Best kindergarten reading program: The 10 Best Reading Programs For Kids – Reading With RIK
Posted onThe 10 Best Reading Programs For Kids
– Reading With RIK
The Covid-19 pandemic has been destructive in more ways than one. People lost loved ones, fell ill, and also felt the devastating effects of quarantining.
Besides being detrimental to health, the Covid-19 pandemic upset traditional learning, forced parents to work from home and homeschool, and put immense pressure on teachers to instruct remotely.
The New York Times recently reported that although we are months into the 2022-2023 school year, American elementary school students are still behind.
The rampant school closures led to a decline in academic skills. Fourth and eighth graders saw sweeping declines in test scores, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Unfortunately, several kids are still trying to play catch-up and fine-tune their math and reading skills. The New York Times reports some good news, though. It reports that reading skills are often more influenced by parents and what happens at home.
If your kids are falling behind on reading, there are several at-home reading programs and book and reading subscription kits for kids that will help your children improve reading skills, boost comprehension, and fall back in love with reading. Let’s take a closer look.
The top 10 best reading programs for kids
1. Reading With RIK (for kids ages 5-13)
Reading With RIK is a monthly subscription kit that helps incentivize kids to read more, boost comprehension, and improve reading skills. Best of all, Reading With RIK helps kids learn to love reading.
This subscription kit comes with an age-appropriate book every month and a subscription box. Inside the box, you’ll see anywhere from 5-9 boxes. Inside these boxes are story-related prizes and think pieces for the kids to open as they progress through the book.
Reading With RIK is the subscription box that lights the internal reading fire inside children. We’ve seen hundreds of kids go from being bored and reluctant readers to avid bookworms.
You can either use the kit and read aloud with your family, or kids can read the book on their own.
Subscribe to Reading With RIK today.
Reading With RIK testimonials:
«My daughter has struggled with a desire to read, reading fluency and comprehension. It wasn’t until she started using Reading Incentive Kits that her interest kicked in. She looked forward to each new kit. She and I began reading together but soon she wanted to read on her own. She wanted to share the experience with the entire family, so we bought a kit to enjoy as a family.»
–STARR S.
«The reading incentive kits engaged my child at a whole new level! For starters she didn’t want to put the book down. My favorite part was all the discussion that it created within our family. She had so much she wanted to share and discuss and everyone at our home became engaged in that process. We all wanted to know what the next surprise envelope would contain!»
–TONYA M.
2. Reading A-Z
Reading A-Z is an online reading program designed to help children improve their reading skills. The program offers a vast library of reading materials organized according to a child’s reading level, making it easier for them to find books appropriate for their skill level. The program includes a range of fiction and nonfiction books, lesson plans, and activities that help with teaching reading.
The program offers more than 2,500 books that cover a range of topics, from animals and nature to history and science, and they are designed to engage children and encourage them to read more.
In addition to its library of reading materials, Reading A-Z also offers lesson plans and activities that help children develop critical reading skills. The program includes printable worksheets, graphic organizers, and other resources that are designed to help children improve their comprehension, vocabulary, and critical thinking skills. The lesson plans and activities are aligned with Common Core State Standards, making it easier for parents and educators to track a child’s progress and ensure that they are meeting the appropriate learning objectives.
3. Scholastic Reading Counts
Scholastic Reading Counts is designed for students in grades K-12 and aims to improve reading comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency. This early reading program is designed to be used in conjunction with Scholastic books, which are available through the program.
One of the key features of Scholastic Reading Counts is its assessment system, which helps teachers determine a student’s reading level and provides books at their appropriate level. The program includes a database of more than 200,000 quizzes that students can take to demonstrate their comprehension of the books they’ve read. The quizzes are designed to be interactive and engaging, and they provide immediate feedback to students and teachers.
Scholastic Reading Counts also includes a range of tools and resources for teachers and administrators. The program provides detailed reports on student progress, which can be used to identify areas where students may need additional support.
Teachers and parents can also use the program to create individualized reading plans for their students and children, which can help them improve their reading skills and develop a love of reading.
4. Reading Eggs
Reading Eggs is an online reading program that helps children develop essential reading skills, and is designed to cater to different learners.
The program is adaptive, which means that it adjusts to the individual reading level and progress of each child. This feature makes it suitable for children of different ages and reading abilities. Whether a child is just starting to learn to read or is already an advanced reader, Reading Eggs can provide the right level of challenge and support to help them progress.
One of the strengths of Reading Eggs is its use of a variety of teaching methods to cater to different learning styles. The program includes interactive games, animations, songs, and videos, as well as reading books and quizzes.
These different teaching methods help children develop different reading skills, such as phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency. Children who prefer visual or auditory learning can benefit from the program as much as those who prefer hands-on or kinesthetic learning.
Reading Eggs is also suitable for children with different learning needs, such as those with dyslexia or attention deficit disorder. The program includes features such as audio support, customizable learning paths, and progress tracking that can help children with special needs learn to read more effectively. The program can be used at home or in the classroom, and it can be customized to meet the specific needs and goals of each child.
