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Blog About and Share a Literacy Resource for Struggling Readers

  • Posted by Susan Ruckdeschel
  • On 28 June, 2015
  • 3112 Comments

Let’s take all this knowledge from our course Literacy Strategies for Struggling Readers and put it to productive good. Whether a new literacy resource, a differentiated resource, a resource for inclusive classrooms, or one focused specifically on struggling readers, let’s share a resource and talk about it in this blog.

  1. First, tell us why you chose the resource.
  2. Next, provide us with a link to the resource and a brief description of it.
  3. Explain how the resource works effectively, or has the potential to work effectively, with struggling readers.

CompareContrastBlendedLearningHappy Blogging!

3112 Comments

Teresa
I work with middle school students that are in a self-contained classroom environment and the two programs/resources that seem to work the best for them this year are i-ready which is both reading and math and test them to determine where to start them. The other is a resource that is now only available to our high school students which is Academy of READING, which works on sound mathc, letter-sound match, visual match, auditory-visual match and comprehension skills. The links would be www.i-ready.com and www.autoskill.com Both of these resources help the students with literacy skills that they may need extra help on to achieve. They both also provide many printable resources through their sites that can be used to re-enforce the skills that they are struggling with in either a one-on-one group or small group setting.
Jennifer Chevalier
I have a heart for struggling readers because it is such a hinderance in their schooling. I think it is critical to "get them while they're young", so I wanted to share Reading Eggs. Link: http://readingeggs.com Reading Eggs is designed for students aged 3 and up. It is highly engaging, with colors, sounds, music and fun graphics, and includes online reading lessons, activities and e-books. It has been proven to be very effective with our Pre-K and Kindergarten students, as well as struggling readers in first and second grade. Lessons include, phonics, letter recognition, sight words, and vocabulary. It helps take kids back to the basics and fill in any gaps they may have.
Jennifer
readinga-z.com is an excellent source for all readers, especially struggling readers because of the levelled stories.
Jennifer Chevalier
It is important that struggling readers be given support because it is such a hinderance in their schooling. Reading Rockets provides resources for parents and teachers to help support students in reading. From videos to lessons, to strategies, this site has a lot to offer. Link: http://readingrockets.org This site includes articles about reading disabilities, what to do if one is suspected, and how to support students with disabilities. It takes a village to educate the child, so having a site that teachers and parents can use cooperatively to support a child is wonderful.
Jennifer Toth
I chose this resource because it offers information for both teachers and parents. I also like that it covers a broad range of topics from classroom strategies to suggestions for children's books and authors. It's comprehensive. readingrockets.org/reading-topics/english-language-learners This website provides a wealth of information about how children learn to read, why some struggle, and ideas for intervention.
Glenda Weidrick
My literacy resource for ELLs is a really informative website that allows the user to choose the topic that they are interested in where they need assistance or answers for effectively teaching the ELL students. There are bilingual quizzes and English only quizzes in grammar, vocabulary, crossword puzzles, etc. in the website that is listed under a subcategory from the main website.
Marcy Irwin
I would use reading atoz - This is a great resource for finding different lexile levels of student text. I think that putting as much text in the students hands as possible is key to a child's success in school.
Muriel Mis
I chose ell.stanford.edu because it has many resources that teachers can access to help us all learn how to deal with ELL's coming into our country. There are videos to help teachers learn the challenges and opportunities ELL's have coming to his country. It also has teaching resources to help teachers teach ELL's how to engage with the Next Generation Science Standards and the other standards as well. It has cutting edge lessons by leading educator's in their field.
Heather Chandler
Heather Chandler
Heather Chandler
I, Heather Chandler, chose Flocabulary.com and spellingcity.com. Both of these resources provide a variety of fun learning opportunities. Flocabulary has hip and upbeat songs, that the children sing long after I display the video. They are specific to the concept I am teaching, such as point of view, or sequencing, etc... Spellingcity provides phonics through games and puzzles the students enjoy interacting with. https://www.flocabulary.com/ https://www.spellingcity.com/
Heather Chandler
I chose both Flocabulary and Spelling City because I frequently use these tools within my classroom, and the students love them. Flocabulary involves hip and memorable songs for the skills I am addressing within my classroom. Students sing the songs long after we have learned the skill/concept. For example, these videos include skills such as point of view, sequencing, grammar, and so much more. Spelling city helps the students learn vocabulary, phonics, and semantics through fun puzzles and games. These are both hot websites my students love! www.flocabulary.com www.spellingcity.com
Cheryl Jacaruso
I am adding this resource because it includes many different levels of texts that teachers can use to differentiate instruction. I used many of the short non-fiction articles for students to progress from less complex to more complex texts.
