Free learn how to read

16 Free Online Reading Courses To Help Your Kids Keep Learning

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May 8, 2020

I am all the way here for screen time that is not only interactive and entertaining, but will also help teach my kids something useful. Basically any kind of free online reading course with a mix of games, educational lesson plans, and read-aloud stories fits the bill. I mean, who says you can't keep your kids engaged (and out of your hair) while learning a crucial skill set?

Although both of my kids love reading now, that wasn't always the case. When my oldest first started school, he had zero interest in learning how to read. He knew his letters, but putting sounds together was a struggle. As an avid reader, I was severely disheartened by his reluctance to try and learn how, so I scrambled to help make the activity as fun for him as possible. Truly, without the help of free online reading programs and resources, I'm not sure he would be the little bookworm he is today at nearly 8 years old.

If your kid already has a tablet glued to their hands, why not take the opportunity to make it educational? These 16 free online reading courses are perfect to help your child excel when it comes to phonetic awareness and reading comprehension. Plus, they're fun, and if they happen to develop a passion for reading along the way, they'll be set up for a lifetime of success.

1

ReadWriteThink

This free educational website focuses on reading and writing skills for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade. ReadWriteThink doesn't use ads on their site, and there is no need to create an account to get started. Videos introduce various age-appropriate concepts to help kids and allow them to play a game to enhance each skill set.

2

ABCya!

For students in preschool through 6th grade, ABCya! offers an array of games focused on reading comprehension, fluency, vocabulary, and early literacy. Lessons are linked to Common Core standards so it's easy for parents to see where their child is at and what they need to focus on to get where they need to be. All games are free to play, but the site does feature ads.

3

Khan Academy Kids

Khan Academy Kids is a free educational resource best known for their math initiatives, but has a comprehensive reading program to help kids enhance their reading skills. Their lessons are aligned with the Head Start and Common Core curriculums, so it's set up how your child is likely used to learning in school.

4

Starfall

A read-along library, games, and interactive lessons help create the perfect online learning environment for kids from preschool through 3rd grade on Starfall. Kids will focus on common sight words, phonetic awareness, word recognition, and fluency throughout the available videos and lessons. Although the entirety of the website is not free, many resources are free to access and those that are only available through a $35 per year subscription will be grayed out.

5

Story Place

With 15 different story themes that focus on fun topics like pets, firefighters, and music, kids from preschool through kindergarten can enjoy all that Story Place has to offer. They'll learn about literacy through stories read aloud, as well as interactive lessons that can be done either online or offline with parents. The entire site is available courtesy of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library system in North Carolina, and is available in both English and Spanish.

6

Storyline Online

If your kids love hearing celebs read books to them during Operation Storytime, then they'll be absolutely enthralled with Storyline Online. On this site, famous actors like Kristen Bell and Chris Pine read books aloud for kids and then at the conclusion of the book, parents are provided with a supplemental curriculum created by an educator to follow up the story with.

7

PBS Reading Games

PBS has several incredible online reading resources available for kids. PBS Reading Games features more than 70 reading-themed games with characters from PBS shows that help kids through 3rd grade develop strong reading habits. Between The Lions boasts short videos (less than 6 minutes long) that help encourage literacy and provide phonics and comprehension lessons for kids from preschool to 1st grade. Although WordWorld is a PBS television show aimed at preschoolers, their website also offers printable activities and interactive books to support early reading skills.

8

Storynory

Storynory, a reading website from the United Kingdom, boasts mostly stories read aloud, but can help support emerging readers and readers developing their skills through the sixth grade. With more than 600 stories to choose from, kids will be sure to find something interesting and entertaining to engage with on this site.

9

Oxford Owl

The Oxford University Press's Oxford Owl online reading program features more than 100 e-books that have guidance for parents and educators at both the beginning and the conclusion of each story. With these guided lessons, parents can help their kids get the most out of every reading session to increase comprehension skills, develop phonetic awareness, and build their vocabulary.