5. ABC Mouse
ABCmouse is an educational software designed for children aged 2-8 years old. It offers a comprehensive curriculum covering subjects such as reading, math, science, and social studies, among others. The software uses interactive animations, games, and activities to engage children and make learning fun and engaging.
The curriculum is structured in a progressive manner, with each lesson building upon the previous one, ensuring that the child acquires a strong foundation in each subject. The software also provides progress tracking and assessments to help parents and educators monitor the child’s learning progress.
ABCmouse can be accessed on various platforms, including desktops, tablets, and smartphones, making it easily accessible to children from anywhere. It is available through a subscription model and offers a free trial period for users to explore the software before committing to a subscription.
ABCmouse is a valuable educational tool for children, offering a well-rounded curriculum with engaging and interactive learning activities to help children develop essential skills and knowledge.
6. Raz-Kids
Raz-Kids is an online reading program designed for children in kindergarten through fifth grade. It is an interactive and engaging platform that helps children learn to read, improve their comprehension skills and build their confidence.
The program offers a vast collection of leveled books and quizzes, providing children with a range of reading materials that cater to their individual reading abilities. Children can access these books online and read them at their own pace, with the option to listen to the audio versions of the books.
Raz-Kids also includes comprehension quizzes that children can take after reading each book. These quizzes help to reinforce their understanding of the story, develop their critical thinking skills, and provide feedback to both children and parents.
The program offers progress monitoring tools, allowing teachers and parents to track the child’s progress, identify areas where they may need extra support, and adjust their learning accordingly.
Raz-Kids uses a unique feature called «Read Along,» where children can listen to the audio versions of the books as they read along. This feature helps to build fluency, improve pronunciation, and build vocabulary.
7.
Hooked on Phonics
Hooked on Phonics is a comprehensive phonics program designed to help children learn to read using a phonetic approach. The program has been used for over 30 years and is suitable for children aged 3 to 8 years old.
The program uses a multi-sensory approach that combines visual aids, audio, and hands-on activities to teach children phonics, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. It includes a range of materials such as books, workbooks, reading games, and digital resources.
The program starts with basic letter sounds and progresses to more complex phonetic concepts, providing children with a strong foundation in reading. It also includes interactive features such as songs, videos, and games, making learning fun and engaging for young children.
Hooked on Phonics also offers a digital program, which includes reading lessons and activities that children can access on a computer, tablet, or smartphone. The program provides progress tracking tools, enabling parents and teachers to monitor the child’s progress and identify areas where they may need extra support
.
Overall, Hooked on Phonics is a valuable reading program for children, offering a systematic and structured approach to learning phonics and reading.
8. Lexia Reading
Lexia Reading is an online reading program that uses a personalized approach to help children aged 3 to 12 years old develop their reading skills. The program offers a range of activities and resources that cater to children’s individual reading levels, helping to build their foundational reading skills and develop their reading comprehension.
Lexia Reading uses an adaptive learning model that adjusts to each child’s reading level and pace, providing them with a customized learning experience. The program includes interactive activities such as phonemic awareness, vocabulary development, and comprehension exercises, which help children to build their reading skills gradually.
Lexia Reading also provides teachers and parents with progress monitoring tools that allow them to track the child’s progress and identify areas where they may need additional support.
The program offers detailed reports that provide insights into the child’s reading skills and offer recommendations for further learning.
The program also includes a range of motivational features such as digital badges and rewards that help to keep children engaged and motivated in their learning. Lexia Reading also offers a mobile app, allowing children to continue their learning on the go.
9. Epic
Epic is a digital library designed for children aged 12 and under. It offers a collection of over 40,000 ebooks, audiobooks, and educational videos that cater to different reading levels and interests. The platform provides children with access to a vast range of fiction and non-fiction titles, including picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, and educational materials.
Epic offers a personalized reading experience for children, allowing them to create their profiles and track their reading progress. The platform includes features such as badges and rewards, which help to motivate children to read and complete reading challenges.
The platform also provides teachers with tools to create customized reading assignments, track student progress, and monitor reading levels. Teachers can use the platform to assign books and educational videos to their students, and provide them with feedback on their reading progress.
Epic also offers a range of additional features, such as read-to-me functionality, which allows children to listen to audiobooks and follow along with the text. The platform also includes a range of educational resources, including quizzes, lesson plans, and other teaching materials, which can be used to support classroom learning.
10. Headsprout
Headsprout is an online reading program designed to help children develop their reading skills. The program uses a systematic approach to teaching phonics and other reading skills, with lessons that are tailored to each child’s individual reading level.
Headsprout uses interactive and engaging lessons to teach children phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.
The program also includes a range of support tools, such as a reading tutor and pronunciation guide, to help children improve their reading skills.
The program’s adaptive learning technology ensures that each child progresses through the lessons at their own pace, with lessons becoming more challenging as the child’s reading skills improve. This personalized approach to learning helps to build children’s confidence in reading and encourages them to take ownership of their learning.