Cheryl Jacaruso
I am adding this resource because it includes many different short non-fiction texts. I have used these articles to help students progress from less complex texts to more complex texts.
Sandy Dennis
We use I-Ready in our district and this program monitors student progress throughout the year. 3 diagnostics are given during the school year. The program is designed to assess the student as to where they are at and give lessons accordingly. The teacher has access to student profile. These are very informative in helping drive instruction. You can add lessons to individual students that need more reinforcement. There are two added features: Tool Box and I-Ready Resource center which give you activities to do and where you can use the tutorials for classroom instruction. http://i-ready.com
Jennifer
http://www.readwritethink.org is my new go-to for lesson plans. I like how everything is provided with a click of a button and it seems to be grade-level appropriate. It also provides extensions for struggling readers as well as advanced readers. I also like readinga-z.com because I can differentiate.
Jennifer
Readinga-z.com is a great source for finding differentiated readers.
    Yamila Rezola
    I also think that A-Z Raz kids is an awesome resource as well. I have printed out books from there and have had students take them home to practice.
Cheryl Ivack
National Geographic Resource: Educator (grades K-12) and Students (grades K-12) http://www.nationalgeographic.com The National Geographic Web site features a variety of games, lesson plans and resources for students and teachers focusing on grades K-12 in a variety of topics. The site engages students with a rich source of images and activities to spark young minds. Search for "School Space: An Analysis of Map Perceptions", "Regions: A Hands-on Approach" or "Environmental Explorer" for a glimpse of what is available. The National Geographic site provides fun visual games which draws student interest, builds ESOL vocabulary & allows hands on approach to learning; which supports what we learned during a prior lesson, the Total Physical Response Method.
Cheryl Ivack
When teaching my intensive reading classes I have used “Focus” reading workbooks when instructing ESOL students. This series focus on reading comprehension by teaching strategies that allow the student to grasp the concepts of: main idea & supporting details, sequencing, cause & effect, vocabulary, compare & contrast, and finally, making predictions & inferencing. The series provides multiple short reading passages that provide exploration of the above areas of study allowing for repetitive practice after strong modeling and guided practice.
Maya
Imagine Learning is a program that I use in the classroom for my ELLs. It allows the learner to listen to and respond within its lessons. As a teacher I can review student's reports allowing me to pinpoint exactly what may be hindering the student. Better yet I can compare students and create strategy groups based on their needs. www.ImagineLearning.com also provides teachers with the core aligned lessons needed to help the learner move forward within a small group or whole class instruction. This is a resource that Title 1 purchases licenses for ELL students. Additionally, www.pumarossa.com, www.bilingua.com, are great resources for parents to learn language.
Brad Stradley
I use Reading Reflex for its simplicity and effectiveness. Students buy into it quickly and I get quite excited by their growth I get to witness.
Karrie Jones
I choose http://www.colorincolorado.org/. This site is a bilingual resource for educators and families of English Language Learners. This site offers ELL basics and resources listed by state and grade, news, research articles, featured book lists, video library and best teaching strategies for educators.
Ariel G.
I chose to use Free Apps to Support Vocabulary Acquisition by E.L.L.'s because classrooms are encouraging the use of iPads and other digital devices within the classroom to enhance learning experiences and to bring other resources to the classroom. We live in a very digital age. I chose this article from a trusted Educational site called Edutopia. The article can be found here: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/apps-support-ELL-vocabulary-acquisition-monica-burns The article gives descriptions of 4 free apps that can be used to help students with increasing their vocabulary. It looks very easy to use and works on understanding words... not just recalling them! I was very interested in learning about Mindsnacks because it also focuses on spelling and comprehension. I could see how students who require more one-to-one support could benefit from using this app. Additionally, the article recommends Flashcardlet. I have heard of this resource before and it is easy to customize for teachers to make it individualized for each student. Flashcardlet could be used to review content specific language before a quiz or a test.
