Features Set:  

The 80 lessons are divided into four progressive reading levels: Phonics/Phonemic Awareness, Early Comprehension, Independent Reading and Higher Comprehension.

The program has a narrator who guides students through the lessons, so they require little supervision. Lessons are divided into sessions. After each session, students will enjoy watching the antics of different characters, which sets the stage for the next session. This allows students time to absorb new information and keeps them from getting bored.

Phonic/Phonemic Awareness introduces letter sounds and sounding out words. Early Comprehension teaches listening comprehension and understanding the meaning of words and sentences. Independent Reading helps students understand stories and introduces new vocabulary. Finally, Higher Comprehension teaches students how to compose sentences and focuses on reading fluency.

To make the interactivity more challenging, some parts of the sessions require students to click on a series of correct answers to move the characters to a final destination. For example, a student must correctly answer several questions to allow characters to climb a ladder into their spaceship. If the student answers incorrectly, the characters have to start over. When the characters reach their destination, any questions the student may have missed are reviewed.

At the end of each lesson, a progress report is emailed to the student’s parents and students have the option to repeat a lesson.

While it’s important to hold students’ attention with fun animated characters, a few of the sessions seem too focused on entertainment.

Ease of Use:  

ClickSmart’s design makes it easy for students to use with little supervision. A narrator guides students through each lesson and arrow buttons allow students to skip or repeat a session.

Ease of Installation/Setup:  

To order ClickSmart, you need to register on the Scholastic ClickSmart website and pay with a credit card. You can pay with four installments or pay in full. ClickSmart does not require a software installation. The program is accessed from any computer as long as it has Windows 95 and above, Internet Explorer 4 and above or Firefox 1.0 and above. For Macintosh systems, you will need Internet Explorer 5 and above, Firefox 1.0 and above or Safari Beta 2 and above. ClickSmart also requires Adobe Flash Player v.6, which is a free download.

You can use a link from the ClickSmart website to test your computer’s compatibility with the program.

Help/Support:  

Once you are registered, you can search through a list of FAQs from the ClickSmart website. You can also contact ClickSmart customer service and technical support by telephone or email. We emailed them questions and they replied with helpful answers within 24 hours.

ClickSmart Reading is a great web–based program with four progressive levels of reading included in 80 lessons. Students interact with space alien characters while they learn to read. Workbooks, reading books and flashcards are also included with the program for practice away from the computer.