Web Tools to Teach Children to Read
Interactive Online Literature for Beginning Readers
Jan 21, 2009
A major focus of early elementary education is teaching children to read. Emerging readers do not develop at the same rate, which can pose a challenge when providing reading assignments. Though they cannot replace reading from books, online resources are providing an additional way to encourage children to read more and develop their written language skills. These sites can be enjoyable for students while providing an easy to implement and inexpensive way for teachers to integrate technology into early elementary lessons.
Student Interactive Reading Sites
Though there are sites dedicated to providing children’s literature online, not all of them make the reading interactive. They are a good supplement if the book is not available, but the interactive sites are more likely to grab a young child’s attention.
Three interactive sites that excel at providing educational and fun ways for young students to improve their reading skills are Starfall.com, GetReadytoRead.com and the teacher activity area of Scholastic.com. All three provide phonics games, small stories that rely on student interaction or provide audio help pronouncing words, and attention grabbing illustrations and animations. Children can replay pieces they enjoy and move forward at their own pace.
Easy for Teachers to Implement
Perhaps the most difficult parts to implementing lessons with online reading sites are getting access to the computers and convincing children to stop when it is time to leave. Scholastic provides teachers with a literacy guide which includes suggestions as to how to integrate the different games and online activities into lessons. Starfall provides different stories based on skill level that highlight familiarity with different letter combinations and build vocabulary. GetReadytoRead provides three interactive reading activities for very early readers that correspond with activity and are supported by information concerning early literacy.
Inexpensive for Districts
Each of the three sites is free for use and relies on technology tools already available in most schools. Besides a web browser and Internet access, students would need a computer that has headphones for the audio parts. The sites use graphics, but do not need more than the basic hardware that school computers already have.
Online interactive reading websites are one way to supplement reading lessons for young children. They can be visually stimulating and provide audio support for pronouncing new words. These sites also provide differentiated parts for students at different learning levels while supplying teachers with some lesson planning assistance. Furthermore, they do not need new computer technology in order to be implemented and could even be provided to parents for students to use as additional practice at home.
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