Learning to Read: Reading Kingdom Review

Basics:

Since my twins will be in kindergarten in August, I am always looking for ways to help prepare them for school. I was very excited to review the online reading lessons from Reading Kingdom.

Getting Started:

If you have younger children, (the program starts at 4), I would suggest skipping the assessment and starting with Level 1. The reason that I would skip the assessment is that the program has children locate letters on the keyboard, and if they don't know how to do that it could get frustrating for them.

How We Used It:

The program recommends one session per day, four times a week. Since both of my twins were on the program, I did one session for each child a day.

My twins really enjoyed the program, and would request to go on "Kingdom" to learn to read. They also liked the animated characters that would sing and make noise when they got an answer right.

Lesson Walkthrough:

Each lesson focuses on one word. In the lesson, children have to do multiple activities to show that they understand what is asked of them.

First, the focus word is introduced. Children have to know where the letters are on the keyboard and push the keys before the letter disappears.

Next, the word is shown with missing letters and children must guess which sign holds the correct word. After the sign is shown, children have to type the missing letters. I like how it helps children learn how to spell, and helps to improve their recall skills.

Another part of the lesson is the short phrases. The focus word is shown with another word, for example “a boy”, and children have to click on each word.

My twins favorite part of the lesson is when they are finding the matching word cards. The focus word is shown and spoken, then children have to find the matching word. They like the dancing character that pops up when they get it right.

When you first start the program there is an option for an assessment to see where your child is and what they need assistance with.

Helpful Tips:

If you are using the program with a younger child like I did, make sure that you help them find the keys on the keyboard. My 4-year old twins "missed" questions because they didn't know where the letters were.

The program does show where the letters are located on the screen, however since they were so little they couldn't transfer the information.

Overall thoughts:

I think that Reading Kingdom is a great program for older children who have more familiarity with the keyboard. I liked the way that it worked on the same word throughout the lesson, and that the words were reviewed in a later lesson.

I also liked that the program explicitly teaches phonics, and doesn't solely focus on sight words like many other programs.

There is also a program for children on the autism spectrum called ASD Reading, be sure to click on the other reviews to read about it.