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June 16, 2003
Early Reading Software
The following companies offer literacy programs for the pre-K-3 set.
Compiled by T&L Editors
The programs featured here zero in on reading instruction specifically for the younger grades. There are many additional tools and applications on the market that address reading within the context of broader literacy skills or that focus strictly on special needs students, such as software from Kurzweil Educational Systems, Don Johnston, and others (for more on this topic, see "Reaching the Struggling Reader"). In addition, many textbook publishers — too many to mention here — have developed technology components to accompany their language arts titles. As for reading teachers looking to sharpen their skills, there are a raft of new Web-based professional development options to choose from (see page 28 for a list of online staff development providers). Stay tuned for a review of selected courses this fall.
Odyssey Reading is the literacy component of CompassLearning's new standards-based instructional management system, CompassLearning Odyssey. Included in the Odyssey Reading solution is PlayBox Theme Time, a set of 52 curriculum units that address early learning and reading skills. www.compasslearning.com
Crick Software's Clicker 4, appropriate for pre-K through middle school students, is designed to develop phonological awareness, word recognition, and writing skills. www.cricksoft.com
Educational Insight's GeoSafari Phonics Pad is an electronic learning toy that pre-K through second-grade students can use to play reading games. An accompanying Teacher's Guide includes reproducible assessments, word cards, and storybooks. www.educationalinsights.com
The Imagination Station from istation.com delivers interactive, standards-based reading instruction to pre-K through third-grade students. Designed to augment classroom instruction, the program continually assesses student performance, adapting the curriculum to individual learning needs. www.istation.com
Balanced Literacy from IntelliTools, designed to supplement the traditional reading curriculum for K-1 students and other beginning readers, features interactive lessons organized in a nine-month-long sequence. The program also accommodates students with special needs. www.intellitools.com
LeapFrog SchoolHouse's offerings include The Literacy Center, a supplemental early reading curriculum that incorporates the company's proprietary LeapPad technology, an electronic platform that lets kids practice fluency and phonemics. Grade-specific and publisher-specific editions are available. www.leapfrogschoolhouse.com
Lexia Learning's assessment and reading skills software work together to help teachers diagnose students' reading strengths and weaknesses, and then assign practice activities. Lexia Early Reading, for children ages 4 to 6, addresses rhyming, initial and final consonant sounds, word segmenting, and sound blending. www.lexialearning.com
Lightspan's Early Reading Program, created to meet the Reading First guidelines, provides interactive online literacy-building tools for K-3 students. It includes online support resources for teachers, as well as field-based reading consultants to help with assessments and on-site training. www.lightspan.com
OpenBook to Literacy from OpenBook Learning combines phonics with whole language instruction to teach reading and writing to pre-K through adult learners. Integrated Spanish translation support is available. www.openbooklearning.com
Pearson Education Technologies offers a number of managed curriculum systems, including Concert Instruction and Assessment for K-12 and SuccessMaker courseware for pre-K-8, which addresses such areas as reading readiness, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and comprehension. www.pearsonedtech.com
PLATO Learning's FOCUS Reading and Language program combines teacher-directed lessons, computer sessions that incorporate speech recognition and 3-D animation, and daily practice to teach K-3 students phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, the alphabetic principle, and oral reading and fluency. www.plato.com
STAR Early Literacy from Renaissance Learning is a computer-adaptive diagnostic assessment that helps teachers target instruction based on students' readiness and literacy skills. The program is designed for children pre-K through third grade. www.renlearn.com
Riverdeep's family of software includes Destination Reading for pre-K to third-grade students, a series that addresses phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. The network version (CD-ROM and Web-based options are also available) includes a range of management tools. www.riverdeep.net
Reading Assistant from Soliloquy Learning uses built-in speech recognition technology to help students in grades 2-5 improve their reading skills, particularly in the areas of vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. www.reading-assistant.com
Scientific Learning's Fast ForWord Early Literacy Classroom/Lab Pack for grades K-1 includes software for assessing, building, and practicing early literacy skills, plus enrollment in the online professional development course, "Language and the Brain." www.scientificlearning.com
Siboney Learning Group's Orchard instructional package includes a Language Arts K-3 bundle that focuses on building young readers' phonics, vocabulary, writing, and comprehension skills. A management component lets teachers individualize instruction and create reports. www.orchardsoftware.com
Among the reading products Scholastic offers are Scholastic Reading Inventory, a test that assesses students' reading levels and helps teachers adjust instruction; and Building Language for Literacy, a research-based early literacy program for the pre-K to kindergarten set. www.scholastic.com
Sunburst sells several titles that address early literacy skills, including the Reading Skills Bundle, which sequentially presents phonics, phonemic awareness, word recognition, and comprehension concepts for K-2 students, and the Tenth Planet Explores Literacy series for grades pre-K-3. www.sunburst.com
Wireless Generation weighs in with mCLASS Qualitative Reading Inventory-3, an observational reading assessment tool that lets teachers administer running records on a handheld device with Palm OS. The program offers feedback on student performance which can then be hot-synched with district-level records for reporting. www.wgen.net
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