#Starfall calendar february 2009 how to#
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For example, the learners interact with pictures to distinguish the letter T/t from other different letters. They give time to learners to consciously think about and use the rules available to them in their learned system (Krashen, 1981, 1985).

The activities and games are attractive and interactive. After students learn the predictable relationship between the sounds (phonemes) and letter combinations (graphemes), they are introduced to regular three letter consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) words. It teaches letter-sound relationships by providing a friendly navigation system that explicitly focuses on each letter of the alphabet. The first stage of reading on the opening page is “ABC’s: Let’s get ready to read” (see Figure 4). materials and information about the website’s founder, producers, designers, and so on.materials and information for educators.

#Starfall calendar february 2009 download#

the Download Center for downloading journals, books, printouts, activities, and the latest version of Adobe Reader.

the Starfall Store where books and phonics journals that parallel the website are sold.

#Starfall calendar february 2009 how to#

For example, the Calendar icon leads students to interactive and relevant activities not only about how to read and answer questions about dates, but also about how to use dates and numbers (in mathematics) to make a calendar (see Figure 2).Īt the bottom of the main page of the website (see Figure 3), there are another seven links which lead users to: Some of them are related to different topics in different subject areas. In addition to the four main icons, there are thirteen other catchy icons on the main page these include links to additional interactive songs, games, and stories for reading. These high-frequency lexical items can help students with writing, speaking, and comprehension in relevant contexts (Cummins, Brown, & Sayers, 2007). The activities at the various stages are designed to enhance not only students’ word and sound building abilities but also to expose students to high-frequency words suitable for their level. Separating the activities into these stages should allow learners to move from one level of comprehension to the next by means of providing them with comprehensible input (Krashen, 1985). The opening page also has four main colorful and attractive icons representing the stages of reading. Under the attractive logo of the website, there is a sentence summarizing the ultimate goal of the website (“Where children have fun learning to read!”). The opening page of the website is visually attractive to users (see Figure 1). Tasks like these should enhance learners’ confidence, critical thinking, and metacognitive skills (Cummins, Brown, & Sayers, 2007 National Research Council, 2000 Butler-Pascoe & Wiburg, 2003). This would allow students to create, for example, individual portfolios. Moreover, students can choose to save materials on their computers, print them, or email them to share with others inside or outside the classroom.

The website, with its easy navigation tools and visual cues, allows learners to engage in varied activities, games, and materials independently, in pairs, or with the whole class. Its main purpose is to help learners master speech sounds and letters in a meaningful context where students can “negotiate meaning to accomplish a real-world, communicative task” (Butler-Pascoe & Wiburg, 2003, p. Although the website is designed primarily for first grade students, it could be also used with ESL/EFL beginners. It is designed, produced, and published by experts with successful backgrounds and experiences in publishing educational products. Stephen Schutz, Susan Polis Schutz, Jared Schutz Polis, Brandi Chase, and a team of educators, artists, designers, animators, musicians, and engineers from all over the world Website for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, special needs, homeschooled, and English language learners (ELD, ELL, ESL) Ethical Standards for Authors and Reviewersĭecember 2009 – Volume 13, Number 3 Title.