ED638 Intercession 2017
Dr. M. Rivera
IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #3
Storyline Online (http://www.storylineonline.net/) is a literacy website that features online video streaming of books read aloud by well known actors and actresses. The website is used by children at home, teachers and students in the classroom, and nurses and doctors at children’s hospitals. The Storyline Online program was created to help advance children’s literacy skills all around the world.
Storyline Online is a program run by the SAG-AFTRA foundation, a non profit organization. The foundation relies fully on donations, grants, and gifts to continue producing and streaming a variety of books online. The website is available 24 hours to anyone who is interested. There is no monthly subscription, no email required, and the website is absolutely free. The site is viewed by over 100 million children around the world and has received the 2016 Parent’s Choice award from the Parent’s Choice Foundation, 2017 Telly Award, and the 2017 Communicator Award.
The website features a variety of well known books accompanied with a read aloud video by a famous celebrity. Each story that is included on the website provides a synopsis, the author, illustrator, publisher, featured reader, and the run time of each video. The website includes closed captioning on the videos that allows students to read along with the stories. Students who may have trouble reading or need modeling while reading can greatly benefit from the closed captioning option as they listen or read along to the books provided on the website. With many school districts blocking particular websites (including YouTube), Storyline Online provides an option to use SchoolTube as an alternative to stream the books.
Another great feature that is included on Storyline Online are activity guides for the books on the website. Although not all stories have activity guides, most of the books do. There are separate activity guides for parents and teachers. The guides for teachers include a synopsis of the story, theme, and discussion questions. In addition, it provides a before, during, and after reading guide inclusive of Common Core standard alignment for each activity provided. There are also activities for integrating into different subject areas, including STEM experiments. The parent activity guide provides a synopsis, theme, and before, during, and after reading activities. The activities provided in the parent guide are more one on one directed. There are cooking activities that parents can try with their children to enhance and extend the books they read with their children.
Storyline Online’s award winning website is a great resource to use in the classroom and at home. The stories and activity guides for teachers can help teachers find activities aligned to the story and the Common Core State Standards. The parent guides can help parents find supplemental activities to help their children become better readers. Overall the website is an excellent resource to inspire a life long love for reading and promote reading and writing skills in children.
No comments:
Post a Comment