Frankie's Dog House

Frankie's Dog House is an activity in JumpStart 1st Grade (1995). It is designed to teach math and language arts concepts for first graders. It is accessed by clicking on the sandbox in the playground.

Premise
Frankie has his own sandbox in the school's playground. He has buried many items there, but can't remember where they are. The player uses a detector to locate the items that Frankie wants.

Description
Frankie will ask for a certain number, letter, or object, which will appear in a thought bubble above his head. The player moves the detector around the sandbox to find buried items. Each round features only one type of item at a time. The items buried will either be all numbers, all letters, or all objects. The player receives math points for finding numbers, and receives reading points for finding letters or objects.

When the detector moves over something, it beeps, and then a voice emits from the detector and gives the player a clue about the buried item. The detector's clues describe the numbers, letters, or objects with comparisons. A number clue states that the number is higher or lower than another number, a letter clue states that the letter comes before a certain letter and after a certain letter in the alphabet, and an object clue states that the object's name has the same beginning or ending sound as another word. The player must find the number, letter, or object that Frankie asked for based on the clue.

When the player thinks that the detector is above the correct item, they must click there to dig for the item. If the player finds the wrong item, the activity starts over.

Once the player has found all of the numbers, letters, or objects, a short animation plays that shows dog bones appearing in the sandbox that spell out the words "You win!".

Difficulty level differences

 * Level one: The player must find 3 things, and receives 5 points upon completion.
 * Level two: The player must find 5 things, and receives 10 points upon completion.
 * Level three: The player must find 8 things, and receives 15 points upon completion.

Digital manual description
Help Frankie find the things he's buried in his front yard.

Click on the Detect-O-Matic to pick it up then move it around in Frankie's front yard. When you're over one of the buried objects, the light on the front of the Detect-O-Matic will light up and beep, and you'll hear a clue about the buried object.

If you're over the correct object that Frankie is trying to find, click on it. If you want to keep looking, keep moving the Detect-O-Matic.

To return to the playground, click on the Red Arrow in the upper, left corner.

To make this game harder or easier, click on the gauge at the upper, left corner.

To see how close you are to earning another milk cap, click on the picture of the Milk Cap Mouse in the upper, left corner of the screen.