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On the Farm
by Gerry Kennedy
On the Farm is a wonderful program, with beautiful visual images
onscreen. It comes from Sweden and is designed for children in
pre-school through to Grade Prep-1. It can also be used in special
settings and for young students who are deaf who can read whole
words or are beginning to use text. There are 5 delightful
activities. You can have sound effects and speech turned on or off,
with music playing in the background or you can work in silence.
Each scene is beautifully illustrated.
Build Up is the first activity where a child can press their input
device (i.e. click a mouse, press Enter key) and progressively add a
picture to the scene. From the Start Scene page, you can elect to
move into different parts of the farm (e.g. the farmhouse, chicken
coup, pigpen, paddock etc. Once you arrive, you simply click or
press a key/switch and build up the scene with one character (or
object) at a time. With the voice option on, you hear the name of
the object or its sound (e.g. a cat meowing, a dog barking).
In Discover Objects, children at home can practice and master the
use of their input device including direct pointing systems such as
touch windows, as well as indirect systems of mouse and trackball.
You can also elect to use the [Space] and [Enter] keys on the
keyboard, or program an overlay with IntelliKeys or simply slide in
one of the standard IntelliKeys overlays that have these two keys
and get started! This activity has a scanning feature with a red
arrow pointing to images. To move the arrow, press space bar. To
choose the object and have it voiced, with a text label describing
the object, press the Enter key. Switch users can access the package
by using the Don Johnson Switch Box or by programming the
IntelliKeys switch ports to [Space] and [Enter] keys. The default is
step scanning, with automatic scanning provided as an option, with a
tick box in the Options dialogue box. A Stop button is placed on
each page to go back.
Place Pictures works with the same input methods. You choose a part
of the farm and then place pictures, which appear at the bottom of
the screen, onto the page. This is a wonderful and most enjoyable
activity! When moving (i.e. dragging) the items, you see them move
in front, behind, in and over other background scenes and pictures.
Teachers and therapists can elicit rich language. Understanding and
exposure to concepts of directionality and the use of prepositions
and notion of placement can be introduced and practiced. Once again,
objects are voiced and text is revealed as you position the object.
This free-form mode will delight and motivate users of touch
screens, as it is so immediate and gratifying to have such control!
Place Words is similar in that the child moves text labels to
objects in each respective scene. Children that can read or
understand text will enjoy correctly labeling pictures. Use of
flash cards with this activity would be an ideal onscreen or off
screen activity, as you can print any screen at any time (by using
the [F9]). The font size can be changed to small, medium or large
and can be displayed in 10 different colors. A real bonus is the
choice of Capital letters, Lower case or mixed case.
Pictures and Words provides the opportunity for totally engagement,
with both text and pictures being manipulatives. Students in higher
grades will also enjoy this activity where users can create their
own scene and position characters to re-tell a story, make a picture
of their own volition or print a series of events that investigate
tense, situation or imagination. It is totally open-ended and
invites participation.
I consider On the Farm to be an excellent example of mature
programming where multi media capabilities of computers have been
cleverly employed to create a delightful piece of
educational/leisure orientated software for young children - of all
abilities. If you are looking for a software package that will
delight young minds and prove to be useful over time, then On the
Farm is a great candidate. Pleasantly voiced directions, prompts and
feedback with beautiful illustrations - a joy to review! I highly
recommend it to kindergarten and pre-school teachers and parents of
young children.
Win 95/98/ME
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