Valuable Websites for Early Literacy
A
Child Becomes a Reader: birth through preschool
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/html/parent_guides/birth_to_pre.html
This multi-page
booklet from the National Institute for Literacy gives parents and caregivers
ideas for playing, talking, and reading with an infant through a four
year old child that will help him or her become a good reader and writer
later in life. The philosophy, activities, and books appropriate for
each age group are provided. It is available to be downloaded in both
English and Spanish.
Activities for word and language play, birth to preschool
http://www.ed.gov/Family/RWN/Activ97/index.html
The birth to preschool site section of this site contains more than 20 ideas,
games, and activities for building word knowledge and sounds that are fun
to do with children. Ideas come from the America Reads Challenge: Read/Write/Now!
Activities for Reading and Writing Fun.
American Academy of Pediatrics Literacy Website
http://www.aap.org/healthtopics/literacy.cfm
A thorough site that provides an overview of practical advice on how to read
to children from infancy. The site provides informal checklist/guide to monitor
your child's progress. It also directs you to other informative websites.
Book Adventure
http://www.bookadventure.org
Book Adventure is a free, reading-motivation program for children in grades
K-8. Children create their own book lists from recommended titles, take multiple-choice
quizzes on the books they've read, and earn points and prizes for their literary
successes.
Carol Hurst's Children's Literature Site
http://www.carolhurst.com/
This site is a collection of reviews of great books for kids, ideas for
using books in the classroom, and collections of books and activities about
particular subjects, curriculum areas, themes, and professional topics.
Celebrating Children
www.celebratingchildren.com
The premier African American parenting Web site offers articles exploring
children's literature, education, music, and more, primarily for families
with kids under 10.
Center for Applied Linguistics
http://www.cal.org/
"Improving communication
through better understanding of language and culture"
Center for Research on Education,
Diversity, and Excellence
http://crede.berkeley.edu/
A federally funded program to assist children who are challenged by language,
cultural, etc. barriers.
Checklist: What should I ask?
http://www.ldonline.org/yellowpages/parents4.php
A printable page to take with you when visiting a reading professional, to
ensure that he or she is an appropriate resource person for your child.
Children's Book Council
http://www.cbcbooks.org/index.html
A
cosponsor (with the International Reading Association) of the Children's
Choices project, CBC promotes the use and enjoyment of children's trade books
and is the official sponsor of Young People's Poetry Week and National Children's
Book Week
Children's Literature
www.childrenslit.com
Critically reviews more than 3,000 books a year.
Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org/
"the largest
international professional organization dedicated to improving educational
outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities,
and/or the gifted."
Cyber Angels
http://www.cyberangels.org/
An authority on Internet safety and Internet law.
Dr. Alma Flor Ada
www.almaflorada.net
Author home page of Hispanic children's author.
Family Education Network
http://familyeducation.com
Parents visiting this site enter their children's ages to obtain articles,
advice and activities.
Get Ready to Read
http://www.getreadytoread.org/content/view/95/104/
Resources
to help your preschooler get ready to learn to read. As your child’s
first teacher, you can set him or her in the right direction for a lifetime
of reading and learning.
http://www.ed.gov/parents/earlychild/ready/preschool/index.html
http://www.ed.gov/parents/earlychild/ready/preschool/index.html
Activities
for families with children from infancy through age 5. The activities show
how daily routines are learning experiences that build a child’s
skills and enable successful participation in school.
Leading the Way to Literacy: video tips
http://pbskids.org/lions/parentsteachers/resources/lit_video/
This resource on Between the Lions offers video clips on reading with children,
talking, singing, and reading, a visit to the library, words all around us,
art and writing, and exploring with computers. QuickTime or RealPlayer plugins
are required for viewing.
Learning to read and write, a place to start
http://www.nwrel.org/cfc/publications/pdf/read&write.pdf
This online book by Rebecca Novick discusses the research on emergent literacy
that highlights the importance of early experiences with oral and written
language for literacy development. It then discusses implications of the research
in instructional practices and curriculum in preschool and the primary grades,
followed by profiles of five schools, which were selected for their innovative
and culturally responsive practices. The last section includes materials suitable
for handouts for parents and teachers. (Note: This is a large
file and may take some time to download.)
Let's Read!
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/parents/LearnPtnrs/read.html
Offers tips to encourage parents to read to and with their children. A number
of activities encourage reading skills, such as choosing books that repeat
phrases, choosing books or poems with tongue-twisters, and taking turns reading.
No Child Left Behind
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml
|The Federal program to improve education at all levels.
