About Reading Bear
Reading Bear, a project of WatchKnowLearn.org, is the first free program online to teach beginning readers vocabulary and concepts while systematically introducing all the main phonetic patterns of written English, all using innovative rich media. We have launched with 14 presentations and plan to increase the number to about 50. In the end, well over 1,200 items of vocabulary will be given the Reading Bear treatment.
How does it work? In each presentation—playable either as a video or as an interactive slide show—we introduce one or a few related “phonics rules.” Presentations are available in seven different versions. In the fullest version, we sound out a word slowly and quickly, then blend it slowly, and finally (after an optional prompt) blend it quickly. As sounds are pronounced, the corresponding letters are highlighted. Then we display a picture illustrating the word, show a sentence (with the individual sounds again highlighted, karaoke style), and finally show a video illustrating the sentence. Presentations typically give this treatment to around 25 words, though some have more and some have less. The result is a thorough yet painless introduction to phonics principles, while at the same time teaching vocabulary. There are many other features, which we encourage you to explore by clicking on our Getting Started page.
Reading Bear and WatchKnowLearn are free, ad-free, non-profit projects of the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi. Generous funding for these and other related projects comes from a Memphis-area benefactor, who wishes to remain anonymous. This anonymous supporter also provided the original motivation to pursue the project, and continues to advise on its development. While these projects are free, you are very welcome to support their further development via the Community Foundation at www.CFNM.org.
Reading Bear’s images and many of its videos were generously donated by Shutterstock.com, whom we wish to offer deep thanks. The rest of the videos were also provided by Shutterstock, at a significant discount.
The project’s Editor-in-Chief is Larry Sanger, who conceived the project, designed the software, and did most of the work assembling the content so far. Larry is best known as co-founder and the original organizer of Wikipedia, but also took the lead in developing WatchKnowLearn and Citizendium, among other reference and educational projects. He is the father of two boys, ages 5 and 1. He taught his older son to read at an early age with various tools, including an early flashcard version of Reading Bear. The flashcards (in PDF form) are available free here. The baby enjoys watching Reading Bear presentations, too, in five-word chunks (see the A, B, C letters below the presentation titles).
We also solicited and are still receiving significant help from volunteers (see credits below). More volunteers are needed to help finish the project—please write Larry if you are interested.
For programming, design, and voiceover, we were lucky to find some excellent professionals—we’re happy to give them credit below.
Contact
Please mail sanger@watchknow.org about all issues related to the project.
Credits
Editor-in-Chief: Larry Sanger
Funding: Anonymous, via the Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi
Institutional Support: Community Foundation of Northwest Mississippi; Tom Pittman, President
Programming: Business Edge
Voiceover (both audio and video): Melissa Moats
Editors: Heidi Sherman (special thanks), Lezah St Jean, Tere Scott, and Rachel Goss; also Autumn Clabaugh, Laurie Tiemans, Liew Jin Jin, Brandy Lighthall; and others
Page Design: Isaiah Paul D. Cabanting
Logo Design: Gabriel Uguet
Thanks also to the members of the BrillKids.com forums and the TeachYourBabyToRead Yahoo! group for beta testing, feature requests, and feedback.