Balanced Literacy

I am the parent of a struggling reader. As such, I have researched the process of reading extensively and have had a chance to look at a variety of programs to help struggling readers. Although The Old Schoolhouseâ„¢ Magazine does not give star ratings for products, Balanced Literacy hits a home run!

The debate between phonics and sight word reading continues. Many reading programs land on one end of the spectrum or another. Balanced Literacy is well named because is contains aspects of both approaches, leaving the teacher the freedom to focus on each student's needs. A tremendous amount of research went into this package. It was developed with a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health. It meets state standards and was researched and evaluated by teachers nationwide. Why is this significant? I may have a "theory" about some aspect of learning and use it successfully with my child, but this is not an indicator that this approach will work with any other child. Balanced Literacy has been tried and tested with all kinds of learners and all kinds of teachers. It can be used by beginning readers as well as students with physical or cognitive disabilities. The traditional keyboard and mouse can be used, or an alternative keyboard is available for children unable to to use a standard keyboard. There is even a feature to control the size of the text!

The materials consist of a CD, a teacher's manual with day-by-day lesson plans and reproducibles, and a set of anchor books - hard copies of the stories on the CD. The theory is that the children first learn Onsets, which are consonants and consonant clusters found at the beginning of single syllable words, before the first vowel. They then progress to learning Rimes - clusters of letters that begin with the first vowel and continue to the end of the word in single syllable words - or phonograms, word families, or chunks.

The program consists of guided reading of the anchor books, word study activities, both on the computer as well as with blackline masters included in the teacher's manual, structured writing activities in each unit and self-selected reading. There are nine units each based on an animal theme. Each unit consists of sixteen lessons and thus covers first grade reading skills. A record keeping aspect allows the teacher to track and document each child's progress.

Let's walk through a lesson. Each unit begins with the anchor book. The student can listen to the story being read with the words highlighted. Pages may be repeated. Or the student may read the book themselves with the audio portion turned off. Next the student is given the opportunity to explore the story and test their understanding by answering questions and getting immediate feedback. The student can then quit, or choose to move on to learn the onset song and related activities. The student is given a screen of twelve pictures and is asked to select the picture that begins with the onset sound. Next comes a rime activity - a song introduces the rime and an activity and review are presented. The remainder of the unit includes a pattern book, giving the child practice in specific language patterns, and writing with words, where students create sentences from a word bank of on-screen words. A culminating activity in each unit is The Decodable Book and Writing lesson. The student practices their new skills with a story with a similar theme to the anchor book. In Decodable Writing, students choose correct words to fill in sentences with missing words. When the sentence is completed, it is read aloud to the student. Optional games are provided at the end of each unit consisting of a concentration game, an obstacle game and crossword puzzle game. Each provides immediate feedback and fun review.

The beauty of this program is that everything you need is integrated seamlessly into the activities! The activities are multi-modal and appeal to all types of learners. The teacher can shift the child's focus to the aspects which will strengthen weaknesses. This product can be used to teach all students in a family, whether beginning or remedial, whatever learning style.

Enough about all the technical stuff and fancy words. My kids found that this program was FUN and ENGAGING. My struggling reader really responded to the lessons and my beginning reader was enthralled with the beautiful presentation.

The entire Balanced Literacy package sells for $299.00. If that seems a bit high, consider the fact that this can be used for multiple children for multiple years! The additional blackline masters in the teacher's manual can be copied over and over again.

"When ordering from IntelliTools, please use the following code: 'TOS123' to receive a 10% discount off the single unit price of any IntelliTools product. This offer does not apply to third party products, upgrades, bundles, or multiple unit purchases. This offer is open to US residents only. Please place your order at the IntelliTools online store at www.intellitools.com or call Toll Free on 800-899-6687 to receive this special discount."

IntelliTools Math

Number Concepts 1 with Oshi the Otter

Designed for use with children in grades K - 2, in this program children study number concepts in an ocean environment. As with the above product, record keeping is simple because students' work is saved in a printable portfolio.

The purpose of this program is to help the children learn number sense by giving them experiences in counting, numeration, number relationships and beginning addition and subtraction. The activities take place on three seashore environments: a beach, a coral reef and a tide pool.

Like Balanced Literacy above, the program is accessible to children with special needs with special overlays or may be used with standard input devices. It's correlated to math textbooks and meets the standards of The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), so it can be used with any textbook in any setting. Blackline masters are provided to make manipulatives to complement the work.

The accompanying teacher's manual contains many off-computer activities to reinforce and extend the computer work. Other helpful activities are presented, such as keeping a math journal.

So, what does this look like? The first activity is the counting activity which takes place on a beach. Seashore animals scurry in and out of a cave while students count using numbers 1 - 20. The student is either given a Show Me question or a How Many question. With a Show Me question, a number is displayed and the student is asked to show a corresponding number of sea animals. In a How Many question, a number of sea animals are shown and a student is asked to choose the corresponding number. An Explore Mode is available in which students can continue to work on these concepts in a less structured setting.

The next activity is the Greater Than/Less Than 'game' which takes place on a coral reef. Sea animals swim to opposite sides of the reef to give the child an opportunity to practice using the concepts of greater than, less than and equal to, using numbers 0 - 20. A Question and Answer Mode and an Explore Mode are also available here.

The Addition and Subtraction activity is set in a tide pool. Here sea animals are washed in or out with the waves. Students practice adding and subtracting the numbers 0 - 20. The teacher can set a specified problem range to control the level of challenge. The Question and Answer Mode and the Explore Mode are also available in this setting.

The colorful, fun feel of this program is very appealing. My kids loved moving and counting the sea animals. My beginning student immediately grasped some of the concepts. My struggling learner got some great reinforcement from the activities.

Number Concepts 1 sells for $79.95 at the time of this writing. Because the concepts are universal, it can be used with any curriculum as a great teaching tool or reinforcer.