IRA WEBSITE #2: INTO THE BOOK

 

- Into the Book -

Into the Book was developed by PBS Wisconsin Education, with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and a team of experienced educators. It is a reading comprehension resource for elementary students and teachers. It provides practice activities that focus on eight research-based strategies: using prior knowledge, making connections, questioning, visualizing, inferring, summarizing, evaluating, and synthesizing. Into the Book includes: a student website featuring interactive reading comprehension activities, teaching videos, feedback, audio or read aloud capability, and rewards; the teacher website features video clips, posters, teacher guides, lesson plans, and matrix linking each activity with Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts (ELA).

When you log onto the student website [https://reading.ecb.org], you will be asked if you are a returning or first time user. You will enter your name or key (which the site will generate for you). Into the Book does not collect any personally identifiable information. The name students enter to log in to the site is used only to save their work on the site. E-mail addresses provided at the end of an activity are not collected or saved, but is used to send work. However, you can also skip logging in and use the site for practice only, but work will not be saved or tracked. 

Once you enter the keycode, or enter as a guest, you will choose from the strategy icons. From there is an instruction or teaching page where there is an explanation of the strategy and a video to watch the strategy demonstrated. The videos are not current or modern looking, but are quite helpful and straight to the point. Afterwards, you can choose the text you want to practice. Each practice activity is different, some require you to find text evidence, some you can create pictures. Once the activity is completed, the user can choose an award. After all strategies are learned, there is a culminating activity. Which can also be used as an opportunity for higher order thinking or as a fun challenge.  

 

I find the website easy to navigate through, and very user friendly. Even for non-native English speakers, it is easy to use and the lesson videos are helpful. The task of finding evidence in the text to answer the questions, is assisted/ guided giving the user immediate feedback. At the end of the task, you will receive a reward of your choosing. I really enjoyed this website! I find it valuable to use in the classroom as it is quite engaging, and effective in teaching strategies and reinforcing skills in a simple yet interactive way. There are not a lot of resources for practicing specific reading strategies, so I am glad I found this site. There are some minor issues with the program freezing, especially during the drawing activities, but for the most part, most of the activities can be completed.  

 

 

IRA WEBSITE #1: UNITE FOR LITERACY

 

- Unite for Literacy -

In an attempt to provide children access to an abundance of books that celebrate their languages, cultures, and cultivate a lifelong love of reading, Unite for Literacy has low cost, print and digital book distribution options that support organizations in eradicating book scarcity in their communities. To accomplish their vision, the Unite for Literacy team brought together expertise from the fields of literacy education, business innovation, strategic planning, and early childhood development. The project builds home libraries and support families to develop a daily habit of reading, both of which are key factors in growing lifelong readers. To support their mission, the Unite for Literacy bookshelf  (https://www.uniteforliteracy.com/) provides engaging digital picture books complete with audio narration options in a variety of languages and is available on any device (computer, tablet or smartphone).  You can search for books by categories or by titles.

Teachers/users may select their preferred language and may select more than one language at a time.  This is a great feature for ESL students (English as a Second Language), as they can select to play each page in first their native language and then English or vice versa.  Students who have some understanding of English may choose to select the English narration for most pages and only select their native language when they come across a word or concept that is not familiar.  I like how inclusive the topics and book suggestion are. Some books have the option of American Sign Language; when selected, these books have video clips of a person signing current page of the book.  Selecting the narration options from the bookshelf will display all the books available in that language. Students with low vision enjoy the beautiful images, large font text and non-visually clutter pages.  Students can chose to read the text themselves or press the audio button to listen to the appealing narration. At the end of the book, there is a page that has two follow-up questions or activities to do. There is also a display of suggested books relating to the topic that was just read. I also noticed that the books vary in reading levels, from simple 2-4 word sentences, to more complex sentences. The website itself is very user friendly, that even a young child can navigate it. Unite for Literacy’s online bookshelf is a great way to increase literacy at home, and anywhere it is accessible. Most importantly, it is at no cost and there is a large selection of books for different interests. 

 💖💖

Ran annim,

I am happy to say “farewell” to you all knowing that the word is just a marking point to the end of this short but challenging session, and am looking forward to seeing you again in the next session. A farewell is necessary before we can all meet again.  Today I am especially pleased to convey a word of thanks to you all for the great learning time we shared together.  All your Moodle sharing and blog posts help me understand the class materials better. Now that it is time we leave again the classroom door, I am sure we all have something to take with us. The knowledge and tools we learn have become our very own.   I am grateful that this class has enriched me with the new knowledge to use technology in many different ways. This course offers more to help us become confident teachers.

My sincere gratitude extends to the professor for the fascinating design of this class and all her wonderful ideas for learning. This class is very inspiring.

Last but not the least, I would like to wish you all the best for all that you accomplished.

“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”

 

KH

 

IRA Literacy Review; Vooks website

 

 

Literacy Review #5

 

                    Vooks https://www.vooks.com/ is an entire library of storybooks brought to life with beautiful animation, read-aloud narration, engaging music and sound, and read-along text. In short, this is a library platform for educational read-aloud.  It was founded in 2018 and is designed for ages 2-8.  This library platform has a lot of children’s stories and helps enriches a lifelong reading experience with its incredible animated books and resources.   It is also a curated library and book-streaming platform with a lot of fun and exciting children’s book available.  Vooks is a new innovation in reading that blends a well-written book, high-quality video, and the power of the internet into a single, complete story. Vooks at https://www.vooks.com/ is actually important as it is widely used as an effective way to improve literacy and reading comprehension. It offers access to books that have high-quality titles and are fun for reading. Kids would find these books very exciting.

                    In general, Vooks offers modern kids’ books from preschoolers up to young elementary kids.  Most of these books presents are appealing and provide positive messages and themes for children.  For example, there are collections of books that are centered around important ideas like being yourself, being brave, being creative, friendship, being kind, etc. Parents would love to nourish their children with these ideas and themes. In addition, these books are accessible on many devices.   If your kids love their tablets and you’re looking for a way to get your younger children more engaged with books, Vooks animated read-along videos are a good option. These collections of fun animated books come along with free and well-prepared lesson plans that come along with the video. I believe Vooks is a good use of screen time and will work best with parental involvement and encouragement.

                    In a broader educational sense, reading aloud is significantly essential.  It is used globally as a way to improve reading comprehension and literacy. When students listen to a story being read aloud, they develop a better understanding of the text, especially when their reading ability is low.  Reading aloud can allow students the opportunity to practice sounding out words and acquiring pronunciation.  Vooks works pretty much according to these best practices. The animations are designed not to overly distract, instead working to focus attention and connect what’s happening on screen to what’s being read. The highlighted text moves align with the narration, pretty much like the manual way when a student follows along a text with the finger pointing at the text for focus control. The voice or speech is clear and careful, enhancing pronunciation, sense of tone, fluidity, pitch, and inflection. However, there are important facts I think you should be aware of. This site is not free and you have to pay a monthly fee in annual payment. Also, if you have more than one or two children to entertain, you should be aware that the accounts are limited to 3 devices or browsers at a time. Log in on many devices will result in errors or account lock.

                    Overall, I really admire the quality of the animations.  They are smoothly animated and make the stories more fun without being distracting.  The calm narration and steady pace that Vooks tends to use can help younger kids improve their sight and word recognition. The logic behind Vooks app is pretty sound and is based on some pretty solid evidence. As modern studies show, animated illustrations that match a story capture the attention and help develop an understanding of text better than static images. Motion and effects seem to grab kids’ attention better, and promote visual and verbal processing, resulting in deeper comprehension.