by Leticia Barr

As a first grade teacher, the majority of my day was spent teaching reading. While some of my students flourished by receiving instruction in reading groups, literacy centers, and journal writing, it was clear that others did not. It was a challenge to figure out methods that would interest and engage my students who needed more than books and practice through traditional teaching methods.

Teaching students to read can be challenging, but providing opportunities for them to hone their skills can be even more difficult. The traditional methods of teaching reading and providing opportunities to practice skills are only effective for a select portion of the population. Today, more teachers are relying on interactive websites because they appeal to the multimedia generation.

Interactive websites appeal to students because they allow them to manipulate information and provide immediate feedback. They are rich with auditory and visual information that stimulate parts of the brain that aren’t activated through traditional methods of teaching.

One great example of an interactive website that provides beginning readers with an opportunity to hone their skills through hands-on practice is the new Electric Company site. The 1971 show has been revived by PBS and now has its own website designed to help a new generation of readers. The Electric Company site enables beginning readers to practice their ability to decode, comprehend text, and build their vocabulary. Games are a feast for the senses with animated images that appeal to visual learners, auditory feedback for those needing verbal stimulation, and the tactile ability to manipulate parts of words and letter sounds.

The collection of games includes Chain Gang, which is similar to the classroom version of Patricia Cunningham’s Making Words, because it relies on knowledge of individual letter sounds and blends to play. Users see a word on the screen and manipulate a sound to make a new word. Correct words are placed in a word box and read for additional reinforcement. Combotronic requires decoding skills since players have to build words out of their parts and drag each component into a box. Students click on a word part to hear it read before dragging it into the box. When words are correct, students will hear a definition of the word they have created. If incorrect, the site will prompt the student to find an alternate beginning or ending part. Additional games such as Word Transformer, Great Escapes, and Shock’s Beatbox will be added in the coming months.

The Electric Company’s new site will motivate the most reluctant reader to become immersed in the Electric Company experience. Players can customize their profile with icons, backgrounds, characters from the show, and Zaps. For each game, users earn volts that can be used to add characters from the television show to their customized profile. The site is fun, interactive, and provides a new way to practice reading skills.

In addition to The Electric Company, there are many other interactive PBS sites that are designed to reinforce reading. The WordGirl website targets the same age range as The Electric Company, and there are numerous sites that target younger readers, including Sesame Street, Super WHY!, Between the Lions, WordWorld and PBS KIDS Island. All of these websites provide high-quality literacy experiences that propel emergent readers into the realm of fluency through interactive experiences that provide positive feedback. For more information about WordGirl, I recommend Elizabeth Ross Hubbell’s September 2008 Media Infusion post. You might also enjoy Elizabeth’s March 2007 post about meeting the needs of emergent readers. And for more on PBS KIDS Island, I suggest you check out Gina Montefusco’s November 2008 Media Infusion post.

Of course, there are many other wonderful websites that foster literacy through interactive experiences for children. Seussville features Dr. Seuss-themed reading games for preschool to third grade. Emergent readers will delight in games like Cat in the Hat ABC Hide and Seek, which reinforces beginning word sounds. Fluent readers can make simple sentences with the Fox in Socks Word Matching Game, create stories featuring characters from Horton Hears a Who with the Seussville Storymaker, or practice reading comprehension by playing The Diffendoofer Teachers Have Lost Their Rooms.

While the computer can’t replace a child sitting down with an adult to listen to a story, One More Story provides an opportunity for children to read books online. The site features three bookshelves with classic children’s books, including titles by Ezra Jack Keats and favorites such as Mouse Paint, Stellaluna, and Pete’s a Pizza. Children select a story and see the words highlighted as they listen to the audio.

Distinguishing the words as they are being read to helps readers make the connection between the written and spoken word while also aiding in building site word vocabulary. While the features are geared towards emergent readers, One More Story benefits children of all reading abilities.

How do you engage the readers in your classroom? Do you use interactive websites as part of your classroom instruction? Do you find that students are more receptive to traditional methods of instruction or those involving multimedia? If you’ve used any of the PBS sites mentioned, what did you and your students think? I invite you to leave a comment, suggestion, and any questions below!