The Ooka Island technology is ideal for teaching the English language as it jumps right into teaching the 44 sounds of the English language in a guided, yet compelling methodology. You can learn more here about why Ooka Island is effective for English Language Learners (ELL). Ian’s training included sessions on the top-rated Eye/Ear Reading Methodology, using blended learning in the classroom, and utilizing the Ooka Lighthouse online reporting system.

Good luck to Ian as he departs for Medellin, Colombia on May 16th. Stay tuned for periodic updates on his adventures with the Marina Orth Foundation!

- The Ooka Island Reading Team

Wonderful things are happening at 
John J Sark Memorial School!

Students at John J Sark Memorial School are loving Ooka Island!

Join the team at Ooka Island as they visit John J Sark to check in with Kindergarten teacher, Wendy Walker and Principal, Nora McCarthy-Joyce.

Watch the video below to meet the students at John J Sark and hear about their favourite parts of the Ooka Island Adventure!

What is this school doing differently?

The benefits of learning to read at an early age will help prepare young learners for a life-time of success.

Young learners love playing on Ooka Island. The program users both PC and Mac computers and teaches reading skills combined with a complete e-library of books. 

The Ooka Island Adventure is cutting edge computer technology that helps children learn how to read in the most effective way possible, in a fun, adaptive, learn-to-read program.

It is exciting to see adaptive learning taking place in First Nation classrooms. Each child’s learning path adapts to their needs and each child will have a different, favourite part of the game.

E-books are located in the games e-library called the Popcorn Library.

A unique reporting system called the Ooka Lighthouse tracks student progress in real-time on the iPad and on your PC or Mac. The results are provided to the teacher and principal for every student.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Ooka Island Learn-To-Read program we would be happy to provide more information to you and your school. 

Kinder Computer Lab for the Ooka Island Technology

Area for rotational literacy stations with the Ooka Island print program

The story of the Ooka Elves and the Fliggs

Before a child begins the Ooka Island Adventure, watch this video together to see what’s in store! It’s a BIG adventure for little learners!

 Ooka Island is a magical Island where flying pigs called Fliggs live. The fliggs know how to read because their leader, Fliggnorance, taught them. Also living on the Island are kind hearted Ooka Elves. The Ooka Elves love to play and share and they asked Fliggnorance to teach them how to read too. 

It’s hard to believe but Fliggnorance refused. The Ooka Elves were very disappointed because reading is fun and everyone deserves the chance to learn to read. 

When Auntie Kay heard the news that the Ooka Elves wanted to learn to read she brought her reading robot, Zobot, to Ooka Island. She also brought 85 books for the Ooka Elves to read and placed them in the Popcorn Library. 

It wasn’t long before Fliggnorance heard about Auntie Kay and Zobot and the 85 books. So what did he do? He had a secret meeting with all the Fliggs and told them to sneak into the Popcorn Library, steal the books, and then drop them into the ocean so those nice little Ooka Elves would not have books to read. Then he tricked some of the Elves into the forest and now he won’t let them leave! 

Can you believe that? Well neither could Auntie Kay so this is what she did. She said, “Zobot, we have to get some children to come here to Ooka Island to rescue the Ooka Elves and help them learn to read”, and that’s where you become part of the Ooka Island Adventure. She has asked you to come and be the Hero. 

When you get here, Zobot will be your guide on the Island so listen carefully when he or Auntie Kay gives you instructions. You will need to find the books that have been dropped in the ocean. Once you rescue a book you will get to read that story. Every time you read 5 new books an Ooka Elf is rescued from the forest and gets to go to the Pencil Playground. You are the Hero!

Here is how the Ooka Island Adventure works. For 20 minutes Zobot will show you were to go on the Island. Just follow him to some really fun activities, then you will be asked to explore the bottom of the ocean to find a book. After that you will read the book twice and answer questions about the story. Next you get Free Play time so you can play in the Pencil Playground or explore any unlocked part of Ooka Island. The unlocked parts are places you have been before. After Free Play, Zobot directs you around the Island again. 

Are you ready to help rescue the Ooka Elves in your very own Ooka Island adventure? We think so too!! Who are you looking forward to meeting when you get here? Maybe Auntie Kay or Zobot? Or maybe the Ooka Elves? Please don’t tell me the Fliggs! So pack your bags and get yourself ready because YOU are going on an adventure of a lifetime…YOU are going to Ooka Island! 

Watch the video tutorial below, or scroll down to read the script if you prefer!

First go to the main page of the Ooka Island website and click on the Free Trial button. Next click on ‘start a 14 day free trial’. 

Enter your desired username, create and confirm a password, type in your email address and check the box to sign up. This username and password will be the administrative login. You can also use this information to check out progress reports online. 

You should shortly receive an email with your account information after completing this step. If you don’t receive the email, try checking your spam box. You can always contact our friendly Support Team If you forget your username or password. 

Now this is the most important step, you must download Ooka Island onto your computer in order to play.  Choose PC or Mac and make sure that if you are downloading onto a PC computer or laptop that you click SAVE! Do not click ‘RUN’ or the download will not be successful. 

Once you have clicked the PC or Mac option, the downloading will automatically begin. We ask you to please be patient as Ooka Island is purposely not a web-based program to protect young learners. Instead, Ooka Island is a secure, self-contained program that stays on your computer.

The program file is downloading the Ooka Island learning world environment, 85 e-Books, excellent 3D graphics, an adaptive learning technology, 80+ hours of learn-to-read curriculum and more! Therefore the download time may vary depending on your Internet connection, but we promise that it will be worth the wait! If for some reason the download is not working for you or taking to long, you can contact our Support Team and we will send you an installer disk.

