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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

Laura Leister
The resource that I chose was ReadWorks. http://www.readworks.org/ This resource provides grade level texts that have accompanying activities based on skills like cause and effect, sequence of events, or summarizing. I like this site because it allows me to find resources based on grade level and also skill. I can pull different articles for students based on their lexile and know that they are reading at a level that is comfortable for them while still working on the same skill. This works great with flexible grouping. I can group my students by lexile level and find articles appropriate for each group. They have a wide variety of topics and skills that could be used across different content areas.
S. Allcorn
The resource I chose is "This Reading Mama". It has 12 resources for parents to help them with their struggling readers. It was a good resource because she gave more than one option to gain information on how to help your child. Although it is good for parents, it is also a great resource for teachers as well. There was one resource that was about 5 ways to teach in a multi-sensory way. This would be great for teaching in general and not just for struggling readers. http://thisreadingmama.com/12-incredible-resources-for-struggling-readers/
Livia Forrest
I would use Imagine Learning. This resource allows students to hear lessons in their native language and provides teachers the ability to look at meaningful data that will help with driving instruction. It is an interactive program so struggling readers enjoy being on the program. They are placed in the program based on their ability to demonstrate skills on an initial diagnostic. http://www.imaginelearning.com
John
The resource I utilized in my classroom was and is reading rockets (http://www.readingrockets.org/). do to its many uses and the way it guides its user into a learning adventure. This a phenomenal resource as it provides resources for both teacher and student. Its full of blogs, videos, reading lists, suggestions for struggling readers. It was introduced to my students and they found it helpfully as the site was so easy to navigate and understand. This site is effective for strugglin readers as it allows them after an assessment to pick books that are suggested for their reading level (hopefully spurring a young mind into the reading world). I really love this site.
Yamila Rezola
There are a lot of resources for struggling readers out there and I mentioned a few like star fall for the little ones and PBS kids. I also like A to Z readers https://www.readinga-z.com because you are able to download books at your level to read them. There are printable level books, poetry books, high frequency words, phonics, and many more.
Muriel Mis
In my classroom, my students really enjoy ABCYa. There are many different types of games the students can use such as: The students can move the tiles to put the letters in the proper order. They can also create an "All About Me" sheet. It is very important to start at a very young age to encourage students to like to interact with these types of websites.
John
I like to use razkids. The reason I enjoy this is because it allows my students to work on a reading level that is just right for them. The students can listen, read, and and answer questions in order to build their fluency, decoding and comprehension skills. The website also allows us to collect data on strengths and areas to improve for the students.
Allison Rapp
I highly recommend Reading Rockets (http://www.readingrockets.org/reading-topics/struggling-readers) to target young, struggling readers. This site covers all of the bases when it comes to pinpointing problems and finding solutions for common hurdles in the classroom. It also includes resources for everyone from the principal to the school librarian. It works effectively because it allows teachers to start from the ground up, helping them build a strong foundation with struggling readers.
David Foley
https://www.flocabulary.com/ Students love this website. My students have really enjoyed using it as a hook to a math lesson and a refresher for past covered content. I also like that after my students complete the video I have assigned, they want to go off and explore different concepts, just showing how engaging this website is.
Kelly Jacobs
An excellent resource for primary students or ELL students is Starfall.com. This site is free. It is helpful to students practice phonics activities and develop vocabulary. There is a section for each letter of the alphabet. Each letter shows path of motion, and offers several images of words beginning with the target letter. Each word is named for the learner. Students are given practice with identifying same beginning sounds and develop vocabulary.
Muriel Mis
I like to use www.readingrockets.org. It has lots of classroom strategies with videos of QAR in action and others. I has videos from PBS. It also has reading basics, reading 101 course and writing samples. It has the common core standards. It has lots of very good information.
