Teach Your Monster to Read

            Teach Your Monster to Read (https://www.teachyourmonstertoread.com/) is an award winning, interactive reading game that is designed for children in the beginning stages of reading or older children who need reinforcement. This reading game has been used by more than 750,000 players worldwide and its use continues to grow. Anyone with a computer or mobile device can have access to Teach Your Monster to Read. With the mission to help as many children learn to read, the computer version is completely free.

Children are constantly engaged and motived to learn how to read because it allows them to create their monster and go on a journey in a magical world. They will also complete activities and meet other characters along the way. As children successfully master a skill or complete a level, they will win rewards for their reading success. Teach Your Monster to Read consists of three games that can cover two years of reading adventures. The first game is First Steps, second is Fun with Words, and third is Champion Reader.

First Steps is designed for children who are beginning to learn letters and corresponding sounds. The activities within First Steps are intended to develop children’s speed and accuracy of letter recognition. As they successfully learn and recognize letters, they will progress through eight islands that focus on four letters at a time. If children struggle with specific letters throughout the game, they will appear more often in the mini games to provide reinforcement. In addition to recognizing letters, children will be introduced to blending words from letters they have already learned. They will also learn how to segment CVC words and read tricky words.  

Fun with Words is designed for children who are continuing to the next reading level after successfully completing and mastering the skills in First Steps. Similarly, it introduces more complex graphemes, phonemes, blending, segmenting, and tricky word activities as they go through seven villages. After successfully completing each village’s task, they go on a journey of reading sentences and captions that help them understand what they will be learning next. When they have completed all levels, they will be able to play any game they choose while in “Space Mode.”

Champion Reader was designed for children who have successfully completed the first two games, are able to read short sentences confidently, and know all basic letter-sound combinations. It is composed of all the games and skills included in First Steps and Fun with Words, but more challenging. Champion Reader also has stories that increase with difficulty and checks for reading comprehension. This is also the largest game within Teach Your Monster to Read as it contains 47 planets that are grouped into galaxies.

Teach Your Monster to Read is also beneficial for teachers and parents. It allows children to reinforce the skills they learned at school by practicing at home. They can easily create an individual login that allows parents and teachers to track their progress. With their login, they can be engaged in learning to read at school, at home, or on the go with the use of a mobile device. There is also a teacher’s area that provides ways for using Teach Your Monster to Read in the classroom.

I highly recommend this game to strengthen and build children’s reading skills from beginning to learn letters and sounds to reading full sentences. The activities and rewards throughout the game constantly keep children engaged and willing to learn. The three leveled games are also beneficial because it allows children to learn and practice at their own pace. As they progress, the activities will build with complexity. This allows children and adults to recognize their growth in learning to read. In addition, teachers and parent have access to monitoring their progression. Finally, I would also recommend it because it allows the learning process to be continuous in an enjoyable way.