as a must-have book to go with your TAG investment. There are silly songs your child can create on his own, while creating lots of rhyming patterns, funny nicknames for themselves.

But is he learning anything? I know that my son has a book in his hand much more often than he would if he were depending on me to sit and read with him – he reads with the TAG at least five or six times a day. I also know that his hand muscles are developing a good “grip” to help him with all that writing he’ll be doing in first grade.

Still, I hear an awful lot of laughing and singing going on – “Are you learning anything, babe?” He says “No!” So, I try to sit down with him with the pile of library books I checked out for him, I see much more confidence. He’s plowing through the pages much more quickly, he’s paying attention to every word that appears on the page — he used to skip, making “I am” as “I’m.” He is learning — but he’s truly engaged in what he’s learning. Here’s another benefit that may or may not be related to the TAG – he seems to be more eager to read. He doesn’t see sitting down to open a book as a chore; he wants to sit down and the sofa and discover what the pages in this book have to show us. I was surprised, as I was afraid that all the bells and whistles from the TAG would make plain old books boring. Instead, the opposite seems to be the case. So, I feel good about the Tag, and I highly recommend you get one for your child, if you have one ages 4-8, and especially if he or she struggles with reading. The tag retails for $49.99, and the books are $13.99 – Meijer had them for $12.99.

I noticed the Tag books are now on display at Meijer. The kids quickly pulled Sponge Bob and Square Pants off the shelf and pleaded, “Can we have it.” I bought it. Now, thanks to that book, and all of the talk about Krabby Patties, he knows that “bite” is “bite,” and not “dite.”

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