Post-launch raves about Reading Bear

Here’s a run-down of the initial publicity and online buzz about Reading Bear.

Reading Bear was on the front page of the high-profile tech blog TheNextWeb.com yesterday, with this article.

Techie Buzz “Reading Bear Teaches Kids to Read for Free”:

“There is a great new tool to teach kids how to read. It’s called Reading Bear. … The website has as beautifully illustrated and child-friendly design. … I believe endeavors like this are worthy of community support. They believe in equal access to education and that everyone should have the opportunity to learn. Hopefully, they will gain support and, more importantly, many children will learn to read from this project.”

Hubpages.com “Websites that Teach Children How to Read”:

• First of four sites listed.

• “This website is wonderful because it actually sounds out a large number of words. If a child is having a hard time with the idea that sounds go together to make words, Reading Bear will be a big help.”

Create and Learn with Laura “Aprender los patrones fonéticos del Inglés escrito de manera sencilla” (Learn phonetic patterns in simple written English):

• “Es una manera fácil y amena de aprender algunos principios complejos de fonética.” (It is an easy and fun way to learn some complex principles of phonetics.)

• “Es flexible, puedes escoger y elegir las presentaciones específicas y opciones para adaptar el sistema a tus necesidades. Podría ser especialmente útil en los programas de recuperación de lectura.” (It is flexible; you can pick and choose specific presentations and options to adapt the system to your needs. It could be especially useful in remedial reading programs.)

Twitter tweets:

• Over 500 tweets
• “Great initiative!”
• “Hey cool!”
• “fabulous!”
• “Great idea. This is why I love the internet.”
• “Schickt eure Kiddies zum Reading Reading Bear statt zu RTL2” (send your kiddies to Reading Bear instead of to RTL2—German television station)
• “Muy bueno para los peques” (very good for kids)

The new Reading Bear Facebook page has 30 “likes” (please “like” it, too!)

BrillKids.com forum (this is a little biased–they know me there):

• “WOW! Great job! Thank you very much for creating this outstanding tool for teaching reading in a fun and effective way!”
• “This is a great looking site, I’ll definitely help spread the word, in my blog/facebook/word of mouth…”
• “this is awsome.my 4yr old loved this!!!! <3”
• Awesome!!! We love Reading Bear. My almost 3 years old want to watch Reading Bear every day. We have tried the quiz part, and just love it. I can’t beleive my son gets almost the perfect scores! He only missed a few whenever he came acrossed words beginning with L…  Thanks!”
• “you’ve just brought happiness to thousands of parents and kids! (and perhaps millions in future)  Thank you for making it FREE! The gift of literacy to early readers should not come with a big price tag…”
• “Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!!!  Amazing!”
• “Amazing the work you’ve done. Reading Bear is so great and I just love the fact that it’s free and therefore accessible to everyone. My 2.5y old daughter loves it. She only knows all the letter’s sound so far. With Reading Bear she enjoys repeating the letter’s sound and the words. Of course the animation included hold all her attention. Thank you so so much for all your work!”

SecularHomeschool.com forum:

• “This looks great! … Thanks for passing it along.”
• “Cool! Thanks!”
• “Awesome!!”