Family+involvement+in+the+classroom+community



[|Starfall] [|Tumblebooks]

Tumblebooks and Starfall are amazing websites that encourage youth to not only read, but to explore other learning strategies such as puzzles, crosswords, arts and crafts, calendars, learning the ABC’s ,and even book reports. One of the greatest strengths of these websites is that they are very fun and animated which help to keep the child’s attention and enthusiasm in learning, to the point that they might even forget that they were learning in the first place. The Tumblebooks website offers the activities in three different languages of English, Spanish and French. Starfall has great resources in which there is material for all ages and educational accomplishments, from helping children learn their ABC’s, to learning how to read, to challenging those students who all ready know how to read with more difficult material. There are also the options for guided reading such as read along’s and highlighted reading on both websites.  In addition to being a great resources to the students both of these websites also contain great resources for teachers and parents who are trying to assist their students/children in reading. Within Tumblebooks the students have the ability to take quizzes and book reports that a teacher or parent can grade and see how well their child/student comprehends the material. On Starfall within the books available it shows what verbal skill the child is working on within that text, so if you knew your child or student needed help with __SH__ sound you could look for that sound within the skills column and see that the book “Mox’s Shop” would be a great resource for that child.

 Implementation in the Classroom

As I mentioned many times before both of these websites are great tools for teachers and students alike. There are so many ways that a teacher could implement these websites within the classroom. One of the most obvious ways is that a teacher could project these books through a PowerPoint or smart board presentation to have the students all read together. In doing this you are able to keep all of the student’s attention and involved within the activity. On Tumblebooks there are provided lesson plans for the books on the site that a teacher could easily use within her own lesson plans, in addition to the quizzes and book report activities that are available on the website. Within Starfall teachers and speech pathologist alike could use this website with great educational gain with the use of the learning to read page. Speech Pathologist and teachers are able to easily find the sound that a student is struggling with and find a corresponding story that he/she may use to better help the student to master the given sound. Teachers may also find the ABC’s page helpful in teaching kindergarteners their ABC’s, the Calendar page for helping students learn the days of the week, and the arts and crafts time in the art classes that are offered. One of the nicest things about the art projects is that they correspond to different events or holidays throughout the year, giving teachers a little break when they feel that their students would benefit from a fun activity but with some educational gain.