Natasha Aguon

Effective Literacy Website #2

ED 638

Storyline Online is a website that posts videos of actors reading children’s books with fun animated illustrations.  Storyline has over 5 million views a month and is an award winning literacy website.  The readers are able to capture the audience and create an interactive storytelling experience.

Storyline is available anywhere in the world and at anytime.   The best part is that this online learning tool is free!  Storyline is a non-profit organization that gets its funding through grants and donations. Schools, hospitals and homes are using this website to help kids with basic communication and reading skills.  This website has hundreds of books ranging for pre-k through 5^th grade.

What is wonderful about this website is that it has activity guides for both teachers and parents.   Some stories are common core state standard aligned and provides the standards and the questions that is needed to be asked.  The guide also tells the teacher when to ask these questions and the objective to the lesson.  The guide also lists the materials needed for the activities.  How awesome is that?

I highly recommend teachers to use this website as an awesome instructional tool in their classroom.  Students will have so much fun watching an online streaming read-aloud and doing the activities that go with the story.  Every child may not be able to read but every child loves to be read too. This website is one that I love to use in my class.

Natasha Aguon

Effective Literacy Website #1

ED 638

Reading Rockets (http://www.readingrockets.org/) is online website that provides information and resources to help kids learn to read.  This website provides basic reading and writing classroom strategies that are research based.

One in every five students has extreme difficulties in reading.  Reading Rockets mission is to provide the support and strategies that teachers need to help these students before they fail.

            This website meets the needs of reading and literacy with the focus on teaching reading, helping struggling readers, the different reading topics and children’s books and author.  The Reading Rockets project and their advisory panel, which consists of specialists in the field of reading, work closely with PBS television programs to help children flourish not only in reading but also in school and future goals.

The website has an abundance of resources, videos and educational blogs.  Reading Rockets also have free downloadable resources that teachers could use for educational centers.  There is also Reading Adventure Packs that are available; they are small lessons and activities that could be used in the classroom when certain stories are being read.  Reading Rockets provide many resources and materials that could be used for any student but most especially the students who usually are left behind.  This site is not only for educators but also for any person trying to help a child read.