Apps and Websites that Help Early Readers
Master the Five Components of Literacy
When it comes to literacy, having a good relationship with books and reading is important from an early age. Exposure to books, words, and stories from kindergarten age is a helpful way to give students a great foundation. If a child has trouble connecting the right sounds to letters or applying meaning to the words they read, it hinders the possibility of comprehension. It is helpful to break down the five components of literacy to pinpoint the area that may need addition attention for your child. Many parents have been reading nightly with their child. Then we have parents that have started using the Headsprout resources provided. I wanted to give you some further resources as we proceed through November and focus on Quarter 2 standards.
In class we call the 5 areas-Phonics and CAFE. Since beginning our Early Literacy Initiative Program we have connected often between school and home to share progress. As we proceed, you may hear your child refer to the specific standards he or she has set goals for in each area. Below is an explanation of each of the components.
Phonemic Awareness - This is related to phonological awareness, in which listeners are able to hear, identify, and change phonemes (the smallest units of sound that can differentiate meaning).
Phonics - A method of teaching reading by associating sounds with letters or groups of letters in an alphabetic writing system.
Fluency - The ability to read text quickly, accurately, and recognizing words automatically.
Comprehension - The ability to read text, process it, and understand its meaning.
Vocabulary - The number of words known in a given language.
The following is a list of technological tools and resources that can help in each of these components of literacy, whether the student is having challenges or not. Some of these resources are free or have parts of them that can be used for free. Click on each link for further details. Please let me know if you need additional support while working with your child at home.
Phonemic Awareness
Hearbuilder Phonological Awareness
This application helps students improve their phonological awareness and listening skills. Students earn musical instruments and band members to create the rock band, The Phonemix, while learning to segment, blend, and manipulate sounds. It is a free application available on the iPad.
PBS Phonemic Awareness Skill Games
There are a wide variety of games to play in this program, all of which are fun, engaging, and great for practicing early phonemic awareness.
Phonics
Kindersay
This website features a simple concept, executed very well for emerging readers. Not only can you practice saying hundreds of words and letters, this site features a facilitator who pronounces each letter, and forms each sound, so that learners can model correct mouth positions. You’d be surprised how important this is in early phonics practice.
Clifford Interactive Storybooks
Featuring Scholastic's most popular giant red dog, this site includes a number of free educational games that students can practice phonics with.
Fluency
Generally, I found a few sites to offer a lot of great advice and classroom activities for practicing fluency, including Reading Rockets, and Reading Resource Net. The advice incorporates a lot of timed reading drills, and parents can select the specific content they wish for the students to practice with. Some audiobook providers can offer the same kind of modeling of sentence structure, speed, and flow.
Comprehension
If you are just interested in your child being able to view books with you online, then Tumblebooks is a great resource too. This site is a great way to have your child listen to a story and the you can discuss it together building comprehension skills.
Kids Reading Comprehension Level 1
This iPad application costs $1.99, but features great short passages and stories, with comprehension questions to practice recall, inference, and problem solving. It allows for up to four readers, and gives great positive feedback.
Aesop’s Quest
This interactive program features a game where the player must remember details of a story in order to progress. This allows for the practice of reading comprehension in a contextualized, motivating environment.
Vocabulary
Homer
This popular reading program features many different factors for early literacy, including common sight words. It’s never too early to show kids sight words—words that don’t play fair in the sometimes confusing English language.
PBS Kids - Vocabulary Games
Again, PBS provides a free, quality set of interactive stories and games that will introduce new words, and give great context for learning them.
Early reading activities can give students a real advantage both at home and in school. It will prepare them for when they’re presented with more challenging material in class, or when they would simply like to enjoy more complex stories at home. There are plenty of options online and in the App stores that integrate technology into literacy education, and these are just a selection that you may be interested in looking at more closely.