At base, literacy encompasses the ability to read and write, but it’s so much more. Along with phonics, reading comprehension, and writing, critical thinking is a crucial part of literacy (and of life!). Literacy can be a challenge for many of our kids, so to help build those critical thinking skills and work toward reading goals, our research team has compiled a list of websites and apps divided into three categories: comprehension, phonics, and writing. We’ve also indicated price, age range, and learning needs so you can easily find the resources that will work best for your family.
AdaptedMind was created by graduates of Stanford, Berkeley, and Harvard in consultation with parents, teachers, and students “to improve the way children learn.” The site includes reading programs designed by teachers that have a gaming feel to make the lessons fun and engaging. If your child needs additional help, you can ask for assistance from a teacher.
BrainPOP Jr. offers games and educational videos aimed at kindergarteners through 3rd grade. Their Reading and Writing Section provides lessons on vocabulary and reading comprehension across various subjects.
NACD Cognition Coach, created by the National Association for Child Development, aids reading comprehension by helping build short-term and working memory, with a variety of levels increasing in difficulty.
ReadingIQ includes more than 10,000 books (including popular and award-winning titles) for kids of all reading levels. The books are accessible on desktops, tablets, and phones and include picture books, chapter books, wordless stories, graphic novels, and more. The site also allows parents to monitor reading progress, and guided reading and Lexile levels are available for thousands of books.
Starfall provides educational activities in language arts (reading, phonics, and English) that have proven effective in teaching emergent readers, and are widely used in schools that serve children with learning difficulties. The program was created by Dr. Stephen Schutz, who had difficulty learning to read as a child due to dyslexia and wanted to create a website with “untimed, multisensory interactive games that allow children to see, hear, and touch as they learn.”
DOG ON A LOG Books offers a variety of reading games, activities, and lessons for children with and without disabilities. The curriculum is a systematic, decodable book series written for anyone learning to read with phonics, including learners with dyslexia. There are free printable struggling reader books, game boards, and phonics and dyslexia worksheets available on the website.
Phonics Hero is a synthetic phonics program (the synthesizing or blending of sounds to make a word) that can help improve a child’s reading and spelling capabilities by taking them on a journey through a fantasy world with a superhero. The app contains more than 850 games and video tutorials, as well as access to educators.
Word Wizard for Kids is an award-winning app used by educators and parents nationwide. It offers several unique reading and spelling activities specifically tailored for children in kindergarten through 3rd grade, and helps children with spelling, phonics, and short sentence-building.
Learning Without Tears is a comprehensive curriculum to aid in the development of written communication skills. They offer free resources, including a Pre-K Interactive Teaching Tool (“Get Set For School”), Handwriting Without Tears, and a Keyboarding Without Tears demo. These are excellent tools for students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and fine motor delays.
Designed to help children learn to write stories, Story Builder utilizes audio clips to improve auditory processing abilities. The app is made to help kids with focus, flexibility, organization, and writing.
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