Early Learning Basics

About

• Designed for young, pre-emergent readers.
• This site is great for use on a touch screen - kids can scroll the sections using a finger!
• Divided into four sections: Fun with Words, Count and Play, Once Upon a Time, and Welcome to Reading.

Fun with Words

Fun with Words focuses on basic literacy skills such as letter recognition, sight words, and tracing through games and songs.

Games

• "Baby Animal ABCs" teaches lower case letters through interactive tracing.
• "Animal ABCs" teaches upper case letters through interactive tracing.
• "Insects" and "Sea Creatures" help teach sight words through tracing and provide the word in context based on the game's theme.

Sample tracing game:

1. Select a game by clicking on it.
   
2. Click the play button to begin.
   
3. Select an insect to open a word. The boxes with green check marks indicate that the user has already successfully completed this word. You can repeat them at any time.
   
4. Trace the word; follow the hand for guidance.
   
5. After successfully tracing the entire word, it will be displayed in an example sentence with the word underlined for reference.
   

Songs

"The Alphabet Song" automatically plays when opened. Click the speaker icon to start again.

Count and Play

Count and Play includes games and stories that teach early math concepts such as counting and classification.

Games

"Tracing Numbers" teaches the numbers 0-9 through interactive tracing.

"Butterfly Catch" walks through different math concepts in a series of different games!

1. First, kids are asked to "catch" the "color" and count as they go. Use the net to catch.
   
2. Congratulations will appear between each skill, click the arrow to continue on to the next skill.
   
3. Practice comparison by selecting the jar with the "least" or "greatest" amount of butterflies.
   
4. Practice counting down by releasing butterflies. Click on a butterfly to release it.
   
5. Practice directions by choosing top, bottom, left, and right. Click on the butterfly to answer.
   
6. Practice size by selecting the biggest and smallest butterflies.
   
7. Keep going for extra practice or exit to play other games!
   

Stories

Stories can be read aloud using the speaker icon.

Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time includes fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and songs that can be read aloud! Nursery rhymes will sing in tune and are represented by a music note in the bottom right corner of the cover.

Click on a story icon to open it, then use the speaker icon for the read-aloud function and the arrows to turn the page.

Welcome to Reading

Welcome to Reading gathers all of the Trek books into one place and organizes them according to reading level (A, B, C, or D) so that they can be read sequentially.

• Click Read to open the book. Click the speaker icon to begin the read-aloud with word-by-word highlight which helps build phonemic awareness.
  
• Use the bottom blue arrows, or click on the side story icons to move forward and backward.
  
• Select Pick a level to jump between levels.
  
• Take this one step further with pre-made lesson plans to accompany each text!
  1. Select Lesson Plans in the top, right corner.
     
  2. From here, you can access the digital copy of the text, a printable, foldable book, and the lesson plan.
  3. Open the lesson plan for skills and concepts, discussion questions, and classroom activities.