Friday, September 26, 2008

Starfall

I checked out the website www.starfall.com and loved it. Since I have a kindergartener who is learning to read, I think this site will be extremely helpful to her. First, I feel the website makes learning fun. The animation, movies, and games make it exciting and easy for young children to use. Second, since my daughter is a kinesthetic and visual learner, using the computer and mouse will definitely accommodate her learning styles. Lastly, I was so impressed by the website that I decided to use it as a part of my lesson plan for our Lesson Plan project due. I'm thinking about doing a lesson plan for kindergarteners learning the alphabet.

Dr. Luongo, as an aside, as a current "non-teacher" student in your class, I really appreciate all of the websites and tools that you share with us. I really feel that these tools give me a headstart, especially when I get a job as a first year teacher. I know it's overwhelming the first year (and I am really nervous about it), but I really feel that these websites will help me out tremendously!

2 comments:

Dr. Luongo said...

Taran,

I am glad to help!

There are so many websites out there that a little guidance can't hurtr. I try to share any sites that I have found useful in my personal experience.

Thanks for being such a great blogger!

Marianne said...

I love the starfall program. At the end of last year I observed an autistic student using it and found him extremely motivated and engaged. It is an amazing program for the young emergent reader as well as the traditional reader. The program incorporates multi-intelligences, reaching all types of learners. I have begun using it in my classes this year with music, since it has a music history component as well. My students love it and it gives them a chance to use technology as well. It really makes a difference in my classes and keeps them motivated. Technology and the utilization of multi-intelligences puts the fun into learning for all. The multi-ultural stories are interesting too. Follow up discussions, dramatization and morals to each story help establish reasoning skills, better understanding, ethics and a multicultural awareness. There are many benefits in using starfall.com as a supplement to teaching. You are establishing a wealth of information that you will share with your students. Our textbook is superb and the references and links Dr. Luongo supplies is an outstanding resouce. Just remember, if your lesson is not fun for you, it's not fun for your students. Stay enthusiastic and your students will follow. Good luck and don't stress. You have a huge support group as a fellow blogger. Reach out and keep the faith. You're not alone. You're going to do great!