Welcome to this Treasure Chest of Free Stuff.
Here is another free interactive literacy site of exceptional quality. It contains absolutely no advertising, and it offers a variety of activities to promote and help develop literacy skills.
RIF Reading Planet (online resource) Reading Planet is the interactive online site of Reading is Fundamental, which claims to be the “…oldest and largest children’s and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States”. RIF says its highest priority is to reach underserved children who are 8 and under. Reading Planet is an excellent vehicle for reaching all children with high quality literacy experiences.
Children are invited to join the “Reading Planet Club”, and then create and personalize their own special page where they can keep a personal reading log. Members have input as to the content of the site. As members, children also have access to the games in the “Game Station”.
The Game Station offers a variety of activities designed to build literacy skills. Most are engaging interactive flash games. One “game” involves getting kids to actually collaborate with other members in writing stories. There are a couple of other writing activities in the Game Station as well. In addition to the Game Station, there is the Activity Center where kids can participate in still more reading and writing activities.
Another highlight of Reading Planet is the Book Zone. This is where children are introduced to featured books and authors, where they can rate and review books, and where they can even listen to stories (and songs) as they are illustrated and animated onscreen. The Reading Planet is worth a visit just for these listening activities. Text is highlighted onscreen as it is read aloud.
Finally, Reading Planet offers a page that they call “Express Yourself”. There are several opportunities here for children to write in a meaningful context.
Check out the screenshots below for a glimpse of what to expect at Reading Planet. (Click on the thumbnail to enlarge and use your browser’s back arrow to return to this page.
