Designed by Dr. Marion Blank, who is a leading expert in reading learning, this program was created to make reading fun and easy to learn. Through a series of games and activities, children learn the skills needed to read.
What is it? Interactive online reading program from Reading Kingdom
Who is it for? Preschool – Grade 3 (ages 4-10)
How much does it cost? $19.99/month , or $199.99 per year. Additional children in your family get 50% off ($9.99/month).
Where do I find it?: http://www.readingkingdom.com/
We used the program for both Middle (age 7 – early reading skills) and Little (Age almost 6 – beginning reader). I was a little concerned if they would be interested or not, because far too often, the appeal of a new online schooling program wears off very quickly and we don’t do very well with it. Thankfully, though, after several weeks of using it, my boys were still interested and willing to do it daily.
Each student is given an initial placement test that helps the program decide what level your child is at, where to focus on, and what areas to skip. This test uses several of the various games and activities that they will use throughout the program. It was a good, in-depth evaluation and I found that it did a great job of finding out what level my boys were at, however my boys both got bored, frustrated, and wanting to quit during this testing time because it was very repetitive and quite long. I encouraged them to continue and we made it without anyone giving up.
From there, the kids start their daily lessons based on what they need to work on. I love that these daily activities are short and focused, so the kids don’t want to quit before they get very far. Each day has a series of lessons to work through, and the kids are able to know exactly how many questions they need to complete in each section because there’s a spot on the screen that shows how many completed/how many in total. This has made a big difference in willingness to finish the task, since it’s not a potential of forever.
The lessons themselves are bright, colourful, interactive, and action-filled, drawing the kids’ attention well. Unlike some other online programs that we’ve done, the instructor’s voice is clear and loud – not faded into the sound effects or background. This makes it so much easier to follow along! In fact, the whole program is fairly independent for the kids, which makes it terrific for me as a teacher, so I can work with another child at the same time.
Throughout the lesson, the exercises are varied, which also helps to avoid boredom. The only complaint that I have is that there’s a definite clunkiness between words and sections. My one son thought that the game had frozen, which frustrated him. Once we got used to this glitch(?), there were less upset kids. Also, even with the variety of exercises, the basic lesson is extremely repetitive. I know that this is needed to work on memorization, but I did see that my boys tended to unfocus if it got too repetitive.
Positive reinforcement and gentle reminders for errors with guidance to correct mistakes are constantly at work.
These daily tasks also offer the kids the chance to accumulate points for correct answers and completed tasks. My boys are definitely goal-driven for things like that and actually would complete many days of work in a single sitting just to rack up enough points to reach the next level. Animated graphics at the end of the day help you see where you are in the challenge.
On each reader’s dashboard is a chart with what level they are and a clear percentage of how far they are in both their current level and the overall program. That has really inspired my boys too.
I love that this program is progression based. It builds on skills that are already mastered instead of willy-nilly just picking something random to work on next. It seems to be a logical sequence for moving forward.
All in all, I found this program outstanding and have seen a marked improvement in both the boys’ interest in reading as well as skills and word recognition.
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