picture books – iLearn Technology

We Give Books: Read digital picture books online for free

January 9, 2012Kelly Tenkely3 Comments5471 views

What it is: We Give Books is a fantastic initiative from Pearson. Here, you will find award winning digital picture books for students through age ten. There is a mix of fiction and non-fiction, a variety of authors, and a balance of read-aloud books and independent readers. New books are added every month along with special, seasonal books. Now any student with internet access also has access to high-quality picture books! Even better? The more books you read, the more books that are made available for everyone. Choose a book to read, choose a literacy partner campaign to support through your reading, and the more that you read, the more books that are shared with those that need them. Way cool! The site reminds me of Lookybook (which is sadly no more). I’m happy to *finally* see another option!

How to integrate We Give Books into the classroom: We Give Books instantly increases your classroom library and puts high-quality books within reach for children everywhere. We Give Books makes an excellent companion to the interactive whiteboard or projector-connected classroom computer for a class read along. Pull up a story and read the book chorally, ask students to take turns reading, or simply follow along. Everyone can see the pictures and words! This is a great resource for practicing reading strategies together as a class.

We Give Books makes a wonderful reading station on classroom computers. Students can access wonderful stories any time through We Give Books. For those students that struggle with indpendent reading (or are emergent readers) there is a read-along option on some of the stories. Students can follow along with the reading building fluency, flow and vocabulary.

If you are a primary or elementary teacher, this is a must-add link to your classroom website or blog. Be sure to share the site with families so that students can access the same wonderful library of books from home. Students (and teachers) can create their own library where they keep the books they have read (or enjoy reading). To add a book to a library, you must be a member of We Give Books- no problem, it is quick and free to become a member!

Tips: Students can use the word cloud on the right side of the We Give Books page to find books about their favorite subjects. Thank you to @Shannonmmiller for pinning We Give Books on Pinterest, it is a great find!

Please leave a comment and share how you are using We Give Books in your classroom!

Big Universe

October 14, 2009October 14, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3332 views

What it is: Big Universe lets you read, create, and share children’s books online. Read hundreds of children’s picture books right from your web browser. It’s like having a huge library of big books for your whole class to read and enjoy. Publishers that contribute picture books to Big Universe include: Charlesbridge, SeaSquirt, Lobster Press, Saddleback, Matthew Price, ISSA Step by Step, Andersen, Dawn Publications, Tanglewood Press, ee, Teacher Created Materials, Illuminations Arts, Weekly Reader, and Elora Media. Big Universe has both fiction and nonfiction picture books to read with your students. Books are easy to search by category, grade, reading level, interest age, and language. Students can create their own ebooks on Big Universe or share books on a virtual bookshelf. The catch: the free version of Big Universe offers a limited look at the premium publisher books (you can read through half the book before being prompted to upgrade or close the book). You can read any of the user created books for free. With the free version you can only create one ebook per user account. Students can create bookshelves and share an unlimited number of books, recommend books to others, and add friends. The accounts on Big Universe are reasonably priced (especially considering how much it would increase your classroom library).

How to integrate Big Universe into the classroom: Big Universe is an awesome way to expand your classroom library and share quality picture books and stories with your students. The big books on Big Universe are ideal for use with an interactive whiteboard or projector. Students can read along and see the rich detail in the illustrations. Big Universe also makes for an excellent reading center on the classroom computers. Allow students to create their own book on Big Universe to add to the library. They will be published authors! Students can share the books they are reading on Big Universe on their own virtual bookshelf. They can swap book recommendations with friends and share stories they create.

Tips: If it is possible for your school to purchase a school license of Big Universe, students would have access to an extensive library of books at school or home. This is a fantastic way to get hundreds of books into the hands of your students. Because they can be accessed from any Internet connected computer, students can enjoy the books and stories from nearly anywhere.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Big Universe in your classroom.

Lookybook

June 11, 2008June 11, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment4013 views

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.