Kindergarten loves Starfall! The kindergarten teachers at our school use Starfall in the classroom, so it was great to collaborate with them and have a chance to show the students how to use the program independently.
The Starfall reading program is designed to be fun, exciting, and to instill confidence in young children as they learn to read. The website and companion printed materials are clear and effective tools to help you implement proven teaching methods. Our website was created by carefully observing the way children learn using a computer. The Starfall Website is easy for students to navigate independently, but it is not intended as a surrogate for the teacher. Our scientific, research-based reading materials and activities are modeled on the “Big Five” focus areas recommended by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development: phonemic awareness, systematic phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. We built-in a sixth we’d prefer not be overlooked—Motivation!
Students have used Starfall in class for two weeks, and they have enjoyed it. They have also continued to learn how to operate the mouse and are understanding the concept that they must input in order to “get on” the letter activities. The site has more than just alphabet activities, including sections for early readers and more advanced readers. It is a good site for children in preschool through second or third grade.
For two weeks, grades 1-6 have been learning the basics of word processing–from understanding how to go about telling the computer what they want their text to look like, to what options they have for formatting. The students really did a great job.
