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Literacy Links |
Phonemic Awareness
The ability to notice, think about, and work with the individual sounds in words.
- Crankophone
- An online activity where students practice listening and distinguishing the sounds of vowels in the medial position in three letter words. This "game" provides students with a listening experience that can be repeated over and over, even while the teacher is busy. The sound is clear, although there is some British accent.
- GameGoo
- Has many excellent online activities for several literacy components. For phonemic awareness, try Paw Park (the Sassy Seals Episode) and Alien Scavenger Hunt (especially the Space Trash episode.)
- Between the Lions
- A literacy goldmine that has great resources and games including Fuzzy Ears and Pounce.
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Phonics
The relationships between the letters (graphemes) of written language and the individual sounds (phonemes) of spoken language.
- READING A-Z
- This site is focused on printable tools and resources. It offers a wide variety of leveled readers, decodable books, alphabet resources, and other resources. Some of these resources are available through a paid subscription only; however, many are available for free, and are all worthy of your attention. There are indepth lesson plans with letter cards, picture cards, docodable printable books. Some books even have running record forms to use. As students progress into reading, there are hundreds of books here to print for students that are correlated to Reading Recovery, Fountas and Pinnell, and DRA levels. You will find great teacher support beginning with the phonemic awareness level.
- STARFALL
- Terrific phonics resource that offers interactive, well designed books. This site offers lots of support for beginning readers, and copies of the books, worksheets, and student certificates can be ordered free of charge. Students can read the words by themselves, or click on any word and the computer will "sound out" the word phoneme by phoneme, highlighting the graphemes as it goes along. This Website is great for emergent readers and their teachers.
- CLIFFORD'S SOUND MATCH
- Beginning sound match
- BBC'S DIGBY MOLE
- Beginning sounds, end sounds, and rhymes.
- MARVIN MORRISON'S WORD PUZZLES
- This is a site for older readers.
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Fluency
Fluency is the ability to read accurately and quickly, recognize words, and comprehend what is read, all simultaneously. We often teach fluency by providing models of fluent reading and through repeated reading with guidance. The INTERNET offers a wide variety of reading material in a variety of formats and genres.
Reading Material Online
- MysteryNet's Kids Mysteries
- Mystery stories to solve and scary stories.
- Poetry4kids
- Step inside and read one of the largest collections of funny poetry on the net!
- C.J. Heck's Poetry for Children
- The poetry on these pages is written mostly from a child's point of view and illustrated with child-like drawings.
- iEARN: Folk Tales from Around the World
- Folktales from around the world are presented on this site by country.
- Sports Illustrated for Kids
- A fun, safe environment for kids, filled with some of the best news, games, and interactive features on the internet. If it's not cool, it's not on this site. If it is, they've included plenty of places where you can click to tell them about it.
Readers Theater
A great way to work on reading fluency is with Readers Theatre, where students read with expression, inflection, and feeling. The repeated reading of the written work to improve performance brings gains in fluency and comprehension.
The Electronic Classroom's Reader's Theater This article provides a brief description of Readers Theatre and its many benefits for literacy learning, and goes on to describe Internet sources for scripts and for information on implementation, additional classroom applications, and assessment. The article concludes with an annotated list of useful Web sites for Readers Theatre. Readers Theater K-3 A collection of Reader's Theater scripts. Lisa Blau's archive of scripts . A collection of Reader's Theater scripts. Mrs. McGowan's Reader's Theater Mrs. McGowan, first grade teacher talks about the Reader's Theater techniques. Aaron Shepard's Reader's Theater Here are resources for reader’s theater - including the acclaimed series of free scripts Reader’s Theater Editions - all from children’s author Aaron Shepard. If you’re looking for a perfect combination of education and fun, this is it!
Lyric Sites
Students can improve their reading fluency by using lyrics. Song lyrics may be used, but you will want to choose the songs and lyrics carefully.
KIDiddles Classic Children's Songs and Folk Songs A place where you can find the lyrics to your favorite kids' songs, send out a request for a long lost song, or maybe help somebody else find the one they're looking for. They're adding Music, Music, Music! Flying Pigs Campfire Songbook, Volume 3 The lyrics to many old favorite tunes. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences: Sing-Along Lyrics In support of the White House Memorandum guidelines that were issued, the Sing-Along pages are included because sing-along activities are particularly useful for motivating young children to learn to read and to improve their reading skills. "Since starting the site we have received numerous letters from educators and other visitors supporting the value of sing-along materials as an educational tool; many others also indicated that the music site is particularly helpful for children and adults with special needs."
Student News Sites
To practice fluency, students can use kid-friendly news sites to gather information and then take turns "delivering the news." They can practice for a "week in review" news program, which provides more opportunities for practice. CAUTION These sites have appropriate resources for students but, as with all Web sites, they should be prescreened by the teacher.
