Starfall For The Kids?

[SunflowerMama]

A majority of my dcks are 4 and my own twin girls are 4 as well. For the past month or so we've really been working a lot on phonics and making the connection between letters, words and reading.

We have a lot of level 1 and sight word early reading books and I try and make a point to sit with each of the older kids one-on-one each day to read through a few of them pointing out words and sounding out others.

In a quest to find something to add to that to help them along a dcm suggested www.starfall.com. I have always been anti-computers for the kids but I checked out the site and it looks like it has a lot of wonderful exercises, lessons and games for them.

Do any of you use starfall with you dcks and do you just do it one-on-one with each or give them free access to work through it on their own? It's sad to admit but my own girls just today played with a computer mouse for the first time today and even though I'm fighting the advances in technology I know it's something they will have to know for school.

[newtodaycare22]

This website is GREAT! I used it in my pre-k and kindergarten classrooms, and I continue to use it with my daycare kids. The kids can totally navigate it on their own, because it reads instructions and even points to the arrows that will get you to the next step. After they get the mouse mastered, your girls will probably be on their for hours It's educational and fun!

[SunflowerMama]

This website is GREAT! I used it in my pre-k and kindergarten classrooms, and I continue to use it with my daycare kids. The kids can totally navigate it on their own, because it reads instructions and even points to the arrows that will get you to the next step. After they get the mouse mastered, your girls will probably be on their for hours It's educational and fun!

So far I love it! It was funny because the dcm that suggested it to me has a daughter who's way above average in quite a few academic areas. I administered a kinder readiness assessment a few weeks ago to all the kids over 4 and she just blew it out of the water. Read 30 of 35 words when the other kids got 2...counts to 100, can do basic math, etc. So when I asked her mom what they are doing at home she said a lot of it is starfall.

[Sunshine44]

Love that website!

[sharlan]

I just took a quick peak at the website. It looks like it's free for a portion of it, but if you want all of it, it's $35 a year. Does everyone pay for the whole thing?

[QualiTcare]

it's a great site. i used it and many pre-k/kindergarten teachers let the kids use it as part of their literacy center. in fact, i used to project it onto a screen (smart board) and use it during group time too.

[Country Kids]

I did buy the year subscription because you get sooooo much more with it. There is a song area, nursery rhymes, numbers, alphabets, calendar, books, etc. I absolutely love it and use it along with my Mother Goose Curriculum. The kids love it also and I know they are learning because I will hear them doing the sounds of the letters and singing the songs, saying the nursery rhymes. It was well worth the money!

[newtodaycare22]

I did buy the year subscription because you get sooooo much more with it. There is a song area, nursery rhymes, numbers, alphabets, calendar, books, etc. I absolutely love it and use it along with my Mother Goose Curriculum. The kids love it also and I know they are learning because I will hear them doing the sounds of the letters and singing the songs, saying the nursery rhymes. It was well worth the money!

They just added the second part last winter, which costs money. Even the free stuff is great, if you don't want to pay the cash. It's really worth the 35 if you have it though! Great, great stuff