What it is: It’s teacher appreciation week! One thing that I quickly learned in starting a school, teachers ARE the school. I always appreciate companies that recognize and honor this. Learning a-z is holding an Open House during teacher appreciation weeks which gives you free access to all 6 of their sites for the whole week. It also happens to be their 10 year anniversary, to celebrate they are giving away 10 free licenses each day of this week. Learning A-Z is an excellent resource that I have used for ages. Sites include: Reading A-Z which is a great collection of printable and projectable books and resources for 27 different levels; Raz-Kids which is a student-centered site where kids can practice reading online; Vocabulary a-z where you will find 12,000+ pre-made vocabulary words where you can build custom lists for students; Science a-z which delivers science curriculum resources across more than 60 units and includes three reading levels for each; Writing a-z which contains everything you need to teach writing in your classroom; and Reading-Tutors which provides more that 400 reading resource packets to use for one-on-one tutoring.
Be sure to take advantage of these great resources that are being offered FREE to you this week (May 7-11).
How to integrate Learning A-Z Open House into the classroom: The materials and resources at Learning A-Z are wonderful. I like the way they are available at the touch of a button so that you can instantly customize resources and lessons for students on the fly. Learning A-Z is like an instant boost to your classroom library. Students have additional resources that they can access both at school and at home. When I was a new teacher, Learning A-Z was a lifeline! I didn’t have a great classroom library built up yet and I didn’t have the money to go out and build it up immediately. Learning A-Z helped me give students exactly what they needed, when they needed it. My second grade students loved the printed books, they would often color them, take them home and read them over and over again. It gave them a sense of ownership over their reading.
Learning A-Z resources are great book-buddies for home. One year, I podcasted all of these (I wish I had saved them so I could share!) and sent my students home with the book and an iPod nano so they could read along at home. This was wonderful for the kids that didn’t have someone reliable at home to read with.
I also used the Learning A-Z resources as part of my literacy and science tub work. You can learn more about tub work here.
The resources can be used for individual students or for a whole class using an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer. Be sure to set up your classroom computers with these resources for your students this week!
Please leave a comment and share how you are using Learning A-Z in your classroom!
