"Lazy summers seem ideal to students as well as teachers. The school year has been filled with packed schedules and a lot of demands. Unfortunately, that idyllic, lazy summer has a consequence: loss of skills. Summers off are one of the main causes of underachievement in our schools and though it may feel far off, summer is right around the corner. CK-12 has a simple solution. We offer a program that students can use on their phone, tablet or computer that will allow them to do three important things:
http://www.ck12.org/summer/ I've included their flyer about the program, as well as the parent letter. Hopefully, our students will keep their brain "flexed" over the summer.
0 Comments
Maker Space is being discussed more and more lately in the #EdTech world. Check out these links/resources for getting started:
CLICK FOR EVEN MORE Maker Space Resources Wilson County Schools has started using Google's resource calendars for staff members to sign up for various equipment. As with all new things, there is an adjustment period.
I've created a screencast to explain how to sign up for resource (iPads, Laptop Cart, etc.) with your Google calendar. Click here to watch the tutorial! If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.
These sites might be helpful with your listening centers. ![]() Storynory Storynory has published a free audio story every week since November 2005. The stories are read by professional actors. They have books and poems by classic authors, fairytales from around the world, myths and legends and much more! The site includes the text as well as the audio for each story. Storyline Online The Screen Actors Guild Foundation records actors reading books to children. The original video format is through YouTube. (You may have issues with the filter at school. Try it first.) If the YouTube video works, you can choose the closed caption option at the bottom of the player so that students can read along. If YouTube is blocked, at the top of the screen you have the option to "Select Player". SchoolTube should work better with our filter. http://www.uniteforliteracy.com/ This site has ebooks that have the option to be read aloud. Most of these books seem to be for the lower grades. If a child needs help on a page, they can just click the speaker at the bottom and the narrator will read that page for them. Highlights Kids From the creators of the magazine "Highlights". Students can choose whether they want to use the read along option or they can read the story on their own. Children's Storybooks Online This site includes books for young children, older children, and young adults. It does have some books that include the audio. Those are marked with a speaker icon. Just Books Read Aloud Not all of the books include text. Each book is presented as a video that shows the book while it is being narrated. (Since these videos are originally YouTube videos, you may want to try them before you share them with the class. The filter may block them.) http://addisonstales.com/ This site is an interactive site that allows students to read a story called "The Dream". It does not read the passage to students, but it does work on iPads. http://www.literalsystems.org/audiobooks 39 Free audio books! The text is not included on the site, but many of these titles are probably already on your classroom bookshelf. https://librivox.org/ Free Public Domain Audiobooks This site is really neat! The audiobooks are read my volunteers. You can even volunteer to read an audiobook through the site! Unfortunately, they are all audiobooks, so they do not have the text to follow along with. http://www.wegivebooks.org/ This site does not have any audio, but the books are familiar titles and the quality of the images is great. Create Your Own Audio QR Codes QR codes come in handy for lots of different things in the classroom. This site explains how your students (older grades) or you can create a QR code that links to an audio file. You can post the QR code on the title page of the book and if a student needs it to be read aloud to them, they just scan it! |
AuthorI am an Instructional Technology Facilitator for 5 elementary schools in Wilson, North Carolina. This is my second year as an ITF, but I have a total of 10 years of experience in education. Archives
April 2016
Categories
All
|