REVIEW & GIVEAWAY!!!
Yes, you read that write I have an incredible giveaway for one lucky winner! The product that is up for grabs is a one year license to a fantastic new online program called - Ko's Journey 5th -8th grade Math Improvement with Story Playing. - Instructions for giveaway at the end of the review...
[Image] Ko’s Journey covers the core concepts in middle-school math, comprising about 20% of a comprehensive curriculum. By going deep into a set of approximately 10 main areas of learning, students gain a rich, contextual understanding of essential concepts including number lines, fractions with non-common denominators, multiplication, division, rounding, percentage of numbers, applying scales, graphing comprehension, linear equations, Cartesian coordinate mapping, area of a circle, ratios, determining unknown variables, volume, complementary/supplementary angles, slope, addition/subtraction of decimals, multi-step problems and conversion of units of measure. This program is fantastic! It is super simple to setup an account, which they have at many different levels including individual for $39 or Intervention Homeschool (up to 3 players) for $59. To me this is an extremely reasonable price for this very unique and engaging supplement to your middle school math curriculum.This program features - 15-hour curriculum of core middle school math embedded in rich storyEasy on-line set-up and administrationAutomatically tracks student progress and assignmentsAligned with NCTM standardsExcellent preparation for state testing (includes pre and post tests)Interactive learning environment with peer teachingCreative tool aimed at addressing emotional resistance to mathEmpower students comprehension of fundamental conceptsSome of the reasons that KM says she has been enjoying are:"using math in a virtual real life simulation helps me to understand why it works""the graphics are great!""it is really easy to use""it saves my progress and tracks my scores""each new level brings some new challenge or puzzle to solve"
Some things that I have noticed - both good and bad -Pre-test and post-test features are great to really be able to tell if they have learned new concepts by using the product or if previously covered concepts have been reinforce. Entertaining storyline to help keeps the wanting to work with the programSet-up was super easy Tracking of grades and progress is done automatically so you can ask your student to work on it and will know how they did from your own log in screen.It is possible to change the student information so that if you have more than one child you could purchase the individual program and they could either work through it together or once one child has completed it - as it is only a 15 hour curriculum - another child could restart it, as you have access to the program for one full yearWhen using it on different computers it takes a VERY long time to load. This is not a big deal when we are at home, but when we are out and about and she wants to play it on the laptop it can be a bit annoyingHere are some screen shots - [Image][Image]
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I am very excited about the direction of this program and am hopeful that we will see more things to come of this high quality!
Now for the giveaway! Imagine Education has been generous enough to offer one lucky reader a full year individual license for this incredible math game! All you have to do is post a comment and you will be entered! Please be sure to leave an email address or blog link for me to be able to connect you through.Also if you have a blog, mention this giveaway, come back and submit a link to the mention you will have a second chance to win! This will be limited to two entries per email address or blog link. All comments or posts must be submitted no later than 8pm EDT on Friday 5/21 - I will announce the winner on Monday May 24th!