Headsprout also includes a range of progress monitoring tools that allow teachers and parents to track the child’s progress and identify areas where they may need additional support. The program provides detailed reports on the child’s reading skills and offers recommendations for further learning.
Boost young readers’ reading skills with Reading With RIK
The pandemic certainly slowed kids’ progress in reading in math, but not all is lost. With the help of the children’s reading programs listed above, like Reading With RIK, it’s possible to decrease screen time, improve reading skills, help bring kids back up to grade level, and help them with reading success.
Try Reading With RIK today.
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Best Kindergarten Reading Curriculum for Homeschoolers
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Just so you know, this post contains affiliate links. That means if you use them to make a purchase, I may earn a commission. You can read my full affiliate disclosure HERE.
While it is possible to teach reading without a curriculum, using one may provide just the right support you need in your homeschool. Let’s take a look at some of the best kindergarten reading curriculum options on the market.
“I can’t WAIT to teach my kids how to read!” (said pretty much no homeschool mom ever).
There can be a lot of pressure for us to teach our kids to read, and read well. And as our kids enter kindergarten, teaching reading is often one of the first big tasks we face as homeschool moms. It can feel like all eyes are on us, and how we are going to live up to this whole “teacher” role. Can we do it?
I remember being so nervous about this as a new homeschool mom: it seemed like such a big undertaking! And as a former high school math teacher, I had never come close to teaching anyone to read before.
Trigonometric functions and factoring? No sweat. Basic reading skills? Cue the nerves!
It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that reading is fun, creative, and we have quite the privilege to be able to teach our kids to read through homeschooling!
The journey of learning to read is an exciting time for young children. New worlds open up and their imaginations begin to blossom: swashbuckling pirates finding buried treasure on deserted islands, delicate fairies dancing across the tops of poppies, curious crickets and wriggly worms becoming friends in the forest. It all comes to life!
I have heard stories of kids who have picked up on reading simply by looking over mom or dad’s shoulder during story time. Some kids tend to need more direct instruction. It’s important to keep in mind the different rates children will learn to read in our homeschools; some are ready for a structured reading curriculum by kindergarten, and some just need a little more time and more relaxed options. Both are ok.
So is it really necessary for you, the homeschool parents, to incorporate a kindergarten curriculum when it comes to reading? Could you benefit from using one?
Well, let’s take a look.
How Children Start to Read
The first thing is for you to understand what reading is, in its simplest form.
When you break it down to its core, reading is a bunch of symbols (letters) put together to create predictable sounds, and reading is about learning to crack those codes.
Uppercase or Lowercase Letters?
There is actually a bit of debate as to whether begin teaching uppercase or lowercase letters first. Some say uppercase letters are easier to read and write for young kids.
But others argue that since lowercase letters are more prominent in our reading, it is better for kids to learn to “decode” these first.
I think there is a definite benefit to getting your child to recognize and confidently read the lower-case letters of the alphabet and their sounds before moving on to teaching them sight words. Some easy ways to enhance lower-case letter learning are:
- Playdough mats
- Draw the letters with sidewalk chalk
- Finger trace the letters in colorful grains of rice
- Create simple word searches looking for specific letters
- Buy a giant alphabet poster that your child can look at while lying in bed before falling asleep, or in your homeschool room
Learning Sight Words
Once they can recognize the letters and the sounds they make, it will be an easier transition to learning sight words, which will allow your child to read without stopping to sound everything out.
It allows a continuous flow of reading for them.
Words like: the, stop, can, and will are frequently used, and with constant practice, your child will begin to instantly recognize them and won’t need to sound them out.
The best way your child will learn is to practice, practice, practice. You can do this with flashcards or with fun sight word games. Make these games, and suddenly they are easy lessons! Grab your set of FREE Color by Sight Word activity sheets to use when practicing sight words with your kids.
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics instruction introduces children to the concept that words are made up of letters, and letters represent sounds. Children can then decode words by sounds. Phonemic Awareness is an important skill and it is different from phonics.
Phonemic awareness is the ability to work with sounds, or phonemes, in language and it develops in stages. Children need to learn to be able to manipulate the sounds of the words; they must learn to blend them, substitute, and split them.
Children who can learn to do this will enter reading a lot more confidently than children who can’t, so it is in their best interest to practice this continuously.
This is one of the reasons that the English language is a difficult language to learn: there are only 26 letters, but 44 sounds!
Best Kindergarten Reading Curriculum Picks
Just like you have a science curriculum or a math curriculum, the wise homeschooling mom will invest in a solid reading and phonics curriculum, as reading is the basis of everything that we do and therefore a vital skill.
It is certainly possible to teach reading without a curriculum, but if you like the idea of having everything already put together, organized, and structured for you, reading programs might be the way to go. Using a curriculum helps me rest easier knowing I’m not leaving anything important out!
Let’s jump in and have a look at some of the best kindergarten reading curriculum options you might try in your homeschool.
