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C.D. Caterpillar Parent's Guide

This section is aimed at parents, to help them understand how to use C.D. Caterpillar's strengths to quickly benefit their children. As such, it might also be useful if you're considering purchasing C.D. Caterpillar, but be sure to check out the screen shots as well.

C.D. Caterpillar: Personal Tutor

  • When describing C.D. Caterpillar to your child, think of the program as a personal tutor, ready to offer assistance at any point. Encourage your child to plunge in, and not to be afraid to click on words for help. It's important to make sure your child doesn't think of clicking on a word as making a mistake, or admitting defeat.
  • Explain to your child that C.D. Caterpillar does not judge or grade them. Instead it's just a reading aid. The program helps students best when they don't hesitate to click on any word they're unsure of. Clicking on words for help should become a natural part of reading with C.D. Caterpillar.
  • When students aren't concerned about being tested or graded, they feel comfortable asking the program for help. C.D. Caterpillar becomes a non-threatening partner in the reading process, letting students try more advanced material than they would ordinarily attempt, because they know that help is always just a click away.
  • When students feel comfortable quickly clicking on any word they're uncertain about, this allows the program to build an accurate list of practice words, for use in the games.

Getting Started — Things You Should Take Care of for Your Child

These are instructions for installing C.D. Caterpillar, setting it up for the first time, and showing your child how to get the most benefit from it.

  1. Insert the C.D. Caterpillar cd.
  2. You'll see a window similar to the one on the right:
  3. Drag the C.D. Caterpillar folder to your hard drive. In the picture to the right, the folder is circled in red.
  4. Open the folder on your hard drive.
  5. Double-click the C.D. Caterpillar application on your hard drive.
  6. The intro will play. You can skip the introduction by clicking anywhere in the window at any point. During the intro, C.D. introduces herself and gives instructions for using C.D. Caterpillar.
  7. Click the chalkboard to add your child's name. This is the Readers screen. When you click the chalkboard, C.D. Caterpillar asks you to enter your child's name. Type your child's name, and press return.
  8. Click on your child's name to get started. Your child's name should appear in the list of readers.
  9. Click the title of a story to start reading, or click on one of the chalkboards to play one of the games. This is the Stories page. The stories are organized from easiest to most challenging. The games are also listed in order of difficulty. The "Word List" chalkboard doesn't play a game, but displays a list of all the words used anywhere in this version of C.D. Caterpillar-over three thousand of them!