Literature Map- The Tourist Map of Literature

What it is: Literature Map is a neat little web tool that I learned about from Samantha, an iLearn Technology reader. Thanks Samantha!  Literature Map makes it simple to discover new authors.  Student’s can type in the name of a favorite author and instantly get a cloud of related authors.  The closer two writers are together on the map, the more likely someone will like both of them.  Any of the authors in the cloud can be selected to see the authors related to them.

How to integrate Literature Map into the classroom: Isn’t it wonderful to find an author that you can’t get enough of?  Literature Map helps students in the discovery of new authors based on authors they know they like.  Tools like Literature Map can act as a catalyst in uncovering the love for reading.  Literature Map would be a great site to bookmark on classroom computers or in the library.  Students won’t be stuck in the “I don’t know what to read” or the “I can’t find anything to read” rut.

In the intermediate classroom or middle/high school classroom, ask students to choose two authors from the Literature Map to compare and contrast.  Students can dig into writing style, genre and author study as they compare/contrast.

Tips: If you don’t find an author listed, you can contribute to Literature Map so that others can benefit from your recommendations.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Literature Map  in your classroom!

Storybook Web

What it is: Storybook Web is “based on popular children’s stories by authors Scoular Anderson, Debi Gliori, Mairi Hedderwick and Frank Rodgers.”  There are a number of fun activities on this site including the ability to listen to the author’s reading excerpts from their stories and answering questions about how they came up with ideas for writing.  Students can choose from one of eight stories, each story has a related game, word bank activity, and videos/audio for reading the story and interacting with the author.

How to integrate Storybook Web into your curriculum: Storybook Web is a fun way for students to interact with stories, making connections to the authors of the stories and the themes that they are reading about.  This site helps students think like an author.  It gives them an inside look at how authors think about writing.  Use this site as an introduction to a writing activity.  Students can watch the author videos and get an inside look at the process that a writer goes through.  This can be done using a projector connected computer or interactive whiteboard.  Storybook Web would also make a nice addition to a writing center on classroom computers.  When I taught second grade, I set up an “editing and publishing” center on my classroom computers.  Here I gave students access to an online dictionary, thesaurus, word processor/publishing program, and Read Write ThinkStorybook Web would be an excellent addition to a writing center.  Students can go to be inspired, encouraged in the writing process, and given a place to practice their own writing.  I like the word bank on Storybook Web, word choice is hard for beginning writers.  By interacting with the word bank activity on Storybook Web, students will begin to think about their own word choice.  You may want students to go through their own writing and pick out words that they would add to their word bank.  I have found that activities like this make students think about the words they are using.  Often, students will self-edit and find richer vocabulary to use in their writing.

Tips: This is an easy website for emergent readers and writers to navigate.  Students can choose to have the site narrated for them or they can turn the audio off and read on their own.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Storybook Web in your classroom!

Lookybook

What it is: Lookybook is amazing me today. This site, still in Beta version, is a place where kids can go to read and view picture book in their entirety. These are quality picture books such as “Alphabeasts” by Wallace Edwards and Franklin books by Paulette Bougeois. After a book has been read, it can be reviewed, rated, shared and put on a virtual bookshelf (Shelfari style), you can also purchase the book directly from this site. The site is simple to use and navigate and registration is completely free. I am so impressed, before I could write this post I spammed all of my teacher friends with this website! 🙂 Seriously, you should go take a look right now and then come back and finish reading my post..it’s okay, I won’t hold it against you!

How to integrate Lookybook into the classroom: I can think of about a million applications of a site like Lookybook in the classroom. It is truly like having a virtual library of picture books right in your classroom, but best of all, your students have the same library when they go home!! Lookybook can become part of your classroom library of books, books can be read by the whole class using a projector (no more “I can’t see the pictures!”). The ability to review and rate the book right within Lookybook is wonderful because students learn to share their reactions to a book and discuss with others. Invite students to create their own virtual bookshelves where they can share their very favorite picture books. This is a great site for struggling readers to visit at home with a parent. The possibilities of this site are exciting and I can’t wait to see how the kids end up using it! An added bonus? You bet! Lookybook allows you to embed picture books right into your own blog or webpage. You read right, you can add full versions of the picture books right to your class webpage! I ask you, does it get any better than this?!

Tips: This would be a great site to use with Book Adventure, all of the books I have searched have had quizzes on the reading motivation website.

Leave a comment and share how you are being amazed by and using Lookybook.