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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

Dawn Bacevic
A resource that I like to use for my younger students is ABCYA which is found at http://www.abcya.com. It teaches a variety of skills to students in a fun way. Lessons can be differentiated by grade level and subject. This is a great resource to reinforce basic skills with my ELLs and others that could benefit from remediation.
Ariel
I use Epic Books with my students. I chose this resource because students can follow along with a story and read the book or they can just listen to the book being read aloud to them. Words are highlighted and defined. The texts can be selected to be "just-right" books and they can also be content specific. There is a wide variety of texts to choose from (some have heavy picture support while others you need to use more context clues. https://www.getepic.com/app/sign_in
Aimee Popson
My students love to go on abcya at www.abcya.com. There are numerous games all geared toward teaching phonics at varying levels. One of the reasons I like this site is its ease of use for the students. It also engages them in a way that is fun for them while they are learning. There is even a Spanish word Bingo game.
Cynthia Washam
Dave's ESL Cafe gets my thumbs up because it's fun. The web site is a hub of mostly American ESL teachers around the world. If I'm looking for inspiration, I can browse through dozens of topics including grammar, pronunciation, spelling, writing and vocabulary. Each topic has loads of tips from ESL teachers. David in Korea wrote about creating a Bingo game with easily confused words, instead of the usual numbers, to improve his students' ability to listen. Maria in Brazil hones her students' listening skills by playing an English rock song then giving them scrambled lyrics to assemble in the right order. The web site also offers an extensive listing of international English-teaching jobs and more than 3,000 links on every imaginable topic related to ESL.
Aimee Popson
My school has purchased licences for all identified struggling ELL students to use a program called Imagine Learning. I like it because the students who go on it each day for 20 minutes with fidelity all show growth in their reading. This program also allows me to see each students progress, allowing me to pinpoint where they are struggling and/or succeeding. I then differentiate my lessons accordingly.
Tiffany Reddick
I chose TweenTribune. (https://www.tweentribune.com/)This is a fantastic, constantly updated news site for children. There are tons of articles about news events going on all around the world. The best overall part about this site is it is completely kid friendly. The news stories are relevant and exciting, but students aren't exposed to crime, death, or other adult topics. The best part for ELL students and any struggling reader is that each story has different Lexile versions to choose from so students can find the most appropriate reading level to the articles they wish to read. Another great part about this site is students can post comments, BUT they are not posted to the site until the teacher approves them. I've used this site for years and my students love it.
Monica
I Love Using Brainpop https://www.brainpop.com/ This resource covers a ton of different topics, but more importantly it allows students to visualize some of the more abstract concepts.
Monica
I love bookflix and also really like the storybird site from the article. Maybe I will try that out this year!
Liz Galasso
This pdf holds great strategies for ELLS. The website itself nysrti.org has a wealth of information too. http://nysrti.org/files/documents/resources/ell/rti_for_ell_-_webinar_esparza_brown_pdf Proficiency of language should not be considered a deficiency in learning. This PDF provides helpful tools to progress monitor performance, make considerations in lesson planning for ELLs, and provides strategies to scaffold for ELLs. There are 61 slides with helpful, easy-to read, ideas to help ELLs grow their language skills.
Colleen Mueller
I chose the resource http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/immigration/index.htm. This is an interactive website about immigration. On it, students can take an interactive tour of Ellis Island to learning about immigration in the past. They can also learn about immigration today by listening to interviews from kids who have recently moved to the U.S. This is a great resource for ELLs and struggling readers. It has plenty of pictures, narrates the information to the viewer, and even has a closed captioning option.
Katelin
I like to use Bookflix in my classroom. This allows the students to see the words highlighted as the story is read to them. It is a great resource for them to use. There are also additional follow-up activities you can use for the stories.
Kymberly Marriner
I chose https://sheg.stanford.edu/home_page Standford History Education site as a resource. It provides different ways to target specific lesson topics for students. There are many way to scaffold the learning in their lesson plans. The lesson plans hit many of the standards and offers unique ways to review, re-read, and assess students on a topic in World history. One way it works with struggling readers is its ability to engage every student in actively participating – breaking the learning or reading in to manageable chunks. The review for the teacher is awesome and lesson plans are included to add or take away scaffolding as needed.
