Word World Website to Teach Reading

Word World Website teaches Reading.

A dear friend of mine in the homeschooling community told me about a wonderful website that I wanted to share with you.  You can find it at:  

http://wordworld.com/index.php

Word World is an educational website that teaches reading.  I especially like the vibrant colors and picturesque view of the world of words.  I enjoy watching the stories as the characters, which have their names written on their bodies, interact with each other.  This certainly is a great website for kindergarten age children.  It is based on a cartoon series that has appeared on Public Broadcast Station.

The following are sections within the website:

Ebooks- A child can view books like The Big Race, Totally Terrific Duck, Duck's First Sleepover, Snug as a Bug, and A Smile for Crocodile.  Each story has a synopsis, with the educational target areas in the fields of phonics, comprehension and vocabulary.

My daughter enjoyed reading The Big Race on Word World.

(My daughter viewed the Ebook, The Big Race.  It read the story, highlighting each word as it was said; she had a little bit of time to create the word.  That portion went a little too fast; however, the story was fun to watch.  This is akin to the website http://www.starfall.com/.)

Videos- A child can watch an episode or have a sneak peek; again comprehension, phonics, and vocabulary are explained on the right hand side.

Duck's Alphabet- This is a game that a child can play to learn letters and their sounds.

For Kids- This area includes the following:

--Activities Sheets-coloring sheets, activities, games

--Episode-Related Activities- list of episodes with a particular game

--Birthday Supplies- invitations, banners, thank you notes, and certificates

Parents & Teachers- This area includes the following:

--Introduction- There is a welcome page to teachers and parents.

--Educational Philosophy- There is an explanation of the use of phonics and words to teach reading based on research, with an emphasis on using the print awareness and letter recognition to aid comprehension; also emphasizes social side of the stories.

--Department of Education Funded Study- According to Education Week, about the selected children viewing the cartoon on PBS during school time-- "the gains the program viewers had made in expanding their oral vocabulary skills and in reading and recognizing words significantly outstripped those of their counterparts in regular classes [who did not watch the show during school time]."

--Parent Viewing Tips- Listed are activities parents can do while and after watching the show.

--Teacher Viewing Tips- Listed are activities teachers can do before, during, and after the show.

--Episode Descriptions- Listed are episodes with a short description of the plot for each one.

Workbook on Word World ties in with The Big Race.

Finally, I was fortunate enough to have a workbook featuring the cartoon Word World.  I found this page that ties in perfectly with the Ebook The Big Race.  

I believe the PBS cartoon, website, and workbook related to Word World are wonderful ways to show a child how to read.  The more a child is exposed to a theme that he/she enjoys, the more likely they are to learn from it.  In our case, I knew that my daughter had been watching the show.  I had bought her the workbook because of that.  Finding the website was a bonus, thanks to a fellow homeschooling mom.

Thanks for reading about our reading fun!

How about you, my readers?  How do you encourage the children in your life to read?  Do you have oodles of books in your home?  Do you let your children read from educational websites?  I encourage you to give this website, Word World, and others like it, a try.

God bless you all with His peace, my beloveds.

This has been an entry for Technology Tuesdays.  I hope you enjoyed it.