Epic! is an online database of thousands of books and videos geared for kids in grades kindergarten through fifth grade. Teachers and Librarians can sign up for a free account and upload class rosters. Students can sign in with a classroom code and get a personalized account where it tracks the books they read. Teachers can make collections of books for their class and monitor their progress, and also make quizzes the kids will be prompted to take after finishing a book. Epic! is available either in website version or through the app, which is available on IOS and Android devices.
I signed up for a free educator account and was pleasantly surprised at the number of resources available. They have both well known books like Fancy Nancy and Thomas the Train as well as Epic original resources. I really liked that in the books that are read to you, the words are magnified while they are being said aloud,which helps students track while they are being read to. I also noted that the app lets you browse by reading level, grade, or type of resource.
I can see this being a useful app for both teachers and librarians. If the students have access to iPads, reading on Epic (or having a book read to them) would be a great way to introduce a topic they will continue to explore other ways in the classroom. Even young students can navigate the app easily to find what they want to read, listen to, or watch. It's a great way to introduce the basics of research to young students. I also like that Epic has many books that are read to you. This helps young students and struggling readers to still be able to use the same app and complete the same assignments as others.
Students can also sign up for a home account of Epic, which would allow them to continue to have access in the summer. The first month is free, and it is $7.99 per month after that. Families can have up to 4 reader profiles on their account so multiple kids can read through the same account. Kids can access their school account through their personal home account when the teacher or librarian.
This is an application I allowed my four year old daughter to explore. I felt comfortable allowing her to read books on her own after showing her how to use the app. She really liked the read to me books as she is a beginning reader and this made her feel like she was reading along with the voice. She asked me to look up videos on different subjects after reading books about it, and I thought that would also be a wonderful way to utilize this app in the classroom.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Saturday, June 22, 2019
Saturday, June 15, 2019
Accelerated Reader
Accelerated Reader is an online resource owned by Renaissance. AR Bookfinder is a facet of Accelerated Reader that allows educators and students to find books based on reading levels, interest levels, and subject. It also maintains quizzes for thousands of books. This resource is free, which is great for teachers, librarians, parents, and students who are searching for books that are appropriate.
My school has a subscription to Accelerated Reader 360, which allows students to take quizzes, and teachers to manage the quizzes students have taken. I can see how this would be a wonderful resource to teachers and librarians who want to have a way to assess how thoroughly or completely students are reading. As an example I took the quiz on Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I found the quiz to be specific and challenging, making it fairly hard to guess or try to skim for the answers and get a good score.
While I can see this being a powerful resource in the hands of educators, there are some drawbacks. There is a cost to the subscription, and it is based on the number of students you have. Some schools may not be able to afford the cost. I could also see how reading could be morphed into the goal being doing well on the quizzes, and reading for that purpose. Reading is meant to be educational and enjoyable, and when students and educators start making it about the goal of answering all the questions correctly, you aren't reading for the right reasons and may even have a harder time deriving meaning from what you are reading.
Overall I feel that this could be a great tool, especially in ELA classrooms and libraries. It can help to develop a reading culture in your school and make managing keeping track of student progress easier.
My school has a subscription to Accelerated Reader 360, which allows students to take quizzes, and teachers to manage the quizzes students have taken. I can see how this would be a wonderful resource to teachers and librarians who want to have a way to assess how thoroughly or completely students are reading. As an example I took the quiz on Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I found the quiz to be specific and challenging, making it fairly hard to guess or try to skim for the answers and get a good score.
While I can see this being a powerful resource in the hands of educators, there are some drawbacks. There is a cost to the subscription, and it is based on the number of students you have. Some schools may not be able to afford the cost. I could also see how reading could be morphed into the goal being doing well on the quizzes, and reading for that purpose. Reading is meant to be educational and enjoyable, and when students and educators start making it about the goal of answering all the questions correctly, you aren't reading for the right reasons and may even have a harder time deriving meaning from what you are reading.
Overall I feel that this could be a great tool, especially in ELA classrooms and libraries. It can help to develop a reading culture in your school and make managing keeping track of student progress easier.
