iLearn Technology

Teacher Book Wizard

What it is: Teacher Book Wizard is an amazing free tool from Scholastic. It provides teachers with the book search tools you have wished for. Search the 50,000 book data base (from all different publishers, not just Scholastic) with several searching options. Search options include: leveled reading (grade level, Lexie Framework, guided reading, or DRA), a quick search when you know what you are looking for, Book Alike to find similar books at the reading level you need, and a list exchange where you and other teachers can share book lists. The Teacher Book Wizard has quizzes and other resources to use with the books you find. How to integrate Teacher Book Wizard into your curriculum: Do you have students who have one favorite book that they read over and over but never venture out to other books? Use the Book Alike feature in Teacher Book Wizard to find similar books at the correct reading level. You might just find your students a new favorite! Create your own leveled reader library in the classroom using the Leveled Reading tool. Keep track of your book lists and look through other teachers lists with the List Exchange. This is an awesome tool for teachers and librarians, you may find yourself using it on a daily basis to hunt down the perfect book for every student! Tips: Click on the Take a Tour button for a full video tour of all that the Teacher Book Wizard has to offer. Please leave a comment and share how you are using Teacher Book Wizard in your classroom.

Big Huge Thesaurus

Posted by admin | Posted in Language Arts, Middle/High School, Primary Elementary, Secondary Elementary, Teacher Resources, Websites, inspiration, web tools | Posted on 23-11-2009

Tags: antonyms, big huge thesaurus, Language Arts, literacy, rhymes, synonyms, thesaurus, vocabulary, words, writing

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What it is: Big Huge Thesaurus is a must add to your classroom publishing center. The tag line of Big Huge Thesaurus says it all: “synonyms, antonyms, and rhymes (oh my!)”. Big Huge Thesaurus goes beyond other online thesauruses by giving students a wealth of synonyms (for each part of speech), words that sound like the original word, and rhyming words. When students find a word that they are curious about, they can click the link and it will send that word through the Big Huge Thesaurus.

How to integrate Big Huge Thesaurus into the classroom: If you have classroom computers, set up a writing/publishing center where students have all the resources they need to write. Big Huge Thesaurus should be one of those resources. Students can visit the writing center to add richness and interest to their stories, poems, and other writing. This Thesaurus does an excellent job of breaking down words. Use Big Huge Thesaurus on an interactive whiteboard or projector when learning new vocabulary. Type in the vocabulary word and have students construct its meaning using the synonyms that are generated.

Tips: I learned about Big Huge Thesaurus on Twitter this morning from several of my PLN. If you aren’t on Twitter with other educators, I highly recommend joining and following the fine folks I follow!

Leave a comment and share how you are using Big Huge Thesaurus in your classroom.