COMPASS, the California Online Media Program for Access and Student Success from the California State Library, provides digital school library resources to every public school and local library in the state at no cost. The resources are paid for at the state level and vary from early literacy supports to college-level research databases. We even have educational streaming video and audio in performing arts, history, science, and social studies!

COMPASS has something for everyone, including emerging readers. TeachingBooks, PebbleGo Science, Britannica, and NatGeo Kids are go-to resources to support early-literacy instruction in the classroom, the library, and with caretakers at home! Below is a quick overview of these resources.

And check out the Early Literacy guide and toolkit for even more ideas, links and printable materials -- ideal to provide to families at Back-to-School nights and parent-teacher conferences this fall. 

 

Teachingbooks makes it easy for educators to promote the love of reading. Their Early Literacy toolkit is designed to enhance early literacy instruction, featuring a collection of popular titles that reinforce phonics and phonological awareness concepts. Highlighting the Long O sound with your kindergartners? Use this list to find read-aloud books to reinforce your lessons and choose from these printable worksheets to help students practice skills. Book collections and printable resources are available for all other identified blend and vowel sounds.

 

PebbleGo Science is designed for developing readers, or any age group that benefits from its read-aloud feature. Short articles cover science, technology, engineering, arts, and math in both English and Spanish. Every article comes with printable “share what you know” worksheets and related activities, like this one about understanding media. There are hundreds of interactive non-fiction eBooks, also avaible in both English and Spanish. 

 

Britannica School and Britannica Escolar are online encyclopedias with multiple reading levels, beginning with elementary and primaria. Britannica School has articles on multiple topics: animals, places, famous people, and more. Escolar has similar content written and edited by native Spanish speakers. The content is presented in easily digestible text blocks with multimedia features, and all articles have a text-to-speech tool to help new readers. These resources are perfect for first research reports and for educators to use in the classroom to provide background and context on a wide variety of topics. 

 

NatGeoKids is one of the most well-loved kids magazines in the U.S., especially for nature lovers. All California K-12 students (and their families) can access the digital versions of more than 10 years of the magazine through the COMPASS program. NatGeoKids also contains hundreds of eBooks, including board books and early readers on all kinds of topics that your littles are sure to love!