Internet plugs parents into kids' education

Army Lt. Col. Michele Thompson-Shoats logs into StoryTown about 9 a.m. daily for a dose of such children’s classics as the fairy tale “Stone Soup.”

This is no surreptitious guilty pleasure during her morning coffee break in Okinawa, Japan, where she’s stationed. This is her being mom.

As it turns out, it’s also her serving as a poster child for parents being involved in a child’s learning, because as Thompson-Shoats logs into the reading program, her third-grader, Rachele, is doing the same thing in Colorado Springs, where it’s 6 p.m. and her homework time.

With both of them online and on the phone, they read together. Mom notes words that Rachele struggles with, gives her a list of “mom’s spelling words” and checks on her worksheets.

“The online reading program gave me an opportunity to feel I was plugged in to her development,” said Thompson-Shoats, who was back in Colorado Springs for a few days and was dropping Rachele off at Fremont Elementary School on Monday.

Schools increasingly are turning to such online resources to help kids learn in the classroom and at home. Almost all reading curricula, including Harcourt School Publisher’s StoryTown, now come with an online component, and teachers decide what portions to put on the Web for students and parents to access at home, said Catherine Romano, Fremont’s literacy resource teacher.

Romano and other staff members say the benefits are many: Students don’t have to remember to take home and bring back books and worksheets; parents can readily see what their child is working on and where they may be struggling; parental involvement at home appears to increase; and students become engaged in the lessons. And it doesn’t matter whether the parents live next door to the school or halfway across the globe — if they have access to the Internet, they have access to the lessons.

Rachele’s teacher, Jennifer Hodur, said she began promoting the online StoryTown homework activities this year and has already seen improvement in her students’  weekly reading tests.

Fremont Library Technology Educator Lisa Fore said another program, Accelerated Reader, has noticeably increased the number of library books students check out. She said most, but not all, students have computer and Internet access at home. Those who don’t can use library computers.

“The kiddos are tech savvy,” she said. “We’ve put stuff out there and they are using it.”

And parents such as Thompson-Shoats,appreciate that technology has given her the tools to stay involved, which benefits the students.

“I salute educators for doing what they do, but it’s parents who have to build the bridge for their children to walk on,” Thompson-Shoats said.

Online programs served Rachele when she spent the summer with her mom in Okinawa and was able to keep up with an online tutoring program.

“Reading has been her challenge, but I think she has turned the corner,” Thompson-Shoats said as Rachele pulled a handful of library books from her backpack.

“These are my favorites,” Rachele said of the Magic Tree House series books in her lap.

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