We had the opportunity to review Orphs of the Woodlands by Star Toaster, which is an online educational resource and game. It is geared towards students in the fourth grade and older.
Orphs of the Woodlands is an educational game that has lessons in about all of the subjects a student typically covers in a school year. The student completes exercises in character skills, critical thinking, language arts, math, science, vocabulary and more in a manner that is quite unique. The Orphs of the Woodlands is presented as an interactive book. That is what makes this program so appealing.
Treasure of High Tower is the name of the online book the student is reading (working)through. There are 15 chapters with great graphics that engage the student.
River used the program on a computer and Lily was able to use the program using her iPad. The child is the main character of a squirrel, which they are able to name. Lily called her squirrel Lightning Quizzer. As the squirrel, she became a spy character in the story and her mission was to stop the Night Creatures from making all of the children (children are animals like squirrels, rats, raccoons, mice, etc.)in High Tower orphans. So her job was to earn money to take care of the orphans or Orphs. And so the game began.
The student chooses from a different job, which are actually subjects from which questions are posed. The student answers questions. If they answer them correctly, they get paid in stars, which is currency in the story. If they get it wrong, they don’t get paid. Students must complete a variety of jobs in order to earn stars. They cannot only spend time in math and expect to progress through the story and earn enough stars to make purchases. The student has to move to another subject and complete the questions to earn additional stars. The student is challenged in all subjects, which is how he learns.
The picture above shows the house where the squirrel lives and the surrounding homes are ones that can be purchased along with other supplies that are shown on the top border of the images.
The student continues through the jobs to earn stars so they can care for the orphs, which are orphan animals like squirrels, rats, raccoons, mice. With her stars, they are able to care for the animals by purchasing food, water housing, activities and more. They are also able to purchase land where housing can be built for the Orphs.
I let River and Lily work through the program independently. I was e-mailed progress reports for both children from Start Toaster.
As the child works through the program, they continue to be challenge by the varied questions in the jobs they complete.
A comment from Lily: “I like the fact you can create your own personal journey through the story.
I think the program is one where a self-motivated student will do well working through the chapters. The only way to progress through the story is to continue answering questions that get more challenging. If your student is up for challenges and adventure, then Orphs of the Woodlands may be a good fit for him. The program would be a lot of fun to use as part of a summer reading program. The student will enjoy a fun story and be able to reinforce the subjects they learned over the the school year.
You may try Orphs of the Woodlands for free.
PRICE AND AVAILABILITY
Orphs of the Woodlands is available for $19.99 for two months.
Social media
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/startoaster/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startoaster4kids
Twitter: https://twitter.com/StarToaster
You can read more reviews of this item by fellow crew members.