Cody Montgomery
Well I have two resources that I find can help with literacy resources for struggling learners. The first is http://www.readingrockets.org/teaching/reading101-course/toolbox/resources aka Reading rockets and provides everything from hellp for parents, teachers and students. It has Everything from blogs, videos, worksheets and exercises to provide in the classroom. It has great potential to be a valuable resource if used by instructors for decoding, differentiated instruction, resources and information on struggling readers. Also, Pinterest is a great resource now, it has links to all kids of resources and is a social media resource that attaches teachers to one another and unlimited sharing and invaluable information. https://www.pinterest.com/lauracandler/literacy-teaching-resources/?lp=true
Joselyn Iglesia
The resource that I love is www.songsforteaching.com. It is a great resource for all students to benefit from. It has a song for students to connect and retain the content. I think this a very effective, interactive, and engaging way where all learners can participate and be successful. What kid does not like a silly or funny or a song to sing. That's how they learn in preschool when they are first learning to speak so why not encourage the arts as an avenue for children to learn. Try it for your next lesson.
Liz
The School Library Journal had a great article called the Four Surefire Techniques for Engaging English Language Learners- It provided great strategies for comprehensible input and output. It also gave a list of other resourceful websites such as colorin colorado-
Dehlia V Garrity
http://www.cpalms.org/Public/ I have used CPALMS many times as it provides, lessons, games, assessments...no need to reinvent the wheel and it correlates with the standards and common core. Manatee Countee Teachers can log on from Webnet...just click on the Florida DOE SSO icon and use your Webnet login ID!
Lisa Perez
I use the website scholastic.com. Our school has order the scholastic magazines StoryWorks. The stories in the magazine come as is but the online resource allows you to tier the reading based on struggling readers as well as tiered questioning. Some worksheets show students where in the story to find the paragraph by asking them questions to 'think' about where in the story to find the answers. This way, all my students are working on the same story, but at their own level.
kristy ogburn
I chose the website reading a-z. I like this website because it offers many different levels of reading material to build comprehension and fluencyhttps://www.readinga-z.com
Tammy Harper
Reading and understanding informational text in science can be extremely challenging, expecially in Chemistry. Cloze reading exercises can support the learning of difficult concepts, epecially when using informational texts that relate to the subject matter in a common, interesting manner. This site has readings specific for Chemistry complete with text based questions. There are a variety of grade levels and topics represented so that students needing different reading and challenge levels chan be supported http://bpsscience.weebly.com/science-and-literacy-close-reading-cwa--more.html
Donna Waite
I like the resource, You Gotta Read. I teach incarcerated high school boys. The site is designed for students who hate to read. They offer short stories and longer stories. All are high interest, with vocabulary support and comprehension questions. http://www.wegottaread.com/
Jamie Lopez
A website I found recently is www.sightwords.com. It's a great website that provides videos, game ideas and task card generators for teaching students sight words. I have made sight word bingo, generated Dolch word flash cards and more. It's really helpful when trying to find fun and engaging ways to teach high frequency words to kids. And it's free!
Sydney Thacker
When I taught kindergarten I used abcya.com a lot. One game I used was the alphabet order. the game scrambles the letters and the child has to place them in the correct order. I suggest you make alphabet card to put in front of the child so they can follow the order with their fingers.
Carey
I love Reading A-Z (https://www.readinga-z.com/). I think this is such a great resource for struggling readers. The books are leveled so the students can read on their own level. There are so many books to choose from. Not a fan of the price as you can go to the library and get books for free; however, Reading A-Z makes picking the right book so easy.
Rachael Watts
The website I use is reading a-z. It offers different levels of reading material and activities to along along with them. This website helps me when differentiating instruction. https://www.readinga-z.com
elizabeth galasso
Colorincolorado.org is a resourceful website for parents and teachers of ELLS. There are tips, strategies, and videos to help support English language learners. If you haven't checked it out, you must.
Rebecca
A website that I have found useful in the classroom is getepic.com. It is a book site for students that they can read on any mobile device. There are a number of different genres that the students can choose from and most are AR leveled books. Teachers can create a profile for their students to keep track of the books that they have read. I believe that this is a great resource for all students.
Margaret Macbeth
The resource I am recommending is one we use for students who need reading remediation. Students are able to select an article that is of interest to them and are guided through a series of exercises and activities that engage them with the article on a deeper level. The difficultly level is based on a benchmark "level set" test which helps to establish their current Lexile score. Over time, their Lexile level is increased to challenge them more and bring them up to grade level. I have seen my students reading levels begin to improve in the short two months since we have been working with this program. It also is motivating for them to engage on the platform because there are incentive prizes they can earn based on how many articles and points they earn. http://www.achieve3000.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItvmv_sXh1gIVxx6GCh3A2wVuEAAYASAAEgKdt_D_BwE
Amy Keen
New-2-you is a great resource for teaching basic reading. It has three different levels to choose from for each article. news-2-you.com This would be good for ELLs because the articles are relevant, world current events, for all ages. There is an option for the computer to read it to the student. There is, also, an option which present picture symbols with each word.