Jennifer King
My school uses a program called iReady for all of our students. Students begin the year by taking a diagnostic test in the areas of ELA and math. The diagnostic measures the students' independent ability levels in several different domains (based on standards of the state or common core). After the diagnostic, iReady pushes out lessons that are individualized for each student's ability level. This works great for ELLs because they can be successful on lessons at their level of readiness. This is a very pricy product - one that is a major district investment. However, it is said to closely align with state standards and to prepare students for state assessments very well. Along with the online component, there are also printable materials available in the teacher toolbox area - great for use in whole group settings, small groups, and even to send home as homework. www.curriculumassociates.com/products/iready/i-ready-takethetour.aspx
Sharon Mckenzie
I have found that http://www.readingrockets.org/ is an awesome site to assist readers and parents of readers. Often times when a student is struggling with reading they are dealing with things such as self-esteem they don't want to feel bad because they can't read well or struggle with words that may be easier for other students. This causes self-esteem issues because they are worried the other students will make fun of them. This site has options that parents can utilize if they are unsure of how to help their struggling child. It is imperative in this life that a child learns to read by the time they are 8 due to FSA testing/Common Core Standards. If a child is struggling early on, teachers could suggest websites such as readingrockets.com to the parents to assist their child at home. This site is also very useful for teachers as well, check out the classroom strategies. They are very helpful.
Matthew Bowling
I chose a resource that involves using physical movement to help with reading practices. This website engages students with movement throughout the classroom with the use of highlighters, higher order questioning skills, and physical movement. Each student is required to move about the classroom to help find context clues and other resources within the text to promote higher reading skills. When students are required to stand, they must be able to answer questions about the text in order to sit down or continue to a new station. This will help with struggling readers because it will allow for the focus to not be on their struggles but allow them to be more focused on moving within the classroom. The article speaks of breaking up the routine of the brain to allow it to focus on other aspects of the classroom and in turn, it may allow for greater comprehension for struggling readers as the idea is not necessarily focused on reading 100 percent of the time. This will work great within my classroom as the concept of physical education in moving the body and we will accomplish two practices through one idea.
Coretta Pifer
I choose Teachers First as my resource. This website has a lot of different ideas for ways a teachers might be able to adjust a lesson, activity, or even give a means of practice to some students. The website is http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/esl/adaptstrat.cfm This page has different links a teacher can use to give more ideas about ways to adjust or what to look out for before starting. There are mainly just ideas or websites that can be used to help a student, but what I liked the most is when you go to the link that you are needing help with it gives you ideas of what to check first for your ESL or ESOL students. This a great help as many times I wouldn't think about something being an issue until after and I have questions. This helps me prep better and maybe get rid of any issues before they happen.
Sarah Stout
I have used this particular resource with struggling readers in the past. Highlighting the line of the text in a different color strip allows students to stay focused on what they are reading one word at a time. This resource shows a good way to create the overlay reading strips. It also gives a link to another resource to help with struggling readers. http://learningspecialistmaterials.blogspot.com/2012/10/help-for-struggling-readers-creating.html I also found a site that gave teachers four tips for struggling readers. It can be found here: http://edge.ascd.org/blogpost/4-reading-strategies-for-struggling-readers
Alison
My kids really enjoy using Storyline online. You can access this link at storylineonline.net It is a great way for readers to listen to stories being read to them. The kids really love hearing the stories read and it is a fun and engaging way to improve literacy skills!
Heather
The literacy resource I find useful is a website that offers articles based on lexile levels. A teacher can choose the same "article" that will be tiered based on each student's reading level. This resource enables the teacher to provide intervention as well as enrichment for the classroom. http://www.readworks.org/
Laurie A OBrien
I chose studystack.com. https://www.studystack.com/ This is an excellent interactive way to teach vocabulary for middle school ELA. I love this resource and so do my students. Not only do the flashcards reinforce vocabulary on multiple genres, but it also allows students to play online word video games to reinforce core vocabulary lessons. There is even a quiz that students can access as a formative assessment tool for teachers.
