Reading Related Web Sites

Clearinghouse on Reading, English and Communication - http://reading.indiana.edu/
Provides news about reading and tips for parents along with online resources. See also the web site Kids Can Learn (http://www.kidscanlearn.com/) from the Family Learning Association.
Help My Child Read - http://www.ed.gov/parents/read/resources/edpicks.jhtml?src=qc
Compiled by the U.S. Department of Education, this page includes publications from a variety of sources with suggestions for how to help a child learn to read. Some of the publications are produced by the U.S. Department of Education, such as "Helping Your Child Become a Reader."
Improving the Reading Achievement of America's Children (10 Research Based Principles) - http://www.ciera.org/library/instresrc/principles/index.html
The Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement developed this list as part of its work to generate solutions to the ongoing problems in the learning and teaching of beginning reading.
Indiana Dept. Of Education - Reading Lists - http://www.doe.state.in.us/standards/readinglist.html
Available as PDF files, the IDoE provides four separate reading lists for students in grades, K-2, 3-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Designed as a companion piece to Indiana's new academic standards for English/language arts, the lists illustrate the quality and complexity of the materials to be read by students at each grade level. The lists are not all-inclusive, and the the books on these lists are not required reading for students.
Indiana State Reading Association - http://www.indianareads.org/
Posts information on its annual conference, local councils and publications.
International Reading Association - http://www.reading.org/
Co-sponsors International Literacy Day. Sponsors annual convention, conducts research, creates publications and general awareness about literacy issues.
Learning to Read - http://www.toread.com/
This site aims to improve the quality of reading instruction through the study of the reading process and teaching techniques, and functions as a clearinghouse for the dissemination of reading research through conferences, journals and other publications.
National Institute for Literacy - http://www.nifl.gov/
Provides facts about literacy, programs and publications.
National Reading Panel - http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/
The Panel assesses the status of research-based knowledge of reading development and disability, including the effectiveness of various approaches to teaching children to read. In 2000, the Panel found that the most effective way to teach reading included a combination of teaching phonics, word sounds and giving feedback on oral reading. The complete report is available on the Web at http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/pubskey.cfm?from=reading.
Sight Words
"Sight Words" are words that appear frequently in reading material for beginning readers. Many of these words are difficult to sound out with the usual decoding rules and, thus, are good ones to memorize.

For more information about the role of sight words in learning to read, see:
- Dolch Kit - http://www.theschoolbell.com/Links/Dolch/Dolch.html
- Literacy Connections: High-Frequency Sight Words - http://www.literacyconnections.com/Dolch.html
- Dolch Word Lists - http://www.janbrett.com/games/jan_brett_dolch_word_list_main.htm
- Fry's 300 Instant Sight Words - http://www.usu.edu/teachall/text/reading/Frylist.pdf
- Fry's Readability Graph - Directions for Use - http://school.discovery.com/schrockguide/fry/fry.html
  Instructions for how to use Fry's Reading Graph to help determine the reading level of a piece of writing. Prepared by Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators.