SCHOOLS
An Essential Digital Classroom
Sunshine in Schools
Sunshine Online offers schools the very best in animated and interactive digital content for literacy and early numeracy. The content supports the New Zealand National Curriculum. Animated and interactive, Sunshine Online offers an extensive digital learning environment with quality content for use in classroom literacy and numeracy programmes. Many of the authors and illustrators are well-established creatives in the field of children's literature. The literacy materials featured in Sunshine Online coupled with the technology will advance children’s literacy acquisition.
Sunshine Online is available FREE to New Zealand primary schools and registered home-schoolers with a grant from the Pye Foundation. To apply click on the link below and submit the online form.
Teacher Resources
There is a separate section on Sunshine Online called the Staffroom. Here teachers can access full sets of teaching notes covering all the texts, overview skills charts and printable activity sheets. This support material makes classroom planning easy and supports teachers in effectively linking print and technology. Full-length workshop videos provide detailed insight into what the Sunshine digital programmes offer and how to use them effectively in the classroom. Perfect for use in staff meetings.
Programme Features
Sunshine Online has three distinct Learning Spaces for Emergent, Early and Fluent readers.
Library
There are over 900 fiction and non-fiction e-books that can be used for literacy learning and practice with hundreds of skills activities, as well as project-based inquiry for STEAM writing and research. There are also 30 non-fiction titles in the Discovering section for cross-curricular learning for fluent readers.
Alphabet
26 Alphabet e-books for emergent readers provide a comprehensive introduction to the building blocks of language.
Phonics
There are 24 Letter Combination and 32 Word Family e-books for early readers. This represents, with the alphabet e-books, a comprehensive phonics programme of texts, interactive activities and lesson plans.
Grammar
These short animated explanations teach grammar points and parts of speech in a fun way. Upon completion, children get a certificate or trophy to reward their learning.
Letters and Words
These activities teach the alphabetic principle. Children learn to recognise the names and initial sounds of the letters and practise 48 high-frequency words in context.
Maths
91 e-books covering 22 levels introduce mathematics within the context of engaging stories to link literacy and numeracy. Lesson plans and animated interactive activities complete the package.
Songs and Rhymes
Fifteen songs and an alphabet rap, with music and words for children to sing along to.
Game Zone
The games and activities entertain children, while they learn about the sounds of the language.
Student Dashboard and Reporting
If a school opts for a managed subscription, they can view a child's results and history and listen to the recording activity to check for fluency and understanding. They can also assign books to the student from various levels.
School Admin
The website offers two subscription options.
Option 1: Schools can choose a non-managed site accessible using a generic username and password for the subscription. Students cannot save their results with this option.
Option 2: Managed administration allows schools to allocate individual passwords so that an administrator or teacher can monitor progress and report using recorded data. Teachers can also assign books to a student and monitor results. Children will also have a personalised avatar and a dashboard where their results are kept.
Testimonials
Read what schools around Aotearoa say about Sunshine Online: