ebook – Page 4 – iLearn Technology

Signed Stories

February 4, 2010February 4, 2010Kelly Tenkely6 Comments3936 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.

Pages Tutorial

January 23, 2010Kelly Tenkely15 Comments2681 views

Create Your Own Storybook with Learn Direct

November 4, 2009Kelly Tenkely3 Comments15901 views

What it is: Kids can be the star in these online storybooks with Learn Direct. Students can type in their name and be a character in the book. On each page their are options for customizing the story. Students can adjust pictures and certain sentences in throughout the story. After students have customized the book it can be read online, saved as a pdf or printed out. These fun interactive stories will make reading time fun for your beginning readers (kindergarten through 2nd grade). Learn Direct also features a fun little virtual world where students can play word and reading games. Students have to solve word puzzles to navigate through the world.

How to integrate Create Your Own Storybook with Learn Direct into the classroom: These online stories are a lot of fun. The ability to customize them will make them a winner in the classroom. Use the Storybook with an interactive whiteboard and have students take turns customizing the story. Set up the Storybook on classroom computers as a center activity during literacy or reading time. Students can save or print out the books to share with others or take home. The word games in the virtual world would be fun to play and solve as a whole class with the interactive whiteboard or play in pairs on classroom computers as a center.

Tips: There are some great tips and resources for parents about reading with their kids on the Learn Direct site. Check out the Scared of Words? page and then pass it on to your parents.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Create Your Own Storybook with Learn Direct in your classroom.

Picture Book Maker

October 29, 2009October 29, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments4427 views

What it is: Picture Book Maker is a fun little online picture book creator (bet you couldn’t have guessed that from the name!). What makes this picture book creator unique is the great illustration elements that students can use in their story. The illustrations look hand drawn with crayon and can be adjusted to fit the story. Each picture has actions, these are multiple poses of the same character. Even the text looks like it is hand written. All of the characters for the story are animals (this site comes from London zoos). There are also several backdrops and props for students to include in their story. When the book has been completed, it can be saved to the gallery, sent to a friend via email, or printed out.

How to integrate Picture Book Maker into the classroom: Picture Book Maker is a fun way for students to publish stories online. I love how the stories look like they were created by children. Students can pick animals to write a story about, the penguin could be used as a spin off of Mr. Popper’s Penguins. After they are finished writing their story, it can be printed out or sent in an email to parents. Picture Book Maker would be a good platform to create a story as a class using a projector or interactive whiteboard.

Tips: Be sure to visit the gallery of stories to see other student’s creations.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Picture Book Maker in your classroom.

Inkless Tales

October 20, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment9491 views

What it is: Inkless Tales is a neat literacy website with a mission statement that I love: “You can do anything. Try, try again. Don’t give up. Experiment. Write, draw, explore, and more!” Inkless tales has features that will infuse your literacy classroom with life including: an animated alphabet, coloring pages (for print or online), online games, offline fun (finger puppets, downloads, crafts), Mother Goose rhymes and riddles, online stories to read, poetry to read, poetry to listen to, poetry to write, Inkless tunes, tongue twisters, and a place to learn science. Inkless Tales is an absolute treasure trove for the primary classroom.

How to integrate Inkless Tales into the classroom: Inkless Tales was created by author Elizabeth Williams Bushey with the goal of bring quality literacy content to children around the world in an online environment. She has hit the nail on the head with this site. Inkless Tales makes an excellent literacy center on classroom computers. Students can visit the Inkless Tales site to read, practice their alphabet, play learning games, etc. Inkless Tales also makes an outstanding poetry center where students can read, listen to, and write poetry. The animated alphabet would be fun to use when learning letters on a projector connected computer or an interactive whiteboard.

Tips: I learned about Inkless Tales from @2sparkley on Twitter, an educator you must follow!

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

Big Universe

October 14, 2009October 14, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments3678 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.

