Smart4Kids General Description

1. Smart4Kids General Description The Four Smart4Kids Components Learn Stories Results

2. Overview The iLearn4Free reading application, Smart4Kids, is designed to be fun and exciting, and can be used to instill confidence in children around the world as they learn to read. The program is comprised of 30 to 35 units, depending on the language, with each unit focusing on a specific phonemic skill. Each unit consists of a sound introduction, three games and a story. Units will be easy for children to navigate independently, but are not intended as a surrogate for the teacher.

3. Research and Learning Methods Our scientific, research-based reading materials and activities are modeled after the “Big Five” focus areas recommended by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. We aim to motivate children to tackle the challenges of learning new sounds and recognize new words as they play interactive games and stories. M4read contains four key components: Learn, Reward, Stories and Results.

4. Learn Each smart4kids unit begins with a short introduction to the phonic that is being taught, such as short a, short u, etc. A short mini-story is also featured, which implement phonemics learned in that unit and reviews components and vocabulary from previous units.

5. Learn Each unit includes 3 of the 18 smart4kids learning games, specially tailored to teach and review the unit skills and helper words. These games include word completion, word sorting, word matching, sound matching, memory tests and more. In each unit, two games will focus on teaching new skills and vocabulary, and one game will focus on helper words, or sight words. These are words that do not necessarily implement the phonic being used but are important for fluency and competency, such as “and,” “but,” “he” and “she.”

6. Reward In each game, the user will win a point for each correct answer made. A certain number of points is required to move on to the next unit, and the points can be spent on fun reward activities that act as motivators. These reward activities include decorating and adding fish to Chico’s fish tank, decorating Kikou’s bedroom, collecting fruit to feed Akilah’s monkey, buying insects for Kikou’s bug collection, buying new clothes for Nirali, running an obstacle course with Karim’s horse, and taking care of Manuel’s coati.

7. Stories There are six stories that provide the context for Smart4Kids. These stories take place in six different cultures with six different characters, or heroes, that the user can relate to.  These stories provide the characters and settings for the different learning games in each unit, as well as the reward activities.

8. Stories Nirali and the Pariah On her way to dance class, Nirali befriends a stray dog and brings him home to meet her family. Although her family is unenthusiastic about their new houseguest, they allow him to stay. When the new dog becomes an unexpected hero, Nirali’s family learns the value of acceptance and generosity. Manuel and the Coati When Manuel rescues a small injured coati, his teacher and classmates decide to keep the tiny animal in the classroom while it recovers. Just when the class thinks they know all there is to know about coatis, their furry new friend teaches them the biggest lesson of all: some animals are better left in the wild.

9. Stories Akilah and Her New Friend Akilah lives in a small, happy village in equatorial Africa. Her brothers and father have left for the day and Akilah is feeling lonely. While running an errand at the local market for her mother, Akilah makes a new and unexpected friend. Kikou and the Cycle of Life While helping out at her grandparent’s farm in rural China, Kikou gets to learn about a variety of wildlife, and the way in which each animal is connected to one another. Finding nature fascinating, Kikou makes a big decision about what she wants to be when she grows up.

10. Stories Karim’s Journey Karim’s father gives him a beautiful, brave black horse named SidiLakdar. Together, Karim and SidiLakdar go on an adventure that takes them far outside the walls of the city and deep into the Arabian desert, where Karim learns a valuable lesson about responsibility. Chico to the Rescue An adventurous day at the beach becomes a lesson in friendship and caring, as young Chico must use both his head and his heart to help his new friend, a lovely little mermaid. A wonderful story about acceptance and kindness.

11. Results Smart4Kids provides a summary of skills acquired, units completed and points accrued to motivate the user to move forward and gain new skills. This summary also allows both the users and parents to track progression. Each unit is tracked through a color tracking system of white, light blue, dark blue and gray units. • Unit Color Tracking System • White Units — the user has already collected enough points to reach 80%, the minimum percentage required in order to move on to the next unit. • Light blue Units – Units in progress • Dark blue Units – Units not started • Gray Units – Units not yet loaded. Need to be downloaded and installed.