Reading Kingdom and How We Liked It: An Online Reading Program Review

When I was offered the opportunity to review Reading Kingdom, and online reading program, I was thrilled. I had been planning to buy a subscription for my kids to some kind of online learning software for the summer, and so this seemed pretty serendipitous!

My eleven year old daughter, and eight year old son were both born in Ethiopia and have only been in our family for about a year and a half. Though they have made amazing progress academically in that year and a half, they are both still significantly behind their peers in school (our eleven year old especially). So we're always looking for ways to give them extra academic practice, in a fun way!

Here's a little bit about Reading Kingdom (from their website):

"The Reading Kingdom is a fun, easy-to-use online program that teaches children 4-10 years old how to read and write to a third grade level.

Most kids can use the program on their own after just a few lessons. It's fun so children think they're playing a game and want to practice. It was created by Dr. Marion Blank, Director of the Light on Learning Program at Columbia University and one of the world's top experts in reading. It works with any other curriculum a child may be using. It's the only program to offer customized online reading instruction for each child. And, it's the only system that teaches all 6 skills needed for reading & writing success!

"Our commitment to online reading for kids is based on our patented six skills method for reading success. These skills include sequencing, motor skills, phonics (phonemic awareness), meaning, grammar and reading comprehension. Our online reading for kids program is ideal for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, second grade, third grade, special education, homeschool, and English as a second language. The Reading Kingdom online reading for kids program is an ideal supplement to existing curricula, as well an excellent independent curriculum. Our online reading for kids program is also a great educational alternative to other entertainment options. In fact, most children refer to the Reading Kingdom as a reading game, since it is so fun to play. We're proud that our reading programs for kids are thought of as reading games (especially by kids!)."  The program is supposed set up to be individually tailored to your child's skill level. It tracks your child's progress and parents can keep track of how their child is doing and where they're at. I really liked the progress on the program. And I like how easy it is to get into, log on, and get going. You can stop in the middle of a lesson, and come back and pick up exactly where you left off easy-peasy. Both my kids were placed at the very beginning of the Reading Kingdom program, and it seemed to be pretty far below where even they are academically. The first unit was typing/keyboard practice, and both my kids found it very boring and redundant. I admit, I finished this section for them (which you're not supposed to do as the parent) so they could move onto a more challenging unit and stay interested, but unfortunately even then the program wasn't keeping their attention or interest. I did get them past all the typing practice (which took a long time), but my son was about as bored with the second unit as the first.  I sat down and did some it myself so I could get a feel for the program and I found myself frustrated with most of the same aspects of the program. I understand that repetition is helpful in learning, but my kids were getting agitated by the bland way in which the material was constantly repeated over and over (having them spell the word "some" five times in a row). My kids actually kept thinking that the program wasn't working because it would give them the same instruction over and over and over again with little to no variation.  I was hoping a computer program for my kids to practice their reading skills on would be highly motivating for them (they love when I give them any kind of screen time), but neither one has been interested much after their first and second times working with the program. At Literacy Launchpad we're all about reading motivation, and I was disappointed that my kids (and myself) didn't find much motivating about Reading Kingdom.  I still would recommend that you give Reading Kingdom a try if you think your child might benefit from an online reading program. I have heard other families say they had good experiences with the program, and Reading Kingdom offers a 30 day FREE trial, so there's no risk in giving it a try. My kids are a bit on the older side (for this program), and can sometimes be hard to impress when it comes to games and gadgets, so I would say check it out for yourself!  Note: Reading Kingdom did want to remind Literacy Launchpad readers that the program is directed toward children aged Pre-K to third grade.

There's A Book for That!

During June we're talking about all the fun things we do during the summer and how we can read about all those fun things in a book. Going to the zoo? There's a book for that! Going swimming? There's a book for that! Going on a vacation? There's a book for that! It's great for these little guys to make these kind of meaningful connections between literature and real life.

This week we read a book about camping and then went camping right in our classroom!

We read this adorable book about some camping duckies that was enjoyed by my big(ger) and little students. We used our book as a guide for what we can and should do when we're camping: pitch a tent, go fishing, make a fire, bring a lantern.... (The kids also threw in some of their own ideas that they knew from experience... or came up with off the top of their heads.)

I was really excited about this lantern craft I came up with for the kids to make. They were so easy and fun, and the kids just thought they were the coolest! They're just Solo drinking cups, pipe cleaners, those faux candles form the Dollar Tree, and some stickers on the outside that the kids used to decorate and personalize them! (I recommend gluing the battery compartment on the candles closed with some strong hot glue or some super glue, for safety reasons.)

Next week we'll be going on a beachy reading trip and then brainstorming some more summer reading ideas for them to go check out at the library. 

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Picture Book Round-up: Reading Here and There

 Picture Book Roundups are simply an overview of what my kids and I have been reading together. These are not books that were sent to me for review. They are books my children and I discovered at the library, a bookstore, a yard sale, or on our bookshelf at home. Some might be old, some might be new. Some we might love, some we might hate. We read whatever strikes our fancy. The only kickback I get from reviewing these books here is my Amazon Associates fees if you purchase through the links on my blog.


