JumpStart 2nd Grade

Knowledge Adventure Announces Availability of JumpStart 2nd Grade

Children embark on a learning adventure that teaches a full second grade curriculum

GLENDALE, Calif., March 26, 1996 - Knowledge Adventure today announced the availability of JumpStart 2nd Grade, a fun-filled curriculum program that introduces children ages 6 to 8 to basic grammar, written composition, U.S. geography, higher math skills, problem-solving, science, the solar system, music and social sciences. JumpStart 2nd Grade blends the entire grade level curriculum of the second grade with 22 activities that cover a variety of subjects.

Created with parents, teachers and second grades, JumpStart 2nd Grade introduces children to sentence structure, letter writing, solving simple equations, addition and subtraction using three digits to teach "borrowing" and "carry over,", U.S. geography, money skills, and the writing of simple songs in the music module. The program's hosts, CJ the frog and Edison, his snappy firefly friend, help children master the exciting challenges and adventures in the program. Children can start JumpStart 2nd Grade by playing the various activities or by answering challenges sent by JumpStart Pen Pals. Pen pals ask children to help decode messages, solve puzzles and answer perplexing questions. Upon completion of each challenge, children are awarded with their choice of 180 animated postcards and stamps.

Knowledge Adventure's Adaptive Learning Technology customizes the difficulty levels to meet the developing competency of the child. In addition, children can immediately customize the level of difficulty of the gameplay in many of the 22 activities. To monitor a child's progression through the use of the program, the Progress Report provides immediate, printable feedback for parents, teachers and care-givers.

Larry Gross, president of Knowledge Adventure, said, "The fifth title in our series of grade-based curriculum products, JumpStart 2nd Grade serves as a foundation for children ages 6 to 8 to make exciting discoveries on their own as they learn essential curriculum skills geared for their age. Our educational mission at Knowledge Adventure is to make learning exciting - and JumpStart 2nd Grade embodies this goal. It's similar to offering children a magical teacher - one who motivates and inspires them to love the adventure of learning."

JumpStart 2nd Grade is available now through a wide variety of leading computer software stores, mass merchants, computer superstores, bookstores and computer specialty stores. The street price of the product is estimated at $35.

Subject areas in JumpStart 2nd Grade are interwoven throughout the activities to insure that children learn a variety of subjects while playing their favorite activities. The adventure begins after the school day ends when children enter the creaky elevator hidden in the schoolhouse wall to discover what activities await them in CJ's secret clubhouse. Activities include arcade-style adventures in which children journey into a fantastic world where they forge subterranean rivers in the Log Ride or escape the shark in the Fish Tank while solving math equations. Math concepts of "carry over" and "borrowing" are illustrated by playing the Football Game as children add and subtract yardage on the football field. Children are also introduced to adjectives, verbs and nouns in the Bookshelf that contains Edison's favorite books.

For Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 or 3.11, JumpStart 2nd Grade's system requirements are 486DX33/Mhz PC or higher, double-speed CD-ROM drive, 8 MB of RAM, 5 MB available on the hard drive, SVGA 256-color graphics adapter, a MPC-compatible sound card and a mouse. For the Macintosh, the system requirements are a 68040 or PowerPC processor, double-speed CD-ROM drive, 8 MB RAM, 4 MB available on the hard drive, System 7.1 or higher, a 13" or larger color monitor, and 256-color graphics capability.

Knowledge Adventure is a leading educational software publisher best known for its JumpStart learning series, the Adventure series and children's creativity titles. Founded in 1991, the company is headquartered in Glendale, California and is a wholly owned subsidiary of CUC International Inc. (NYSE: CU).

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