World Book Early World of Learning
© 2010 World Book, Inc.
Early World of Learning, found at http://www.worldbookonline.com/ewol/home, is a collection of several hundred flash-based stories, animated poems and simple games. The site is organized into three parts: Trek’s Travels (stories, games, and videos on vocabulary and reading comprehension); Welcome to Reading (phonics, vocabulary, phonemic awareness, and comprehension); and Know It (a children's encyclopedia). The content is of high quality -- with good art and narration. The site was created in consultation with University of Maryland's Rebecca Silverman. Features include: Story narration by human voices of different genders and ethnicity; Word-by-word highlighting to foster development of literacy skills; Comprehension games; Printable activities in English or Spanish for use in the classroom or to take home; and Classic children’s stories, nursery rhymes, and songs, which can be downloaded to an MP3 player for children who may not be read to at home, or who would like extra reading time. Additional content includes a Lexile Framework for Reading measurements to ensure early readers use text at their level, and state- and province-based Curriculum Correlations. We could find no evidence of assessment or tracking features. The service is available on a subscription basis. We were impressed by the quality of the lessens although there's a hit-or-miss nature to the entire overall experience.
Windows, Mac OSX, Internet Site
Teaches: reading, school readiness
CTR Rating: 80%