Starfall

Many early childhood educators and families have used Starfall to help supplement their child's reading and learning.  Starfall has a wide variety of skills and levels.  On the main screen you can choose from ABC's, Learn to Read, It's Fun to Read, and I'm Reading (on the left side).  There is also a more seasonal section on the right side.  Each section is slightly different, basically each section is more difficult than the previous section.
I typically use the ABC section with some of my struggling students.  For each letter it has songs and pictures to go with the letter.  Since I am familiar with the ABC section, I decided to explore a different feature of the site.
The Learn to Read section has 3 steps for each "level" of play.  Students are free to start anywhere, but for an early learner going in order would make the most sense.  The first set has the student practice the -an and -at families by dragging the correct beginning sound for the given picture.

After completing all of the words in the -at family, all of the words a reviewed again.  Students also have the option of printing out a review page.

Here is the printed practice sheet.

After completing both word family sections, the student can read an animated book using words from the -an and -at families.  Each word is clickable and will sound it out for the student.  The student can also click on the picture to animate it (they love this)!  Finally there is a short movie- for this section it is about the order of the alphabet.  Students can explore the sections in any order they choose.

This is a very kid friendly site all together.  The audio and animations are motivating for young learners and many struggling students respond well to using this site.



You can now get some of the games as an app for the iPhone
Check out MoreStarfall the new membership only site with even more animations to enjoy!
Starfall now even features a Kindergarten Curriculum.  The program is relatively new, but many teachers seem to enjoy it.