Pacific Resources for Education and Learning
http://www.prel.org/
"Bridges the gap
between research, theory, and practice in education"
PITC: The Program for Infant and Toddler Care
http://www.pitc.org/pub/pitc_docs/res_links.html
A page with links to other valuable websites.
Put Reading First: helping your child learn to read, a parent guide
http://www.nifl.gov/partnershipforreading/publications/reading_first2.html
The
Put Reading First program identifies the key components of reading development,
and how parents can supplement classroom activities. Important skill development
includes using language in conversation, listening and responding to stories
read aloud, recognizing and naming the letters of the alphabet, listening
to the sounds of spoken language, connecting sounds and letters to decode
reading, reading often so that recognizing words becomes automatic, using
new words, and understanding what is read.
Putting research to use: activities to help children read [LEARNS
Project]
http://www.nwrel.org/learns/resources/prek3/putting.html
This site, part of the LEARNS Project, provides tutors with research information
on helping young children learn to read, followed by related activities. The
LEARNS Project is a tutoring project conducted by the Northwest Regional Educational
Laboratory (NWREL) and the Bank Street College of Education (BSC).
Read-Write-Think
http://www.readwritethink.org/
Access to high quality practices and resources in reading and language arts
instruction.
Reading is Fundamental
http://www.rif.org/
Home page of the country's largest children's literacy organization. Resources
for parents and teachers.
Reading Rockets: Launching Young Readers
http://www.readingrockets.org/
A national multimedia project of PBS, with information on how children learn
to read and how to help them.
Reading to Young Children: Links to Early Literacy
http://www.readyforlearning.net/
Links to early literacy websites for families and providers.
Shared Reading Correlates of Early Reading Skills
http://www.readingonline.org/articles/art_index.asp?HREF=burgess/index.html
This article describes a study that examined the relations between shared
reading and the development of phonological sensitivity and oral language
skills in very young children. The author discusses results in the context
of calls for improved home literacy environments for young children and their
implications for early intervention programs.
Simple Things Families Can DoTo Help
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/SimpleThings/family.html
Lists nineteen things families can do to help children learn to read. Included
are: reading with children for 30 minutes every day; setting up a reading
area in the home; giving children writing materials; reading and speaking
to children in their native language; and keeping track of childrens' progress
in school.
SIOP Institute
http://www.siopinstitute.net/
The website for sheltered instruction observation protocol--targetting those
learning the English language.
South Carolina Department of Education
http://ed.sc.gov/
Teach Your Kids New Words
http://pbskids.org/lions/tips/teach-words.html
This vocabulary-building resource is part of PBS Kids' Literacy Tips for
the 10-minute Parent, within the Between the Lions website. Included are ten
short tips for parent-child activities to enhance vocabulary.
Texas pre-kindergarten curriculum guides
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/curriculum/early/prekguide.html#2
This
portion is entitled "Language and Early Literacy."
The Connection Collection: school-family-community publications database
http://www.sedl.org/connections/resources/bibsearch.html
Provides access to research-based information and resources that effectively
connect schools, families, and communities.
The role of parents and grandparents in children's cognitive development:
focus on language and literacy
http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2001/07/07272001-strickland.html
This resource is one of several speeches given at the White House Summit
on Early Childhood Cognitive Development. The speaker focuses on language
and literacy in young children's cognitive development. The purpose is to
share with leaders and policy makers information that caretakers of young
children should know and apply in child rearing and early education practices.
Tips for families as their children's first teacher
http://www.ed.gov/Family/RSRforFamily/tips.html
This resource, taken from America Reads Challenge: Ready/Set/Read for Families,
offers ten tips for families to encourage children's reading. The tips include
creating a special place to read, easy access to reading and writing materials,
and self-sufficiency.
Training activities for tutors [LEARNS Project]
http://www.nwrel.org/learns/trainingopps/training/index.html
The LEARNS Project is a partnership of the Northwest Regional Educational
Laboratories (NWREL) and the Bank Street College of Education. This website
provides tutor training activities that assist three- to five-year-olds with
phonemic awareness, concepts of print, alphabet recognition, fluency, comprehension,
rhyme, and language development.
Training guides for the Head Start learning community: Emerging literacy:
Linking social competence to learning
http://www.bmcc.edu/Headstart/Trngds/Literacy/index.html
Provides information on how to enhance the skills of education staff to support
young children's emerging language development and literacy. It shows how
to develop young children's listening, speaking, reading and writing skills
and suggestions for collaborating with parents and other staff to create language
and literacy-rich environments in the home and center.