Learning Box Nine Currant Buns Parent's Guide Learning at Home Nine Currant Buns is designed to teach your child a wide range of skills. These are introduced in carefully graded steps so that you have control over the pace at which your child learns and progresses. This program: *teaches your child the numbers 6,7,8 and 9; *practises counting from 1-9 and down again; *introduces simple addition; *introduces simple subtraction; *makes sums fun. On this cassette are seventeen activities: Counting Activities 1.Counting demonstration 2.Counting, stage 1 6-9 in order 3.Counting, stage 2 6-9 at random 4.Counting, stage 3 1-9 in order 5.Counting, stage 4 2-9 at random 6.What's the number? stage 1 6-9 in order 7.What's the number? stage 2 6-9 at random 8.What's the number? stage 3 1-9 in order 9.What's the number? stage 4 1-9 at random Sums Activities 1.Adding demonstration 2.Adding practice stage 1. 3.Adding, doing sums stage 2 4.Adding, doing sums stage 3 5.Taking-away demonstration 6.Taking-away practice stage 1 7.Taking-away, doing sums stage 2 8.Taking-away, doing sums stage 3 Initially, you can do these activities together, but very soon your child will be able to do them alone. IMPORTANT Read this guide carefully and familiarize yourself with the activities before you introduce your child to them. Step 1 Use the Rhymes book and the Rhymes tape to introduce your child to the sequence of numbers 1-9 and 9-1, and the idea of adding and taking-away. Step 2 How to plug in your Spectrum a Connect your Spectrum TV socket to the aerial socket on your TV. b Connect your Spectrum EAR socket to the EAR socket on your cassette player. c Connect your Spectrum MIC socket to the MIC socket on your cassette player. d Connect your Spectrum 9VDC socket to the Spectrum ZX Power Supply Unit. e Now plug your cassette player, Spectrum ZX Power Supply Unit and TV to your mains socket(s). f Switch on your TV and turn the sound down to its lowest setting. Find your computer channel. When SINCLAIR RESEARCH appears on the screen, you have found the right channel. If SINCLAIR RESEARCH does not appear on any channel, you will have to tune one of the channels. Refer to your TV manual for instructions on how to do this. g Insert tape, side B upwards, into your cassette player. Rewind to the beginning if necessary. h Turn the volume control on your cassette player up to just below maximum. Now you are ready to load the program. Step 3 How to load the program: a Press J on your Spectrum keyboard. b Now hold down SYMBOL SHIFT and at the same time press P PRINT twice LOAD "" should now appear on the screen. If not refer to the Checklist. c Now press ENTER. d Depress the PLAY button on your cassette player. e A coloured border should appear on the TV screen. f Next stripes should appear in the border, as the program loads. g When the striped border disappears (after approximately 4 minutes), you can stop the tape. Your program is now ready. h You may need to adjust the controls on your TV to obtain the best results. Checklist 1 Is everything plugged in and turned on? 2 Is your TV on the correct channel? 3 If the stripes do not appear on the screen when you depress the play button on your cassette player, check the connections between your Spectrum and cassette player, and between the cassette player and the mains. The cassette lead has two grey plugs and two black plugs. Make sure the same colour is plugged into the same socket on both the Spectrum and the cassette player i.e EAR to EAR and MIC to MIC. 4 Is the B side of the cassette facing upwards? 5 Is the cassette wound back to the beginning? 6 Is the volume on your cassette player adjusted to just below maximum? 7 When you have checked all these, pull out the 9VDC plug to switch off your Spectrum. Reconnect it and start again. Step 4 How to begin an activity: a The first thing to do is to choose whether you want your child to practise counting or doing sums. Press 1 to choose counting or press 2 to select sums. b Now press ENTER c On the screen will appear a list of activities, 1-9 for counting or 1-8 for sums. To select the one you want press the appropriate number key. (Each activity is explained in full in Step 5) d Now press ENTER again. e Before you begin, put the overlay over the keyboard. The screen will tell you which overlay to use. f Now press any key in the pink area of the overlay to begin, e.g. ENTER. Step 5 Counting Activity 1: Counting demonstration a The screen shows a picture of a baker's shop. In the shop there is a box containing currant buns. Press ENTER and nine currant buns will jump out of the box, one by one, and form the number 9. b When ENTER is pressed again the number 9 symbol appears. c Press ENTER to sell a bun. The baker takes one of the buns away. The remaining buns hop back into the box and then jump out to form the number 8. d When ENTER is pressed again, the number 8 symbol appears, and so on. e Together you can work through all the numbers from 9-1. You might light to read aloud Nine Currant Buns from the Rhyme Book while doing this activity. f To move on to another activity, follow the instructions in Step 5. Activity 2: Counting, stage 1 6-9, in order a The baker's shop appears with the box of currant buns. A number forms in the middle of the screen. b Your child now has to move the correct number of buns from the box into the number. Each time any key in the blue area (eg 5) is pressed, a bun jumps from the box into the number. c If too many buns are counted, the baker shakes his head and the buns in the number make a surprised sound. All the buns jump back into the box. d When your child has finished counting out the buns, press any key in the pink area. e If there are too few buns, the baker shakes his head and your child must count some more. f If the quantity of buns in the number is right, watch out for a surprise. Then the buns will hop back into the box and another number appears. g The numbers appear in the sequence 6,7,8,9. h Initially, do this activity together, but very soon your child will be able to do it alone. i To move on to another activity, follow the instructions in Step 6. Activity 3: Counting, stage 2 6-9, at random The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 2 but any number from 6-9 will appear at random. Activity 4: Counting, stage 3 1-9, in order The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 2 but the numbers will appear in the sequence 1-9. Activity 5: Counting, stage 4 1-9, at random The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 2 but any number from 1-9 will appear at