All About Reading
This curriculum was recommended to me over and over when I began researching how to teach my kindergartner to read. We absolutely loved the program, and I used it again with my twin daughters a couple of years later.
All About Reading is a fun and affordable reading curriculum, founded by a mom who was told her dyslexic son would never read or write. It’s open-and-go (which means little to no prep – bonus!), multisensory, and mastery-based using the Orton-Gillingham method.
To begin you simply complete a free online placement test to find out which level your child should begin at and then order the relevant pack. There are four levels to work through and once your child has completed all four levels, they should be able to confidently decode any word.
The Pre-Reading package is often used with preschoolers and kindergartners, although some kinders may be ready for Level 1 (the level numbers do not necessarily correspond with a grade level, so it’s definitely recommended to take the placement test!).
All About Spelling is a curriculum that will go hand-in-hand when your child is ready. The spelling portion progresses through seven levels and encourages you to work on spelling for only 20 minutes a day. You can customize this to suit your family; work faster through areas that your child feels confident in, and pace yourselves when the concepts are more tricky.
Have a quick peek at All About Reading’s free resources to get a feel for what they offer. I think you’ll see quickly why they make the cut for one of the best homeschool reading curriculum options!
BJU Press Focus on Fives
We love BJU Press and use them for the bulk of our homeschool curriculum now. Their content is academically sound and written from a biblical context. BJU Press does not offer a separate kindergarten reading curriculum per se, but their Focus on Fives kindergarten program helps lay a strong foundation in phonemic awareness and important reading strategies.
The program aims to help build your child’s phonetic knowledge, and then progresses to the 44-sounds within the English language phonemic awareness area.
There is also a strong focus on teaching children how to expand their vocabulary, their fluency, and their comprehension.
What I really like about purchasing the BJU Press complete kits is that you have everything you need, not only for your reading lessons, but all other basic kindergarten subjects. You also have the choice to purchase the online program, or do a parent-led option.
In addition to grammar and the mechanics of the English language, BJU Press has additional workbooks for handwriting and spelling, which will be useful as your kids get older. They include digital literacy development in their English curriculum which equips children with the basic skills they need to do research and find useful information, and how document these internet resources correctly.
BJU Press Focus on Fives is a great option to consider for your kindergarten reading needs that will not only provide your child with interesting hours and hours of learning, but it allows them to learn and read through a Biblical worldview lens.
HOMER Early Learning Program
The HOMER Early Learning Program is a digital foundational reading program that effectively teaches children how to read. It’s available as app, but the program also offers printables and other offline activities. It’s a great resource not just for your homeschool kindergarten reading curriculum, but you can actually begin using this program with your kids as young as 2 years old.
Their research-based approach has proven to build confident, life-long readers. You’ll see your child grow from learning their letters and individual sounds, to recognizing sight words, to reading and spelling brilliantly. The HOMER Program has three distinct components:
Learn & Play – this app is aimed at toddlers up to age 3 who are starting to learn about counting, shapes, color, and more. It also begins promoting independent work.
Learn & Grow – this particular app has been developed for kids between the ages of two and eight years old.
This is a popular option as it meets kids at their skill level and interests, and in addition to reading, they also cover math, social-emotional learning, creativity, and more.
Learn with Sesame Street – the fun-loving characters over at Sesame Street teach children social-emotional behavior skills such as kindness and empathy, conflict resolution, and even tasting new foods!
With the Homer Early Learning Program, you can be sure that your kids aren’t just having fun, but they will find meaningful success.
Get a 60-day free trial period with HOMER by clicking here.
Reading Better Together
The Reading Better Together curriculum is another great option for homeschool kindergarten students. Creator Sarah Miller is a teacher with years of experience, and developed this curriculum (which is backed by scientific research) when her son struggled daily with reading lessons. It didn’t take too much time and soon he was asking her if he could read the stories in their lessons, and wanted to read more over weekends too!
This program makes learning easy as the daily short lessons and fun activities are provided to ensure great success.
Detailed lesson plans make it easy for you to teach. Building that love for reading, one of the main goals of Reading Better Together, is a great way for you to spend quality quiet time together as a family.
Learn more about Reading Better Together here.
Reading Eggs
The engaging online reading lessons and activities that Reading Eggs has created are based on five essential keys to success, namely phonetic skills, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, reading comprehension, and fluency.
Children complete a placement test at the start of their journey and will have regular assessments to help them retain their new knowledge. Progress reports are sent to you, the parents, so you can be kept up-to-date with your child’s progress. This program is online (and also available as an app!), which gives children the chance to meet the colorful, and funny characters developed for this program, listen to the zany songs, and immerse themselves in what they are learning, in a fun and meaningful way.
Think of this as combining a fun reading game linked to their 21st-century innate desire for all things ‘techie’. This program is a good fit for visual learners who like color, animation, and playing games while learning. Check out Reading Eggs as a contender for your child’s kindergarten reading curriculum.
Phonics in Motion
Children are multisensory, and sometimes need a completely different learning experience to thrive. Phonics in Motion has created its language arts curriculum to satisfy their holistic learning needs, teaching through motion and storytelling.
