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Online Reading Time: 10 Free Reading Websites for Elementary Level Students.


Reading in Online Classes: 10 Free Reading Websites for Elementary Level Students

Today, in 2020, with an estimated 1.3 billion students in the world studying in one form or another online, teachers, schools, institutes and universities are scrambling to find materials that could be considered appropriate for use by their students. 

One of the most important skills that students always need to develop and maintain is reading. It is impossible for anyone to deny that a child’s reading skills are important to their success in school, work, and life in general. The majority of the world's most successful leaders, educators and business people have all read enormous amounts of books in their lives. A child who grows up with a love of reading, a love that they nurture and expand upon throughout their lives undoubtedly, in the majority of cases, experiences greater success in life.

Reading allows students to be transported from our own world to another. Between the pages of a book, they can become immersed in authentic history or the lives of fictional characters or situations, and learn about a culture entirely different from their own. They can also learn new words and phrases, grammatical structure, experience a range of emotions, and acquire unlimited skills and knowledge.

Now, during these times of quarantine, for many people, access to physical books is limited if not impossible requiring access to suitable online materials. In this article, I have detailed 10 free reading websites for elementary level students that are guaranteed to provide creative, fun and productive activities for students. Every website is designed for primary-age students, and are both free and kid-friendly.

As is always the case with teachers, preparation is essential so it is strongly recommended that teachers view the sites before introducing them to their students to make sure the content is appropriate for the grade/age level.

1. Read to Me

Read to Me features popular children’s books being read by famous performers.  There are activity guides with hands-on ideas, discussion questions, and lesson plans that can easily be adapted to the Common Core State Standards.  Entirely free, the site is colorful and engaging.

1. Free Children’s Stories

Founded in 2008, freechildrenstories.com operates on the simple principle that children’s development is paramount. Their mission is to offer traditional, meaningful storytelling to every child, parent, or teacher around the globe with access to the internet, for free.

3. Starfall

While some areas of Starfall are part of their premium service, they have many early reader stories available for free.  Students can follow along as the story is read to them and can, in some instances, help create their own story.  The website is highly engaging and a favorite of young readers.

4. Online Storytime by Barnes and Noble

From The Kissing Hand read by author Audrey Wood to Pinkalicious read by Victoria Kann, Barnes and Noble’s Online Storytime has popular children’s books read out loud.  While there are no supplemental materials to accompany the stories, this free site is perfect for “Listen to Reading” stations.

English Grammar and 11 Guidlines for Making it More Understandable.
https://englishforyoutheteachersvoice.blogspot.com/2020/07/understanding-grammar-11-key-rules-for.html

Making the Rules of Grammar Easy to Understand
https://englishforyoutheteachersvoice.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-essential-rules-of-english-grammar.html

5. TumbleBooks

TumbleBooks is a pay-for-use site that traditionally sells licenses to libraries and schools.  Many public libraries, such as the Tell City, IN Public Library, offer free access to their TumbleBooks account.  Students can follow along as the text is read them to help improve comprehension and fluency.  Choose from picture books to chapter books.  Portland Public Library also has free access to TumbleBookCloud which gives access to Middle and High School level books. 

6. International Children’s Digital Library

Discover books from around the world at the International Children’s Digital Library.  The free site does not read the books aloud, but students can read them independently during Read to Self or free time.  This is a great site for extension activities when learning about different regions of the world and can be used effectively into the middle school grades.

7. ABCya!

Children can listen to short stories read aloud to them as they follow along with the highlighted text.  ABCya! has a variety of educational games in addition to the featured stories.  Free resources and materials are available for grades K through 5.

8. Storynory

Storynory features a collection of original, fairy tale, and classic children’s audio stories.  Students can follow along with the story as it is read to them, as the text is also included on the site.  There are also some great features available that give you the option of downloading the audio to your computer, listening to “catch phrase” explanations, translating text into different languages (especially helpful for your ELL students!), and more.

9. National Geographic Young Explorers

National Geographic Young Explorers is a magazine designed specifically for kindergarten and first grade students.  Children can listen to the magazine being read to them as they follow along with the highlighted text.  It is a great way to bring interesting non-fiction stories into reading center time.

10. Oxford Owl

After registering for a free account, you have access to over 250 children’s audio books that can be used in the classroom.  The book text is not part of the presentation, so students will not be able to follow along as it is read to them. 

Well, to all of the English teachers teaching online, I hope that this article, and the websites help you to bring the beauty and enjoyment of reading into your classroom. 

Good luck and good teaching.



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