The Web Catcher » Stories

RIF Reading Planet

K. Haugen — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:46:46 +0000

From RIF (Reading is Fundamental) comes the Reading Planet, a place to explore, create and… read! Choose from the Activity Lab, Games Station, Book Zone or Express Yourself. Explore and have fun, or ‘join the club’ to be able to create your own ‘bookshelf’ and save your activities.

Favorites: The activity lab includes links to kids contests, and in Writer’s Blocks you can collaborate with other kids online to write a story together. The super sorter helps kids get a recommended reading list after answering a few questions.

Pros: Bright, no ads, many options. Membership is free and gives some nice additional features.

Cons: Animated stories simply play or pause and the animation, while simple, distracts from paying attention to the text. More reading is required to navigate this site than one would expect from a site for kids learning to read

Assistive Media provides free audio recordings

K. Haugen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:07:22 +0000

Assistive Media provides audio access to reading materials for anyone with a reading access barrier. Talented volunteers record magazine articles and other short works which are then available for download or in our podcast. There are hundreds of recordings of magazine articles, short stories, and selections from anthologies.

BookShare.org

K. Haugen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:04:34 +0000

Bookshare.org gives print disabled people in the United States legal access to over 34,500 books and 150 periodicals that are converted to Braille, large print or text to speech audio files.

UpToTen.com – fun and educational

K. Haugen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 19:40:04 +0000

UpToTen Kids calls itself “the fun place to learn online.” With online cards, coloring, interactive games, puzzles and more, there truly are a lot of fun activities, with some opportunities to learn along the way. As the name implies, the site is designed for kids up to age ten, but will probably appeal most to kids a bit younger. The site has many free games and highlighted games change frequently. There are also paid and premium subscriber options to skip the (mainly print) ads and access even more games and content. Plenty of teacher and parent info regarding the design of the site and its content.

Aunty Math

K. Haugen — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 15:19:36 +0000

Aunty Math
gives kids in K-5 a different math challenge each week, with three levels (regular, ‘a wee bit harder,’ and ‘a wee bit easier’). Kids can try the challenge and submit their answers. Teachers and parents can view tips on how to use the challenges with kids, what math is involved and how to modify or extend the challenges for different learners.

Starfall Reading

K. Haugen — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:34:21 +0000

Starfall is one of the best sites for early reading and literacy, with online stories that offer audio support as needed, a fun, enticing interface, and supportive activities and printables. Multiple levels, with numerous stories and activities at each level.

Starfall was created by the family behind Blue Mountain Cards, one of the earliest online greeting card companies. One member of the Blue Mountain Card family struggled to read because of learning disabilities. The activities are free, and the printed materials very low cost, as a way to help all students who are learning to read, including those who struggle.