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Don’t just sit there, get Literactive!
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Good morning everyone,Today’s featured site comes to us by way of the prolific and terrific Larry Ferlazzo and another of his amazing “Best Of” lists. This time, it’s The Best Websites to Help Beginning Readers. You can peruse the entire article to see the other sites he’s profiled. They’re good, but in my view, Literactive.com is among the best (though nothing on the planet compares with the everyone’s favorite, Starfall.com).
Literactive.com is both a destination for kids and a resource site for teachers, combining engaging online activities with a huge archive of downloadable activities and worksheets (blackline masters). Registration is free and so is everything else on the site. Take a look:
The resources are absolutely first class! The Download Activities area has TEN sections each with multiple succinctly-described activities. Written in Shockwave (you’ll want the latest version), these activities are commercial-grade and can be run immediately after downloading – there’s nothing to install. Here’s a screenshot of one in action:
The graphics are extremely rich and colorful and the illustrations are sure to engage students. The audio voiceovers are clear and pleasant. The included games reinforce the skills in the lesson. These activities are ust wonderful and could easily be used as a self-directed center; all the learners will need to know is how to click an icon. In my experience, most kids come into Kindergarten with that skill, thanks to the immersion of technology in most homes today. (If they don’t have the fine motor skill yet, it’s easy to teach.)
If you are an early elementary teacher you need to check out this site and its resources – I guarantee you there are activities and resources here that will help both you and your students learn to read!
Thanks for the tip, Larry! Keep ‘em comin!
-kj-
p.s. One note of caution … the ‘Help’ and ‘About’ pages appear to have been altered by a hacker … I’ve alerted the site owners and hopefully this will be fixed soon. There’s nothing inappropriate on the defaced pages, but just know that if you access one of those pages, you won’t see the intended content. I’m sure they’ll get right on it!
Published on January 30, 2008 · Filed under: Elementary, Language Arts;
28 Responses to “Don’t just sit there, get Literactive!”
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Kevin,
Thanks for doing such a better job reviewing Literactive than I did!
Larry
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Sondra said on March 21st, 2008 at 7:56 pm
I tried to register for Literactive and it said that it wouldn’t except “null” for the username. I have no idea where that came from.
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Thanks Larry!
Hi Sondra,
“Null” is a reserved word in database-land. Very common. You’ll need a different username!
-kj-
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Joan said on March 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I am also unable to register on Literactive. I’ve tried various usernames without success. I think something is wrong with their registration site.
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Joan, you’re right!
Sondra, I misunderstood your comment, but I know what you mean now!
I just tried to create an account and got this:
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Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error ’80040e14′
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Cannot insert the value NULL into column ‘UserID’, table ‘V009U39HEN.dbo.Lit_User’; column does not allow nulls. INSERT fails.
/Profile/register.asp, line 181
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That’s a bonafied, our-database-is-toast error message. No one will be able to create accounts until the problem is fixed.
FWIW, I *WAS* able to log in using the account I’d created back in January. So, the site is working, it’s just new people can’t register.
I’ll email them! Thanks for commenting!
-kj-
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Melissa said on April 16th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
I have been trying for two weeks and cannot register to use this website. Does any one know how to contact them?
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Melissa said on April 24th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Please someone, contact them so that they can fix this website. I would really like to register.
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Janet said on May 13th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
I need help registering too and I can’t find an email address to contact them. Any advice or update on this problem?
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Sorry, guys, I have no ‘ins’ with these folks, if they’re not responding to you, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. :(
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Hi all-
I use this website almost everyday with the children in my home childcare. Has not been working since Monday. My Norton spyware says something about it trying to hack my computer. I am by no means a computer whiz, but am really trying to figure out how to get the website to work again on my computer. Can only pull up the road to reading games- none of the stories. Also, can not find anyone to contact regarding this problem. Any ideas? Appreciate any input you may have! Thanks! -
THIS SITE APPEARS TO BE OFFICIALLY BORKED. I’d stay away until something is posted indicating it’s back in action!
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Hi all-
E-mailed someone at Literactive named Jack this morning and he just e-mailed me back saying he has his development team working on the site and that it will hopefully be working by the end of the week. Just thought I would let you know! Hope it works soon! -
Nancy said on May 19th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Hi – any word about the site being up and running? Also, how do you download and save the clips? I always received a message that internet could not support the interface.
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Nancy said on May 19th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
correction – EXPLORER could not support the interface
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Hi Nancy, I say again, THIS SITE APPEARS TO BE OFFICIALLY BORKED. I’d stay away until something is posted indicating it’s back in action!
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Jack said on June 24th, 2008 at 7:35 am
Dear All:
I am writing as the Administrator of the Literactive site.
Security levels on the site have beenupgraded and it is now functioning perfectly.
Just thought you might like to now.
Regards
Jack M -
Jack, can you verify the site is fully functional? I can sign in but am having problems downloading and playing the activities… :/
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Jack said on July 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 am
Yes…I just downloaded a large sample…all fine.
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Is it working for anyone else? I just tried … no go. Can’t play the online activities or download. :(
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Benny Varghese said on August 11th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Hello everybody,
I can access all sections of the site; but can’t download. I mean I don’t see download links. When I click on any link, it just plays. Not sure how to download the stories etc so that I can play offline. Can somebody please help?
Thanks,
Benny -
Jack said on September 14th, 2008 at 9:00 am
SIte is fully working now. The files are not designed to be downlaoed – but played live on the site. I hope they help you in your teaching objectives.
best
Jack
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Superb! Thanks Jack!
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mike w said on September 6th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Has this site been trashed? One day I could access; the next my anti virus / malware software goes crazy and the site appears seriously damaged.
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Mike, it sure looks like it. I get a browser warning that it’s an attack site. :( Thanks for letting us know.
Jack, if you’re reading this, what’s up?
-kj-
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I am unable to use the road to reading part of the website. I am logged in. I have tried firefox and safari on our macintosh 10.4 without success. I have a black screen. Help would sure be appreciated. BTW it worked great last spring when we accessed it on these same computers. Hmmm.
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I have been trying to access the Road to Reading on the Literactive website since the beginning of this school year, with no success. I emailed them multiple times, with no replies. I believe that this company went under, and whatever is left seems to be working but not all the time. I really loved the Road to Reading, and am very sad that such a wonderful site went under. I do not know what we can do. Besides email, they do not provide any other contact info.
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Well, I think “Jack” who is on this thread is from Literactive … Jack? What’s the scoop? -kj-
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Jenna said on December 15th, 2009 at 6:58 pm
The Road to Reading is back up!!!
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