HIT -> CD's for Primary Children

[Madeline Buchanan <DEMS105@UABDPO.BITNET>]

  Thanks for your prompt replies to my question about CD's appropriate for
primary children.  I received suggestions of many good CD's and software
programs that could be used with K-3 students.  Titles are listed below.

  The majority of people who replied mentioned the Living Books by
Broderbund.  Titles included "Arthur's Teacher Trouble", "Just Grandma and
Me", "New Kid on the Block", and "The Tortoise and the Hare".  Two parents
whose children attend Avalon Public School in Sydney, Australia, have written
a program "James Makes a Salad" which will be marketed by Broderbund in a
few months.  Watch for it.

  CD's recommended were as follows.  These may or may not be available in
both Macintosh and MS-DOS formats.
       Grolier's Electronic Encyclopedia
       Encarta
       National Geographic The Mammals
       National Geographic--A World of Animals and Mammals - a Multimedia
          Encyclopedia
            (All National Geographic CD's were recommended.)
       It Started with George (Presidents of the United States not including
          Bill Clinton)
       Oceans Below
       San Diego Zoo Presents the Mammals
       Cell-abration (Science for Kids)
       Planetary Taxi
       KidPix and KidPix Companion
       Silly Wise Hare
       Microsoft The Dinosaurs
       Macmillan Children's Dictionary
       Dole Foods 5-Aday (Nutrition)
       Busytown (Based on Busy World of Richard Scarry)
       Kidworks 2 (Writing/illustrating program by Davidson)
       Writing Center (simple word processing)

  The Golden Book Encyclopedia was mentioned by two people.  There is a
school edition called "First Connections:  The Golden Book Encyclopedia" by
Hadley as well as the regular edition.  One person commented that the speech
sounded too much like a computer voice.

  Discus CD's include Cinderella, Aesop's Fables, Tale of Benjamin Bunny,
Paper Bag Princess, A Long Hard Day at the Ranch, Sitting on the Farm, and
Tale of Peter Rabbit.  One person stated that Discus programs seemed boring.

  Follett will be coming out with a CD catalog in September which will contain
about 35 CD's for elementary children.  To order a catalog, send your snail
mail address to Geopia@quake.xnet.com.

  Creative Writer from Microsoft was not appropriate for primary children.
Older students seemed to have trouble with it as well.

  Several good software programs were included.  These were
      Thinkin' Things (thinking skills by Edmark)
      Bailey's Book House (reading skills by Edmark)
      Storybook Weaver (creative writing by MECC)
      Superprint (desktop publishing by Scholastic)
      Wiggle Works (reading by Scholastic)  This comes on both CD and disk
         and the text and teacher ideas are included.

   Kid Desk by Edmark seemed to be an interesting program.  Each student
has his or her own desktop.  The teacher who suggested this says she didn't
know what she did before she used this program.

   Other disks included the series of "The Playroom", "The Treehouse", and
"The Backyard".

   "Software Kids' Studio is a program appropriate for second graders.  This
is an authoring/presentation program and sounds and slide shows can be
created using it.

   One writer suggested that Education Resources (1-800-624-2926) would be
a good place to order many of this software.

   Again, thanks so much for contributing to this list.  If I left anyone's
suggestion out, please let me know and I will post an addendum to this HIT.
I know I will use a lot of these suggestions in purchasing CD's for my
students this fall.

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   Madeline L. Buchanan           Barrett Elementary School
   Library Media Specialist       7601 Division Avenue
   DEMS105@UABDPO.DPO.UAB.EDU     Birmingham, Alabama  35206
                                  Phone (205) 838-7644

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