Parent Resources for Reading http://www.readingrockets.org/reading-topics/about-reading https://www.noodle.com/articles/3-ways-to-help-your-child-learn-to-read-and-read-to-learn https://www.edutopia.org/blog/parent-involvement-in-early-literacy-erika-burton http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/10-reading-facts-brochure.pdf http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/read-aloud-brochure.pdf https://www.earlymoments.com/promoting-literacy-and-a-love-of-reading/why-reading-to-children-is- important/

Storyline Online http://www.storylineonline.net

Developed by The Screen Actors Guild Foundation, Storyline Online features accomplished actors and actresses reading some of their favorite children’s books. Each story comes with a free Activity Guide and can be viewed on YouTube or SchoolTube. Rainbow Fish, Wilfrid Gordon Macdonald Partridge, and To Be a Drum are just a few of the books available.

Read to Me http://readtomelv.com

Similar to Storyline Online, Read to Me features popular children’s books being read by famous performers. There are activity guides with hands-on ideas, discussion questions, and lesson plans that can easily be adapted to the Common Core State Standards. Entirely free, the site is colorful and engaging.

We Give Books http://wegivebooks.org

A Pearson Foundation Initiative, We Give Books offers students a unique opportunity to read for social good. Each book that is read results in a book that is donated to a charity for children. While the books are not read aloud, they allow students to practice “Read to Self” with a good fit book during center time. There are books for children in preschool through fourth grade.

Starfall http://starfall.com

While some areas of Starfall are part of their premium service, they have many early reader stories available for free. Students can follow along as the story is read to them and can, in some instances, help create their own story. The website is highly engaging and a favorite of young readers.

Online Storytime by Barnes and Noble http://www.barnesandnoble.com/u/online-storytime-books-toys/379003588/

From The Kissing Hand read by author Audrey Wood to Pinkalicious read by Victoria Kann, Barnes and Noble’s Online Storytime has popular children’s books read out loud. While there are no supplemental materials to accompany the stories, this free site is perfect for “Listen to Reading” stations.

Note: The first story begins right away when the page opens so be sure that your volume is adjusted accordingly before clicking the link.

International Children’s Digital Library http://en.childrenslibrary.org/

Discover books from around the world at the International Children’s Digital Library. The free site does not read the books aloud, but students can read them independently during Read to Self or free time. This is a great site for extension activities when learning about different regions of the world and can be used effectively into the middle school grades.

ABCya! http://abcya.com

Children can listen to short stories read aloud to them as they follow along with the highlighted text. ABCya! has a variety of educational games in addition to the featured stories. Free resources and materials are available for grades K through 5.

Storynory http://www.storynory.com/

Storynory features a collection of original, fairytale, and classic children’s audio stories. Students can follow along with the story as it is read to them, as the text is also included on the site. There are also some great features available that give you the option of downloading the audio to your computer, listening to “catch phrase” explanations, translating text into different languages (especially helpful for your ELL students!), and more.

National Geographic Young Explorers http://ngexplorer.cengage.com/ngyoungexplorer/index.html

National Geographic Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for kindergarten and first grade students. Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text. It is a great way to bring interesting non-fiction stories into reading center time.

Oxford Owl http://www.oxfordowl.co.uk/

After registering for a free account, you have access to over 250 children’s audio books that can be used in the classroom. The book text is not part of the presentation, so students will not be able to follow along as it is read to them.

Between the Lions for K-3rd grade PBS Kids hosts some terrific educational material for children and their Between the Lions reading games and interactives are among the best. There are read-along folktales and fables with a twist, clever song videos of letter sounds, and amusing games. Another invaluable resource here is the Between the Lions Curriculum Guide. It shows teachers and homeschooling parents how they can incorporate the games and interactives into their reading lessons. And it provides an excellent background on the basic building blocks of reading skills using phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and text comprehension. (My teenage daughter has fond memories of Between the Lions and I had to tear her away from this website so I could finish this review!)

Starfall Learn to Read with phonics Starfall Learn to Read with Phonics reading games for preK to 2nd grade children Starfall Education has created an engaging group of games and activities that range from the ABCs to fables. The stories and poems can be read by the narrator, the child, or by your child with assistance. Your child can read it and click on a word they need help with. Reading material includes simple sentences, short stories, poems, plays, fiction, nonfiction, comics, folk tales, Greek myths, Chinese fables. The phonics section includes videos to illustrate letter sounds and patterns

BBC Literacy Games Literacy Games from BBC Schools for 1st-3rd grade children BBC Schools Literacy Games has a wealth of games and interactives for beginning readers. Because the site is based in the UK, pronunciations and a few of the spelling and vocabulary words will not be as familiar to American children. Also, videos on this site are only available to UK users. Nevertheless, BBC Schools educational games are favorites among most of the American students I've taught. Below are links to some of the most useful reading activities for Americans. KS1 Bitesize Literacy Games, for children ages 7-9, has games for phonics, rhyming words, alphabetical order, spelling, pronouns, conjunctions, synonyms, punctuation and sentence construction. Kids choose from among medium, hard and really hard games. A printable worksheet accompanies each activity. KS2 Bitesize Literacy Games, for children ages 7-11, has games for deductive reasoning, using dictionaries, finding information, and poetry. Starship English, for children ages 7-9, lets kids build a story and play with syllables, homonyms, punctuation, describing words, verb tenses and synonyms.