They begin with phonemic awareness teaching children the relationship between letters and sounds. Children will learn to visually recognize letters and match them to various sounds. They listen to the sounds and learn how to break them up, and will get their bodies moving with a motion to represent these letter sounds. Based on scientific research, this program engages the entire being.
In addition, you are provided with a teacher’s guide that clearly shows parents how to teach, so you will know how to get this knowledge across to your child successfully.
Learn more about Phonics in Motion here.
Top Tips to Enhance Basic Reading Skills
No matter which curriculum you choose, your goals probably include developing a love of learning so your children will have an unstressed time with their reading. The kindergarten years are fun; forget about clinical learning settings and transform your own home into a wonderful place where you can provide for your child’s learning needs. Cherish these preschool years.
Below are a few of the best practices I have used to assist our kiddos in their reading growth:
- Stick to shorter lessons for young learners. Even if you use a traditional curriculum, don’t be afraid to shorten lessons as needed.
- Offer your children a variety of activities and games to practice. Although too much screentime is not recommended, there are a lot of fun programs (like the ones mentioned above!) that can really be beneficial.
- Use picture books with sight words for easy recognition.
- Join your local library and visit often to pick out new books and participate in activities.
- Read their favorite books to them so they can hear the way words should be pronounced, which will help develop their language skills. Lots of read-aloud time!
- Leave a selection of great books in an easy-to-reach place and change these weekly.
- Keep a storybook in your bag for times of waiting (for example, waiting to pick up a sibling from an activity).
Don’t forget that your homeschool setting is the perfect environment for children to learn to read, as it is relaxed, self-paced, and familiar.
Make your reading time comfortable, make it relaxed, and make it fun! If you can develop a love of reading during the early years, you’ve already won half the battle.
I hope these recommendations help you in your journey to teach your kids to read and find the best curriculum for your homeschool. You can do this, mama!
And I’d love to hear from you in the comments if you’ve taught reading to your kids: what would you say is the best kindergarten reading curriculum, and why do you love it? Let us know!
If you’d like some more curriculum recommendations, along with a printable to keep track of your curriculum and other homeschool activities, I’d love to send you my FREE Curriculum and Activity Printable.
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More homeschool inspiration…
10 reader apps with access to free books
In addition to many dedicated e-ink readers, long battery life and other conveniences, there are many apps that turn your tablet or smartphone into a reader.
Often, the application that suits your friends is not right for you, and you have to go through program after program, looking for the one with which it will be comfortable to spend time reading. To make it easier to find the most convenient program, we decided to select ten of the most popular reading applications with built-in libraries of free books.
1.Bookmate
The first thing that attracts in Bookmate is synchronization between devices. Read on a tablet, continue on a smartphone or laptop from the same page where you left off on the previous device. To do this, of course, the device must have Internet access. But you need it only for quick synchronization, you can read books offline by turning off all communication modules to save money.
The second is the payment system. You do not need to buy a separate book, you pay for a subscription for a month or a year and read everything in the library, which is more than 500,000 books from 600 publishers for 9languages.
But that’s not all. The Bookmate service is divided into two parts. The first of these is the application with which you actually read. The second is a web service at bookmate.com, where you can upload any of your books in epub or fb2 format to your library and read it using the application with exactly the same synchronization between devices.
If you do not have your own books and you are not yet ready to pay for licensed books, then you can choose one of the many free books of world classical literature. These, of course, are not hits and novelties, but were priceless masterpieces ever so accessible? Yes, even lovers of reading masterpieces in the original should not forget about the possibility of instant translation of any word by double tap.
The creators of the service have not forgotten about the social component either. By connecting one of your social network accounts to the service, you can find your friends who also use Bookmate, follow what they read, and share your books and favorite quotes with them.
And the last bonus — the opportunity to give a subscription to your friend. Just pay for a gift subscription and get a code, by entering which your friend becomes another happy Bookmate user for a certain time.
Screenshots Bookmate
Screenshots Bookmate
Play Store | App Store | Windows
2. Moon+ Reader
Yes, of course, this is not an all-in-one service like Bookmate, it is an e-book reader designed for those who like to customize everything «for themselves». Many preinstalled themes, swipe animation effects, fine-grained display settings, day and night mode, the ability to customize actions using screen taps, swipe gestures or hardware buttons, synchronization via the cloud (though only for the paid version). But this application got into the review not for its beauty and convenience, but for the ability to read many free books: Moon + Reader supports OPDS catalogs, you don’t even have to delve into what it is, everything is already set up in the program by default and it’s enough to find in the application, the «Network» item, select the section of free books in Russian in the «Moon +» catalog and indulge in reading.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/mother-and-daughter-reading-book-in-bookstore-485208231-579bd3925f9b589aa9774b60.jpg)
After downloading the book to your device, it is available for reading without the Internet.
Yes, since this program is primarily a «reader», it will easily find your books that are already on the device. Supported formats: epub, fb2, pdf, mobi, chm, cbr, cbz, umd, txt, html, as well as the ability to read books directly from rar and zip archives. The program has fewer opportunities than the subscription service, but you don’t have to pay anything either.