Lit2Go

January 22, 2009Kelly TenkelyLeave a Comment3877 views

What it is: Lit2Go is a FREE online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format from Florida’s Educational Technology Clearinghouse. With Lit2Go teachers and students can download files to an iPod or Mp3 player, listen to the Mp3 files on the computer, view the text on a webpage and read along with the audio, and print out the stories and poems to create a customized book. Lit2Go can be searched by author, tiltle, or searched via the database (by authro, keywords, title, or reading level). Each reading passage can be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as a read-along or supplemental reading material for your classroom. Many of the selections can be downloaded directly to your iTuens library making it a simple transfer to one or many iPods.

How to integrate Lit2Go into the classroom: Lit2Go is a fabulous resource for all readers, but is especially valuable for struggling readers. Set up a Lit2Go listening center in your classroom. You can either download the audio to a Mp3 player or let the students listen from the computer. Each audio file has a PDF text version that can be downloaded and printed out as a read along. If students are listening from the computer they can also view the text online. Lit2Go would be a great help for a reading buddy program. Send your struggling readers home with a Mp3 player loaded with level appropriate stories or poems and the PDF print out. Students can practice reading anywhere, even if a parent or sibling isn’t available to read with them. Reading levels range from .10 to 53. You are sure to find something for every student! This is an easy way to help differentiate instruction.

Tips: Search Lit2Go in the iTunes store or visit the Lit2Go website to get started.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Lit2Go in your classroom.

Literactive

January 16, 2009Kelly Tenkely4 Comments4802 views

What it is: Literactive is an outstanding website for reading material for pre-school, kindergarten, and first grade. The program is made up of leveled guided readers, comprehensive phonics activities, and supplemental reading material that is aimed at developing reading skills in a sequential, motivating manner. To use and view the site is free. To download material you are required to register but registration is also free. The guided readers are fully animated and each comes with a breakdown of every word in the stories. The Road to Reading is an interactive journey for students that moves them sequentially though pre-reading activities, alphabet awareness, letter sounds, short vowels, CVC word blending, initial blends, long vowels, and various phonic activities. There are over one hundred learning activities that can be used for individual or whole class use that can be downloaded for free. Worksheets are available in pdf format that correlate with each reading skill. An ESL version is offered for each guided reader, stories can be translated with the click of a mouse. E-picture books tell traditional tales for early readers and e poetry is a collection of interactive poetry including poems by Rober Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allen Poe, Edward Lear, and more. The Literactive website is packed full with reading activities for primary students that will have them on the road to reading!

How to integrate Literactive into the classroom: Literactive is a complete reading program that should be included in any primary classroom. I am amazed at the comprehensive list of activities, stories, and scope and sequence of this program. Because activities are downloaded, after having downloaded them your computer does not need an Internet connection to use them. Use Literactive as a daily reading center, individually in the computer lab setting, or for whole class instruction and reading. The activities on Literactive are highly motivating and provide an excellent foundation for reading.

Tips: Register for free today and transform your classroom into a reading-rich environment for your beginning readers! Thank you to @annemarie80 who sent a Tweet about this site!

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

Readicide

January 13, 2009Kelly Tenkely2 Comments2857 views

What it is: Readicide is a new ebook from Kelly Gallagher about how schools are killing the love of reading. It is being made available here Jan. 13 and 14 as a free download. I downloaded Readicide earlier today and am loving it. The ebook reminds me of what made me love reading, the times when I hated reading, and how my students feel about reading. It is inspiring and may just give you the jolt you need to shake up your reading program and make your classroom the place where students fall in love with reading again (or the very first time).

How to integrate Readicide into the classroom: Download Readicide ASAP! Then send to your administration and fellow teaching staff to read. Open up communication about your reading program at the next staff meeting, be critical. Lets start a reading revolution!!

Tips: Download today while the ebook is free 🙂 I vote “readicide” to be considered as a new word for Webster to add to the dictionary.

Leave a comment and tell us what you think of Readicide and your ideas for bring a love of reading into your classroom.