Summer is a time when I get lazy and spare time seems somewhat elusive. Why is that? aren't I supposed to have all this extra time in the summer? The kids stay up later, we spend lots of time wearing ourselves out at the pool... I struggle to keep up with library reading logs and such. I always have high hopes, we start off well... and then summer happens.

So our reading has been pretty random. Just whatever strikes our fancy. Here are a few things we picked up at the library:

I have seen so many cute activity ideas for making styrofoam boats, or milk jug boats, and then putting them on a "river" made with tin foil and water. I want to try that this summer with my kids. This story would be fun to use with that. Wish it would work with my Literacy Launchpad kids, but sounds like it would likely be logistically impossible to pull off that activity with them. 

We love All You Need for a Snowman, so this one was a hit in our house too. Read it and then create your own beach on paper, in a sandbox... wherever! Use the book to create a list of all the things you'll need!

Adorable story about a girl who goes to great lengths to keep her duck friends from heading south for the winter and leaving her lonely. The ducks are just the cutest things, especially at the end when you see how Lenore helps them stay warm. Would love to create some adorable ducks for a bulletin board with my students. We might use this one in our curriculum next winter!

I checked this one out from the library so my littlest one would have a book he could "read" to me for his summer reading hours. Wordless picture books are perfect for that. I love hearing him create the words based on the illustrations! This is a fun one that tells a definitive tale, but leaves plenty of room to throw in your own creative interpretations too!

A charming book about a little girl having trouble finding the right outfit to wear. Everything is either too itchy, too feathery, too zippery, too purpley... Such fun text! And you could have all kinds of fun letting your kids be little designers themselves with collage materials and such. This books lends itself well to all kinds of fun ideas for extension activities!

Cute illustrations. My boys liked it because it had a monster in it. I wasn't over the moon for this one; I didn't really GET it. It was kind of weird for me. 

This is my new pirate story that I'll be using in Literacy Launchpad when we do our adventure unit. Love the illustrations. Loved the story itself. It was charming and fun, and I know I would enjoy reading this one aloud with my students like I did with my kids at home. 

When Reading is Not Fun

When you were born in Ethiopia and are still working to get a firm grasp on English...

When everybody else you go to school with has been reading since they were young...

When the literature at your reading level is far below your maturity level, far below what interests you...

When sounding out words often leads to frustration and makes you feel dumb...

When picking up a book only reminds you of how far behind you are, and how much further ahead you wish you were...

When reading feels like an alienating experience instead of a unifying one...


These are the struggles my eight year old and eleven year old face everyday. We work hard in our family to make reading fun, even when it's hard, and to show our kids the potential for it to be fun.

But today I am reminded that sometimes reading is not fun.

Starting Summer Reading!

Summer is here. And I have two children that just learned how to read this past school year (my 8 yr old and 11 yr old Ethiopian children). So I knew it was especially important for them to keep up their reading over the summer, not lose their momentum, and hopefully improve their skills a little more before school begins again. 

My kids respond to incentives (don't we all?), and so I instituted a marble jar system in our house. I have a list of activities posted in our kitchen that my kids can earn marbles for doing. They include: reading a book, practicing math, doing their chores without being asked, getting some exercise, choosing to watch something educational on Netflix instead of their normal TV shows they like (we have designated TV times, and they would have to use their TV time to watch something educational instead of watching their normal TV shows + something educational in addition to it), choosing a book from the library to read and then telling us why they liked it or didn't like it (they can earn two marbles for this one). 

I have told them that they can earn as many marbles as they want every day for reading books, but I have put caps on the rest of the activities so that they hopefully will do a little of each most days. 

They are earning marbles like crazy right now... but we are less than a week into summer. Ha! We'll see if the enthusiasm lasts. I woke up Friday morning and found them all reading in the living room (I didn't include a photo of Mary because she was in her jammies and didn't want anybody to see that). 

My little one can't read yet, so that makes the marble jars a little challenging. But when my little guy saw his big brother and sister reading Friday morning, he grabbed a couple wordless picture books and "read" them aloud to us all. We counted that as reading, and let him put a couple marbles in his jar for that.

My kids will get to cash in their marbles at Mommy's Store half way through the summer, and then again at the end. I'll break it up more if they are really struggling to use their marbles, or if they start losing momentum because they have forgotten what they're earning them for. 

So far it's working for us. I'll keep you posted!

We're also participating in our library's summer reading program. And we're going to do the Barnes and Noble summer reading program too! 

Would love to hear from you too! Are your kids anxious to read this summer? Or are you having to kick-start them like me? 

Picture Book Roundup: A Little of This and That

Picture Book Roundups are simply an overview of what my kids and I have been reading together. These are not books that were sent to me for review. They are books my children and I discovered at the library, a bookstore, a yard sale, or on our bookshelf at home. Some might be old, some might be new. Some we might love, some we might hate. We read whatever strikes our fancy. The only kickback I get from reviewing these books here is my Amazon Associates fees if you purchase through the links on my blog.

