Online Reading Games

Hello, fellow teachers!

Check out the online reading games you can use in your classroom. :)

Online Reading Games for Young Readers
· Primary Games: Language Arts from PrimaryGames.com includes games with color words, contractions, ordinal numbers, see& spell activities, electronic stationary, ABC games, an electronic bookshelf, and more. Kids can also use the sidebar to access other activites focused around math, social studies or science topics.
· Literacy Center.net, sponsored by the Early Childhood Education Network, provides an interesting range of exercises to enhance beginning reading skills like letter identification and formation, spelling, shapes, color and keyboarding skills. The games require Flash 5 in order to play, which you can download from the site, and the interface works much like a piece of software so you almost forget that you're using the Internet.
· For those of you kindergarten teachers that focus your themes around the "Letter of the Week" or for teachers looking for great examples of alliteration for young readers and email opportunities for students, Animabets.com is a great site to visit. Friendly characters are associated with each letter of the alphabet and children can use the alphabet to access information about each character. "Each Animabets character has an email address and the authors encourage kids to send email to their favorite Animabets characters. Kids that send email can expect positive, uplifting and timely responses"; all while keeping a close eye on Internet safety. The Activities button links you to lots of fun games and the Learning button links kids to lots of interesting information about a variety of topics. This site is free of advertisments and, in my opinion, gives a preview of what may be coming in terms of more interactive, educational resources available online.
· Words and Pictures from BBC Education has lots of games and activities to enhance phonics skills. Long vowels are introduced through animated poems, you can practice spelling with "Drag 'n Spell" or listen for medial sounds coming from "Jim's Crankophone". The site also includes printable activity sheets for use in Literacy Circle activities. For emergent readers, the I Spy web site provides a motivational environment for locating pictures in traditional I Spy fashion or there's even a place

--from www.suite101.com

Rae :)