10

Fact Monster

Fact Monster uses interactive activities and games with facts about books to help promote literacy for kids in kindergarten through 12th grade. Additionally, the site features plenty of resources to help kids with spelling and grammar to develop fundamental skills that support their ability to read and comprehend text.

11

Free Reading Program

The online reading course at Free Reading Program is exactly what it sounds like — a free reading program. The site features literacy activities for students in the United States and Canada, including a curriculum with sight word lists, vocabulary support, grammar and sentence structure lessons, and more for kids through 6th grade.

12

Into The Book

Into The Book is the type of online reading course that you can sit your kids in front of and just let them self-guide their way through lesson after lesson. With comprehensive coverage of reading strategies, as well as resources for parents and educators, the tools to help kids learn to love reading are just a few clicks away.

13

Reading Bear

With Reading Bear, beginning readers from preschool through 1st grade can develop phonetic awareness in a simple and fun online format that is completely free to use. With more than 50 presentations on their site that demonstrate more than 1,200 vocabulary items, there is more than enough content to keep your child actively learning for as long as they wish to.

14

Read Theory

The Read Theory website features activities that adjust based on your child's individual skill level to help improve their reading comprehension regardless of their prior knowledge. It's suited for kids of all ages from kindergarten through high school, as well as students who speak English as a second language. Although you must create and log in with an account to use the site, access to their lessons once you do so is completely free.

15

Read Works

For kids from kindergarten through 12th grade, Read Works offers a selection of digital classes, printable lessons, and projectable images that parents and teachers can use to supplement your child's learning. A free account is required to access lessons, but each reading activity can be tailored to suit your child's specific needs and align with other subjects they might be covering in school.

16

Roy The Zebra

Roy The Zebra offers interactive videos and reading games for emerging readers. Their content is best suited for students in preschool through 1st grade to support the foundations and building blocks of reading comprehension, phonics, and word recognition.

About Us - Teach Your Monster

We’re Teach Your Monster, a non-profit that creates magical, fun-filled learning games for kids.

With the help of friendly monsters, playful design and out-of-this-world storytelling, we work with leading academics to create beautifully crafted games kids love to play.

Trusted by teachers and parents, our innovative products aim to engage even the most reluctant of learners.

The Usborne Foundation

We’re part of The Usborne Foundation — a charity set up by Peter Usborne CBE of Usborne Publishing to support early years learning.

We believe every child should have the opportunity to reach their full potential in early years and beyond.

Since launch in 2012 Teach Your Monster to Read has...

The Teach Your Monster story

Usborne Publishing is an independent, family-run business which has been sparking children’s curiosity and love of reading around the world since 1973. In 2011, company founder Peter Usborne CBE, along with his daughter Nicola and son Martin established the Usborne Foundation with the aim of developing creative and innovative responses to the biggest challenges facing early years education.

The start of this journey was the creation of Teach Your Monster to Read, a game that would come to help over 30 million children on the first crucial steps of their reading journey. Since launch it has been played over 300 million times, helps two million children learn to read every month and received BAFTA nominations in 2013 and 2015.

In 2021 we changed our name to Teach Your Monster to represent our growing family of games. We are now helping children tackle a diverse range of learning challenges in new and exciting ways, from numeracy to nutrition.

As an organisation we are proud of our methodology which puts children at the center of the creative process. Our creative teams are given support to become experts in the chosen field working in close collaboration with expert educational advisors. Player testing in classrooms is built into the process from the very start.

All this comes together in beautifully crafted stories, compelling characters and engaging game play as we create learning adventures that kids will come want to come back to play again and again.

Who do we work with?

We take the process of making our games and creating our monsters very seriously. We bring together world-leading education experts working to work in close collaboration with highly creative talent from diverse backgrounds — game developers, animators, designers, authors and musicians.

