Thursday, October 06, 2005

Chalk One Up For Starfall.com

I hate to keep plugging a web site, but I really have to say again just how much Starfall has done to turn Jack on to Phonics, and give Grace the confidence and incentive she needed to feel completely comfortable reading aloud.

We are now completing our third week of using Starfall daily in our school routine. And I am very impressed with the results. This week was review or "Test Week" for Jack to get a feel for just how well he is memorizing the sounds of letters. Today we took a step away from Starfall, and I used letter flashcards to test him on the sounds (curious if he could separate the task of computer stimulation from what he recalled). He could. With the exception of three letters, he has the sounds down pat. That is saying something, for a little boy who three weeks ago, couldn't tell you what sounds ANY letter made.

For the first time, today, I heard Grace ask Jack if he wanted her to read to him. He obliged and she proceeded to read a simple "Old Hat, New Hat" Berenstain Bears book to him. She was so happy she could read it, she read it twice to him and then once more to myself and Jack.

So kudos to Starfall. What a difference. Don't you love it when something works...and it's free?!

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