JumpStart 5th Grade

by Vivendi Universal

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001XDW8
• Item model number: 3752
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 24, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,731 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From Children's Software Revue® -- "Subscribe Now!"

We were happy to see that this learning adventure has a smart, funny, capable, female lead character. Ten-year-old Jo Hammet, skateboard enthusiast and amateur detective is determined to outwit the nasty Dr. X. It seems that the doctor is angry at the city of Hooverville and is trying to take revenge by destroying the town's industrial sites. Jo stumbles upon the impending disaster and must solve puzzles in order to earn the necessary items to stop the destruction. Kids help Jo solve the puzzles, the content of which covers a wide range of fifth grade material. For instance, in the first challenge, children need to solve a crossword puzzle. To answer the art history and geography questions, kids can browse a museum, looking at paintings and other exhibits. All the information they'll need to solve the crossword is right there- they simply have to find it by reading and looking. Once they solve the puzzle, children are awarded another clue in the case. Kids also pick locks using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division skills and play a mind reading game that requires knowledge of parts of speech plus a little speed reading! Testers particularly enjoyed the arcade pursuits. One game has kids scrambling through mine shafts looking for certain objects from history while at the same time dodging falling rocks. Another is a pac-man like game that has children working with addition and subtraction of decimals. There's no doubt about it - the multilevel puzzles are challenging and not for kids who give up easily. We found the games tough but addicting and liked the fact that kids must really do some thinking. We also appreciated the wide range of activities and subjects covered.
Teaches: reading, math, geography, art, history
Age Range: 9, 10, 11 Copyright © 2000 Children's Software Revue

Product Description

Stop the villainous Dr. X from destroying the City! Pack extreme fun and exciting adventure into learning while you search out the clues, unlock secret codes, and expose the villain's menacing plan. Master over 25 skills in Math, Reading, History, Science and more.

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Step Down for Jump Start Series, March 29, 2000

By 

Phyllis R. Little (State College, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: JumpStart 5th Grade (CD-ROM)

After loving Jump Start 3rd and 4th Grades, I was very disappointed in Jump Start 5th Grade. It is difficult to navigate and some of the material is far beyond the knowledge of any 5th grader I know.

To solve the Art History crossword puzzle you are supposed to go to the gallery and do research. But the gallery is so hard to use that my family usually resorts to randomly guessing letters in the puzzle rather than try it. As an educated adult, I don't even know more than one of four clues in the puzzles without research or guessing.

If the other subjects were as unreasonable as Art History, I would have given an even lower rating.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Forget-About-It, December 27, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: JumpStart 5th Grade (CD-ROM)

We have several JumpStart levels, and so I thought 5th grade would be okay, but I was wrong! It starts out with a looong cartoon intro. Then you are forced to go through a politically correct interview of a "rat" before you can start with a crossword puzzle that stopped us cold.

One of the questions it asked in level one (the easiest) is who is (1548) the Venitian artist of the same town? So, we had to go through the "museum" of baroque art, look at every picture, read every description, and still didn't fine the answer!

I took art history in college, not in the 5th grade! Now I can't even return the ...junk!

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poorly designed, way too frustrating, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: JumpStart 5th Grade (CD-ROM)

Despite good reviews for other JumpStart programs, the 5th grade one is very frustrating. The opening scene gives no guidance for what the child is supposed to do and the dialog between the two characters is way over their heads. My daughter was totally frustrated and lost all enthusiasm for trying this program.