Our long-standing relationship with Roehampton University has helped us understand early years literacy and are expanding to work with other academic partners as we build into new areas of learning.

Join the Monsters

We are always looking for great people to collaborate with as we build and develop our games. We operate an ongoing recruitment process to help us find new talent and diversify our teams. You can find out more about this on our openings page.

Learn to Read and Learn Letters!

The Evil Snow Queen froze the magic letters of the alphabet and the animals were trapped in ice. And only your smart kid can save them, for which he must learn the letters of the alphabet and make words - the names of animals.

Collecting words from the letters of the alphabet, the child hears the sound of each letter of the alphabet, which allows the child to subconsciously remember the letters and their sound. And after your smart little fellow saves all the animals, a smart kid will have an educational game - a quiz in which a preschooler can consolidate his knowledge of letters and reading skills. nine0003

At the end of the quiz, the joyful bunny will dance to the kid in an incendiary dance, stimulating the child to continue the fun preschool reading!

METHODOLOGY

The application uses an effective sound method of teaching reading, similar to the "Zaitsev's cubes" method and the principles of the Montessori method, namely:

WE DO NOT NEED ABC AND PRIMER. AND WE DON'T NEED TO KNOW THE ALPHABET!

To learn to read, the baby does not need to know the names of the letters. A common phenomenon: a mother bought an alphabet for children or a primer, the child learned the letters, even learned the alphabet, but cannot read. His words don't stick. nine0003

The well-known teacher Nikolay Zaitsev claims that the alphabet is harmful for kids! In the alphabet and primer, for each letter of the alphabet, a picture is given: A - stork, B - hippopotamus, etc. When we learn to read the alphabet, the baby will remember both the letter and the picture, but how then to explain to him that the zebra - stork - lizard - heron, flashing in his mind, should form the word "hare"? How to teach a child to read?

Instead, in the application "Learn to read - Save the animals" the child does not learn the alphabetic names of letters, but their "sound" or sounds, from which the child can easily form a word. nine0003

The game has 2 modes of learning to read:
1. Learn to spell - great for a child to learn letters and understand the basics of reading. It is recommended to start with this learning mode - it is very effective for memorizing letters and learning to read short words.
2. Learning to read by syllables (warehouses) - for children who already know the letters. By "syllables" the method "Zaitsev's cubes" means "warehouses" - i.e. a combination of a consonant and a vowel: for example, ko-ro-va, ko-sh-ka. Learning to read in such short syllables is much easier for a child than in complex "school" syllables. And the easier it is to learn to read, the more effective! nine0003

WHAT YOUR BABY WILL LEARN:

• Learn the letters of the Russian alphabet in a fast and fun way
• Develop phonemic awareness by collecting letters and listening to their sound
• Expand your vocabulary with many new words in Russian
• Learn to read by syllables and spell by letter
• Explore lots of new animals
• Reinforce our reading skills with a fun quiz
• We don't teach kids the alphabet, we teach them to read!
• Preschool and pre-school education for children aged 4+ free of charge

The interface of the educational game for children is built in accordance with the principle of the Montessori learning system - "Help me do it myself!". It is so simple that a kid from 3 years old will figure it out in a minute and will learn the letters of the alphabet with joy and a smile, and his happy parents will be able to take a break!

Learning to read has never been such an informative and interesting activity!

This free version of the educational game contains 4 learning levels. The full version contains all 16 learning levels, arranged in ascending order of word difficulty. If at the first level words consist of 2-3 letters, then at the last level of 7-8 letters. nine0003

English from scratch. Learning to read

What is the first thing a child is taught when he comes to school? Of course, the alphabet, and then reading and writing. Any teaching of a foreign language begins with the same. Is it possible to speak English without mastering the literacy? Yes, if you completely immerse yourself in the language environment. But even under such ideal conditions as living in an English-speaking country, you will still feel like a child in the company of adults. Without a decent knowledge of English, it is not easy not only to live in an English-speaking country, but also to travel the world. Even the airport is much easier to navigate for those who know how to read English. nine0003

So, it is clear that in order to master the language, you will definitely need to learn how to read. Any foreign course is built in such a way that in the first lessons you learn the alphabet and pronunciation. At the initial stages, of course, you will need to make an effort to remember how certain letters and letter combinations are read. But having mastered English literacy in the first lessons, you can easily voice any text, even filled with unfamiliar words.