Ariel G.
I chose to use an article from Edutopia called Free Apps to Support Vocabulary Acquisition by E.L.L.'s because technology is an important part of our teaching and this article suggest various free resources that can help to improve student vocabulary if you are able to use iPads within the classroom. We are living in a very digital age. Using Ipads in the classroom can help to enhance instruction and help to differentiate instruction based on student needs. I thought that this article listed 4 different applications that are easy to download and all target the same skills. I liked to learn more about the app MindSnacks because it allows for students to increase their vocabulary as well as spelling and comprehension! It also allows students to access 25 different lessons. It looks engaging and fun and has good reviews! The article mentions another app that I have already heard of called Flashcardlet. This app allows for the teacher to customize the content and could be used as review before a quiz or test in content-specific language. Moreover, I trust the website where I found this article. It is from Edutopia. I think that these apps have the potential to grow vocabulary in a way that is more game-like for students and can be accessed inside the classroom and at home. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/apps-support-ELL-vocabulary-acquisition-monica-burns
Jennifer Langlois
http://www.literacywithoutlimits.org I have attached above a great resource with lessons and other resources on working with struggling readers grades 4-12. Check it out.
Bobbie
I chose the resource Lyrics2learn because students improve reading fluency, background knowledge, reading comprehension and test taking skills through songs. http://www.lyrics2learn.com/ Lyrics2learn is a brain-based, on-line program that engages students by using music. It helps students memorize information quickly through repetition, rhythm and rhyme. This programs questions are aligned with Common Core Depth of Knowledge. This program is used as a center or a mini-lesson (whole group) beginning with literal comprehension on day 1, and ends with open ended constructed response.
Maya Gebus-Mockabee
I have chosen to provide the link to FluentU. This is a terrific site dedicated to all students of English. http://www.fluentu.com FluentU provides ELL with real videos to use as language examples along with ongoing lists of best practices for learners of all ages. The site also offers teachers an ongoing educator blog. Recent articles include topics such as writing, comprehension, and adult ESL strategies.
    desotosite
    http://www.readingrockets.org/ I like this resource because it offers great research-based strategies to teachers, parents, administrators, librarians, childcare providers, and anyone else involved in helping a young child become a strong, confident reader. They bring the reading research to life — to spread the word about reading instruction and to present "what works" in a way that parents and educators can understand and use. The Reading Rockets project includes PBS television programs (also available online and on DVD); online services through the websites ReadingRockets.org and ColorinColorado.org; professional development opportunities; and a robust social community on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Tumblr. grace.morrell@desotoschools.com
Jennifer Langlois (duty)
I am attaching a powerpoint/keynote presentation i developed throughout the Reading Competency 2 course. Check full of resource. Enjoy /Users/jenduty/Library/Mobile Documents/com~apple~Keynote/Documents/Presentation.key
Ariel Goldstein
I chose a blog post about 5 tips to help struggling readers. I chose this source because I like to branch out and look at how other educators are blogging and posting useful tips and resources. I like how by reading different blogs, you can see how something is implemented or how you can adapt a resource to fit your needs. This blogger is a teacher from Michigan. While this post is slightly old, the tips are still very applicable. In this post, she suggests using word sorts. Our Word Study Program includes dozens of sorts for the students to manipulate. In her second tip, she suggests teaching the short vowels. Some teachers use Secret Stories or other songs to help students to practice their vowel sounds or to help with recall. In tip 3, she suggests good reading habits. Through Lucy Calkins, we create an anchor chart about Readers Good Habits and it is displayed and referenced numerous times throughout Reader's Workshop. Lastly, she suggests time and repetition as two effective strategies. We know that students grow throughout the school year. A student may come into school in August knowing how to read a C book, and then they leave the school year being able to read at a K level. It is up to the teacher to continuously monitor and help the students to succeed so that they can reach their fullest levels of potential. http://funkyfirstgradefun.blogspot.com/2011/06/my-top-5-tips-for-working-with.html
Bobbie
I chose the resource is Flocabulary because students improve reading, background knowledge, reading comprehension and vocabulary through songs. https://www.flocabulary.com/ Flocabulary is a web-based learning program for all grades and subjects that uses educational hip-hop music to engage students and increase achievement. It helps students memorize information quickly through repetition, rhythm and rhyme. This programs questions are aligned with Common Core Depth of Knowledge.
