Features Set:  

Starfall is a free reading program consisting of more than 30 lessons. There is no software to download; you can access Starfall through the Starfall.com website.

Starfall’s reading lessons are divided into four sections: ABC’s, Learn to Read, It’s Fun to Read and I’m Reading.

The ABC’s introduce students to letter sounds. Learn to Read teaches students how letters are combined to create words. It’s Fun to Read uses learning activities to introduce simple sentences. Finally, I’m Reading uses simple plays and folk stories to increase student’s reading fluency.

Ease of Use:  

Starfall is web–based, so no software needs to be installed. To use Starfall, you should have high–speed Internet with Internet Explorer 4 or Netscape 4 and Flash 4 player.

Ease of Installation/Setup:  

The interactivity is limited to clicking on a correct response, but the animation is good and a child’s clear and distinct voice is used to teach students how to sound out letters and words. If a student has trouble sounding out a letter or word, they simply have to click on it and it will be sounded out for them.

Help/Support:  

Because the program is free, they may not get back to you if you send questions by email, so you should contact them by telephone. However, they have a series of helpful online FAQs pages to answer questions you may have.

Starfall is a good Learn to Read web–based program—and it’s free. More than 30 lessons cover the basics of learning letters and letter sounds, spelling simple words and reading simple sentences.

For a more comprehensive and in—depth program see ClickN’ Read.