Jessica
My district currently uses iReady, as do most districts across Florida. Recently, iReady added a ton of new vocabulary lessons for K-2 that have ELL supports built right in!
Samantha Hickey
I use NewsELA with my struggling readers. I love that the articles are current events and on things students are hearing about in their daily lives. The articles are leveled which is great for my struggling readers because they can all be successful and still read the same content and complete the same activities!
Adelle Masching
A digital resource I use is called Raz Kids. I like this resource because not only are books available at different levels, they are often available in Spanish which is great for my bilingual classroom. I'm not sure as though the program is available for all schools, but we have access to it since we are a title school. The program also includes activities and graphic organizers to go with that resource. It's been a great addition to my classroom.
Kaleigh Limper
I have used CommonLit.org and Newsela.com for my struggling readers (ELL & Non ELL). Both websites provide a variety of texts on different subject matters at difference reading levels. NewsELA also allows teachers and students to change the lexile level of the passage. Both sites offer standardized testing style questions that accompany each passage. While we can all probably agree that state testing is not a true show of a student's progress or success, it is something that we cannot avoid and NEED to expose our ELL students to. CommonLit.org offers a great data tracking system from quiz to quiz as well.
Mandy Morey
My resource is Google Slides. (Just make sure your students have a Google account and password) My students love creating a slide presentation when researching a topic, person, etc. It would be great for them to put together a Google Slides presentation on themselves, their family, and their heritage. Sharing these with the class will allow everyone a chance to be proud of themselves and appreciate where others are coming from as well.
Henry
In my district we use razkids which helps students read a book online on their level. It helps build their comprehension skills and allows teachers see where their strengths and weaknesses are when reading.
Allyson Snow
1.) I chose this resource because it provides reading articles with questions for the students, along with an answer key for the teachers. Articles are available by grade level, they show you the Lexile level, you can look for specific reading topics you want the students to work on, and you can choose different topics. 2.) http://www.readworks.org/ 3.) Since the articles list Lexile scores, teachers can start from the student's individual reading level and slowly increase the level. Also, if a student is struggling in a specific area, for example: main idea, the teacher can differentiate instruction by giving students articles that pertain to their struggling area.
Crystal Pelt
I like to use i-Ready for whole group, small group and individual interactive lessons. This site is good for reading and math. I choose lessons based on the current skill. Students are able to run the lesson on the smart board. This is highly engaging. There are many lessons that teach explicit vocabulary and reading strategies. I am able to access lessons that are below level, on level, and above level to meet my students' needs.
Ashley Trares
A resource that I use in the media center is My Capstone Library, www.mycapstonelibrary.com. It is an ebook service so you do need to purchase the books to access them. The books are interactive and there is an audio option. They are high interest books. There is also a search option that students can use to find the subject or level that they are looking for. Capstone offers databases for research as well (PebbleGo and PebbleGo Next) which would great for struggling readers.
Amy Michele Keen
I really like Failure Free Reading for struggling readers. It is a whole language based program. It gives readers the confidence and hope that they did not have. There is a diagnostic assessment when students begin. There is an online component, a small group read aloud component, and individual practice. When students struggle with reading, many times, they have not been successful with phonics. This provides a different approach through repetition of words and sentences, to help them learn to read and add more words to the students' knowledge banks. I believe in teaching phonics and whole language. However, this is a great resource for students who have a difficult time with phonics.
