Review: Samson's Classroom

Our newest review product is Samson's Classroom - an online learning environment that targets Kindergarten through fifth graders.  The program is focused on the reading area of education, and has content in three specific areas: site words, spelling, and reading comprehension.

When you log into Samson's Classroom this is what you see:

It's a nice, clear, easy to navigate interface.  Your three main class options are right in front of you.  

In the Sight Words area of the classroom there are a set of sequential exercises that the child completes for a set of words, and there are a number of lists (7) and levels (4) that the child works through.  First the words are introduced, then the word is narrated and secondly the child spells it using on screen letter choices. In the third step all of the words show up on the screen and when the child hears a word they click on it and it disappears (this was Viva's favorite part).  

In the fourth step the child again spells the word, with an on screen keyboard, but this time ALL of the letters are available as choices (instead of a small subset, as in level 2).   Finally, in step 5, sentences are displayed with one word missing and the child clicks on one of four word choices to fill in the blank.  As they complete sets of words, and levels, they gain karate "belts" for Samson the dog.

In the spelling arena you can put in your own spelling lists or choose from a large selection of lists that other teachers have created.  From there you can choose the study zone, which shows a list of the words, and lets you see them in a sentence and hear them spoken.  Or you can play "karate chop", where you help smash the wood blocks by choosing the right letter that's missing from the word.

There is a spelling scramble where Samson races around the screen, and you try to steer him towards the letter blocks needed for words while avoiding the spider chasing you.  This game moved too fast for my 5 year old!  She preferred the karate chop game, although she found it confusing sometimes to just fill in the blank on a word as opposed to spelling the whole word.  Lastly was the Wally the Walrus game,where you try to spell words before the icebergs under Samson's feet disappear (Wally is chomping on them).  We didn't use this game, because it involved hunting and pecking for letters on the keyboard - a practice I discourage.  I liked that the other games provided on screen letters for them to click.

 These activities are NOT sequential, so you child can choose which to play and what order to play them in.

Lastly is the reading arena, where you choose from a long list of stories, read one, and then answer a short series of questions about the story.  This is definitely the most challenging area of this program, as even the stories in level 1 are quite long and involve some bigger words.  Genevieve, who is 5, could read them, but the stories are more work than "see bob sit"!  That being said, I also had my 6 1/2 year old Bentley try out some of the stories from Level 4 (the top level in the program) and he whipped through them with no trouble.  You earn hammer points when you complete stories.  The points let you swing a hammer with Samson and based on how well you time the swing you get a higher or lower score.  Your score is cumulative, so over time you can see it go up up up.

Other thoughts and information:

• In the Sight Words area Viva would get frustrated, because 100% mastery was required on each step before you could proceed.  She would consistently get a 7 out of 8 and need to repeat a step before moving on.  It would be nice if the parent could set a mastery level requirement to provide more leeway.
• The Resource Center provides worksheets that correspond to the site material - this is a nice bonus!
• Although there was not a ton of content, what there is available is laid out very nicely.  I think that often less is more, and I liked the scope of this site.
•  Samson's classroom provides a nice teacher login, with stats about how many games your children have played, how they scored, and how long it takes them to complete the games.  I appreciated this resource!
• The site was very child friendly to navigate.  I liked that it wasn't cluttered, the design was simple and clear.  
• Samson's Classroom costs $30 for 1 child annually, or $50 for a family license that includes up to 4 children.  
• Other than the spelling arena, the content on this site is more suited for the K-2 crowd than the K-5 group - in my opinion.
• The lack of advertising on the site was refreshing and appreciated.

Did I like it?  Yes.  I liked the reading comprehension classroom, as this is an area that can be neglected.  I liked the ease of set up and the simple spelling games that the kids enjoyed playing.  I didn't love the site words arena, but I am not a huge fan of teaching site words so that may have me biased!

Go here to see thoughts from more of the TOS review crew about Samson's classroom!

I was provided with access to Samson's Classroom, for review purposes, free of charge.  That being said, all opinions expressed are 100% mine.