Reading Rockets

Reading Rockets www.readingrockets.org 

Annotation:
Reading Rockets is a web resource for early literacy information for parents, teachers, librarians and other childcare professionals.

Personal Reaction:
Reading Rockets is one of the most comprehensive, accessible and valuable websites for early literacy information. Reading Rockets is a ten-year-old national initiative of WETA, Washington D.C.’s public television and radio station and is intended to support parents, teachers, school principals, librarians and other professionals with research-based resources on literacy and language development in young children.
The amount of information on this site is considerable; it would be easy to spend hours poring over the various articles, videos, tips and fact sheets. The site organization, separating resources into various caregiver categories, is logical and well planned. Topics include advocacy, afterschool programs, developmental milestones, English language learners, learning disorders, public policy, technology in the classroom and many others.

The information on Reading Rockets is trustworthy and credible, and has been prepared by educators and other professionals. Where information is intended for specific professions, Reading Rockets has prepared those resources in partnership with specific professional organizations to ensure it is relevant. The resources for librarians were developed in partnership with ALA; those for school psychologists were created with the National Association of School Psychologists, and so on.

Overall, Reading Rockets is a wonderful resource that is absolutely chockfull of information for parents, teachers, librarians and all other caregivers of young children. The various types of resources contained in Reading Rockets- from booklists and articles, to interviews, handouts for parents, tip sheets and videos- make this a rich, early literacy resource for anyone who works with children.

Audience: parents, educators, librarians, health professionals

Strengths: comprehensive, accessible early literacy information for all

Weaknesses: The huge volume of information contained on the site could be overwhelming to some.