Reading
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Reading Rockets - Reading Rockets offers a wealth of reading strategies, lessons, and activities designed to help young children learn how to read and read better. Our reading resources assist parents, teachers, and other educators in working with struggling readers who require additional help in reading fundamentals and comprehension skills development. Reading Rockets is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs. (Y, T)
The Exquisite Corpse Adventure - Our "Exquisite Corpse Adventure" works this way: Jon Scieszka, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, has written the first episode, which is "pieced together out of so many parts that it is not possible to describe them all here, so go ahead and just start reading!" He has passed it on to a cast of celebrated writers and illustrators, who must eventually bring the story to an end. Every two weeks, there will be a new episode and a new illustration. The story will conclude a year from now. If you sign up here (hyperlink to LC's email messages page), and click on "Exquisite Corpse Adventure," you can get an e-mail whenever a new episode appears. "This story starts with a train rushing through the night...." No one knows where or how it will end! (Y, M)
Dolch Word Flash Cards - The Dolch words are the 220 most frequently found words. Students who learn these words have a good base for beginning reading. Many of these words cannot be sounded out because they do not follow decoding rules. These words must be learned as sight words. (Y)
Starfall.com - Inspire a love of reading and writing. Parents use Starfall to prepare their children for school, and to support them once they are there. Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children. Primarily designed for first grade, Starfall is also useful for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and second grade. Starfall is perfect for home schooling. PreK-Grade 1. (Y)
Literactive - Literactive was devised and developed by a professional team of educators and technical developers to help early learners develop their reading and comprehension skills through a carefully balanced and progressive reading program. It includes resources for both early readers and ESL students. The site is large with many sections. Each section is a set of Flash activities/interactive lessons that can be worked through. Free registration is required and minimal information is gathered. (Y)
Book Adventure - Book Adventure is a FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 7,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by and is maintained by Sylvan Learning. (Y, M)
Just One More Book - This website with a podcast is was create by the authors to tell "about the children's books we love and why we love them, recorded in our favorite coffee shop". Through this podcast and website, the site is building a lively, interactive community linking children's book authors, illustrators, readers (parents, children, librarians, teachers and literacy activists) and publishers. Busy parents and educators can now discover great read-aloud children's books while they are busy doing the many tasks that would otherwise rob them of the opportunity to research great children's books in more traditional ways. (Y, M, O, T)
Soaring Through Our Solar System - Reading Comprehension worksheets for solar system unit. (Grades 2-4) (Y)
Seussville - All things Seuss. A recipe for Green Eggs and Ham, Click & Play games, and Print and Play Activities. (Y)
Read to Feed free educator resource packet - Read to Feed is about global education, awareness, and action! Children are motivated to read books so they can help impoverished people around the world. Read to Feed has many flexible, interconnected components for educators. (T)
Book-It Reading Incentive Program - Pizza Hut's reading incentive program is now enrolling for the 2005/2006 school year. When a child meets a monthly reading goal, the teacher gives him or her a Pizza Award Certificate. Grades K-6 (Y)
Bembo's Zoo - Although not strictly educational, this site elicited a "That's cool!" the first time I saw it. It is a simple Flash application using the alphabet and zoo animals, but young children will love it. Each letter of the alphabet, when clicked, gives the name of an animal. The letters in the name then are rotated and resized into a picture of the animal. Very cool use of Flash! (Y)
Jan Brett - With almost 4,000 pages of free resources using Jan's beautiful illustrations, JanBrett.com is a wonderful place to find printables of all kinds, from alphabets to art instruction sheets. The site is updated by Jan herself, and fans of her books will enjoy reading about her travels as she does research for her books. (Y, M, O, T)
The Paperback Swap - The source for free paperback books! "We are a group of real people who have formed a Club to swap paperback books with each other. No gimmicks. No spam. No advertising. No kidding... When another member requests one of your books, you mail it to them. (Y, M, O, T)
1000 Good Books - Gear up for great summer reads with this list (separated by age and category) from Classical Christian Homeschooling. "This 1000 Good Books List is by no means exhaustive. It is a listing of the books that 25 homeschooling mothers have come up with over the course of a year’s time through discussions of criteria to use in choosing a good book, and many other discussions about individual titles to include or exclude. (Y, M, O, T)
Educational Software - Help your child learn with games, software and educational activities from Owl & Mouse Educational Software. Early reading software—phonics software, alphabet games, and Dolch sight words in a fairy tale story. All of it FREE! Free online USA maps, world maps, map of Europe, map puzzles of the US, Europe, Africa, Asia, and many more. You can build your own castle and coat of arms—free downloads. (T)
BBC Education - Online games and activities for phonics (Y)
iKnowthat.com - Online phonics activities and games (Y)
Saxon online phonics activities - Saxon Math is the only major math program on the market today that systematically distributes instruction, practice, and assessment throughout the academic year as opposed to concentrating, or massing, related concepts into a short period of time--usually within a unit or chapter. Saxon Math's unique approach to math instruction ensures that students not only gain but also retain essential math skills. (Y)
Alphabet Sounds Lotto - Alphabet Lotto is a free printout for beginning readers. Similar to BINGO, it has a caller who calls out phonics sounds which the players must find. The first person to cover the middle and all four corners or any five in a row is the winner. (Y)
Book Adventure - For each book that your child reads, they look that book up in the Book Adventure database. Based on the reading level of a book, the site presents the child with a short quiz on the content of the book. As the child takes the quizzes they earn points and prizes for their literary successes. (Y, M, O, T)
Reading Comprehension - From rhlschool.com; free online worksheets to re-enforce comprehension (M) (M)
Rebus Rhymes - From Enchanted Learning; designed for children who are learning how to read; Preschoolers and Kindergartners enjoy picking out the words they can read in their favorite nursery rhymes (Y)
Word Walls - Find out what a word wall is, as well as how to create and use one (T) (T)
KinderSay - Kindersay is a free online video website designed to help preschool kids & English as Second Language (ESL) children learn English words. Over 500 online activities are available in a special Word Show format. One of the neatest features of this site is the ability to upload images and use those in your customized activities. Your kids will love a picture of Grandma on the G page for alphabet activities, or Mommy on the M page. The customized features do require registration but it is free. (Y)
