5. On-Track Shapes
 
Welcome to School Zone's Shapes On-Track Software!
     
In this Read Me document, you will find the following:
 
Age Level:  Ages 3-5
 
Educational Goal:
To teach and practice preschool skills in preparation for kindergarten through interactive software that appeals to a variety of learning styles.
 
Educational Skills:
  • Shapes
  • Colors
  • Counting
  • Eye-Hand Coordination
 
Key Features:
  • School Zone Interactive software keeps children actively engaged.
  • Educators developed this electronic workbook; it contains the most current and essential skills, content, and approaches.
  
Additional Features:
  • Learning is reinforced with audio and animated rewards.
  • Simple program design allows children to work independently.
  • Fun games are rewarded after every two screens.
  • New questions and activities are generated.
  • Instructions for each page are read aloud.
  • The answers are marked as correct or incorrect.
  • The program saves the progress of each user.
  • Personalized progress reports and reward certificates are available.
  • This electronic workbook has printable pages for off-screen practice.
 
Play Summary:  
  Shapes challenges children to identify and construct basic geometric shapes. The goal is to complete all of the pages correctly. Once this is accomplished, the user can print a personalized certificate of completion. After every two screens, the user is rewarded with a game. Progress reports and footprints at the bottom of each screen track the user’s progress. A green footprint indicates correct screens, and a red footprint indicates screens with incorrect answers. A user may quit Shapes at any time and return later. By using the same user name, the software retains that user’s progress. The software randomly shuffles the activities and exercises for each new user.
 
Some Things to Remember:
  • The picture of the turtle will end what you are currently doing, correct your work, and then take you to the next page or activity.
  • The waving hand will end what you are currently doing and take you to the exit menu, where you can print a progress report or exit the program. The blue arrow on the exit screen will start Shapes over.
  • The footprints at the bottom of the screen show you which pages are correct, which pages need corrections, and which pages you have not attempted.
  • When the directions instruct you to “click,” that means you should press your mouse button one time.
 
Directions for the Activities and Software:  
  1. Introduction: 
  The alligator will tell you how to start play. Type your name in the box, then click the picture of the turtle.
  2. Activities:
  A voice will read the directions for each screen. If you need to hear the directions again, click any word in the directions. Place the cursor on the answer, and then click once to select the answer. To select more than one item, place the cursor on each item and click. To complete a dot-to-dot, click on each dot in order. To color a shape, first click the color you want to use. Place the cursor over the area to be colored and click to release the color. To build a shape, place the cursor over the line to be moved. Click the mouse button to move the line to its proper position. Click again to release it.
  3. Moving Between Pages: 
  After completing a page, click the picture of the turtle. Correct exercises will be marked with a star. Incorrect exercises will be marked with a red check. By clicking the picture of the turtle, you will move to the next page. You can choose a page by clicking on the footprints at the bottom of the screen. A red footprint indicates that you need to correct exercises on that page. A green footprint indicates a completed, correct page. You can return to a page at any time by clicking on that page’s footprint. Place your cursor over a footprint to see the page number. Click the waving hand to exit the program.
  4. Printing Pages: 
  A picture of a printer on the screen indicates that this page can be printed. Click the printer to print the page.
  5. Completing Shapes: 
  To exit the program, click the waving hand. To print your progress report, click the picture of the certificate. You can continue play by clicking the check mark. If you have completed the program and all of the answers are correct, you can click the purple ribbon to print a certificate of completion. Or, you can choose to play a game by clicking the picture of the turtles playing ball. You can start over by clicking the blue arrow.
 
 
Directions for the Games:  
  1. Shape Shoot Game: 
  How’s your aim? Try and shoot as many shapes into the matching targets as you can. Match the shape on the cannon to the shape on one of the targets. Move your mouse to aim the cannon and then click to shoot. Be careful, the shape changes on the cannon. If you shoot the wrong shape at a target three times, the game is over. Click to start.
  2. Seal Bounce Game:
  How many balls can you keep in the air at once? Move the seal under a falling ball to bounce it back into the air. You have three turns to keep as many balls in the air as you can. Click to start.
  3. Magic Rabbit Game: 
  Where’s that silly rabbit? Catch the rabbit when it pops out of one of the hats by clicking it. If you click on the wrong thing three times, the game is over. There are nine rabbits to catch. Click to start.
 
Technical Support:
  If you experience problems using this software, you can e-mail us at support@schoolzone.com or call us at 1-616-846-9601.

Support Hours:
Monday through Thursday 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. EST
Friday 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m. EST

Additional support is always available online at: www.schoolzone.com/support

Please have the following information available for technical support:
 
  • Operating system
  • CPU type and speed
  • Amount of RAM
  • Available hard drive space
  • CD-ROM speed
 
Minimum System Requirements:
  Windows® 7, Vista, XP SP3
    Pentium® III 1GHz (or equivalent)
    1GB of RAM
    800x600 32-bit color video
    16-bit sound card
    700MB of available disk space
    CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
 
  Mac® OSX 10.5, 10.4.11, 10.3.9
    Power PC™ G4 933MHz (or equivalent)
    256MB of RAM
    800x600 32-bit color video
    700MB of available disk space
    CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
 
 
Copyright © 2011 SCHOOL ZONE PUBLISHING COMPANY All Rights Reserved.
 
Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.