What is Raz-Kids and how does it work
The ICT
resource which I am talking about today is an online reading library. Raz-Kids.com offers hundreds of animated eBooks covered 27 levels
of difficulty from A-Z. This structured reading program engages children at
their reading level and in their area of interest .Children can follow along as
the program reads the book to them, and then read it themselves. Interactive
quizzes are available at the end of each book to check for understanding. The
Raz-Kids program also offers reports that detail the children’s progress. Web
access at school and home gives children the practice they need to improve their
reading skills. The more they read the better reader they will become.
Though Raz-Kids.com is mainly designed for school
use, it does allow anyone to purchase the program for the 12-month license of $89.95,
roughly 600kr/year. To use this program, you will need:
- A Windows or Mac computer
- An Internet connection (broadband is best)
- A current browser with Adobe Flash
- A headset (best). Alternatively, a microphone and speakers
- Username and password
The current
browser detective widgets on Raz-kids will automated detect if your browser is compatible
with the Raz-kids. Headsets are for students to listen to a book read for
modeled fluency and record themselves reading the same book. The whole class
share teacher’s username, but have their own passwords (which are set up by the
teacher).
After log in, teacher
can customize reading assignments, view reports, and track every step of student’s
progress. Students will find their assignments under their personal assignment
pages. Children can choose to listen, read or take quiz by clicking the symbols
below each book. The reward system Raz Rocket allows students earn stars for
every book read and listened to, and quizzes and assignments successfully
completed, then they can spend these earned stars to buy items from the Raz
Rocket Catalog to personalize their rocket on the Roster page.
How can Raz-kids used by Teacher
Videos in the
video library give teacher very clear introduction about the features which Raz-
kids offer. Teacher can launch students to read in different ways. You can
either make self paced assignment which allow students to progress automatically,
or customize the assignment .You can
see who has logged on, who has been reading and who hasn't. You can send students
messages, do running records. After the students take a quiz, it tells teacher
specifically what skills they missed
Teacher can
create an assignment with only the listen option for all books at the next
higher level for a student. This allows the student to preview more challenging
texts before he or she begins working at that level in their guided-reading
group.
Occasionally, teacher
assigns students the listen option and quiz for a given book to determine how
strong their listening comprehension is at a given level.
Giving students
access to the Bookroom will help build listening comprehension increased their awareness
of differing text structures, and broader vocabulary as students listen to
books at higher levels.
There are various
ways to maxim the use of Raz-kids online library. And don’t forget to build the
Roster, so your students can start earn their stars!
How can it be used by Students
Students log in
and work on their assignment based on their reading level. Reading ,listening
to ,and taking a test on one of the online books are typical assignment they
can do. Once the student passes the test, they move on to the next book. There is a good mix of fiction and non-fiction
books in the program. Students open up their leveled libraries
and get to choose from many interesting titles. Because the books are online, there
is dynamic update. New contents are added all year around, Children have more
books to choose from.
Thanks to the
flexibility of this program, students can go as quickly as they want to, in
order to advance to the next level. Students who are not currently
reading at their level can use this program from home increase their reading
ability. For students who are reading at or above level, they can
continue to make more progress. Students can practice reading to improve reading comprehension and reading
fluency anywhere with Internet access.
Some other thoughs
Raz- kids is originally designed for students who have English as their mother language, its 27 age levels ranged from grade kindergarten to grade 6.For students who have English as foreign langurage, the reading level should be adjusted by the teacher based on their English ability instead of the age level. And teacher must give more support to help students to get reading gains.
Before making a purchase of this program, teacher can try out the free sample eBooks on the site first. A free trial subscription is also available. After testing drive the site for a while, it should not be difficult to find whether Raz- kids is for your class. //By Yvonne Le
I find this Raz-kids interactive reading program very interesting!Both because reading books,stimulate fantasy, open up the world for children and that motivate to develop listening, readingand and writing.Today we have to encouragechildren to read books and not just be writing and recieving short messages, social medias way of expose daily life in a fast, short "on the surface" examples.A good thing is that the programme is for native english speakers which make the children in the EFL classroom proud of reading "real English" books.The choice of reading themselves or let the programme read the book is also positive. To listen is that important as to read.The big span of age-levels and that the teacher can chose the level based on the English ability intead of the age level for the EFL pupils is ofadvantage.As ateacher you can check understanding with a test after a book is finished.Also the possibility for the children of listening for a sample and preview more challenging texts before chose next leveli s positive.Very important is the types of different books are available.Because it is online the books are updated many times a year.the price of this reading-programme is not mentioned?The thing to be aware of is not forget taking the children sometimes to the old, dusty, cosy libery enviroment...to get the chance to borrow usual paperbooks to lie in the sofa,in a hammock or on the beach a hot summer day reading!Or an tiring afternoon in class where your teacher engaged reading loud from a thrilling book.Relaxing feeling after a tough day in school.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Helene that we have to give our students the chance to read real books also. To do that and disappear in the story of the book in different environments (the sofa a rainy day or the beach a hot summer day) gives your reading an extra level of pleasure. But to get there this program Raz-kids sounds like a way for many children to start enjoying reading. To get to hear the book (if you want to) have to be an excellent way to listen how words and sentences are pronounced. And it is not hard to find the goals in the syllabus for both reading skills and listening/understanding skills. I like that it is possible for the teacher to have some control of what the students are doing (if they are reading or not) and to be able to customize assignments because we have different levels in our classes so all of the children can´t do the same things all the time. Not if we are going to keep their language interest at the top. I think that this way of reading books is according to the time, it´s important that we as teachers can use interactive tools like this and still not to forget books made of paper and make sure that we introduce them also to our pupils, not all of the kids in this time of internet/interactive/different tools are choosing to only use them. In my experience most of the children who are introduced to reading in different ways enjoys it but you (as a teacher) has to be the help to find the right books that will plant the seed of "loving to read " in them. Thank you Yvonne for a very clear description of the Raz-kids, I will try the free sample of the site and then if I think is´s something for my school I will spread the word. Kristina William
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