Unique Strategies and Activities to Help Teachers Teach Children Literacy

The Websites our group has provided will help teachers develop methods and strategies to improve their student’s literacy and learning capabilities. These websites include stories, games, and practice work to help children develop their literacy skills for the future.

1) http://www.meddybemps.com/7.33.html

The Website I have chose focuses primarily on helping children in preschool and children up to the age of 8. This website is great for helping children hone their literacy skills by providing a large amount of games that specialize in different aspects of literacy. For example this website provides games in the fields of “writing and reading”, “observation and discussion”, and “language skills.” Though I have only listed three sections that offer games to help children increase their literacy skills, there are many more. What makes this website great is that it provides levels for each game, for example a 4 year old child can do the same game as an 8 year old child, but the content will be slightly different. I really like the structure of this website, it keeps the child thinking differently by offering a wide variety of games to chose from, a child can work on his reading by doing the “riddle” sections or if the child would like to work on their writing, they can just play the “writing and reading” games. Also if games like that don’t appeal to the child they can play puzzles.

This websites looks like if it were to be used by a teacher they could only assign these activities during school. It would not be a good idea to use this website for homework assignments because there is no way to check the child work. When dealing with multiliteracy classrooms, this website is useful to a point. This website offers a “language skills” section where they offer stories that can be translated into 12 different languages. This would help greatly in a multiliteracy classroom because the teacher could tell the child to read it in their 2^nd language first than their 1^st language to grasp the full meaning of the story. The “language skills” section offers a wide variety of stories and this would be very helpful in multiliteracy classrooms. The best way to use this website would be a “classroom fieldtrip” to the computer lab. Most of the learning that will be taking place will be on the computer and alone without the help of others. Scaffolding will still be possible, the teacher should walk around and make sure the child is doing what he or she is supposed to, but there is room for the child to wonder about and just randomly click during the games and end up not really learning. The teacher should make sure he or she knows the levels of each child’s literacy, so they may assign the child what game level to work with. Also the teacher should definitely switch up the games in order to keep the child’s mind thinking and creating new ideas.

By: Michael Dang

2) http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/index.shtml

I think this is a great website to improve children’s literacy, as well as build confidence, as the activities seem easy enough that they could do them on their own for the most part, with a little guidance on the instructions. It uses a bunch of bright and pastel, fun colors on the homepage, which are more appealing and inviting.

What stood out to me right away was the fact that there are games and activities for all different levels, whether you have a child who is just starting to build their literacy skills, or whether you have one who is a little more advanced. I think this would help a whole lot in a class with both L1 and L2 learners, as there is something for everyone. For example, on the left includes different links of different categories that are available to children. These include, but are not limited to, CVC Words, High Frequency Words, Consonant Clusters, and so on. Clicking on CVC Words, shows a couple different activities, including a “Magic Pencil,” in which you can watch the pencil write a word, and then write it yourself. Another is a little more advanced and you try to make different words with the limited letters they give you, proving to be a little more of a challenge. Another thing I like is that all of this is not online. They also have a “Print and Do” section. This could come in handy, as the teachers could print these and send them home with the children. Or, if a family does not have computer access, they could maybe go to a local library and print the sheets out to take them home to do with their children.

This website focuses on many of the difficult aspects to fully grasping literacy. There is a whole section devoted to words that are frequently used, as well as one focusing on long vowel sounds, such as “coat” and “hide.” Another cool aspect is the gallery of “Silly Sentences” where children and parents can actually submit sentences of their own that they have made up. This could give children a sense of accomplishment as they can build on their skills, and then prove what they have learned later.

I discussed all of the strengths above, so now for a couple weaknesses. There could be more pictures, especially on the home page, to make it seem like a more fun website. I think a more exciting layout would definitely spice it up. Also, once the students have done the exercises, there’s not really any more to do, so maybe an update every once in a while with new, exciting ideas would be a good idea! And finally, some software is necessary, for example, a RealPlayer for the Magic Pencil, which might not be compatible with all computers.

Overall, any kind of practice is good practice when learning and developing literacy skills. But, I think that this website has a fun and cool way of doing things!

“Evaluated by Kayla Acosta”

3) http://www.tickettoread.com

The aforementioned website is a wonderful tool for children to use to increase their vocabulary, fluency, comprehension, and increase their overall level of literacy. Although the website is not free, it can be a very effective if purchased through the school or the district.

This website is individualized so that each student has his or her own account. Each user has a home page called a club house. The club house is a place that they can decorate and customize. They may purchase decorative items and other trinkets with tickets they earn. Users earn tickets by reading short passages that range from a paragraph to a page. T.J. Ticket is an animated character who reads all of the instructions aloud and gives clues to the user as he or she navigates the website. He’s TicketToRead’s equivalent of Microsoft Word’s Paperclip. T.J. Ticket shows up after each segment of the lesson to further instruct students.

This website is really effective because it measures the student’s progress by asking comprehension questions, setting a goal for the words read per minute, tracking the student’s words read per minute, and tickets. For every passage the student reads, they get 100 tickets. The website tracks the amount of time the student uses to finish the passage and records it. If the student reads too quickly, the When they read the story aloud into a microphone, they get 50 additional tickets. At the end of each short passage, there is a series of 6 comprehension questions. The questions have an audio button for students who can’t comprehend what the question is asking by reading it. This is especially helpful for second language learnersbecause it reinforces their comprehension with the audio aid. For each question answered correctly, 10 tickets are earned. In order to help readers stay on track, the screen highlights the current line when the student mouses over it.

For students who have trouble with reading and are not reading at the “Target” speed, T.J. Ticket offers a few words of encouragement and asks the reader to follow along as the narrator reads the story to the student. Then, there are flashcards that appear with the three vocabulary words in the passage. On these interactive flashcards, the word is read aloud, a picture of the word is shown, and the definition is read aloud. After a few moments, the narrator uses a sentence with the word, making the word more meaningful to the student. The student is then asked to read the passage along with the narrator which helps the student with fluency, inflection, and tone.

If implemented in a school-wide setting, it would be a great incentive system for children to read. Teachers can keep a list of how many tickets their students have and use that as an incentive for a school wide store full of goods like pencils, school supplies, small toys, and bigger prizes that can be won if students save enough tickets.

By: Karynna Garcia

4) http://www.eduplace.com/kids/

The Austin School District has just adopted Houghton Mifflin as their primary textbook source. This website would be extremely beneficial for students (especially AISD students) because it is a great way for the students to have access to a fun way of learning on the web and it is in sync with what they are reading and learning in school. This website is very interactive and the learning aspect is easily disguised because it is entertaining. The student can choose between many different school subjects, among them spelling and language arts. There are levels that pertain to grades so the activities are appropriate. It’s important, in this era, for children to learn how to access the web because there is so much information they can gain through it. These games are kid friendly and provide an excellent source of information because it comes from the textbook creators.

Students could be required to master certain levels and games at home or even at school and print out their scores. This is a way to check their understanding but also give them a sense of accomplishment. The website has a wide spectrum of learning techniques for all different types of learners. This is especially helpful for visual learners (like me!) Using this website is helpful because students can go at their own pace and bilingual students can find games and activities according to their level and knowledge of English.

I love the idea of this website because it parallels to what is being taught in schools that carry Houghton Mifflin books.

By: Kate Hoffner