STARFALL
An environment "Where Children Have Fun Learning to Read" - Dr. Stephen Schutz (Creator)
Starfall
STARFALL An environment "Where Children Have Fun Learning to Read" - Dr. Stephen Schutz (Creator)
STARFALL An environment "Where Children Have Fun Learning to Read" - Dr. Stephen Schutz (Creator)
A very interesting and effective digital tool that was created by Dr. Schutz. He used his own experience of not being able to read and created a tool for struggling readers. This tool was created out of a passion and desire to help others.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher who facilitates students who are preparing for the entrance examination to secondary school, I have found this is an extremely effective tool to aid their development. Starfall has encouraged the students to be confident and motivated as they overcome their learning challenges. As the examination focuses on Language Arts and Mathematics, I have found that the content on the Starfall website is grounded in constructing the basics of language and numeracy. The creator Dr. Schutz has ensured that the various learning styles of auditory, visual and kinesthetic are catered to.
DeleteI love the fact that Starfall caters to and provides access for students with disabilities. The website has a simple navigation system for children with unnecessary links so they can navigate to a certain degree independently. Dr. Schutz having reading challenges himself, was able to create a site to cater to students with similar learning difficulties. He knew exactly what some of the weaknesses were first hand, that students faced every day and was able to create a wonderful interactive site to help students rebuild their confidence and ability in reading and learning in general as they strive for success in both Literacy and Numeracy.
ReplyDeleteStarfall is a great motivational tool for students as it provides positive reinforcement through play. We all know how important play is for Piaget in children's cognitive development. The sequential phonics series, which has about 15 books, can be used by teachers to excite students about reading.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, to this series of books, the website also has printouts available for free to teachers, so students can practice writing. As students write, positive reinforcement is undertaken as they focus on letter sounds in the words and the phonics involved. This has a ripple effect as students' confidence in their reading ability increases along with their decoding fluency (Shanahan, 2020).
I applaud Starfall for also providing access for students with disabilities. There is no need to download or install different applications or software as the website has made access to the educational activities available on computers, tablets and mobile devices. For those students who are differently abled with visual, hearing or mobile impairments, Starfall provides several features to assist them: simple navigation, screen readers, enhanced caption size, video play speed, keyboard and dual-switch devices, optional keyboard controls, audio, transcripts and visual descriptions. These features allow these students to enjoy and interact with the activities.
ReplyDeleteStarfall is a great digital tool. It has many eye-catching apps on it. Dr. Schutz designed this with persons that challenges in mind. With this awesome tool, students can scallop, learning as they go along an upward trajectory. Students have a wide range of apps to ably assist them. They have a wide selection of worksheets and activities to assist them as they learn. When using Starfall, teachers can be assured that the lessons are engaging, fun and effective. Piaget's theory reinforces the idea that children learn through play. Hence, Starfall is an excellent tool in assisting children.
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