Reading Using Apps!

Obviously, I love reading and books. I love having a physical book in my hands, but I also love having the ability to access thousands of interactive books online-many of them for FREE.

I think online books (ebooks, book apps, Tumblebooks, Raz Kids) should be a common feature of our Learning Commons. Last week, I began showing some of the primary classes online interactive books found in the Apple App store for MacBooks. I realize that not everyone has access to Apple products, but I also plan to show online books that can be accessed by PC users as well. I plan to continue showing these books this week and I would like to show students how to access these books as well.

I believe that online books really target students who may not like to read. These books are so interactive that the reader may think they are watching a television show. These books allow students to make choices, play games related to the story, and assist with decoding. I like that most online books can be read aloud to students and that students can hear unknown words repeated- and sometimes even defined.

As I showed a story titled Amelia and the Terror of the Night (the title sounds more frightening than the book actually was) to a group of grade three students, I was amazed by how engaged the students were. I heard lots of "whoas", "Oooo", and "cools!" as the story was read. The students loved the additional features of the book that I showed them. For example, in this particular story, there are places where you can click and animals will pop out of the pages. This 3D experience really brought this story to life. The pictures were stunning, the music was complimentary and added to the reading experience, and the students gave me excellent feedback. This particular book features animal paws that pop out at the viewer to turn the pages. These small details really caught the attention of the students! One student stated, "that books was SO cool!". I love when students are excited about books- no matter what type of medium is used to show the books.

Here is a screen shot from my MacBook of the story that I featured this week-

I think it is important for students to know about what online books are available to them, how to access them, and how to make sure that what they are accessing is appropriate. It's also important to embrace technology and to guide students to use it for educational purposes- that are actually fun!

I have been showing these books during the scheduled book exchange times, but if anyone is interested in scheduling a Learning Commons block to learn about online books, let me know and we can work together to plan those sessions.


Happy reading!