Screenshots of Moon+ Reader
Screenshots of Moon+ Reader
Play Store
3. eReader Prestigio
Another decent reading app with good features. After registering your PrestigioID, you get access to the bookstore, where free books are highlighted in a separate column, and in addition, synchronization between your android devices with the same PrestigioID. You can also read books not from the app store, but downloaded to the device memory in epub, pdf, html, fb2, fb2.
zip, rtf, txt, epub3, Adobe DRM epub formats. The application has all the necessary settings for reading, not as flexible as those of Moon + Reader, but they are quite enough for comfortable use of the program. It is very convenient that, unlike Bookmate, you do not need to look for free books — they are already conveniently collected in a separate section. There is only one minus of the application — it is only available on Android.
Screenshots eReader Prestigio
Screenshots eReader Prestigio
Play Store
4. Wattpad
Quite an interesting application that allows you to read everything in the catalog for free. During registration, you will be asked to indicate your interests, this was done in order to make it easier to recommend books for you to read. Books written by Wattpad users themselves. You can follow the writing of books, read from chapter to chapter, immediately after the author publishes the next page.
Moreover, you yourself can start writing for a wide audience, because Wattpad is a service for writers and readers, an opportunity to conduct a dialogue with the author. But this is precisely the feature of the application — the opportunity to read something new, to discover a new talent in literature. Or discover the literary talent in yourself, inspired by someone else’s story. Definitely try this app if you like to experiment with book preferences or read something randomly.
There are not so many settings for the reader, but all the basics are present. Unfortunately, you can only read books from the catalog, the application does not support reading files from memory. Other than that, highly recommended if you want to try something new.
Screenshots Wattpad
Screenshots Wattpad
Play Store | App Store
5. MyBook
A relatively young Russian service that provides access to its own online library by subscription.
Registration is required, after which a catalog of more than 63,000 books becomes available, 8,000 of which are free — mostly classics. The catalog itself contains a wide variety of books, divided by genre. Yes, this service is still far from Bookmate in terms of the number of books, but you can already use it comfortably now — there is synchronization between devices and a quite comfortable «reader» with basic background and font settings. Unfortunately, there is no way to read books not from the catalog.
Screenshots MyBook
Screenshots MyBook
Play Store | App Store
6. LitRes Read! Free
The leading company in the sale of licensed books in the CIS countries has acquired its own application for reading and distributing electronic reading material. The LitRes catalog contains more than 750,000 books, making this online library the largest Russian-language library on the web.
The application provides the possibility of free use of books for viewing ads. And you can even get used to this advertising in the bottom line, in exchange for a huge catalog of books, conveniently divided into categories. The application claims to synchronize bookmarks, notes and quotes. But I never managed to change the login, which is somehow assigned automatically. And synchronization is possible, which is logical, between applications with the same login. In general, the reading program is acceptable, and given the extensive library, it is more than suitable. It is spoiled only by strange synchronization (let’s hope that they will finish it) and annoying ads, especially pop-up videos. However, ads can be turned off. Of course, for money.
Screenshots LitRes Read! Free
Screenshots LitRes Read! Free
Play Store | App Store
7. Home library
A simple application to access Russian classical literature for free.
Minimum settings for maximum benefit. The app contains classic works by more than 700 writers, including Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Gogol, Pushkin, Yesenin and many others. Everything that you once did not have time to read at school is now available for rethinking in electronic form.
Right from the application, by clicking on the author’s photo, you can go to his Wikipedia page and get acquainted with the biography. The rest of the functionality is concise to a minimum.
Screenshots Home Library
Screenshots Home Library
Play Store | App Store
8. Pile of Books. Ru
A small site with free literature did not begin to think about creating a single application for all genres, but released several clone applications. Do you like to read detective stories? Read only detectives. Do you want fantasy? Please. Love novels? Please. But each time you have to download a new application.
Although, if you are an adherent of only one type of literature and are not going to change your taste preferences, that’s it.
Recently, KuchaKnig.Ru has been thinking about licensing its library, previously collected from free sources, in connection with which it has acquired a partner in the person of LitRes, so it is not surprising that the settings of any application repeat the settings of the program for free reading from LitRes, and the desire to buy a book leads to the LitRes website, not KuchaKnig.Ru. This, in principle, for us, ordinary readers, does not matter at all, and such a division of genres into separate applications can be convenient if, as described above, you are an adherent of only one genre and you do not need to shovel through various catalogs in search of a new detective or a fresh book on esotericism.
Screenshots KuchaKnig.RU
Screenshots KuchaKnig.RU
Play Store
9.
Free books — novels
Simple, convenient. Download and read.
Actually, everything is clear from the name of the application. The catalog contains a varied list of novels from science fiction to erotica. The program itself works nowhere easier — choose the right book, download and read. A couple of menu items can hardly be called settings, but for a simple «download and read» application, this is only a plus.
