Technology

There's no escaping technology in this day and age. Young children see their older siblings networking online (i.e. Facebook), texting on their cell phones and playing games on the Wii. They see their parents reading books on a Kindle and doing work on the computer. Enter an elementary school classroom and it’s not surprising to see students creating power point presentations on individual laptops. Many preschool classrooms have a computer area as one of the learning stations. The national and state standards now include a technology component created in order to address the needs of the 21^st century learner. The key points of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) learning standards are as follows: (1). Reading is a window to the world, (2). Inquiry provides a framework for learning, (3). Ethical behavior in the use of information must be taught, and (4). Technology skills are crucial for future employment needs. In a recent study, 73% of US homes have a computer. In these homes, 48% of children ages 0-6 have used a computer (Hillman & Marshall, 2009). With the exposure that children are receiving at school, as well as at home, is it any surprise that digital media is gaining popularity as a learning tool for emergent readers? 

Perhaps what was surprising for me (and perhaps for you as well) is discovering how young of an age children are when they begin to purposefully use and learn from digital media. With the growth in use of the internet in preschools and in homes, where do you begin to find web sites that “deliver high quality, interactive, digital media content from a variety of sites for young children to use”? (Hisrich & Blanchard, 2009). 

Well, you’ve come to the right place. There are many websites that address either one or more of the emergent literacy skills: letter knowledge, phonological awareness, vocabulary, narrative skills, print awareness, and print motivation. Letter knowledge is addressed in Bembo’s Zoo,  The Literacy Center, the ABC activity in Starfall, Kangaroo Confusion in Gamegoo. Electronic storybooks help teach vocabulary when the spoken word is associated with the image that appears on the screen. Sites such as Story Place, Ziggity Zoom, Julia's Rainbow Corner, and Between the Lions on PBSKids are good places to start.

Story time is probably one of the best ways for toddlers and preschoolers to enhance knowledge of story elements (narrative skills), print awareness, and print motivation (Thurlow, 2009).  For times when you aren’t able to read to your child, you may want to check out the following sites: Clifford Interactive Storybooks (Scholastic) and Mightybooks (which is a paid subscription site, but offers free samples). The latter also offers fun animated songs with lyrics. On the same website as Clifford, Scholastic also has a “Building Language for Literacy” site which has games that fall under the phonological awareness skill as do games on Gamegoo. 

I’m sure I’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg and that there’s many more good sites out there that help to support emergent literacy. Here are three of my favorites though: 

Storyline Online from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) features 19 picture books read by celebrities such as Betty White, Sean Astin, and Elijah Wood.  What I love about this site is the quality of the content and the fact that the book illustrations show up so clearly on the screen. Plus, who wouldn't enjoy hearing storytime from a favorite actor?  

Reading is Fundamental (RIF) has a new website called "Leading to Reading" which provides resources for parents and caregivers to help develop language skills in their children (ages birth to 5).  This site actually offers lullabies, nursery rhymes, and even fingerplays for the 0-2 year old age set (as well as online story books). I may not show my son the computer just yet, but I can at least learn some of the songs and teach them to my son. The design and graphics on this site are outstanding, plus it also has a Spanish version. 

I wanted to stay away from "brand" type sites, but I have to say that I like PBS Kids because it offers quite a few interactive activities for emergent readers. It's also organized well with the games under different categories such as "literacy" offering interactive games that help to promote phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary and so forth.   

American Association of School Librarians home page (2011). AASL: American

Association of School Librarians. Retrieved from

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/index.cfm

Hisrich, K., & Blanchard, J. (2009). Digital media and emergent literacy. Computers

 in the Schools, 26(4), 240-255.

Hillman, M., & Marshall, J. (2009). Evaluation of digital media for emergent literacy.       

Computers in the Schools, 26(4), 256-270.

Thurlow, R. (2009). Improving emergent literacy skills: Web destinations for young    

            children. Computers in the Schools, 26(4), 290-298.

Page author: Eleanor Lee