Greygum Software

The PM Story Books Software offers many useful features, including:

• stories read in clear speech with Australian accents;
• the ability to hear individual words spoken aloud simply by clicking on them;
• simple word games using the vocabulary from each story;
• a facility to enable children to write their own versions of the stories, hear them read aloud by the computer, and print them;
• the ability to set up the software to suit students' individual needs;
• a tracking option which allows teachers to monitor how long each student has spent on each activity; and
• two extra learning activities included on each CD.

It provides a clearly spoken reading of each story, and many related activities.

READING

Children can listen to the stories while looking at the text and illustrations on the screen. They can also click on an individual word to hear it spoken. Stories are spoken clearly in an Australian accent. A different voice is used for single words. This makes it ideal for ESL and special needs students, too.

WRITING

Older children can write their own stories based on the illustrations provided. Their stories can be read aloud by the computer at any stage and, if required, printed.

TREASURE!

Treasure! is a variation of the ever-popular "Hangman" game, in which the computer speaks the mystery word. Words are chosen from the current story, or (at the teacher's discretion) from another story or from composite wordlists of many stories.

SLIDE

Slide is another word game included with the software. In this game the mystery word is spoken, then children must spell it sequentially. As with all the activities, the teacher can adjust the game to suit the student.

CLOZE EXERCISES

Using the illustrations and text from the PM Library books, the Cloze exercises offer a simple and educationally sound way for children to apply their reading skills. In the simpler exercise, they choose the correct word from the alternatives shown. Harder exercises for older children require the child to type in the missing word.

POWERFUL TEACHER CONTROLS

Teachers have considerable control over which features and which books are made available to each child, and the degree of difficulty. Teachers can, if they wish, provide different settings for each child to suit individual needs. The teacher can, optionally, keep track of each child's progress. The computer can maintain a log of how long each child spent on each activity or story.

 

Platforms

Package includes CD suitable for both Windows and Macintosh. The Macintosh version is "Classic" only and not suitable for use on Intel Macs. The Windows version is 16-bit and not suitable for use on Windows 7.