Short stories to read online – child safe sites you can allow your students to surf through on their tablets and computers.
Research shows that listening to stories is a critical component to improving fluency and comprehension.
Many children come to our classrooms without early learning experiences that come with “lap time” – parents who read to them on a daily basis.
These kids need much more than a daily read aloud to develop the motivation to read. Using digital media like free online short stories can help and will also hit different learning modalities.
Children stories online are also great for reading fluency activities or specific skill lessons. Allow a small group to work with the story on the SmartBoard or use them during Listening Center time.
Reading Websites for Children
Children’s Storybooks Online
This is a terrific collection of short stories. Most do not have sound. I use them as whole class and small group fluency work, and then use reciprocal teaching for comprehension. For the younger students (4-5), check out “Alphabet” by Rolando Merino. Darling animated story of the alphabet. Older students will enjoy “McFeeglebee’s Pond,” a fanciful circle story with great opportunities for working on rhyming words and phrasing.
Story Place
This site of comes from the public library in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has short stories to read online in both English and Spanish, but you have to check out the Topsy Turvy Tale located under the Elementary Library button. There you type in characters’ names and the interactive story is built around your entries. Students love this!
BAB Books
Very cute stories and a fun link called “Adlib,” where your class works on grammar skills while creating a very silly story.
Kids’Corner
Love this site. Beatrix Potter’s stories are in both English and Japanese, ReadlAudio in English, French, German and Japanese, and a multimedia slide show are available. Lewis Carroll, Grimms’ Fairy Tales, and Rudyard Kipling’s stories are also available. Download the Free RealPlayer on the bottom of the site to use the media.
Storyline Online
This site is wonderful. Listen to Elijah Wood, Jason Alexander, Amanda Bynes and other actors read short stories that students can follow along with the text at the bottom. The best part of this site is how each reader shares something personal at the beginning of the reading. Your students with reading difficulties will appreciate James Earl Jones sharing how he struggled reading due to stuttering and being dyslexic. A must use site for any classroom.
Baglan’s Big Books
A very nice site from the U.K. Two of the stories are in Welsh, but the other two are in English. I love “The Minibeast Story” as it uses science vocabulary and definitions. “Animal Riddles” is a fun riddle book for younger primary students.
Light Up Your Brain
Short stories are in MP3 format downloaded to iTunes or can be downloaded as a zip. An option is there to read with the story or have it read to you, or both.
Beantime Stories
Loads of online short stories (not with audio). My students love the Three Pumpkin Pirates poems and stories. You should also check out the Teacher’s Guide button on this site.
StoryNory
This site is referenced on the page Reading To Children and is full of short stories to read online. You won’t be disappointed in this site, as it includes fairytales, original stories, and all come with a full English text.
The option also exists for translating words into other languages, such as Arabic, Hindi, Spanish, Italian and French (and many more!). What a great tool to get your ESOL children reading!