Carole Kologi-Zawacki
http://www.eastsideliteracy.org/tutorsupport/Groups/GroupFAQ.htm I like this website in particular because it provides information in a question/answer format. It addresses adult English language learner strategies in an informative and easy to understand way.
Jennifer Camacho
I chose this website because it provides teachers and parents with meaningful articles and research on how to best help different different types of struggling readers. http://www.readingrockets.org/reading-topics/struggling-readers This website has articles and videos to help with topics such as early signs of struggling readers, articles about dyslexia, and strategies for enhancing memory. The spectrum of topics here is wide. If you want to read about it and it has to do with reading, it is probably on this website!
Angela L Ceccarelli
I love having students engage in current affairs. One way I get them to read the news is though timeforkids.com. There are a slew of articles and activities teachers can use in the classroom for whole group, small group, or individual work. The stories are engaging relevant and allow or good discussions and critical thinking.
Suzanne Wyatt
http://www.fcrr.org/resources/resources_sca_2-3.html I love this resource for getting small group lessons/practice for my students.
Suzanne Wyatt
A resource that I find is essential to help develop concept vocabulary in struggling readers as well is ELL students is brain pop jr. In an animated fashion with two characters which are consistent throughout all the videos students learn content vocabulary as well as application of the vocabulary.
Alissa Nicholas
I really like using www.starfall.com It is very interactive, has letters A-Z, and different stories the students can read. I use this during whole group lessons when we are learning new letters, and during small groups at the computer center.
Austin
http://a4esl.org I chose this article and website because it has a plethora of activities for teachers to choose from. For example, it has crossword puzzles and games for students who don't learn best from a workbook
Melanie Jurgovan
I really like http://www.visuwords.com. It is a great little tool not only because it defines the term that is entered, but it is visual as well, and the original term is then surrounded by other terms that are somehow related to it. The relationships between these words are shown using various symbols (legend is on the side bar). Some of these relationships include “is a part of”, “is similar to”, “opposes”, “entails”, “causes” and many more. For example, entering the term “polygon” results in other terms surrounding it such as decagon, triangle, quadrilateral, plane figure, concave polygon, convex polygon, etc. This visual representation is great for new terms, review, correlations, synonyms, antonyms, etc. Relating a new term to something else helps to build the correlations and hierarchy in the student’s mind, rather than it just being a standalone random new piece of information. Visuwords.com also allows you to double-click on some terms and spawn a new diagram – but still retaining the original term and relationship. It is also kind of fun for the kinesthetic learners, because you can drag the bubbles around and all the other bubbles follow. Using this tool on a regular basis would develop fluency so that students could start to make their own visual representation of terms using a similar methodology. Another advantage of this tool is that if a lesson is underway, a student could discreetly enter a term that they may have forgotten, or not know at all when it is clear that “the rest of the class” understands. It allows for a quick way to understand meaning without bringing attention to themselves or spending so much time figuring out the meaning that they lose out on what was really being taught.
Ariana Kennedy
My resource is the website for the Florida Center for Reading Recovery. This is a great website with differentiated center ideas and activities that are simple enough to send home with parents as well as implement in small groups or rotations in the classroom. This resource is great because it is tiered based on reading needs. It starts at kindergarten and moves thru fifth grade. So not only would this benefit your struggling readers but also your higher readers too. http://www.fcrr.org/resources/resources_sca.html
camille Lewis
I choose the resource - https://login.i-ready.com/ - because I have been using it and seeing the effectiveness of it for the past 3 years. On this website your students are able to complete lessons on their grade level to fill in any gaps in learning they may have. This has been a great resource because the choice of lessons and difficulty is adjusted as your students reading fluency and comprehension improves. It also gives a detailed report of students’ progress and gives additional lessons that you can complete in small groups with the students.
