Review of the Children's Educational Website: Starfall

Let me introduce you to Starfall.com

As a para-educator, one of my jobs is to assist students with their testing. Many of these tests are done on computers and I have recently helped kindergarteners do their STAR testing. After the kids were done with all their tests (reading, writing and math) they were directed to the Starfall website until all their classmates were done. I was curious about this website as a I noticed that kids were very engaged and it seemed like a great resource for learning. I had the chance to explore and even play! It was fun to be a kindergartener once again, although I did not have these types of computer games as a child. 

Starfall is great for young children. It is geared to kindergarten and it has games and activities for reading and mathematics. It is kid friendly and very easy to navigate. It is made to be used with both the mouse and touchscreen. Children can practice their ABCs, numbers, colors, sharpen their reading skills and more!

It is free! Although there is an upgrade you can purchase for further grades. If you are just using for kindergarten, the free material is more than enough. 

Great for introducing, learning and practicing the ABC names, sounds and application

Children can press each letter of the alphabet and they can hear the name of the letter, the sound and words that start with that letter. It is interactive and the images are very kid friendly. What I love the most about it, is that the website uses children's voices to teach and I think this makes it more approachable for children. On the bottom of the page, kids have the option to hear the whole ABC song including sounds, learn the ABC sounds in sign language and there is a song for each one of the vowels. On the right side there are options to practice colors and there are some motion songs such as "head and shoulders, knees and toes". 

Images in motion for engagement! 

A great tool to get children ready for Kindergarten and to practice at home

This website has basically the entire kindergarten curriculum! From the calendar, holiday themed activities i.e. make a gingerbread man or girl, and all of these activities are educational. For example, when they are making the gingerbread boy or girl, they are learning and practicing shapes and they get to use their own creation to read the story. It is very interactive! 

Amazing website for ELL students

Directions are narrated and written so children can either read on their own or have some guidance. The use of graphics makes it easy for little kids and those students who learn better visually. ELL students can easily understand and interact with the website because every time they need to press something, the objects sparkles. There are also arrows that blink prompting them to press the object. Kids can learn English in a fun and interactive way. Even older ELL students would enjoy this website to improve their proficiency in English. This is great when children have parents that do not speak English and they need to practice at home, even parents can sit and learn with this website! 

Kids can really learn how to read with Starfall

There are reading exercises for each sound or digraphs, kids can make their own words, and they have the option to have the stories narrated or they can read them on their own. I love the way they vary the activities. For each sound there are either games, short movies,  videos, interactive activities where kids have to sound out the letters and digraphs. What I love about it is that kids can do all of these activities on their own and get in a full kindergarten or reading group lesson in. 

My favorite thing about Starfall

Kids can personalize it and make their own character that looks like them! 

I do not know about you, but I still love making little cartoons and avatars that look like me. Children love things that are made by them and look like them. Starfall gives them the chance to make their own character, add their pets, make their room look like theirs, add their favorite toy and many other things! I loved this! I was able to read a story about me and I am sure kids would enjoy this part. 

There is even a Youtube channel where Starfall has songs you can play in the classroom. 

Would I use Starfall in the classroom? 

 Definitely! This would be perfect for those times I need to work one-on-one with students and I want them to be engaged and learning! I also would use it as they use at the school I work at, for testing time when children are done with their work. If I am working on a specific topic I would use Starfall on the Smartboard as a classroom lesson. There are great videos and games that the whole classroom could participate and enjoy. This is a true companion to the Kindergarten curriculum. I would also use it with ELL students and students who have learning disabilities. This is a great tool for them because they can navigate it themselves and it can provide them with a lot of one-on-one instruction I won't always have time to do in a classroom full of children. 

What parents have to say

Starfall is widely used by homeschool parent-teachers and overall they think is a great website for children to learn and practice from. 

"Free, fun, great way to add some extra reading pracitce" Bell 

It is the MOST user (both kid and parent) friendly site I have EVER used" Cendi 

Source: The Homeschool mom 

If you are a preschool, kindergarten teacher or you have young ELL students and students with learning disabilities, Starfall will be your companion in getting your child to learn how to read and improve language skills. It is user friendly including very young children. If you are a parent of very young children and want them to start learning how to use the computer and learning at the same time, Starfall is great! Perfect for the summer before kindergarten to get students prepared and excited about learning. IT is fun and highly educational. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT! 

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