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Software Review I really enjoyed learning more about the software that I chose to review, Kidspiration 3. Kidspiration has a great deal of resources for both students and teachers to utilize within the classroom. Like Inspriration, Kidspiration allows you to make many different types of diagrams including sorting charts and a plethora of other graphic organizers. One aspect that I really liked about Kidspiration 3 is that it speak each word that the student types or clicks on. This is especially important for my students because many of them read at a 1st to 3rd grade level. this helps them to learn the word, both in context and in isolation.

Another piece about the kidspiration that I really liked was the fact that I could create a password protected teacher user. With way, I could create an activity for the students to complete while at the same time ensuring that they do not change the activity for the next student to complete. This tool allows the student to complete their work, print it out, and then allow the next student to complete the activity without it being altered in any way. Many students benefit from the visual input and interactive aspect that they receive from the computer. In fact, even though this software is mainly geared towards K-4 users, I have used it with my high schools. We use a lot of graphic organizers in our classroom, but pen and paper tends to become boring. Kidspriation allows you to create a graphic organizer which has URL embedded with, so that the student can utilize the internet to complete their G.O. I loved this idea, and it really works well with students of all abilities. I have actually used this in conjunction with WordQ for those students who have lower reading abilities because it reads information out loud when it has been highlighted (on the internet, word documents, powerpoint, etc.).

Kidspiration 3 also comes with a book that contains over 50 lesson plans in vocabulary, phonemic awareness, comprehension and more. This is especially helpful for teachers who are constantly on the go. There is no need to reinvent the wheel everyday because there are tons of resources out there for both you and your students to utilize. And once you get used to learning the different icons and symbols, it becomes extremely easy to use. It also comes with many all ready made and ready to use templates for science, social studies, language arts, and math.

I hope that everyone gets the chance to utilize this great resource, because I definitely do enjoy using it!!