IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #3

Strickson Lenster Fredrick

ED638 Fall Intersession 2018

Dr. M. Rivera

IRA Newsletter Project: Effective Literacy Website #3

The starfall website ( http://more.starfall.com/) is a program service of Starfall Education Foundation, a publicly supported nonprofit organization, 501(c)(3). Starfall is a children's website that teaches basic English reading and writing skills. The main demographic is preschoolers, and kindergarteners. The website opened in September of 2002 as a free public service and social enterprise supported by the Polis-Schutz family. On July 1, 2015, the Polis-Schutz family donated their full interest in Starfall to the  Starfall Education Foundation. The Starfall program has a Store, Parent-Teacher Center, and foundation.

The main goal of Starfall is to teach student to be able to read. Starfall has been teaching children to read with phonics for well over a decade. Our systematic approach, in conjunction with audiovisual interactivity, is perfect for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special education, homeschool, and English language development (ELD, ELL, ESL). Starfall is an educational alternative to other entertainment choices for children.

Starfall has four reading levels to teach children how to read. The levels, in order from the most basic to the most advanced are: "learning ABCs", "early beginning reading", "intermediate beginning reading", and "advanced beginning reading". The first level teaches preschoolers about the ABCs. At this level, the website provides learners with all the letters of the alphabet in the upper case form and in the lower case form. When the learners see words appear on the screen, they hear the sounds of all the letters that compose a word. In the early beginning level, learners create words through the addition of consonants to different word family. The letters in every word are highlighted while they are read to the learner.  In the intermediate beginning reading level, readers can bring the books they will read to life before they read them. The learner can read about eminent artists and magic tricks. In the advanced beginning reading level, children can read a variety of books, including nonfiction books, bird riddles, Chinese fables, and comics.

The program expands the free content that teachers already enjoy to include delightfully animated songs, mathematics, and reading activities spanning pre-k to 2nd grade. Children will have fun learning essential reading and math skills through exploration. They also developed a Starfall Parent-Teacher Center that is freely available for everyone and includes supplemental custom worksheets, curriculum downloads, informative guides, all the latest Starfall news and much more for our grownup audience.

Starfall program developed Kindergarten Math, English Lanuage Arts, and Pre-K curricula which are all available for purchase in the Starfall Store, and as downloads in the Parent-Teacher Center. The methodology motivates children in an atmosphere of imagination and play. The teacher-guided and child-directed nature of our curriculum products ensures English language learners and struggling readers learn alongside their peers.