online books – iLearn Technology

National Geographic Young Explorer

March 4, 2010March 4, 2010Kelly Tenkely10 Comments4289 views

What it is: National Geographic has fantastic resources for the classroom. Their Young Explorer online content is not to be missed in the primary classroom. This is an online magazine specifically for kindergarten and first grade student (I think second grade students would also benefit). The site lets students listen and read the latest stories from National Geographic Young Explorer. The photographs are breath taking and the reading is very accessible to beginning readers and English language learners. Each portion of the text has a speaker next to it that allows students to listen to the text. Click on the “More Issues” button to access past issues. In the “For Teachers” section, you will find print versions of the teacher’s guides complete with lesson plans, discussion questions, accompanying worksheets, and more. There is a very helpful story planner that gives you upcoming themes. These may be helpful when planning upcoming lessons.

How to integrate National Geographic Young Explorer into the classroom: It can be hard to find quality, accessible informational reading for primary students. National Geographic has solved this problem with Young Explorer. I am amazed that National Geographic is offering these online for free! Struggling readers can listen to the text read to them and read along. English language learners receive support for their reading of the text. The photographs and images are nothing less than excellent. The teacher materials that are included will help you to utilize the magazines and stories effectively.

Read and discuss Young Explorer stories as a class using a projector or interactive whiteboard. Teach your students how to read informational text, and the comprehension strategies that will help them to understand what they are reading. Set up Young Explorer on the classroom computers as a reading center for students to visit during reading time. Take a look at the Young Explorer archives to see if any of the past issues will support the learning you are doing in the classroom.

Tips: In the “For Teachers” section, you will find a link to interactive whiteboard content. This is a link to National Geographic’s premium content that can be found on Promethean Planet. These flipcharts are fantastic and include a teachers guide, printable blackline masters, teaching notes, and offline materials.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using National Geographic Young Explorer in your classroom.

Signed Stories

February 4, 2010February 4, 2010Kelly Tenkely6 Comments3606 views

What it is: Signed Stories is an excellent online story site that I learned about from The Techie Classroom blog. Signed Stories makes hundreds of children’s stories available online accessible in British Sign Language and in text, pictures and sound. This site has it all. Students can read the story, watch it signed, and listen to the story. This enriches literacy on a variety of levels. Deaf and hearing alike can benefit from this excellent free website. These are published stories and include a variety of popular titles. Books are sorted into categories including adventure, baby and toddler, fairytales and folktales, families and friendships, funny, open house, slimy scary, or students can browse all books alphabetically.

How to integrate Signed Stories into the classroom: Signed Stories is a fantastic add to any literacy classroom. Students can read, listen to, or watch a book signed. The site is accessible to all language learners and has engaging popular stories that students will love. Expand your classroom library by pulling up Signed Stories during reading and allowing students to read online. Signed Stories also adds great discussion to the classroom about different ways that people learn. Students can expand their sign language vocabulary by listening to familiar stories and watching them being signed. This is also a great site to send home. Kids can practice their reading even when their isn’t an adult available to read with them.

Tips: Check out the Resources page for links to other interactive story sites.

Please leave a comment and share how you are using Signed Stories in your classroom.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!

May 4, 2009Kelly Tenkely1 Comment2233 views

What it is: This week (May 4-8) is teacher appreciation week. To show their appreciation, Learning A-Z is holding an open house to their fantastic collection of learning resources. This means that for one week you can access all online resources for free from Raz-Kids, Reading a-z, Science a-z, Writing a-z, Vocabulary a-z, and Reading Tutors. Raz Kids is a student centered website where students can listen to and read books online independently. Reading a-z is filled with thousands of printable and projectable resources including books, activity sheets, and assessments. Science a-z includes multilevel books, activity sheets, process activities and more. All are categorized by grade and topic. Writing a-z is a collection of resources to help teach basic writing skills. Vocabulary a-z is a website with a word bank of more than 8,000 words. The words are categorized by content area, functional, and resource. With this site teachers can build vocabulary lessons with activities for multiple exposures to words that leads to word mastery. Reading Tutors provides online resource packets for those tutoring kids in reading. It covers key reading areas from phonics to comprehension.

How to integrate Learning a-z into the classroom: The collection of resources accessible in Learning a-z is incredible. Take advantage of this teacher appreciation week freebie and start using Learning a-z materials in your classroom.

Tips: Sign up for a free pass during this open house week. Enjoy!

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Learning a-z in your classroom.

International Childrens Digital Library

December 30, 2008Kelly Tenkely1 Comment3544 views

What it is: The International Childrens Digital Library (also known as ICDL) is an online digital library for children of all ages. The mission of ICDL is to “ excite and inspire the world’s children to become members of the global community – children who understand the value of tolerance and respect for diverse cultures, languages and ideas — by making the best in children’s literature available online.” When students visit the ICDL website they are brought to a simple search area where they can choose different options for finding a book. They can narrow down results by age (3-13), fiction or non-fiction, book length, award winners, language, picture or chapter books, subject matter, and even what colors that cover has in it. When students choose a book they can read the book in its entirety online. I learned about this site in the iTunes store, they have a free iPod Touch and iPhone application for downloading books from the ICDL in addition to their online content. So neat!

How to integrate ICDL into the classroom: The ICDL website reminds me a lot of LookyBook. The search options are extremely user friendly and allow even the youngest readers to find a book they are sure to love. Students can register for the library (free) and then leave an online review of the book. I like the idea of digital libraries for students because it opens up a number of books to them that they may not otherwise have access to. If a story is started during school, students can finish the story when they get home from any Internet connected computer. The ICDL is nice for reading groups. All students can be reading the same book from school and from home without setting aside a large budget for group sets. The search is a wonderful way for students to discover what types of literature they enjoy. Many of the books featured are from different cultures and languages, these would be perfect to bring into a foreign language classroom. ICDL books provide a fun way for students to gain global awareness. Books in other languages could also be used as a starting point for student created stories. Students can do picture walks through the online books and then compose their own story to accompany the pictures. ICDL is a great way to read with the whole class. Connect your computer with a projector and students can read the story along with you, everyone will be able to see the pictures as you discuss the story!

Tips: One thing that I really appreciate about ICDL is the ability to view the books full screen and zoom in and out of the pages. The site is easy to navigate and this feature makes it even more user friendly.

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