Kaleigh Limper
LightSail is an app that can be purchased through the Apple or Andriod App Store to help teachers assist struggling readers. According to the app's description: "Students can use LightSail to check out texts from their schools' digital libraries and read the books directly on their devices. As students progress through a book, questions appear to gauge their comprehension. As students complete these assessments, they earn badges and also earn a Lexile measure." This could be a creative way to get kids excited about reading if they are allowed to used their phones or ipads to help enhance their literacy
Billie Jo
Bookshare is my go to for struggling learners with visual perception problems, especially at the high school level. Membership offers a level of independence needed at this age, while providing the tools to lead to success
lauren winick
A resource that I use on a regular basis is teacherspayteachers.com. This is a wonderful resource for lessons, strategies and graphic organizers to help with all aspects of reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, decoding etc. There are plenty of free resources on this website. some of the resources do cost money.
lauren
A resource that I use on a regular basis is teacherspayteachers.com. This is a wonderful resource for lessons, strategies and graphic organizers to help with all aspects of reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, decoding etc. There are plenty of free resources on this website. some of the resources do cost money.
Yan-Ping Luu
I recommend www.rewordify.com to my ELLs to help them understand reading passages which are difficult for them to comprehend. This resource is a free online software that improves reading comprehension. Students can type an English text or a web page to be rewordify and simplified. An original passage reads like this, "The ravenous throng scampered toward the delectable viands, which the chef had impeccably arrayed on the table." The rewordified text reads as followed, "The extremely hungry crowd ran toward the delicious food, which the chef had extremely well organized (into rows) on the table." "Ravenous" was rewordified into "Extremely hungry." "Extremely hungry" was highlighted in yellow. When you hover the cursor over it, a text box with "ravenous" and its rewordified version "extremely hungry" appears in a text box. Students can click the megaphone icon and hear "ravenous" being read out loud. The same apply to all the rewordified words. You can also enter a web site URL. Students prefer using this resource to looking up words in the dictionary, because this resource offer easy-to-understand definitions. Another great feature of this resource is its Learning Session which offer an interactive word-learning experience. Students can see the word, hear it, and spell it multiple times. It helps them to learn words in context. It is based on a repetitive multimodal approach. Students will hear and type the words multiple times. They can customize their learning list by including the words they have rewordified. This has made acquiring vocabulary more interactive and more interesting to students.
Linda
I like to see the students use Storyrobe. Its an app on an ipod, ipad, or iphone. It helps students work in groups with lots of visuals. They can work in groups and add to the stories that they make together.
Ashley
I use the resource she loves math at times when planning lessons. This helps me as a math teacher prepare lessons that are catered towards high school students. It also can serve as a resource for students to spend time looking into topics of math further and deepening their understanding. I like it because it's a teacher that is making the site, so she has seen things in the classroom and has an understanding of teaching math. http://www.shelovesmath.com/ Basically the site is all the different types of math that you might learn in high school broken down into their smaller topics. It's easy to find any topic, and she will describe problems and concepts around that topic. This resource isn't the best for struggling readers, but it will help teachers who are helping struggling readers by providing them with clear explanations that will aid them in explaining concepts to their students who might not be able to get it reading themselves.
Ciara Gill
One of the resources that I really find to be great is http://www.storyboardthat.com/. While you have to sign up for a subscription to use full-time and with more resources, students can get access to up to six storyboards and create their own backgrounds, characters, and then write explanations. Great tool to use for schools that are one-to-one as well.
Vicky Hackett
Spelling City is a great website for basic words you want them to learn. It has many components to it. Lists can be personalized. They can see and say the sounds- practice- take tests.
Misty
I chose this because it has really helped some of my students this year who are struggling with reading or have dyslexia. https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/readwrite-for-google-chro/inoeonmfapjbbkmdafoankkfajkcphgd?hl=en-US Read and write is an app available in chrome. All of my students have chrome books so this app is readily available. It is able to read text aloud, it will simplify websites to get rid of all of the distractions, students can use it to build vocabulary lists. It has many capabilities. The great thing is that students can use it without feeling singled out or different because it is available to all students.