Sunday, June 9, 2019
Goodreads
I have been navigating and exploring the website Goodreads this week to determine it's usefulness in a school library and classroom setting. Goodreads is on online literary social media, centered around reading. The main functions are to connect readers to one another, through the option of following other accounts and groups people can join, and allowing user to keep lists of books for many different purposes.
Goodreads has several main areas of the website. The main screen, or home, is an update feed, where any updates for people you follow appear. It also had a progress section for any books you are reading, a yearly reading challenge ticker that shows your progress toward your goal, selected books from you "want to read" list, and your personal "bookshelves" which are lists of books you can create such as "read," "want to read," and even specific custom shelves like "epic fantasy."
The "My Books" tab allows you to access your bookshelves and allows for quite a bit of customization for the user. I use the "want to read" bookshelf the most because I am constantly adding to it. However I do like to use the shelves to keep track of different kinds of books I want to read, so if I am in the mood for something specific I can find it easily. Once you read books you can rate them and write a review. These can be helpful for other users to decide whether of not they want to read a book.
Another helpful part of Goodreads is the browse tab. Here you can find book lists, recommendations, giveaways, new releases, and more. I particularly like the book lists for finding books similar to something I have previously enjoyed, or finding a book that fits a certain genre and age group.
The last big part of Goodreads is the community area. There are a lot of things that fall under this category, such as groups, discussions, quotes, author questions, trivia, user profiles, and more. The groups are a wonderful place to find like-minded readers and fans of books.
One of the drawbacks to Goodreads is that users need to be at least 13 years old. Because of this, it rules out a good portion of the school aged population. However I think this could be a wonderful resource for teens and educators. Having a place for teens to keep track of the books they read and interact with others can be very encouraging, however I would hesitate to mandate the use of this resource as it is a type of social media, and it is not exclusive to teens and educators. I think educators especially can benefit from this website. Having access to all the curated lists (some made by teens and younger readers) can help them give good recommendations to students. The trivia could also be a fun activity to pepper into classes. Lastly, entering the giveaways is a free way to possibly get new books for you or your students.
In closing, I feel that Goodreads can be a beneficial resource to educators, and that older teens could benefit from utilizing it with proper guidance and caution.
Goodreads has several main areas of the website. The main screen, or home, is an update feed, where any updates for people you follow appear. It also had a progress section for any books you are reading, a yearly reading challenge ticker that shows your progress toward your goal, selected books from you "want to read" list, and your personal "bookshelves" which are lists of books you can create such as "read," "want to read," and even specific custom shelves like "epic fantasy."
The "My Books" tab allows you to access your bookshelves and allows for quite a bit of customization for the user. I use the "want to read" bookshelf the most because I am constantly adding to it. However I do like to use the shelves to keep track of different kinds of books I want to read, so if I am in the mood for something specific I can find it easily. Once you read books you can rate them and write a review. These can be helpful for other users to decide whether of not they want to read a book.
Another helpful part of Goodreads is the browse tab. Here you can find book lists, recommendations, giveaways, new releases, and more. I particularly like the book lists for finding books similar to something I have previously enjoyed, or finding a book that fits a certain genre and age group.
The last big part of Goodreads is the community area. There are a lot of things that fall under this category, such as groups, discussions, quotes, author questions, trivia, user profiles, and more. The groups are a wonderful place to find like-minded readers and fans of books.
One of the drawbacks to Goodreads is that users need to be at least 13 years old. Because of this, it rules out a good portion of the school aged population. However I think this could be a wonderful resource for teens and educators. Having a place for teens to keep track of the books they read and interact with others can be very encouraging, however I would hesitate to mandate the use of this resource as it is a type of social media, and it is not exclusive to teens and educators. I think educators especially can benefit from this website. Having access to all the curated lists (some made by teens and younger readers) can help them give good recommendations to students. The trivia could also be a fun activity to pepper into classes. Lastly, entering the giveaways is a free way to possibly get new books for you or your students.
In closing, I feel that Goodreads can be a beneficial resource to educators, and that older teens could benefit from utilizing it with proper guidance and caution.
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