The computer lab at Barry Elementary offers a unique opportunity for individualized instruction by using the SuccessMaker software from Pearson Learning.  The staff has used the software for 11 years and is excellent at utilizing it as an extension of the classroom.

Through the SuccessMaker Lab we are able to work with students at their current instructional level.   This allows us to catch up students who are below level and accelerate students who are above level to keep them challenged. Students completing the math software are working at a grade equivalent of 8.99. 

The SuccessMaker Lab is an innovative, balanced educational program that incorporates curriculum, management, and assessment into a powerful results-based learning system. The software offers hours of interactive learning activities in reading, language arts and mathematics for students in grades K through 6th. Teachers are able to monitor and direct the progress of each student on an individual basis.

Students attend lab daily for 20 to 30 minutes. The teacher and lab manager work together cooperatively to monitor the individualized instruction.

What are The Programs in SuccessMaker?

Reading Readiness
This program develops children's readiness skills in preparation for formal beginning reading instruction. The readiness skills include letter identification, visual discrimination, auditory discrimination, vocabulary building, comprehension skills, and other special activities. The program offers audio instruction, positive reinforcement, immediate feedback to student responses, individualized skill practice and review, colorful graphic illustrations, and animated reward sequences.

Initial Reading
Initial Reading develops early reading skills through vocabulary, word attack, and comprehension skills. The skills primarily focused on are letter identification, patterns, sight words, word comprehension, sentence comprehension, and passage comprehension. The program offers the features of audio instruction, positive reinforcement, immediate feedback to student response, tutorials, colorful graphic illustration, and animated reward sequences.

Readers Workshop
Readers Workshop develops basic reading comprehension and vocabulary skills emphasizing higher-order thinking skills. The skills primarily focused on are thematic lessons, passage comprehension, interpretive comprehension, literal comprehension, word meaning, word analysis, and reference skills. The program provides individualized practice and reinforcement, automatically tracks and reports student performance, produces practice worksheets for specific skills, and motivates students using graphic illustrations and animations.

Math Concepts and Skills 
This program builds skills in numeration, computation, geometry, measurement, fractions, decimals, probability, data analysis, and problem solving. The contents of the program include addition, decimals, division, equations, fractions, multiplication, speed games, subtraction, applications, geometry, measurement, number concepts, probability and statistics, problem-solving, science applications, and word problems.