The Web Catcher » Reading

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

Leo Reynold’s Letter Collection

K. Haugen — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 02:51:35 +0000

Today we take you to a Flickr page of photo collections by photographer Leo Reynolds. What’s unique about Leo’s photos is he takes close-ups of letters in all kinds of wonderful, whimsical locations, often more than 100 examples of each letter. He invites visitors to use the letters (and many, many other photos) in any non-profit activities, under a Creative Commons license. You’ll want to visit Leo’s other collections as well, including signs, nuts and bolts, mosaics, cemetaries and churches, and more. This site invites you to consider letters and literacy in a whole new light!

GhostReader from ConvenienceWare

K. Haugen — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:00:24 +0000

GhostReader (formerly TextParrot) reads text aloud with high quality voices and optional word-by-word highlighting. From ConvenienceWare, a part of AssistiveWare, which makes more fully featured accessibility software and utilities for people with disabilities

VoiceThread

K. Haugen — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 21:23:02 +0000

VoiceThread is an awesome tool for creating and sharing annotated online slideshows that you have to experience for yourself. Make your own slideshows or browse what others have done.

You can interact by recording or typing comments directly in others’ slide shows and then listen or read what others have said, which creates a non-linear conversation in which anyone can participate.

It’s also possible to doodle on your slideshows, and the doodles fade away (or stick, if you tell them to).

There are numerous examples of how one could use VoiceThread in the classroom.

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.

ROGET’S Thesaurus Search Form

K. Haugen — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 21:35:50 +0000

ARTFL Project: ROGET’S Thesaurus Search Form provides a free, public domain, searchable thesaurus. You can search by head word (entry) or any word.

HELP! In order to develop this thesaurus together with the Webster’s dictionary into an encyclopedic knowledge base for use in intelligent programs, volunteers are needed with all levels of expertise who can contribute some time. If you are willing to share your knowledge with the world, click here for more info.

Bembo’s Zoo

K. Haugen — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 19:39:13 +0000

Beautiful, animated ABC explorations where letters become animals and more. Includes sound effects, but I wish they’d also add the spoken names of the letters! (On the plus side, as is, it works in any language that uses the Roman alphabet).

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.