If you would like to buy the Ooka Island Adventure click the ‘Buy Now’ button and fill in the information.

When you get to the ‘create a player’ section, type in what you would like your Ooka Island Avatar to be named. This is the “hero” of Ooka Island so if you are a parent then enter your child’s name for the 14 day trial, if you are an educator who is trying it out, enter your own name or a student’s name if you wish! If you decide to purchase Ooka Island  then you can add as many player accounts as you want. Then choose a picture password. Next choose the gender of the player and finally click on ‘create player’.

Congratulations, you made it! Once the download is complete, install and begin your reading adventure!

If you need any assistance throughout this process the Ooka Island Support Team is here to help you through live chat, or by phone or email. 

Have a great day and read on!

Jim Barber

My name is Jim Barber and I am the CEO and creative director at Ooka Island Reading Programs. Today I would like to share a quick video with you on the Free Play Experience.

This video tutorial will focus on all the extra features available to little learners during the eight minutes of Free Play experience. Watch the video tutorial below, or scroll down to read the video transcript if you prefer!

Video Transcript:

The Ooka Island Adventure has a unique game flow cycle. The young learner follows Zobot in guided play through 20 minutes of reading skill activities, finding a a book and reading it twice, and then completing comprehension activities.

Then eight minutes of Free Play follows.

The eight-minute Free Play time was included in the adventure to allow young learners to explore and play in their virtual environment. A multi-colored beach ball icon appears at the beginning of Free Play and disappears when Free Play time expires. The child then goes back to guided play and the game flow cycle continues. The following steps are recommended for the young learner to follow for the first few Free Play sessions.

Step 1: From Main Map, click on the Mist Mart

During guided play, players earn Ooka Mist that can be spent at the Mist Mart. Items at the Mist Mart are only available to purchase if they have first been unlocked during guided play. A padlock on an item in the Mist Mart indicates that it has not yet been unlocked. During Free Play players can visit the Mist Mart to purchase items of clothing and costumes for their avatars. Once purchased, these can be found in the yellow wardrobe in the Pencil Playground. Players may also purchase playground equipment, music, wallpaper and flooring for the Pencil Playground, as well as Zopet, his food and his various tricks. For the first few Free Play sessions, players should be encouraged to visit the Mist Mart before travelling to the Pencil Playground to explore and discover.

Please note that because there are hundreds of items, it takes about 20 seconds for all of them to be loaded when a player clicks on the Mist Mart.

Step 2: Click on Treetop Castle and then Pencil Playground

After clicking on the Pencil Playground, players view a short narrated slide show about the playground. Once inside the playground, players should be encouraged to click on the floor to move their avatars around to become familiar with the surroundings. This is what players can discover inside the Pencil Playground:

• Playground Rides: Click on the slide, see saw, or trampoline, and then on the pop-up checkmark to ride. If an elf is near the ride then the elf rides with the avatar! Ride upgrades can be purchased at the Mist Mart. Once purchased they are placed in the Pencil Playground.
• Avatar Appearance: Click on the yellow wardrobe door with the star to enter the wardrobe where changes can be made in the avatar’s features, clothing, accessories and costumes. After changing the avatar’s appearance, click the green checkmark to go back to the Pencil Playground.
• Music: Click on the radio behind Zobot on the stage, to choose and change the music. Songs purchased in the Mist Mart are available on the radio.
• Teddy Bear Collection: Purchase Teddy Bears in the Mist Mart to have them placed on the shelf in the Pencil Playground. Fifteen bears are needed to complete the collection.
• Snack Shack: Click on the Snack Shack to feed an elf a healthy Ooka snack. (Each time five new books have been read, a rescued Ooka Elf is placed in the Pencil Playground.)
• Zopet’s Dog House: Reach the top of Alphabet Mountain to unlock Zopet, and then purchase him at the Mist Mart. Click on the doghouse to bring Zopet out to play. Tricks and food can also be purchased.
• Floor and Wallpaper: Change the floor and wallpaper inside the Pencil Playground by purchasing new ones in the Mist Mart. Once purchased, these items instantly change the décor in the playground.
• Wall Paintings: Purchase paintings in the Mist Mart to have them randomly placed on the walls inside the Pencil Playground. The paintings change each time the player enters.

Step 3: Other Free Play Options – Trophy Room and Popcorn Library

As young explorers become more comfortable with the island, they can venture out into other areas such as the Trophy Room, where they can view their award charts; the Popcorn Library, where they can read books previously read; or to any of the unlocked activities, where they can replay fun reading activities.

When the beach ball timer expires, the young learner will transition back into guided play and the Ooka Island Adventure continues.

Thanks for joining me today. This concludes the Free Play Experience video tutorial.      

To learn even more about the Free Play experience, visit the Free Play Page!

Learn more about KIWI Magazine!

It is activity page time!

“Piggyback Ride” is part of the Kayla, Jayden, and Boo Series. In this story, Boo tells Jayden how sometimes its hard for his little legs to keep up. Find out what Jayden does to help out Boo!

Download and print the activity page for kids!

This Activity Page is From ‘Snow Boo’ an Emergent Level I Book

I had the recent privilege of discussing the topic “Gaming with Purpose” with Sandy Fivecoat from WeAreTeachers, in an interview on adaptive learning that you can watch below!

Plenty of visuals accompany the presentation and we discuss how young learners playing on adaptive, smart technology can ensure skill mastery and will increase literacy skills in a compelling and effective way.

Read on!

Jim Barber, CEO