Feature #9: CHamoru Month Special - YMLG CHamoru Language Collection

 

The YMLG CHamoru Language Collection at https://uogguafak.omeka.net/collections/show/2 is a CHamoru language resource developed for remote access and education through collaboration with the Young Men's League of Guam, University of Guam Press, and the Guam Department of Education.  It features children's stories, an educational CHamoru workbook teaching the CHamoru alphabet, vocabulary, numbers, songs, and more!  

Feature #8: A Book And A Hug

      A Book and a Hug -  www.abookandahug.com allows students to find books that they enjoy and love using technology.  Every book is an adventure that can take you anywhere.  Barb Langridge, founder of the website, states, “The magic happens when the characteristics of the reader match the characteristics of the story.”  The site uses a feature called the Reader Personality Types where a reader takes a brief assessment to find out the type of the reader that they are. After answering ten basic questions, the reader can then search the website to find books based on their reader personality type. The four reader personality types include: Team Player, Jokester, Champion or Investigator. 

       Being able to choose a book that you enjoy is not the only advantage of this website.  There are also resources such as lesson plans that can be utilized in many ways. The lesson plans include everything from the introduction/anticipatory set all the way to lesson activities and games. There are also sections that are tied into different curricula and content areas such as character-building, mathematics, science, and language arts. The website is completely free and resourceful for all readers.

*Contribution by S. Paet

Feature #7: Unite for Literacy

   Unite for Literacy (https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/) is a web-based platform that offers a vast library of literary content all in one resource.  Users may access over 400 original picture books to read at their leisure, or they may even submit a picture book to be published of their own. Some publications posted on the Unite for Literacy website offer the option to read in other commonly used languages besides English. As stated in their name, the team behind Unite for Literacy makes it their intention to unify a love for literacy by supporting children of all genders, ethnic backgrounds, ages, and abilities. The representation ultimately ushers every demographic into a journey of enhancing their love for literacy.

    The added benefit of a multilingual platform makes Unite for Literacy a gold mine for introducing English literacy to English Language Learners. Some examples of featured languages include Spanish, Tagalog, German, Vietnamese, Russian, Portuguese, Danish, Mandarin, and Turkish, among several others. And while this web-based library of picture books primarily targets the demographics of emerging or struggling readers, more advanced readers of English literacy can also utilize this platform to access stories that could help aid them in learning additional languages.

    The essential goal behind Unite for Literacy is ultimately to promote a daily habit of reading regardless of cultural identity. Through their website, the Unite for Literacy team can even be contacted for literacy intervention consultations. As stated on their page, educational professionals will offer strategies to school districts or individual educators to help develop a literacy program in communities that are in dire need of them. 

*Contrubution by A. Pascual

Feature #6: PBS Kids

          

          PBS Kids (https://pbskids.org/) is a simple, safe online experience for young children who are learning basic skills, and who already know many of the characters featured on the website such as Sesame Street and Curious George.  They will enjoy playing games with their favorite character for free.  PBS Kids is designed for children 4 and up.  The site features games, videos, and other activities that center on popular PBS live-action and animated show characters.  On the PBS Kids face page, there is a rotating wheel with all the different characters to choose from.  When you select a character it will take you directly to their page to play educational and fun games.

            This educational site provides basic lessons involving favorite PBS TV characters in an easy-to-use format with voice-over instructions.  There is so much to do on this site including watching TV, playing games, and activities that can be printed out to do offline. Some of the activities included on the site are letters, numbers, and shapes for primary and for the older students, they have skilled subjects such as language and reading, following directions, letters, word recognition, reading, and vocabulary.

            Another great feature about this website is that they have a free app that allows adults to monitor their child’s activity online.  The app will periodically send parents an update with the site's corresponding app, reporting all their child’s activity online.  Overall, PBS Kids is an appropriate site for children with many fun activities, games, and TV shows to keep learning ongoing and children entertained.  

*Contribution by C. Lorenzo

Lions Club Reading Feature Bonus: Bookshare

URL:  https://temp.lionsclubs.org/EN/pdfs/iad518.pdf

Accessible Books for the Visually Impaired -

As part of the Lions Reading Action Program, clubs and districts have an important opportunity to address inequalities related to literacy, particularly among individuals with vision loss. Through our partnership with Bookshare, the world’s largest online accessible library of copyrighted content for people with print disabilities, Lions can help individuals with print disabilities have the same ease of access to print materials as people without disabilities.  Visit https://temp.lionsclubs.org/EN/pdfs/iad518.pdf

Feature #5: WordWorld

WordWorld https://www.wordworld.com is designed for preschoolers to learn to read and have fun at the same time! Through this site, preschoolers can learn to read by practicing the pre-reading skill letter sounds.  Preschoolers will learn to sound out letters, chunk, and blend them to make words.  

WordWorld’s curriculum is designed to introduce, support, and foster emergent readers ages 3 to 5.  The curriculum focuses on print, awareness, phonological sensitivity and letter knowledge, comprehension to include vocabulary development, and socio-emotional skills.  With print awareness, children will learn the characteristics of print, what it looks like, and how to organize it.  With phonological sensitivity and letter knowledge, students will recognize, identify, and manipulate the sequence of sounds represented in a word.  With comprehension, children will strengthen their thinking skills, thinking strategies, and content knowledge.  With socio-emotional, children will learn to work cooperatively, learn effectively, and interact successfully. 

The site features 5 animal friends the kids will love- duck, sheep, pig, ant, and dog. These animal friends will surely catch the attention of the children and help them learn to read through videos, apps, and games. 

WordWorld is featured on the PBS kids channel and they even have a YouTube channel.  These are 2 additional ways to access WordWorld on top of their website and app.  WordWorld is truly a great literacy site.  It is so great they’re award winning!  WordWorld has been receiving awards since 2008.  They’ve won 2 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children’s Program and Outstanding Writing in Animation. 

*Contribution by Tanya Tanaliga

Feature #4: ABCya

ABCya (https://www.abcya.com) is an educational website that provides a variety of engaging online games for children for multiple subject categories.  The homepage is easy to navigate and children are able to click on their grade level to access games that are age-appropriate.  The website offers games from Pre-K to 6th grade+ which can fit a wide range of children of all ages. 

There is a tab labeled, "Common Core Standards" where families can search games by specific standards. This allows families to find content geared towards what their children are currently learning. There is also a tab that includes blog entries on various topics including, "5 Tips that Will Make Homework More Fun" and so forth.

The website makes playing games very simple and easy for children to play. Once a child clicks on the game of their interest, it leads them to the game's page. There is a brief description of the game and an option to add the game to their favorites. There is also a simple "Play" button that the student can click on, which will start the game.  Enjoy learning & stay safe!  

*Contribution by Dona Miles