|
These literacy sites for kids open into the magical world of reading. Past editions of NetWatch and additional sites for most topics can be found online at Archives.
by Lynda Scarrow |
Literacy learning
Read, Write, Think
 |
lots of great information |
 The National Council of Teachers of English and the International Reading
Association have created this information-packed site. There are well-developed,
detailed lesson plans and resources searchable by grade. See also the extensive
list of student materials – including the drama map, circle plot diagram
and comic creator.
Children’s Poetry
 |
sweet rhymes |
This site offers a beautiful children’s archive where you can search
for poems by theme or form and see poets read their poems with accompanying
sound effects. Spike Milligan’s The Land of the Bumbly Boo, with his
gruff voice and bits of bubbly laughter, is particularly delightful.
Starfall
 |
learn-to-read fun |
Starfall’s primary colours, great graphics and really nice interactive
features are perfect for young children. In Let’s Get Ready to Read,
kids learn letters and hear how a word is pronounced. My favourite is the letter
Y, illustrated by a yawning polar bear. This section also includes sign language.
(Click the sign-language image for a great animated demonstration.) You’ll
also find a really cool tool that helps children sound out words and sentences
and another section that helps them make words from letters.
Digital Library
 |
international books for kids |
The digital library’s searchable database is a good way to provide
content in multiple languages to your students. Choose Read Books in the left-hand
menu to access the search field where you have many options: short, long, award
winning, by age group, by language, fiction and non-fiction. The one difficulty
is that book pages are provided as scanned images and not PDFs, so you would
have to open and print each page individually to read the book in its entirety.
Teaching Literature
 |
literacy tools for teachers |
You will definitely want to add Teaching Literature to your bookmark bar – it
is chock full of great teaching materials and links to extensive resources.
While there is a slight leaning toward American and British content, categories
include story/response writing, Shakespeare, young adult literature, drama/speech,
critical lenses and more.
Book Adventure
 |
by the books |
Created by Sylvan Learning, Book Adventure allows children to make their own
book lists from over 6,000 titles, take multiple choice quizzes on books they
read and earn points and prizes for their successes. Teachers sign up to create
their own class site where students can track their reading lists on personal
book pages.
Lynda Scarrow is the College's web
editor. She can be reached at lscarrow@oct.ca.
Additional Resources
ABC Reading Comprehension
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/reading_comprehension/
Children’s Books Online – The Rosetta Project
http://www.childrensbooksonline.org/
Free Children’s eBooks
http://ebookdirectory.com/search/Children/
Kaboose Reading Games for Kids
http://resources.kaboose.com/games/read2.html
Literature for Children
http://susdl.fcla.edu/juv/
Reading Online
http://www.readingonline.org/
Reading Rainbow (PBS Kids)
http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/
Reading Rockets
http://www.readingrockets.org/
Searchlit.org
http://www.searchlit.org/educators/teachers.php
The English Teacher
http://teacher2b.com/
Weekly Reader
http://www.weeklyreader.com/kids/
Kids Love a Mystery
http://www.kidsloveamystery.com/
|