Strivney Teach Your Child to Read Strivney Teach Your Child to Read for K-1st grade and ELL/ESL students Strivney Teach Your Child to Readis a series of phonics lessons that begin with letter sounds and combinations and include essential English vocabulary words. Basic grammar lessons accompany them. An excellent feature allows you to monitor your child's progress and performance as she continues through each lesson. As of this writing, Strivney has more than 1000 activities, interactives and animated learning games for beginning readers. Deborah Delin, a British teacher with more than 20 years of experience in the UK and Israel, started the Strivney program. Free registration is required.

Storyline Online Storyline Online for K-3rd grade students The Screen Actors Guild Foundation has a wonderful story read along website, Storyline Online. Well-known SAG actors of all ages read 24 popular children's picture books. The narration is accompanied by illustrations from the book. Some of the stories use storybook cutout animation. Each book has accompanying lesson plan ideas and activities. My kids love to hear the actors read the stories, as they're very expressive. I've heard many of them copy the tone and pitch of the readers when the children read the books aloud themselves.

ReadWriteThink Construct-a-Word ReadWriteThink Student Interactives for K-2nd grade kids ReadWriteThink Student Interactives, from the International Reading Association and National Council of Teachers of English, are jam-packed with lessons and interactive games for students of all ages learning reading and writing skills. For children learning to read English, they have six interactive games listed below. Each student interactive is accompanied by lesson plans for use in the classroom or by homeschoolers. ABC Match - Match initial letters and letter sounds with pictures. Construct-a-Word - Kids choose a word ending, then add beginning letters and letter blends to create a word bank. Picture Match - Match a picture to a beginning-letter or short- or long-vowel sounds. What's in the Bag? - Develop vocabulary skills by listening to descriptive words to identify objects. Word Family Sort - Helps beginning and struggling readers recognize word patterns using onset and rime. Word Wizards - Helps kids develop reading comprehension and spelling skills, using clues and scrambled letters from popular children's books.

PBS Reading Games PBS Reading Games for kids in preK-3rd grade PBS Kids has more than 60 Reading Games, connected to characters from their television series such as Sesame Street, Clifford, Martha Speaks, and Cailou. When your child successfully completes them, many of the games provide instant rewards, such as video clips or more fun games. Make a book with Elmo by choosing characters and decorating the pages. Then Elmo reads a story designed by your child to your child. The completed story in printable. Play Rhyme Time Bingo with Wonder Red. Print the completed picture or choose from other instant prizes. Learn vocabulary by helping Martha add captions to her scrapbook pictures. When you correctly caption all the pictures, you get to watch a brief video clip from Martha Speaks. The PBS characters are captivating and much loved by generations of kids, so their games easily hold the interest of young children as they learn basic reading and math skills.

Game Goo Reading Games Game Goo for K-2nd grade kids Game Goo's reading games are hosted by Houghton Mifflin Company, a major publisher of literacy textbooks for children. The games increase in difficulty as you go up the grid, but all the games are designed for reading readiness and beginning readers. Your children play games to develop skills in letter-sound correspondence, recognition, alphabetic order, recognizing fact vs. fantasy, sentence word order, poetry and spelling. The Fearless Frieda games are particular favorites among the children I've taught. She performs tricks on the skating ramp, but takes a fall when your child makes a mistake.

WordWorld Reading Games and Adventures WordWorld preK-1st grade children In WordWorld, words morph into the objects they name. That creates a powerful connection between the letters and the words they represent. Children are captivated by the vibrant colors and graphics, and it's an excellent vocabulary building site for beginning readers. All of the words your child acquires in a game are added to their Word Space. Kids can use their collection of words to create pictures to print or send to friends and family.