This is a cute story about a little girl that loves to read, and who makes a new friend and introduces her to the joys of reading as well. Her friend also introduces Lily to the joys of the outdoors and play! The two friends then combine their two interests for double fun! This would be a great intro to a conversation about interests and hobbies, and about being open to new things. 

Beautiful book. My boys liked the way it had a kind of graphic novel feel to it. Plus, it was a story about the lights going out, so that made it even cooler to them! As a mom, this is one of those stories that gives you the warm fuzzies without being so sentimental (or nostalgic) that your kids can't enjoy it too. It's a simple story about a family that is reminded, through the experience of going through a blackout together, of how fun it can be to forget about all your busyness and just hang out as a family. It would be fun to read this as a family and then stage your own blackout at home for an evening!

A book about a little girl that day dreams about having her own library? What's not to love? I loved the illustrations. The parade of animals that comes through her library are such fun. It would be fun to discuss with your kids or students, what kinds of books each animal might like reading ("What kind of book would you give a giraffe to read?"). It would also be a great tool for discussing what the role of a librarian is, and how they can help you when you go to a real library. How fun would it be to let your kids or students design their own imaginary library? Oh my goodness, I could see this being a real hoot of an activity with my students. They would love it!

I was not a fan of this book. In fact, I gave up on it and didn't even finish reading it when I was doing story time with my preschool son. I must admit, I'm pretty snobby about alphabet books. I generally don't like them. Reading them often feels more like work and less like fun to me. So I rarely find one I actually like. Bad Kitty was a prime example of my beef with alphabet books. I didn't even realize it was an alphabet book till I began reading it with my son, otherwise I probably would have left it on the shelf. I found it tiring, and my son did too. Alphabet books always feel so contrived... I guess that's because they are. It's hard to do one well, though many seem to try. My stance is, if you can't do an alphabet book well, then don't do one. 

Love the illustrations. Charming, and just very visually interesting. My kids have been pretty fascinated with seeds and plants and gardens lately, so they could really relate to this story, and the feelings of the protagonist. I loved the gentle silliness of the birds and the bears. And we spent a long time on the page with the illustration of all the burrows. I could see a fun art project there! My boys thought that was way cool! I had heard a lot of chatter and buzz about this book, and now I see why. A real gem! 

My boys love Caps for Sale so I picked this one up while I was at the library this week. My preschooler dug it out of the book pile in his room today, flipped through it a bit on his own, and then asked me to read it to him. I bribed him into folding and putting his clothes away by telling him I would read it to him only while he was doing his chore. Worked like a charm. He folded his little t-shirts and shorts while intently listening to this new story of his beloved peddler on another adventure with his caps. Both my listened to this one and enjoyed it, seemingly as much as the first, thought it didn't induce quite as much laughter as the first one. They liked predicting what was going to happen though, and they were both pretty fascinated with all the various circus performers in the story. I'm not always huge on picture book sequels, but we liked this one!

I don't remember what got him talking about it, but my preschooler son started telling me about the story of the "fish with the shiny spot" that he heard at school. I knew he must have been talking about The Rainbow Fish  and when I mentioned the title he asked if there were more Rainbow Fish books at the library. I told him that I was pretty sure there were, and so he requested a quick trip to the library. We had to stop at the grocery store first and he fretted the whole time we were in there, worrying that someone else was going to get to the Rainbow Fish books at the library before us. Luckily, we found a couple on the shelf when we finally got there. He was very happy to read this one! I love seeing him developing his own reading preferences, and I'm glad he knows he can always look for more of what he likes at the library!

This is such a perfectly simple book. I love that my older son can practice his reading with it, and feel like he's reading a real book (and not some convoluted phonics-reader "story.") But it's also great for my preschooler who can "read" it with me by filling in the easy to predict ending to each sentence (using the illustrations as prompts). I love that when I was reading this to my preschooler, I read the page that said, "When I drive, I drive carefully." And then he said, "Why?" Ha! Ha! I guess this one is a great conversation starter with little ones too. Perfect for in a learning center at a preschool or child care center. Or great to just go along with some play time with toy cars at home.

This is one of those books that fully utilizes the picture book format to tell a clever, entertaining tale. Cornelius P. Mud is asked by his mom if he has put away his toys, brushed his teeth, fed the goldfish... as well as a handful of other tasks he's required to do before bed. Cornelius' answer is always, "Yes." But the reader sees in the illustration that Cornelius is not completing these tasks in the way his mom is probably expecting and hoping for. What's especially fun about this book is that the kids that are listening get to cleverly point out what Cornelius is doing wrong. And then everybody gets to have a good giggle over it. You can really ham it up and play dumb, as the teacher/parent/reader; "What?! What's wrong with the way he's getting his pajamas on?"

We're going to Disney this summer, and in an attempt to get my kids well acquainted with Mickey and the gang, I may have created monsters. My boys are all about Mickey and nothing else now (especially my three year old). But they enjoy a good Mickey story just as much, if not more, than a Mickey movie or show. And this particular book is a long one, and my boys both sat captivated through the entire thing. I really like these books that use the Disney characters to tell classic fairy and folk tales. They keep my kids' interest while giving them a bit of culture. Hee!