Starfall

Christina Sablan Toves
ED638 Intercession 2017
Dr. M. Rivera
IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #1

    The Starfall Website (http://www.starfall.com/), run by the Starfall Education Foundation uses a systematic approach on teaching phonics and math skills to young children in primary grade levels, students in special education, homeschooled children, and English language learners. The website provides interactivity through virtual lessons, guided reading, motivating games, and songs that reinforce pre kindergarten to second grade reading and math skills.
    The Starfall website was launched on September of 2002, with the help of the Polis-Shutz family. On July 1, 2015 the Polis-Shutz family donated their full interest into the Starfall Foundation. The foundation is a publicly supported nonprofit organization.
    The Starfall website includes a free version and a payed membership version. The homepage includes all the free content provided on the website. The payed version is for users who would like to access more content contained in the website. Although the website is not completely free, there are many free resources provided that can help teachers searching for resources and interventions for their students.
     The reading portion of the website provides four levels of reading to choose from. All four levels provided are free. The four levels include ABC’s, Learn to Read, It’s Fun to Read, and I’m Reading. When a level is chosen, various options are provided, from the different sounds of the alphabet to the types of books to read from. The beginning levels are automatically read a loud. As the levels progress, the student is given the option to hover over words to be read to them. I would recommend using these lessons while doing centers in the classroom because the guided lessons are very easy to follow and kid friendly. The students will need little to no guidance while engaging in these lessons.
    The math portion of the website also includes guided lessons and games for first and second grade skills. All of the skills are aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The interactive games are read a loud to students and provide immediate feedback if a student succeeds or needs another attempt. When students have completed a skill, they are rewarded with a fun game to play.
    Starfall is a great literacy website to keep students engaged and motivated while learning the essential skills of phonics to become great readers. The website is very user friendly, especially for young children. Teachers will spend less time teaching students to navigate through the website and more time watching their students engage in the lessons that will help reinforce the important reading and math skills being taught in the classroom.