random. Activity 6: What's the number? stage 1 6-9, in order a The baker's shop will appear on the screen with the box of currant buns. A number (6-9) will appear in the middle of the screen. b Your child must move the correct number of buns from the box into the number by pressing the appropriate number key in the dark blue area of the overlay. c If the number key pressed is too large, the correct number of buns will jump out of the box and into the number outline, one by one. The remaining buns appear, the baker shakes his head and all the buns make a surprised sound. Then all the buns jump back into the box. Your child must now try again. d If the number key pressed is too small, the baker shakes his head and your child must then try again. e When your child presses the right number, the buns run into the number on the screen. Then they jump back into the box and a new number appears. f The numbers appear in the sequence 6-9. g Initially, do this activity together, but very soon your chid will be able to do it alone. h To move on to another activity, follow the instructions in Step 6. Activity 7: What's the number?, stage 2 6-9, at random The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 6 but any number from 6-9 will appear at random. Activity 8: What's the number?, stage 3 1-9, in order The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 6 but the numbers will appear in the sequence 1-9. Activity 9: What's the number?, stage 4 1-9, at random The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 6 but any number from 1-9 will appear at random. Sums Activity 1: Adding demonstration a A sum appears. Press any key in the pink area and one by one friendly creatures appear from behind the first number and move beneath the equals sign. b The plus sign then comes to life and takes the creatures from behind the second number and places them one by one, next to the creatures from the first number. c Then all the creatures disappear behind the answer one by one. d If you want to repeat the sum, press any key in the blue area. e To move on to another sum, press any key in the pink area. f To move on to another activity, follow the instructions in Step 6. Activity 2: Adding practice stage 1 a A sum appears on the screen and the first number flashes. Your child must count out this number by pressing any key in the blue area, as many times as the number. Each time one of these keys is pressed, a friendly creature scurries out from behind the number. b When there are the same number of creatures as the number, press any key in the pink area. Your child will not be able to count out too many creatures. c If a key in the pink area is pressed when not enough creaturs have been counted out, your child must count some more. d When your child has counted out the first number correctly, and pressed a pink key, the creatures move beneath the equals sign. e The plus sign comes to life and the second number flashes. Your child must now count this out as before. This time, each time a key in the blue area is pressed, the plus takes a creature from behind the second number and puts it with the others. f When the second number has been counted out, press a pink key. If the correct number of creatures has been counted out, they all move beneath the answer. g Now your child counts out the answer to the sum. This time when one of the keys in the blue area is pressed, one of the creatures changes colour, to show that it has been counted. When all the creatures have been counted out, press any key in the pink area. h If the correct number of creatures has been counted, the creatures move behind the anser, one by one. If not, your child must try again. i Press any key in the pink area for another sum. j Initially, do this activity together, but very soon your child will be able to do it alone. k To move on to another activity, follow the instructions in Step 6. Activity 3: Adding, doing sums stage 2 a Now the sum appears with the answer omitted. Your child must count out each number as before but this time, the answer is not displayed. b When your child counts out the right answer, this number is displayed and the creatures move behind it one by one. c Press any key in the pink area for another sum. d Intially, do this activity together, but very soon your child will be able to do it alone. Activity 4: Adding, doing sums stage 3 The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 3 but now your child must press the appropriate number key for each number in the sum. Activity 5: Taking-away demonstration a A sum appears. Press any key in the pink area and one by one creatures appear from behind the first number, as in Sums Activity 1. b The minus sign turns into a snake. This takes the creatures and puts them one by one behind the second number. c The remainder move beneath the answer and one by one disappear behind it. d As before, press any key in the blue area to repeat the sum. e To move on for another sum, press any key in the pink area. Activity 6: Taking-away practice stage 1 The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 2 but now your child is taking-away. Activity 7: Taking-away, doing sums stage 2 The procedure for this activity is the same as for Activity 3 but now your child is taking-away. Activity 8: Taking-away, doing sums stage 3 The procedure for this activity is the same as for Sums Activity 4 but now your child is taking-away. To move on to another activity follow the instructions in Step 6. IMPORTANT All the activities have been carefully graded and designed to allow children to work through them at their own pace. We suggest that you do not push your child to more advanced activities before he is ready. Remember, the activities should be fun as well as educational. Step 6 How to finish an activity Hold down CAPS SHIFT and BREAK SPACE and press 1 once. You can now choose another activity as before. To choose another exercise, hold down CAPS SHIFT and BREAK SPACE and press 1 once. How to end the program To end the program, simply disconnect the Spectrum ZX Power Supply Unit from the mains. How to switch off the sound To switch off the sound, hold down keys CAPS SHIFT and BREAK SPACE and press 3 once. To switch the sound on again, repeat this action. How to pause To pause: Hold down keys CAPS SHIFT and BREAK SPACE and press 4 once. To continue, repeat this. NOTE: These key combinations have been carefully designed to make it difficult for your child to carry out any of these actions accidentally. (C) Five Ways Software Limited 1984. Arrow, 17-21 Conway Street, London W1P 6JD.