Screenshot Free books — novels
Play Store
10. Play Books
An application from Google itself, linked to the book store, with synchronization, with a nice interface and the ability to upload your own books in epub or pdf format. It is very convenient to upload your entire library to Google servers and have access to books from any device. Form shelves, laying out books in your virtual library in a way that is convenient. Or trust sorting by authors. The application does not even require registration as such — it uses your Google account.
Screenshots of Play Books
Screenshots of Play Books
Play Store | App Store
Before I started writing this review, I used the Play Books application, but after sorting through all kinds of «readers» again, I realized that the capabilities of applications are constantly growing and developing, so I installed several new reading programs from this list for myself so as not to look anymore and buy interesting novelties, but just read them for free.
Is the program important in kindergarten? What standards are taught to preschoolers and are they observed in practice
The main criterion when choosing a kindergarten for children is to be close. Then we evaluate its equipment, educators, but the program by which the garden works remains behind the scenes. We decided to find out: is it really so important and is it worth chasing after some particular system of preschool education?
How the kindergarten works
The state kindergarten is now not a separate structure, but only a pre-school stage of school education.
Kindergartens have long been branches of one or another GBOU, and each of them has a specific educational program approved.
In total, in Russia, according to the navigator on the website of the Federal Institute for the Development of Education, there are 21 comprehensive programs for preschool education. In addition to them, there are a number of partial programs — these are a kind of fragments of an educational puzzle with which they complement the main picture or from which they assemble a combination at their own discretion. Some partial programs are designed to develop different skills in children (counting, reading, writing), others are aimed at aesthetic, artistic, musical development.
Despite this apparent diversity, today there are only 3-5 types of educational programs in kindergartens, depending on the region.
85% of kindergartens in Russia have adopted one universal program «From Birth to School»
In addition to the ubiquitous «From Birth …», the Golden Key, Worlds of Childhood: Designing Possibilities, Origins, Inspiration are also widespread . Prochildren stands apart, developed, among other things, for children with disabilities and aimed at self-realization and development of independence, as well as a fundamentally new program, the Transformation, which is about to be approved. The professional community is really looking forward to it, since it is based on the empirical method of knowing the world — experiences and experiments as the basis of learning.
You can find out which program guides a particular garden on the official website of the institution.
However, there is a nuance here too.
Whatever program is announced, it is not a fact that the kindergarten follows it from beginning to end
The fact is that each kindergarten must take an approved program and make its own based on it in the proportion of 60 to 40. That is, 60 % is taken from the «base», and the garden is free to supplement everything else. What does this mean for parents? Suppose the basic program assumes the presence of activity centers in groups — this is when the playing space (as in the Montessori development environment) is divided into separate zones: mathematics, water games, sand games, etc. But if the kindergarten does not have the appropriate equipment, then he can simply throw out some item from the program.
Generally speaking, in two gardens with the same program, life can be arranged in completely different ways, since each garden took different provisions from the “base” and supplemented them with completely different details. And as a result, we got two little similar combos.
Just as important: even if you are satisfied with the program that you were introduced to in kindergarten, this does not mean that it will be fully implemented. Why? Because it all depends on the teacher. And there is no way to check what the children are doing in the kindergarten until they can tell you in colors themselves.
Photo: Sunflower Light Pro / shutterstock / fotodom
How the programs differ from each other
All two dozen preschool education programs are developed on the basis of the Federal State Educational Standard adopted in Russia and are quite strictly regulated.
Their goal is to ensure that the preschooler grows up motivated and comprehensively developed. The difference between the programs seems insignificant: some are designed for ages from infancy to school (“Rainbow” or “Teremok”), others involve working with children from the age of three (“First Steps”), otherwise they, at first glance, are similar . But this is only at first glance.
«From Birth to School»
One of the oldest preschool pedagogy programs — and it is precisely this that is regularly updated and supplemented. Why? First of all, because it is the most common in Russia.
The program «From Birth to School» is successive in relation to the program «Education and Education in Kindergarten» edited by M.
A. Vasilyeva, which has been used by almost all kindergartens in our country for many years. The team of authors led by Doctor of Psychology N. E. Veraksa has developed a universal comprehensive program that is ideal for mass preschool groups. It perfectly combines the ideas of classical preschool education and modern educational technologies.
By implementing the approaches laid down in the «From Birth to School» program, teachers ensure continuity with the program of primary general education, which is very important. In the process of purposeful educational activity of the child, carried out in partnership with an adult, the prerequisites for universal educational activities are formed in the older preschooler. Moreover, the main thing in the interaction between children and adults is the ability to «hear» the child, support and develop his initiative.
Tatyana Dotsenko, Deputy Director of Moscow School No. 1347
The program also talks about the transition to a new, progressive type of interaction «adult-child», in which it is important for the educator to be able to hear the child, respond and develop the children’s initiative.
Educators no longer manage the game process, but build educational moments into spontaneous games, the old model of frontal and group activities is replaced by projects, educational events, morning and evening circles.
