Storia (K-5, limited 6-8th)http://store.scholastic.com/microsite/storia/home
Storia can provide many opportunities for teachers to support reluctant readers. First, all of the most popular children's books plus more are available on this e-reader program. These stories can then be adjusted to any size print. Students can adjust how the print looks so that they are more comfortable as they read. Storia also has a read to me feature that can help students who struggle to read accurately or fluently and the interactive pictures and pages will keep students involved in the stories as they read. Enriched ebooks have "an array of age-appropriate activities, from image games and word puzzles to quizzes and exclusive author interviews." (scholastic, 2013) Storia also has an interactive dictionary and other reference tools to provide support to expand a student's vocabulary and prior knowledge in a fun and interactive way. Student's can also access their individualized bookshelf from home and continue reading the stories they love. An added feature for teachers is a progress monitor report feature, more information can be found at scholastic.com/storia. Storia supports students who are reluctant to read due to a disability, low interest, or fear of not understanding. |
iPad interactive book apps (K-4th, some upper levels are available)Apple's App Store has an assortment of interactive books at varying levels. For reluctant readers, these apps can help improve reading and provide incentive to continue to read every day. Each book has features that involve the reader in the story. Students can play games as they reach certain benchmarks in the story as well as "touch-n-play" interactions on each page. Many of these apps also come with comprehension questions and word/vocabulary play portions for students to enrich their literacy skills. With using these apps, students can chose from a variety of genres and text structures to fit their interest and instructional level.
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Book Adventure (upper 1st-7/8th)http://www.bookadventure.com/Home.aspx
Book Adventures is a great site for students who do not want to read or feel reading is boring or years of struggling has lead them to avoid daily reading. Book Adventures "is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can search for books, read them offline, come back to quiz on what they've read, and earn prizes for their reading success." (bookadventure.com, 2013) Students read trade books they have found in the classroom or school library and search for them on the book adventure website. Students are assigned a number of pages or chapters. After reading, students can return to the site and take the given quiz. With every quiz students receive access to games and points that can be used for actual prizes, such as temporary tattoos, magazines, CDs, gift cards, or teacher-made. Teachers can group students into teams for students to combine their points for classroom competitions. Research in behavior and developmental studies state that positive reinforcement and extrinsic incentives/motivation can support student learning many areas. |
Other Tools
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