Rebecca
Since we are supposed to be sharing a common assessment for learning, I've chosen this article: http://www.literacyinlearningexchange.org/sites/default/files/vm0212assessment.pdf I want to be like everyone else and say that this article seemed interesting, but honestly, I chose it because it fit the assignment. I know that's not what we're supposed to say, but I value honesty, integrity, and individuality. An honest question like "why did you choose this article?" deserves an honest answer. Regarding this article, it is interesting to see how common assessment can be used in the English class--and across the core subjects, allowing teachers to quickly and effectively get a sense as to students' understanding and be able to give prompt feedback, all while working with other teachers within their teams or clusters to share this information so they will also be able to learn more about their students.
Latrice Samuel
I will use the brain pop for all subjects in my classroom. I have used it previously for math, social studies as well as my social emotional group. I also use ReadWorks because it is a good resource that gives not just a reading article at the Lexile, but it has comprehension questions as well. And if you really find a book that you want to use it gives you a whole lesson and units as well as the standards use for those units.
Vicky Hackett
I like the resource Starfall.com for teaching ABC's and sight words. The matching sight word activity is a way students can work together. They say the word. When the pair matches they continue on in the game. It moves up levels. I would put a child that know sight words with ELL student. It has stories using the sight words. It build success. They have books reproduced to read.
KRISTEN WOODSIDE
The resource I chose is https://www.getepic.com/. I chose this resource because I have found it to be one of the most effective and engaging with my struggling readers. The website differentiates to each student, surveying them about their age, interests, etc. then gives them a browsing page full of online books and audio books. My students have really benefited from it because they can practice their reading skills and build confidence with the audio books. I have found that children benefit so much just from being read to, and Epic allows that to happen on an individual basis.
Jessica Warren
For the past couple of years I have used Newsela.com to support my Intensive Reading students. This website provides current non-fiction world wide news stories. I am able to choose what articles I want to assign and the students are also able to choose any news articles that interest them to work on independently. Each article comes with 4 text dependent questions that are based on a variety of common core standards as well as an extended response question. My access allows me to see performance broken down by student and standard. The link is: https://newsela.com/ One of the major advantages is the ability to engage my students because of its relevant topics (Sports, money, science, law, education, etc). Students are also able to adjust the lexile level of each article to fit their current performance level or give them a little extra push.
Danielle Maccarrone
I am choosing the Starfall.com. It's an excellent resource for the students in my self-contained k-2 class. It allows them to see visuals and examples of the content they are learning. It also provides games, stories, and other exercises in which the students can spend time to learn and practice on their own.
Kelly Zelaya
http://thisreadingmama.com/12-incredible-resources-for-struggling-readers/ I chose this site to help parents with students who have dyslexia. The site has resources in how to understand what the child sees and needs for better learning. It helps parents teach their students methods in order to get control of the dyslexia. As well as methods to aid the student with their homework and studies.
Larré Davis
Unfortunately, I have not been in an elementary or secondary classroom for sometime and and am truly unfamiliar with resources for emerging readers or ELL students. If I think back to teaching reading to at-risk student ages 16-24, I used https://www.bluford.org/audiobooks/to assist struggling readers because this website has free audiobooks for students to listen and read along with their favorite Bluford series short novel. These were very high interest books that has titles and topics the inner city students could relate to and that would maintain their interest.
Jenny Rayburn
Colorin Colorado is a wonderful site I was introduced to a couple of years ago while completing Polk State's EPI program. It's a great resource for ELL educators. I found it very useful for my growth as an educator for non native speaking students and, in fact, all my students. It is a great website for resources for administrators, teachers, paras, and parents. They can find articles, videos, and books. I highly recommend checking it out!
Jenny Rayburn
Colorin Colorado is a wonderful website and resource for all! Administrators, teachers,paras, and parents all could benefit from this site. It has articles, videos, and books and many other resources. I was introduced to this site a couple of years ago apart of an EPI program. I have since used this resource a handful of times and have found it beneficial!
Leslie
I love "reading a-z." This website offers a huge variety of differentiated reading passages on a number of different topics. It includes both literature and informational text, as well as skill-specific units and standards-based lesson plans and activities. I use this website regularly to pull leveled passages and comprehension questions for my small groups.
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