Practice Planning

‘Practice Planning’ shows the child how to FOCUS AND PLAN by clicking on the key and then the door. Do this at least once with your child to show what the object of the game is and teach the child to click to pick each step in the FOCUS AND PLAN stage.  Each step appears at the screen bottom as it is added to the PLAN and there is a text box that follows the game sound.  On screen right is a score bar divided into the three boxes for the three parts of FAR.  Above the score bar is a count of the number of steps completed.

TIPS:

• Mention the object is to get a key to open a door and that they need to click on the key and then the door to add that step to their PLAN.
• Visual tips such as a yellow vibrating circles and blue arrows appear during this practice play as guides. The steps to complete are shown vibrating in the upper left corner when starting to show the child what to do.
• Point out what is happening as the child does the actions.
• Point out that each step in their PLAN appears at the bottom of the screen as it is added.
• Point to the Score Bar on the right to show it moves up as they FOCUS AND PLAN each step.
• If your child has difficulty with the mouse controls, place your hand on his/her and move and click together.

Practice Action

‘Practice Action’ should be done at least once after the ‘Practice Planning’ has been completed successfully.  Click ‘Options’ key to get the menu back and click on the middle choice, ‘Practice Action’. The purpose of this stage is to show how to ACT on the steps shown in a PLAN at the bottom of the screen by using the navigation keys on the keyboard or at the right on the screen.  There are both sound and text prompts.

TIPS:

• Visual tips such as a yellow vibrating circles and blue arrows appear during play as guides.
• As in the previous ‘Practice Planning’, discuss what is happening on the screen as your child plays.
• Point to each step in the PLAN as the child completes it.  Point out that you must ACT on all the steps in the PLAN in the same order as shown in the PLAN on the screen.
• Point out that in the ACT stage you move the character to do the steps, while in the FOCUS AND PLAN part they just finished you only clicked on items to make up the steps of your PLAN.  Compare this to the difference between thinking about doing something (planning) and really doing it (acting).
• The controls are more difficult in this stage so you may need to show how to use the space bar on the keyboard or arrow key on the screen right navigation area to jump over pits and climb steps.  Again, use hand-on-hand guidance if your child has problems with the controls.

Play Level

‘Play Level’ is a 13-level practice where the child will, at each level, make a new PLAN, ACT on it, and REFLECT using the same controls and screen layout learned in the previous ‘Practice Planning’ and ‘Practice Action’.  By clicking the arrows to the right of Play Level you can pick the start level, 1 to 13.  It is recommended that you begin the first time at level 1 since they become more difficult.  After any level ends there is a reward screen and when you click the arrow on the reward screen it automatically goes to the next level.  You can choose to end play or change the level at any time by using the ‘Options’ button above the Score Bar.  One of three different background screens (clouds, underwater, and space) is selected using the arrow keys beside the level setting.

TIPS:

• Before each part of FOCUS AND PLAN/ACT/REFLECT play begins, the relevant term is explained on a yellow screen.  This allows the child to pause, prepare, and clearly separate the 3 different F/A/R parts. When it is obvious the child understands, you can skip the explanations anytime by clicking ‘Start’ on the yellow screen.
• Visual tips such as a yellow vibrating circles and blinking steps appear during play as guides.
  
  
• When play for level 1 starts, the yellow F screen appears to explain FOCUS AND PLAN.  Click ‘Start’ to begin the PLAN play.  Have the child click on the key and point out that the key is now the first step on their PLAN shown at the bottom of the screen.  Point out the green score bar at the right shows they have one step in their PLAN.  When PLAN is finished the program goes to ACT.
• For ACT, the yellow screen with A appears.  Click ‘Start’ when ready to begin.  Discuss that the steps on the screen bottom show the steps that they made in their PLAN.  Now point out they must ACT on each step in their PLAN using the navigation keys.  Remind them that the score bar on the right (the red area), shows their success as they ACT out each step.
• When ACT is complete, the yellow screen with R announces the REFLECT stage where they think about what they did to ACT out their PLAN.  Again, as in the PLAN stage, the mouse clicking is used to repeat the steps, which appear on the screen bottom as completed.  The score bar on the right moves up with each REFLECT step done correctly.
• In PLAN and REFLECT the controls are mouse clicks.  In ACT the navigation is the keyboard or the navigation keys on screen right, which appear on the screen only in the ACT stage.
• The steps are always shown on the screen but in PLAN and REFLECT they appear only when the step is completed.  In ACT they are shown when beginning and are meant to guide the child in acting out the shown PLAN.