Word Roots Software B1 Review

Word Roots Software B1 (Also available as a workbook.)

My daughter’s first comment was “I love the music!”

This software is recommended for ages 12 and up, grades 7 and up. I played this with both my 12 and 11 year old girls and we all three enjoyed it! It was a bit challenging but this is truly excellent preparation for the SAT and other standardized tests. A couple years ago we began studying root words with one of Critical Thinking’s other workbooks, Word Roots Beginning. Not surprisingly, the kids prefer the software to the workbook. I am certain that it would not be as challenging if we had continued with the additional levels of word roots before jumping to this one. But in the end, it really does not matter. This software teaches all of the basics again in a fun way.

Check out the Demo – it is an amazing demonstration of the game. No surprises – you see exactly what you are getting before purchasing. The introduction teaches what roots, prefixes and suffixes are and provides examples. Then it explains the scoring system. This is helpful to read – one of my children skipped over it and became frustrated when she could not score high enough to build a city. The introduction teaches that points are deducted for hints and checking answers – that would have helped her scoring.

The whole idea of the game is that the player is an archeologist out to discover ancient Greek cities. Latin and Greek word parts are introduced brick by brick, literally. There is no real lesson – the parts are learned while you play. In addition, each lesson concentrates on only one or two word parts to encourage mastery.

The first part of the lesson is matching the word parts with the definitions.

Next, word parts are put together to create words that match the given definition.

The third part is using the words in context – dragging the correct word to the appropriate sentence.

Again, it is the same group of words and word parts used in all three sections to really reinforce learning. Depending on the degree of learning through the lessons, a complete city might be built (90% and above), a grayed out city (85% and above) or a pile of rocks (below 85%) will appear. So you just keep going until you really learn the word parts focused on in that lesson. Excellent reinforcement.

There are 50 lessons!! That covers so many word roots. In fact, it gives an excellent foundation to be able to break down unfamiliar words into parts to figure out the meaning!! That will be a huge help with standardized tests and life in general. For the amount of information offered and the unique way of presenting it – this software is truly outstanding and well worth the affordable price. I have always loved words and the meanings behind them, so I find myself playing it too!!

*Disclaimer: I was given a complimentary Word Roots Software B1 from The Critical Thinking Co. for the purpose of facilitating my review. No monetary compensation was given. All opinions expressed herein are unbiased and not influenced by the developing company or its affiliates in any way.*