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Increase Kids’ Learning with Literacy Apps

Dry textbooks may fill your kids’ school days, but reading at home should be more captivating. If you’re looking for an approach to after-school reading that’s sure to hook your children, turn to literacy apps. With a digital platform like LightSail, reading becomes an engaging, high-tech experience.

1. On-the-Go Reading

Let’s face it: Life is busy. Your kids may be constantly heading here or there, and carrying around a pile of books could be a daunting proposition. With a library of digital texts, your child will always have a book close at hand. On the drive to swim lessons or while waiting to pick a sibling up from soccer, a kid-friendly book will be just a few clicks away.

2. Multimedia Experiences

Getting hung up on an unfamiliar word can zap the fun out of reading. Fortunately, digital apps have built-in dictionaries so that kids can look up unfamiliar words right away. With a reading app, children might also have access to quick vocab quizzes, related encyclopedia articles, and a wealth of educational videos. When one program contains a myriad of resources, kids will find that there’s always something new to learn.

3. Family Engagement

Busy family life can make it hard to find time to chat with your kids about their favorite books. Using an online reading program, you can have those conversations even when you’re not in the same place. A digital family book chat could be a great way to connect over a story. Each member of your family can read the same book and then chime in with favorite moments, memorable quotations, or questions about the plot. Plus, if there’s a night when everyone’s home together, you can all gather around the app for a shared family storytime whether you read it aloud or you all listen to an audiobook.

4. Friendship Development

With online literacy apps, your children can build bonds with other kids, too. Digital book clubs get kids exploring new books and talking about them. Reading and writing tournaments may encourage kids to embrace challenges and put forth their best efforts. Of course, in any platform with social features, parental controls are always key. You should have full say in whom your child chats with — whether kids from school, new friends from around the country, or no one at all right now.

5. Customized Data

As a parent, you want to know about the progress your kids are making. Report cards and school conferences are handy, but they happen only a few times a year. Teachers are busy and can’t provide a new update every night. Fortunately, an online literacy platform can provide current data in real time so that you can watch as your kids’ reading skills develop before your eyes. 

6. Personalized Library

Data doesn’t just make a difference for you. It also helps the literacy program learn more about your reader. Through smart data collection, a state-of-the-art app can assess your child’s needs and strengths to provide reading materials that are at just the right level. As your student masters additional skills, the program will suggest new titles to match. Having a personalized library of target-level texts is one of the best ways to boost a young learner’s reading comprehension and fluency.

It’s a digital world out there, and your children’s reading materials should reflect that. If you’re looking for an app that includes everything mentioned above, check out LightSail for Reading at Home, the best literacy app for your growing readers.

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Posted on 3.Mar.22 in Reading at Home Tips

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How do I know what books are right for my child?

LightSail takes the guesswork out of choosing books for your child by tailoring each child’s library to their precise reading level.

By honing in on a child’s precise Lexile reading score, LightSail can match them with books that are at that “just-right” level to promote optimal reading progress.

And because LightSail contains such a wide-ranging array of content, there is always a vast selection of books for any topic or interest.

What ages/grades is LightSail for?

LightSail’s Premium and Standard subscriptions are designed for children in grades 3 through 12 (ages 8-18).

We also have a World Book Kids subscription for grades 1 through 2 (ages 5-7) and a World Book Early Learners subscription for PreK through K (ages 2-5).

Is LightSail different from an Amazon Kindle or other e-readers?

Unlike static e-readers, LightSail doesn’t just offer children books.

Every book and article in LightSail contains 6 layers of added features that let your child experience books.

By adapting to a child’s precise reading ability, offering them content that is at that “just-right” reading level to promote literacy growth, and providing a fully customizable, rewarding reading experience, LightSail unlocks the magic of reading in ways no physical book or static e-reader can.

What types of parental control do I have over my child’s activity and content?

In short, complete control.

LightSail contains an entire suite of parental control features that govern every aspect of the platform from video viewing, to chats, to what content can be seen and accessed.

Additionally, LightSail’s revolutionary ChildSafe Content Controls lets parents screen and block content according to dozens of nuanced subcategories based on maturity factors, family values, and religious topics.

How can I make reading fun for my child?

LightSail incorporates gamification features into every aspect of the platform, especially reading!

By integrating badges, goals and milestones, social sharing options, motivational messages, and the ability for parents to add customizable gift rewards, LightSail incentivizes reading, writing, and learning just like kids’ favorite games.

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