Starfall ABCs

App: Starfall ABCs

Company: Starfall Education

Cost: Free

Device: Apple or Android tablets or phones, Website

SAMR Model: Modification

App Map Score: Here

Participatory Literacies Score: Here

Description

Starfall ABCs is an app and website that allows for repeated exposure and interaction with the alphabet. Students are given opportunities to see the upper and lowercase letters and hear the letter sounds. Students are also exposed to onset and rimes through word examples that start with or contain the letter. Each letter has an activity (ie: game) or song to help reinforce learning.

Differentiation

This app is great for learners who are not yet fluent with letter names or sounds. This would be beneficial to students who are EL as well. There is repetition of the letter sound or name and is beneficial for students to build not only their letter fluency but also their speaking and listening skills.

Students with different learning styles would benefit greatly from this resource. There are many different components that speak to different learning styles: audio, visual, bodily kinesthetic.

There are additional components of the website and app for students who are fluent in letter names and sounds. There are different reading sites that vary in degree of difficulty within Starfall.com and Starfall's available apps. These apps can be downloaded separately on a tablet or smartphone.

Comprehension

In order for a student to comprehend their reading, students should be able to fluently recognize letter sounds or words. This app helps reinforce phonics and phonemic awareness through repeated exposure, learning activities, and songs. Recognizing these letters or sounds fluently allow for students to quickly decode unknown words. This helps them focus on the story and comprehend their reading instead of getting stuck on unknown sounds or words.

Possible Downfalls

The website for Starfall ABCs could be pretty easy to stray from and end up on Starfall.com. While these activities are all educational and appropriate content-wise for students, they may end up on pages that focus on different skills that are not related to their specific learning needs.

I do wish this resource allowed for more student work. Students interactions are pretty limited. They click and drag and that is pretty much it. It would be nice if students could trace a letter, color in an object, or apply their knowledge in some way. Some of the letters do include some games where they sort letters or apply their knowledge in a similar way. It would nice if all letters included a user-controlled game like that. In order for students to apply their knowledge using higher order thinking skills, teachers could assign related activities through different apps or digital resources.

Starfall Education, LLC. (2017). Starfall ABCs photographs. Licensed under https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/starfall-abcs/id395623983?mt=8

Starfall Education, LLC. (2017b). Starfall ABCs (3.27) [Web application software]. Retrieved from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/starfall-abcs/id395623983?mt=8