Student News Net
CNN Student News
The New York Times Learning Network
Scholastic News For Kids
Time For Kids
Online Audio Books and Stories
Online books and stories can provide excellent models of fluent reading. Look for clear narration and interesting content or storyline. Students can listen to these stories from any online computer at school or at home.
Web-Pop Offers online books and audio stories
Light Up Your Brain
Classic Fairy Tales Classic fairy tales and some new ones
Alice in Wonderland Online Audio Book An unabridged, dramatic audio production in RealAudio, directed and narrated by Karen Chan starring Amanda Bosley as Alice and featuring the Wired for Books Players.
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Vocabulary Development
"Both oral vocabulary and reading vocabulary are important in reading. Research shows that reading aloud to students, no matter what grade level, is a good way to encourage vocabulary development. In addition, students who read extensively on their own are more likely to develop rich vocabularies.It is important to teach both individual words as well as word-learning strategies. Vocabulary development is more than lists of words to memorize. Playing with words (such as puzzles and word games) will encourage vocabulary growth. Reading aloud books that have vocabulary and reading levels that challenge your students can give them words in context and provide intrinsic motivation."
- Education Place: Fake Out
- Students can try to guess the correct definition of each word or submit a creative one to stump others.
- Education Place: Wacky Web Tales
- Students will be writing silly stories just by providing requested words that are specific parts of speech and that the activity will be done on the Internet.
- Kid Crosswords and Other Puzzles
- Lots of good crosswords, backbones, and acrostics. Many are geared for elementary but there are plenty of middle school and some high school level puzzles, too. The front page lists current puzzles. Click at the bottom on Previous Puzzles for many items listed by subject area: math, literature, foreign language, etc.
- Scholastic: Annie's Rhyme Time
- Meet Annie, our wizard of words, as she poses a new riddle seven days a week. Students read the riddle, then come up with a two–word answer in which both words rhyme exactly, even down to the number of syllables. Encourage your students to use the dictionary and thesaurus to help find the answers. Looking for a way to make vocabulary lessons exciting? Check the Riddle Answer Keys to match the riddles to words on your vocabulary lists. Or invite your students to create and send in original rhyming riddles using vocabulary words. If Annie likes the riddle, it will be published online for students nationwide.
- Merriam Webster's Word Central
- Word Central is the place on the Web where kids can learn how much fun words can be! This site was developed with input from teachers around the country using a language arts curriculum framework. You will find it helpful.
- Vocabulary.Com
- Participate in these FREE vocabulary puzzles to enhance vocabulary mastery. Teachers have endorsed this site which enriches classroom curriculum with self-paced, interactive activities. They supplement personal vocabulary acquisition and are being used in home schooling and ESL programs.
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Comprehension
Comprehension is the real reason for reading; without it, we have decoded a message that is meaningless. Unfortunately, few sites offer us access to content with a range of reading levels. One site that provides information with a range of reading and content levels is:
- Windows to the Universe: Mythology
- Offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. This is a spectacular feature, as all students start at the beginner level and get familiar with the content and vocabulary. Then they can use the other levels (this can be a reading or content adjustment) by simply clicking the button on the top of the first screen.
Graphic Organizers
Specific strategies for encouraging and teaching comprehension inculde using graphic organizes, questions (both asking/writing questions and answering questions, and summarizing. Graphic organizers can help students focus on details, isolate events and sequences, compare and contrast, and more. There is a wide variety of electronic or printable graphic organizers available.Electronic Graphic Organizer Makers
Software
WebQuests
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Explore More About Literacy
Explore these sites to access research, online tools, ideas and lessons about literacy.
- Put Reading First: Research and Practice
- The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read Kindergarten Through Grade 3
- International Reading Association: National Reading Panel Report
- Report of the National Reading Panel, “Teaching Children to Read.” The Panel determined that effective reading instruction includes teaching children to break apart and manipulate the sounds in words (phonemic awareness), teaching them that these sounds are represented by letters of the alphabet which can then be blended together to form words (phonics), having them practice what they’ve learned by reading aloud with guidance and feedback (guided oral reading), and applying reading comprehension strategies to guide and improve reading comprehension.
- International Reading Association: Reading Online
- Peer reviewed articles, invited contributions and book reviews
- Learning To Read
- The purpose of this web page is to improve the quality of reading instruction through the study of the reading process and teaching techniques. It will serve as a clearinghouse for the dissemination of reading research through conferences, journals and other publications. Click on the following links to search for developments in literacy, professional materials, research and critical issues.
- Reading Rockets
- Information about teaching kids to read and helping those who struggle.
Literacy information provided by Gail Lovely, independent educator and professional development technology integration specialist Classroom Connect September 2003, Volume 10, No. 1
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Council Bluffs Community Schools 2920 Avenue J Council Bluffs, Iowa 51501 |
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| © COPYRIGHT 2003 Ann
Dea, Media Specialist All Rights Reserved.
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