How to learn to read English correctly. Some Tips

There are many ways to learn to read English. Someone resorts to the help of transcription. Others write down the pronunciation of English words using Russian letters. There are people who like to read aloud a lot. And someone focuses on audio files. In fact, all methods are good in their own way. When learning to read, it is not enough to learn letters, diphthongs and remember all the rules. In this matter, constant practice is important. Here are some tips to help you develop your English reading skills: nine0003

• Learn to listen to English. Oddly enough, but the ability to hear what the British and Americans say directly affects our ability to read. At the initial stage, adapted books are very useful, provided with discs with audio recordings of the texts themselves. Having before your eyes the text that the announcer reads, you learn to read correctly on a subconscious level.
• Try to read every day. Make it a rule to read English books for at least 20-30 minutes every day. Choose books according to your level of language proficiency. At the initial stage, you can read fairy tales and short stories. And in order to develop spoken language skills, it is also useful to occasionally look at English-language periodicals and blogs. nine0055
• Get used to writing in English. As you know, reading and writing are directly related. One follows from the other. If a person reads English at a decent level, then he will most likely state his thoughts on paper very competently. Getting to know native speakers is one of the most affordable and effective ways to improve your reading and writing skills. Communication in modern society is often based on correspondence in chats and social networks. Therefore, having met a native speaker, you yourself will not notice how correspondence in English will become part of everyday life. Introverts can be advised to keep a diary, which will be filled with entries in English. nine0055
• Learn English tongue twisters and poems. For example: Whether the weather be fine, or whether the weather be not. Whether the weather be cold, or whether the weather be hot. We'll weather the weather whether we like it or not Tongue twisters help to work out the pronunciation of complex sounds. Poems enrich vocabulary.
nine0052 Practice pronunciation. Spend time practicing those sounds that are unusual for Russian speakers. For example, the combination th is not given to every student the first time. And, of course, the easiest way to learn the correct pronunciation is to listen to the dialogues and monologues of native speakers. Modern TV series with English subtitles help to deliver the correct speech.

Suppose you want to learn to read English from scratch. In this case, you will have to start from the very beginning, that is, from the alphabet, consisting of 26 letters. nine0003

English alphabet (alphabet)

There are 20 consonants and 6 vowels in English. Vowels include letters: A, E, I, O, U, Y.

In order to learn the alphabet faster, you can turn to children's songs. Bright cards with letters also help a lot.

There are a few letters in the English language that "behave" differently from the rest. So, almost all consonants in English make one sound. But X is an exception. This letter conveys two sounds at once [ks]. It is also worth paying attention to the last character in the English alphabet. The pronunciation of Z depends on whether we are dealing with the British or American version of the language. In the first case, the letter is read as [zed], in the second - as [zi:]. nine0003

The pronunciation of the letter R is also very different between the Americans and the British. In the UK, this is a long sound a [a:]. In the American alphabet - ar [a: r].

Reading English will be much easier if you learn the transcription, which is a system of signs used to record sounds. Since this or that letter may sound differently depending on what signs surround it, it can be difficult for a foreigner to read some words correctly without transcription. However, recently many students refuse to memorize the symbols of English phonetics. Indeed, thanks to the Internet, today you can easily listen to how the right word is read. nine0003

Learning how to read consonants in English is easy enough. The fact is that you can easily find analogues in Russian for many consonant sounds. For example, the English Mm is, in fact, the familiar M [um]. And in the word lemon, the pronunciation of the consonant L is similar to the Russian L. Also, analogues in our language can be found with the consonants N, B, F, Z.

