In a previous blog post I spoke about the difficulties of comprehension tasks for some children.

In my search for accessible and engaging comprehension activities I came across a website called Raz-Kids.com.

Part of ‘Learning A-Z’, Raz-Kids is an online learning platform packed full of interesting fiction and non-fiction e-books. The books are sorted by reading level and can be listened to or read yourself. A short comprehension quiz can then be completed at the end of this book.

But what makes this a good resource for encouraging reading and comprehension? 

• E-books can be more popular for children than physical books.
• There are a number of different platforms that can be used to access this resource- computer, tablet, phone. Making it seem more like a game than work. It also makes it more portable- you can complete the activities wherever, whenever.
• You earn stars for each book you read or comprehension quiz you complete. And you can award extra stars to students as their teacher.
• The stars can then be used to build a ‘rocket’. A great incentive, I found, to encourage children complete tasks.
• Each book has printable worksheets that accompany it to extend the child’s learning.

As a tutor I found it easy to set up for my students and easy to check their progress and set assignments.
I often get pupils to peer assess someone’s work, giving it a ‘star’ (a pro) and a ‘wish’ (an improvement).

So what would my star and a wish be for this resource?

Star: Raz-kids gets even the least enthusiastic of readers to have a go.

Wish: For a UK version, with book levels that match our UK reading levels.

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