Jessica Warren
For the past couple of years, I have used www.Newsela.com for my Intensive Reading classes. This website allows the teacher to set up classrooms and individual student log in information. The site contains newly released world wide news stories and about 4-5 standards based questions per article. The students have the ability to alter the lexile level of their assigned articles to fit their reading ability. The teachers gradebook is notified of the change and the students individual lexile is adjusted based on their settings. The articles are also provided in Spanish if the student needs that modification. Students are also able to pick news stories that interest them to go above and beyond the assignments created by the teacher.
Sara
The resource that I rely on the most is the Frayer Model of vocabulary instruction. It allows the students space to fully explore a word and is flexible. The model requires the word and its definition, but the rest of the squares can include a graphic representation, examples/nonexamples, synonyms and antonyms, sentences, cognates, etc. Here's a link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13NSAhOSmqPpct5_JKKn-qjxAwg5s9RdU818sllGpdZE/edit
Sara Childers
I've implemented this strategy for this school year. It's meant to keep students organized and show understanding in a concise way. This format provides incredible flexibility. I often use the "IN" section for bellwork, the "THROUGH" section for text annotations, reading notes, or graphic organizers, and "OUT" section for text-dependent questions. http://classresourcesforteachers.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-in-through-out-interactive-notebook.html
Sejal Desai
When previously teaching elementary students, I used the resource BrainPop and BrainPop Jr. This site allows educators introduce a concept through a short video, mini class quiz and games. This would work with struggling readers because it allows them to first make a visual connection with the topic. Along with that on the bottom of the videos, there a subtitles. The teacher could make this introduction into a reading lesson by turning the volume down and reading the simple sentences at the bottom in a group or individual setting. There are also mini reading and writing lessons on the site which students could work on at home, a computer center or as a group. https://www.brainpop.com/
Joselyn Iglesia
An awesome resource for struggling readers is storyline online. 24 popular picture books for kids are read by narrators, and each book gives you lesson plan ideas, activities, and the kids love hearing the actors read the stories, because they are so expressive, and it helps them to gain oral language, vocabulary as well as to love books. Joselyn
Courtney Cappella
The resource I chose is IXL.com, which is a website that allows students to individually practice reading and writing skills. I chose this resource because I believe it allows students to practice the basic fundamental reading skills at their own pace. This website tracks student progress and allows teachers to follow along with their learning. When students guess an answer wrong, the program will tell them the correct answer and give an explanation as to WHY their answer was incorrect, and which answer is right and why.
Jennifer Duggan
I have chosen this resource because it is something that will help me when teaching social studies at all levels. It will help me differentiate and work with different types of learners.  http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/ This resource contains links to pictures, readings, and videos for different time periods through history. There are glossaries, multi-media resources that can benefit students at different levels. It is also easy for teachers to find resources and manipulate to help struggling readers chunk. The videos will help reinforce the information and students will be able to read and listen to the information.
Tiffany Aguas
The literary resource that I find very useful for teaching English Language Learners is Newsela. I chose this resource because it provides a wide variety of articles and topics that are sure to engage readers from 2nd-12th grade. It is helpful for struggling readers, because teachers can change the language or lexile level. The articles also highlight and auto define vocabulary based on the student's lexile level. Along with vocabulary, the articles come with writing prompts and quizzes. The website also offers plenty of tools for teachers, such as themed text sets, progress monitoring tools, and class assignment binders. Here is the link: https://newsela.com
Shana Moss
I like newsela.com. Another teacher recommended it and I haven’t been using it long but so far, it’s impressive. If you know the student’s reading level, the level can be plugged in and the student can read an article at his/her level. And if the level is too low/high, it can be adjusted. I haven’t had to adjust levels yet but that was one of the selling points when I signed up. I started using it for students that were out of the classroom/ make up work but the more I play with the site, the more I think I am going to use it more. The articles are interesting and the few students I have used the site with have given positive feedback about the site and articles.
Enrico Pucci
As a member of a team, I believe that my social studies classroom must help students develop reading comprehension strategies that are meaningful and help my students met their language arts learning goals. One of the websites that I especially like is Readin A - Z. This website offers grade and lexile appropriate reading on almost any topic so that I can meet my content goals and help the students develop their comprehension skills. https://www.readinga-z.com/content-area-reading/social-studies/
Jennifer Bittner
The resource that I chose is Quizlet. You can access Quizlet at www.quizlet.com. I use Quizlet in my classroom in a variety of ways. I use it in flashcard mode displayed on the SMART Board and students respond using whiteboards. Usually I have a students leading the review. This allows me to assess quickly each individual student's need with vocabulary and then assign additional practice if needed. Students also use Quizlet in a 1:1 ration with Chromebook. Students can independently practice at their own pace and I can have students working on a variety of individual sets. I also like the features that Quizlet offers students. The students like to play the interactive games and they learn their vocabulary in a fun way. The Quizlet Live feature is one of the best ways for students to play and learn vocabulary at the same time. Quizlet also has a lot of other features that help ELL students learn their vocabulary. Quizlet will speak the words and definitions so students can hear them read and pronounced correctly. You can also add images to your flashcards, which also helps ELL students visualize what the words mean. All around, I really feel that this is an awesome website/resource to help students learn vocabulary and help them become better readers.
