Action SATS Learning: Key Stage 1 4-7 Years: Phonic Spelling

Action SATS Learning: Key Stage 1 4-7 Years: Phonic Spelling is a title that is designed to help children learn through a gaming environment. The subject here is, obviously, spelling and the title plays just like a computer game.

Each topic is treated as a new level in the game, when a level is completed the player is treated to a mini-game and the points scored in these games are used to increase the pupils game time. The game continues until the player runs out of time at which point the game ends.

The topics/levels in this title are: First Letters, Missing Vowels, Short / Long Vowels, Rhyming Words, Final 'ing', Same Endings, Building/Using Words, Silent Letters, Vowel Sounds, More Vowel Sounds, Days and Dates, and Letter Blends.

The format throughout is the same, The player is presented with a series of multiple choice questions each of which has four possible answers. Each question has a points value which decreases the longer the pupil takes to answer. To aid the pupil there are three help options, a 'Zap 2'box which eliminates two false answers; a 'Clue' box which gives the initial letter of the answer which, when the question is 'what is the missing letter?' is the same as giving the full answer; and a 'Look It Up' box which gives the pupil the information they need to answer the question.

The first level, 'First Letters', typifies the game play; here the pupil is shown a picture of say, a log, hears the word 'log' spoken, and must select the letter 'l' from the four letters shown. There are some minor topic dependant variations, for example in Level 3 'Short and Long sounds' there are no pictures and the pupil is asked questions like 'Which word has a long sounding 'e'?' and must select the correct word from the four presented, e.g. in a list of bed, lemon, female and wet the answer would be female.

There is a high score table and the game is played entirely with the mouse.

The mini games in this title are:* Skid Marks: A mouse controlled driving game where the player must race down a road, avoiding cones and roadside obstacles, for as long as possible

• Meteor Wars: A mouse controlled Missile Command style game
• Rocks: a mouse controlled Asteroids game in which the player has just one ship and must survive and destroy as many rocks as possible

All levels can be revised, i.e. played individually, and the pupil can also take a test in each subject for which they are rewarded with a printable certificate.