Kelly Bear Teaches About Feelings
Ages 5-7 (The Bureau for At Risk-Youth)

     The program uses a kid-friendly interface with superb audio instructions to help children understand and deal with their feelings and emotions.
     Three main topics are: (1) All About Feelings - discusses good or bad feelings, happy or sad, etc.  (2) Kids On Feelings -  children can relate to these video clips! See other kids talk about how they've felt: proud, scared, embarrassed, jealous, sad… Questions & answers follow: Question: When do you feel happy? Answer: When grandma comes to my house. Children are then encouraged to seek solutions to questions, such as, "What do you do to feel better?" or "The last time you were sad, what did you do?" Positive reinforcement comes from a video which shows Noah, a new child at school. Rather than sit alone and be sad, he takes the initiative to ask someone to play. (3) Fun & Games - Five activities provide fun, and relate to the "feelings" theme: Jigsaw Puzzle, Crossword Puzzle, Match A Feeling, Run Kelly! Run!, Sing Along.

The Hidden Treasure of Al-Jabr
Ages 11-13 (Sunburst)

     In this engaging and delightful program, children try to locate the ancient hidden treasure of Al Jabr, which was created by the great mathematician, Al-Khwarizimi, to foster the link between numbers and words. Challenges take the form of multiple choice questions, and there are 3 levels of play.
     The setting is Egypt, of course. In the sphinx, the child chooses between two playing modes:
(1) Adventure Mode - complete 3 challenges and receive the clues needed to help locate the treasure. In The Challenge of the Statues, students must order statues from smallest to largest by solving linear equations, linear inequalities, and substituting equal values into appropriate places in equations. In The Challenge of the Balance, students must understand mathematical statements and equations in order to balance weights on 3 trays. The exercises provide practice with linear equations, substitution, and comparing like terms. The Challenge of the Spheres offers lots of practice solving simultaneous equations as the child chooses combinations of spheres that fit the statements on the wall.
(2) Practice Mode - Here children can work on problems related to the 3 challenges, including the Translation Chamber, but no clues are earned for finding the treasure.