Jen Trim-Bittner
You can access Quizlet at www. quizlet. com. I use Quizlet in my classroom in a variety of ways. I use it in flashcard mode displayed on the SMART Board and students respond using whiteboards. Usually I have a students leading the review. This allows me to assess quickly each individual student's need with vocabulary and then assign additional practice if needed. Students also use Quizlet in a 1:1 ration with Chromebook. Students can independently practice at their own pace and I can have students working on a variety of individual sets. I also like the features that Quizlet offers students. The students like to play the interactive games and they learn their vocabulary in a fun way. The Quizlet Live feature is one of the best ways for students to play and learn vocabulary at the same time. Quizlet also has a lot of other features that help ELL students learn their vocabulary. Quizlet will speak the words and definitions so students can hear them read and pronounced correctly. You can also add images to your flashcards, which also helps ELL students visualize what the words mean. All around, I really feel that this is an awesome website/resource to help students learn vocabulary and help them become better readers.
Salvatore Lombardo
I like the discussion and appreciate all input.
Salvatore Lombardo
I like the link below which allows students to practice skills for English Language Arts. The website: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games_vocab.htm It has interactive games that allow students to practice vocabulary, spelling/phonics, and grammar skills just to name a few. The website is also great for Math practice. Students feel like they are playing a game while learning!
Maritza Tuohy
I chose newsela.com. I like this site because it has current and authentic articles about current issue. The articles can be adjusted to meet the varies needs of students.
Jennifer Zuppinger
I really like Reading A to Z. I find the resources to be appropriate for almost every learner. I like that you are able to print readers for similar skills at several different levels. The readers I have used from them are of high interest to the students. They also provide graphic organizers and other activities to go along with the readers, enhancing comprehension.
Alexis Wilson
One resource I found is the following website: http://www.fortheteachers.org/differentiation_framework/. I chose this resource because it really lays out a framework for differentiation in English Language Arts and various strategies to use. This resource explains different point in the lesson that a teacher can incorporate differentiation, exactly what differentiation is, and a few activities and materials to use when implementing differentiation. This resource can be used effectively because it reaches out to readers in several different ways so that a concept can be explained, taught, and re-mediated at the level that each student specifically needs to enhance their own learning.
Sara Thompson
I chose http://www.readingrockets.org/. I used this resource frequently in the EPI program I attended and while preparing for the SAE K-6 exam.There are many articles for teaching reading, classroom strategies, and how to help struggling readers. There is also information on the following: Comprehension Content area literacy Dyslexia Early literacy development Educational technology English language learners Fluency Oral language Parent engagement Phonemic awareness Phonics Reading aloud Spelling & word study STEM literacy Summer reading Vocabulary Writing There is also a section for parents to help their children develop skills and find solutions for issues they are facing. There are also printables, paired fiction and nonfiction books, quizzes, writing prompts, and other resources that can be used in the classroom and home. I also love the videos for teachers. It is helpful to see strategies being implemented.
JESSICA NESBY
I chose the picture dictionary (www.pdictionary.com) because I work with ELL students as well as students with limited verbal communication skills. The picture dictionary puts pictures with many common words. Having the picture dictionary allows these students to make connections to the words that they hear on a daily basis, in addition to increasing their own vocabulary for communicating with others.
Patrick Dickensheets
I choose the website MobyMax.com. It is a great resource for all curricular areas. It has differentiated reading from beginning alphabet recognition to high school reading passages. It tracks data for you such as learning velocity and time student spent engaged. It rewards students with game time as they do well and will even set daily goals for them. I strongly recommend this resource.
Salvatore Lombardo
I like the discovery education and Netflix sites. This allows for current information to be provided to student. DE gives differentiation of instruction by providing materiel to different stages of learners.
Robert Lombardo
A resource that I use to help struggling readers is the Quizlet app. This is an app/website where students can make interactive flash cards, view already created content, and even play interactive games and timed exercises to test themselves on vocabulary. The link for this website is as follows: www.quizlet.com. This app allows for differentiation and students to pace themselves which is ideal for struggling readers. They can access it on a variety of platforms and can explore a set of vocabulary in many ways (flash cards, games, interactive, time trials, etc.).
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