Literacy and Reading News Roundup of New Resources – November

Welcome to the second edition of our monthly Roundup of New Resources. This column was previously part of the Children’s Literacy and Reading News Roundups that Jen Robinson and I put together each Monday.

The RoNR is published during the first week of each month. I am adding categories to complement the sections Jen and I use in the weekly collections.

Places for Parents

ReadingTools.org- Bill Allen, well-known entrepreneur and life-long dyslexic, launched ReadingTools.org to give parents a means to assess and address their children’s reading problems. The Learning To Read Program is geared toward helping children (ages 6 to 11) who are 3-D learners (often called dyslexics). There is a fee to use the program itself, but the site offers some free tools, including a 28-page Ebook about how 3-D learners can overcome difficulties as well as an assessment tool.

We love Literacy Launchpad, and Amy just published a guest post by Karen Schweitzer with 20 Sites and Tools to Encourage Lifelong Reading.  You’ll see some famliar spots, like Kidlitosphere Central and Jen Robinson’s Book Page, and some new places, too. I knew about Seussville but hadn’t seen Book Adventure before. I’m sure there are others that are new to you, too.

Places for Educators

Room To Grow: Making Early Childhood Learning Count – RTG describes itself as “a blog for early childhood educators, lovers of children’s literacy, and parents who want to raise readers!” One of the best ways to raise readers is to bring books to life with activities that are related to or are an extension of a book. Tonya Wright does that (in spades) with every post she writes!

Creative Literacy

ScrapColoring.com – If you’re looking to add texture and pattern to your coloring pages, this is the place to go. In addition to coloring characters and objects, there is a page with boxes for letters. It is billed as “writing your name,” but you can put anything in the boxes. The pages are printable, too.

Mail4Kids.ca – We don’t usually include ideas that cost money, but as I explored this site, I got more and more excited about what it offers. Essentially, Sherri-Lee Pressman turned the daily “is there any mail for me” into a way to engage kids in learning … with mail addressed to them! From the website: “A custom-designed collector’s card featuring an image from one of our categories on the front, with fun and educational information on the back. Each mailing includes a specially created activity sheet that continues the theme of that card. This mailing comes to the child of your choice once a month for a year.” There are a variety of themes, and each card has LOTS of detailed information about the subject.  Sherri-Lee is building a nonprofit sister organization called Literacy4kids.ca.  (via the Business Opportunities Weblog Network)