Starfall.com is an excellent educational website for teaching kids about letter sounds, reading and enjoying to read. Now, there is a sister site to Starfall called MoreStarfall.com. While full access to this new site requires a fee, there are many activities that families and schools can take part in for free. Here is what More Starfall has to offer.
Math
Starfall 2 or More Starfall has a math section on it. Within this part is a numbers portion. Numbers one through twenty are highlighted along with numbers twenty-five, fifty and one hundred. Non-members can look at number one to get an idea of how this part works. Upon clicking on the one, the child can hear the number one being said and see it being highlighted in both numeric and word form. A cute animated slide illustrates the number one. There’s a child counting to one, one jellybean on a plate and so on. 100 is also something to click on without being a member.
Math songs are also featured in this section. There’s “Five Little Bears,” “The Time Song,” “Ten Little Monkeys” and more. “Ten Little Monkeys” is free. The song has both audio and visual representation. Finally, there are many adding, subtracting, multiplication and division games. Within these areas are games like subtraction bowling, pizza division and many more.
Colors
More Starfall has fun interactive activities for all of the main colors. Click on the red crayon and see visuals of things that are red like apples, a red stop sign and a red fire engine. After each slide, the word red is said and a splat of red paint is put in the corner.
Vowels, Phonics and Words
This section has phonics books using certain vowels and letters. Pictures are above the word. Individual words can be clicked or the whole sentences can be read. This is great for kids learning how to read. Also, there are short vowel pal books that are interactive. Other exciting games include the word machine. This “machine” looks like a crazy invention. With the click of a button, new letters appear and new words are made from old words. In this way, children can see the relationship between word families. Finally, there is a section that focuses on decoding.
Songs and Rhymes
This is a very fun part of More Starfall. There are sing along songs like “B-I-N-G-O.” Also, there are motion songs like “Head Shoulders Knees and Toes.” Then, there are nursery rhyme videos such as “Wheels on the Bus.” Finally, kids can learn about history with the Historical American Folk Songs such as “Oh California.” Quite a few of these songs are free to view, even if you aren’t a member.
Talking Library
Talking library features books that can be read to you. The books are colorfully illustrated. With the click and turn of the page, each sentence is read aloud and highlighted as it is read. There are lots of entertaining choices.
Class Lists
For teachers who have a membership, you can set up a class list and manage settings. Teachers can login to see what activities the children have completed. Kids get to set up their own account with a fun picture and password. Teachers can also change the settings to a different language.
Membership
If you decide that this is something you are interested in, a home membership costs $35.00 a year. This plan allows up to three simultaneous users in one family. For schools, there is a $150.00 classroom membership. This is for one classroom and can have up to 35 simultaneous users. Finally, the school memberships costs $270.00 and can have up to 70 users at the same time.
For those who do not want to invest the money, try out some of the free activities on the site. I’ve been doing this for weeks with my daughter. Or check out the original Starfall. Find tons of ABC activities, learning to read games and interactive books. Both sites are excellent.
Sources:
http://more2.starfall.com/
http://www.starfall.com/