MeeGenius! MeeGenius! for K-2nd grade children MeeGenius has a collection of eight free read-along classic children's books. A good electronic read-along book for beginning readers has attention-grabbing illustrations that mimic the story line, and it highlights the words being read as they are spoken to make it easier for the child to follow along. MeeGenius! succeeds on both counts. Even better, when you register (for free), your child has additional options to customize the book. You can save your custom creations on your website "bookshelf" so that you can read them again. MeeGenius! Kids Books are now available with the eight classic books free as an iTunes app for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. Additional books, such as Jack and the Beanstalk, are available for about $2. Reading Help for Parents from Reading Rockets

The Cat in the Hat - Dr. Seuss I love this interactive Kindle version of one of my students' all-time favorite stories. All the Dr. Seuss stories are excellent because of their rhyming and sound repetition. Kids that master these kinds of sounds are well on their way to becoming excellent readers. Using this interactive version, kids can read alone, read along, and touch words to learn new vocabulary. Although it's not free, for just a few bucks, this version of The Cat in the Hat adds a whole new dimension for beginning readers. Buy Now Literacy Resources For Parents | Reading Rockets Offers effective teaching strategies, activities, lessons, lesson plans, worksheets, exercises, skills, tests, assessments for reading comprehension, language arts, literacy, fluency, phonics and phonemic awareness for children, especially those with dyslexia and other reading difficulties. Project Gutenberg - free ebooks Project Gutenberg has 36,000 free ebooks for Kindle, Android, iPad, iPhone. Reading Games To Motivate Your Child Motivate your child through play. Find some great ideas for Reading Games which both you and your child will enjoy. Free children's ebooks for ages 3-11 | Oxford Owl Discover a range of children's ebooks and activities online in the Oxford Owl Library. Books include Biff, Chip, Kipper and Floppy, plus Project X and Winnie the Witch. Professor Garfield Toon Book Reader More than 10 free online ebooks for beginning readers, with read-along audio option in English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese.

National Children’s Literacy Website – This non-profit organization is dedicated to improving and promoting children’s literacy in child care and home settings. Helpful materials on the National Children’s Literacy Website include general literacy tips, advice on teaching children to read, educational activities, story-time tips, and links to additional resources.

Literacy Zone – Created by Woodlands Junior School in the UK, Literacy Zone offers online literacy games and activities to help children improve spelling, grammar, punctuation, and writing skills.

StoryPlace – StoryPlace is a digital library created specifically for children. Library materials include free online books, online activities, take-home activities, and reading lists for preschool and elementary students.

Starfall – Starfall relies on phonics to help children learn how to read. The site offers movies, interactive games, and engaging activities for readers in pre-k to second grade.

The Baldwin Online Children’s Project – The Baldwin Project makes classic books freely available to children online. The project publishes books that are in the public domain (books published before 1923). Books are sorted by author, titles, genre, and subgenre. International Children’s Digital Library – This online library hosts nearly 5,000 high-quality digital books in more than 50 different languages. Books contain both text and illustrations and can be discussed in a community forum.

Kiddie Records – Kiddie Records publishes recordings of children’s records that were made between the mid forties through the early fifties. Recordings include classic stories like Horton Hatches the Egg and Casey at the Bat. All of the recordings can be downloaded or played for free online.

DogEared – Dog Eared is a National Geographic book blog written by kids for kids. The blog offers reviews, book recommendations, and a book of the month feature.

RIF Reading Planet – Operated by the nation’s oldest and largest nonprofit children’s literacy organization, the RIF Reading Planet provides book reviews and recommendations, an author showcase, reading activities, teaching strategies, and much more.

The Reading Tub – The Reading Tub is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting reading and literacy projects. The organization’s site offers a book zone and a special section for budding writers.

KidsLit – Operated by the director of the Menasha Public Library in Wisconsin, this blog offers book reviews and recommendations for children and young adults. New reviews are posted each week.

Grammar Girl – Grammar Girl Mignon Fogarty provides a free podcast that covers common grammar mistakes and issues. Each podcast episode lasts only a few minutes and provides easy-to-understand grammar advice and tips.

The Story Kitchen – Created by Bruce Van Patter, The Story Kitchen offers dozens of story starters to help inspire young writers. Each story beginning consists of a few paragraphs with a note at the end that encourages site visitors to finish the story.

Writing with Writers – Writing with Writers is a scholastic project that allows kids to work with authors and illustrators in special workshops designed to improve writing and literacy skills. The project also provides featured writing activities and step-by-step writing guides.

ClassMarker – ClassMarker makes it easy to test your child’s reading comprehension or vocabulary. The site allows you to make free online quizzes with multiple choice, true false, short answer, and fill in the blank questions.

Flashcard Maker – Scholastic’s Homework Hub Flashcard Maker is a good tool for children who need to learn sight words. They can test themselves online or print the flashcards to practice off the computer.

FreeRice – This UN World Food Program site offers a great vocabulary-building trivia game for students at any level. Every time a question is answered correctly, FreeRice donates ten grains of rice to hungry people.

Shelfari – Created specifically for book lovers, this social media site makes it easy for kids to track the books they have read and make a list of books they would like to read. Shelfari is also a good place to discover new books.

National Children’s Literacy Website – The Soho Center is committed to promoting children’s literacy in child care settings and home settings. Whether you are a family child care provider, a teacher in a child care center or Head Start program, or a parent of a pre-school or school-age child – there’s a lot you can do.