Camille lewis
I choose the resource - https://login.i-ready.com/ - because I have been using it and seeing the effectiveness of it for the past 3 years. On this website your students are able to complete lessons on their grade level to fill in any gaps in learning they may have. This has been a great resource because the choice of lessons and difficulty is adjusted as your students reading fluency and comprehension improves. It also gives a detailed report of students’ progress and gives additional lessons that you can complete in small groups with the students.
Jelane
I love www.readworks.org. It provides a mass variety of nonfiction articles on all grade levels. This allows me to differentiate concepts. For example, if I am teaching the three branches of government, it has articles on several levels about the topic. I also like that I can print copies of the articles or use the digital version, www.digital.readworks.org.
Holly Clouse
This resource is invaluable for up to the date, student-relevant texts that can be adjusted to each student's exile score. So, the whole class is reading the same text, but I can assign them individually at just above their exile score. The site is https://newsela.com and it has a limited free membership that does what I need it to do. Sometimes I choose the texts and other times its student choice. There are comprehension checks and short answers that I have my students complete as a check for their understanding but not part of the grade. Their grades are based on different writing activities that I develop. It could be an essay, or a series of short answer and extended responses targeting specific comprehension goals. The articles are also great for close reads and the tools they have are pretty much the same as the tools on the FSA, so my students have additional practice using online tools. Newsela also has an app that my students can download onto their phone.
Marisa Grabiak
I chose this resource because it is something that I use often and the activities are all really good for the classroom. The CPALMS site is a place I'm sure we are all familiar with but the resources are helpful and geared toward the use of all learners but especially for your ELL students because you are able to differentiate and do them whole or small group. http://www.cpalms.org/Public/search/Resource#0
Kristy Ogburn
https://www.readinga-z.com I chose this website because it offers many different level of reading levels and an abundance of materials that could be used for differentiation.
Kyle
http://www.startwithabook.org/ I chose this site because it provides many different types of resources from educational apps, videos, books, and much more. it has many different activities you can tap into, from summer activities to themed units. I believe this could be a great source to utilize in class because it gives you multi media access, fun hands on activities and much more for both parents and teachers.
Brenda browning
https://www.khanacademy.org I chose Khan academy. I use this for math and they have just added a grammar section that is awesome. This provides a different method of working with grammar and the students think it is fun to do. I am impressed how they have it set up and delivered.
Carol
For struggling readers, I like Bookshare. You do need to have a learning disability that would affect your ability to read and process information, such as Dyslexia to gain access to this free program. I feel it is very helpful to increase fluency because it is bi-modal, highlighting the words as it orally reads aloud to you. This helps increase fluency over time. It is also linked to a dictionary allowing you to click on any word you are unfamiliar with to gain the meaning. Students can take notes while they are reading their book, keeping their thoughts and thinking clear, recalling information when needed. The link is bookshare.org. It is an accessible online library for people with print disabilities.
Lori Bederman
https://www.spellingcity.com/teacher-resources.html I use this sight for spelling and phonics patterns. The site helps with content and academic vocabulary . It will provide resources to teachers and games to match to skill for students. It is enjoyable and it has proven to be a useful tool for students to practice their spelling and vocabulary words. The students have made gains in their scores with spelling and vocabulary using this site.
Cecilie Shealy
The resource I chose is Reading Assistant. I chose this resource because it is helpful for any and all struggling readers. Here is a link to the resource: http://www.scilearn.com/products/reading-assistant. Reading Assistant is a computer software program that allows students to build word recognition and reading fluency by hearing text read aloud as well as seeing the words in front of them. This helps struggling readers understand what fluent reading sounds like as well as building their word repertoire.
Ermite
http://www.fcrr.org/for-educators/sca_cc.asp the Florida Center For Reading Research center offers activities for students of all level. Te activities are correlated to the common core standards and grouped by grade level and domains. Teachers of all grade level have at their finger tips resources to support struggling readers and keep them engaged. All the activities are research based and fun.
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