The pronunciation of the letter C depends on what characters it is adjacent to. If C is followed by the vowels I, E, Y, then it will be read as [s]. For example, in the word cinema (cinema). Before other vowels, C reads like [k]: come (come), camel (camel), cake (cake). nine0003

The consonants T and D in English are very similar to Russian T and D, only they are most often pronounced with a breath. But the letter Q will always be accompanied by a vowel U. The letter combination Qu is pronounced as [kw]. For example, in the word queen (queen). The consonant G before the vowels I, E, Y will be read as [j] - [dʒ]. For example, orange (orange), badge (icon). Before all other letters, G is pronounced like [g]: game (game), gale (storm).

Another letter unusual for the Russian language is Jj, which is always pronounced as [dʒ]. This consonant is very common in the names of representatives of English-speaking countries: Jack (Jack), James (James), Jane (Jane). nine0003

Below we provide a list of all English consonants with transcription:

Bb - [b]

Cc - [s] or [k]

Dd - [d]

Ff - [f]

Gg - [dʒ] or [g]

Hh - [h]

Jj-[dʒ]

Kk - [k]

Ll - [l]

mm - [m]

Nn-[n]

Pp-[p] nine0003

Qq - [kw]

Rr - [r]

Ss - [s] or [z]

Tt - [t]

Vv - [v]

Ww - [w]

Xx - [ks] or [gz]

Zz - [z]

Reading in English for beginners is usually complicated not by consonants, which are often read in the same way as they sound in the alphabet, but by vowels. There are only 6 vowels in English, but the problem is that each of them, depending on the position in the word, can have several reading options. Much is determined by whether the letter is in stressed or unstressed position. For stressed vowels, there are 4 types of syllable in English: nine0003

1. An open syllable is a syllable ending in a vowel or a consonant (except R) followed by a silent E. A stressed vowel in an open syllable is pronounced as it is pronounced in the alphabet. For example, plane (plane), placement (room), he (he).
2. A closed syllable is a syllable that ends in one consonant (excluding r) or several consonants. The stressed vowel in such a syllable is transmitted in a short and clear sound. The vowel A is pronounced as the middle between e and a [æ]. For example, cat (cat). The letter O in stressed position in a closed syllable sounds like [ɒ] in the word dog (dog), E - like [e] (for example, ten - ten). Vowels Y and I in a closed syllable are pronounced as [i] (little - small, myth - myth). Finally, the stressed letter U will resemble a somewhat slurred short sound and [ʌ] (cut - cut). nine0055
3. If a stressed vowel is followed by the consonant R alone or in combination with other consonants, then the vowels will be read as follows:

• a [ɑː] - long Russian sound a - park (park)
• o [ɔː] - lingering long Russian sound o - sport (sport)
• e [ɜː] - resembles the Russian sound ё in the word "honey" - fern (fern)
• y [ɜː] - byrd (bird)
• i [ɜː] - first (first)
• u [ɜː] - burn (burn)

4. If a stressed vowel is followed by a consonant R in combination with any vowel, then the syllables are divided into diphthongs or triphthongs (complex sounds consisting of two or three letters pronounced as one). In this combination, the vowel A sounds like [ɛə]. For example, in the word fare (fare, fare). The vowel O in the fourth type of syllable will be pronounced as a long Russian sound O [ɔː]. An example here is the word more (more). The vowel E under stress is pronounced as something of a fusion between Russian I and A [ɪə], for example mere (only). Y and I with the fourth type of syllable are read as [aɪə]. For example, in the words fire (fire) and tire (tire). The letter U turns into the sound [jʊə] (during - during). nine0055

At the initial stages of learning a foreign language, students will also need to find the answer to the question of how to read diphthongs in English. This term refers to combinations of two letters that give one sound.

Table of English diphthongs. Consonants