But again, it’s not a fact that the kindergarten, which took the “From Birth…” program as a basis, will leave morning circles and a non-frontal model in it, because not every educator is ready to grow and change something in the methodology of their work.
The Golden Key
The program is based on the pedagogical concept of Lev Vygotsky, and its main feature is that children who are just three years old and five or six years old play nearby.
Parents are often embarrassed by such groups: it seems to them that the elders will offend the younger ones, and the younger ones, in turn, will draw all the attention of educators to themselves.
However, the program is focused on what preschoolers like the most — the game, it does not involve classes at the tables and traditional calendar-thematic tasks. It contains the idea of spontaneity of learning, and the children have two educators at once, and one of them always plays the role of not the usual leader, but a direct participant in children’s games.
“Golden Key” involves building relationships similar to ideal family ones. Kindergarten teachers are constantly brainstorming to come up with activities that will really engage the children.
And here they usually know everything about Star Wars, and about Findus and Petson, and about trolls with little ponies.”
Anna Yakshina, Junior Researcher, Child Development Laboratory, Research Institute of Urban Studies and Global Education, Moscow State Pedagogical University
doesn’t cook. The program does not aim to teach the child to read, write and count. The task is for him to spend his childhood in a kindergarten in an atmosphere as close as possible to that of a family.
Photo: Olesia Bilkei / shutterstock / fotodom
Children’s Worlds: Designing Possibilities
This program will definitely not appeal to parents who find the words «craft» and «kindergarten drawing» a nervous tic.
Perhaps for the same reason, «Worlds of Childhood» is generally not very common in large metropolitan areas, where the rhythm of life does not allow parents to get involved in the child’s life as much as possible.
The highlight of «Worlds» is a didactic calendar that offers a variety of home activities with a child (no need to google and invent anything, everything has already been done for you). According to the authors of the program, developing and educational materials «launch the mechanism of cultural transmission» and allow parents to understand the value of children’s activities and the significance of its results.
“Of course, not all parents are determined to take care of their children at home. At first, the child comes to the kindergarten unprepared, does not participate in general activities, gets upset, and parents have to get involved.
But some time passes, and they begin to enjoy the joint process and understand their child better.
Elena Didukh, p teacher of the Moscow School No. 2120
PRODETEI
Tools of the Mind system. It was created in Russia for export — to work in Europe and America. Its essence is a playful approach and the development of planning skills.
The space in the gardens operating under this program is organized according to the principle of activity centers, which are separated from each other by low lockers. Thus, children do not interfere with each other, and educators can safely observe everyone at once. There are both noisy and quiet areas where children can retire with a book and their favorite toy and relax. And then move to the center of construction or the center of writing and literacy.
Every day for the guys starts with a morning circle, a kind of mini-team building. With the help of the «Wheel of Choice» children draw up their own schedule of classes for the day, which they fix on a personal piece of paper. It is not necessary to be able to read and write: drawings, symbols — everyone copes as best they can.
This ritual teaches the child to direct their day.
«PROchildren» implies maximum scope for creativity and self-realization: children are to some extent left to their own devices, that is, they organize their day themselves, look for companions for games, and the educator only guides and helps them.
“PROchildren” have no succession in school. This program, like the «Golden Key», is about play and about childhood, and the kindergartens that took it as a basis do not aim to prepare for school, but to live through the sensitive periods of childhood. So for parents, for whom the garden is the key to successful admission to school, such a program is hardly suitable.
«Transformation»
The most recent and innovative program to be adopted in the near future, early childhood educators are looking forward to it.
Its author is a leading researcher at the Child Development Laboratory of the Moscow State Pedagogical University and at the same time a co-author of another well-known program «From Birth to School» Olga Shiyan. She took the tools of TRIZ pedagogy (TRIZ is the theory of inventive problem solving) as the basis of «Transformation», and, according to her idea, children should learn the world by solving a variety of issues on their way.
“The program is based on an empirical method: children learn to solve real problems and gain new knowledge in the process of solving them. And then they are fixed through creative activity. This is a method of creative search and debate with the educator, when every subject around is studied.
For example, when talking about furniture, children and teachers discuss which furniture can solve which problems. It was during such debates that the children came up with bunk beds in the kindergarten and created their mock-up from matchboxes. Another invention is a chair for a teacher, sitting on which it is convenient to help children lace up their shoelaces.
Olga Shiyan, Leading Researcher, Child Development Laboratory, Moscow State Pedagogical University
Such a program is indeed an interesting innovation, but it will be extremely difficult to implement it in a mass group of 25–30 children.
Discussions with preschoolers are effective only when there are a maximum of 5-10 people. But even in a simplified version, as an addition to another program, the principles of «Transformation» can be useful.
Photo: FamVeld / shutterstock / fotodom
And what to choose
Despite the presence of two dozen comprehensive programs of preschool education, only one is widely represented in Russia — «From Birth to School».
And if you want to choose a kindergarten that presents a different approach to working with preschoolers, then you will have to look for it, and the child will most likely need to be taken there.
