Tumble Over TumbleBooks

While exploring the options for books young students can listen to my attention was drawn to TumbleBooks.  To my great surprise I found that our State Library purchased a subscription to TumbleBooks that all Kansas schools and Kansas residents can utilize for free!  TumbleBooks are animated, talking picture books created from existing picture books.  The TumbleBook Library also includes videos, from National Geographic, and games to enhance some of the book titles.  For instance, a book about panda bears might have a short video about real panda bears.

To access TumbleBooks, USD 495 elementary students and teachers will need to use the link on their school Draggo page.  The link is either listed under the category Reading or Listening to Reading.  Tumblebooks can be used on various devices - MacBooks, Chromebooks, iPads and iPods, however, the format looks different on the iDevices.  When using the iPad and iPod, you will still access TumbleBooks through the Draggo link.  The iPod instantly goes into Mobile access mode, but the iPad does not.  So, you will need to change the 'Choose' drop-down arrow under the KS State Library logo to Mobile and click GO.  You will notice when you choose a book to read on the iPad or iPod, you do not have the control buttons - next page, back page, etc.  It looks more like watching a video.  You do have the play and pause button along with the volume control.  There is also a slide bar to move forward and backward in the book, but it is rather sluggish and not reliable.

To learn more about TumbleBooks, watch their short, animated tour

at http://tumblebooks.com/LibraryTour.html

Website Wednesday

• Spruce Up a Boring Resume
  Great infographic on sprucing up your resume
  

  
  tags: resume Career infographic how to

• Set Up an Online Resume
  Take students to the next level of resume writing by introducing them to various online resume options. Great for high school students.
  tags: resume Career digital how to

• Career Kids - My First Resume
  Simple fill-in-the-blank for students creating their first resume. Great for getting them started and considering what to include in their resume.
  tags: resume Career

• Booktrack Classroom
  Booktrack Classroom allows students to read with a movie-style soundtrack, or to create their own soundtrack for any story, essay or other text. Students can also create and publish their own Booktracks, reading them on the web or on mobile phones and tablets.
  tags: reading books english

• E-books : KQED Education | KQED Public Media for Northern CA
  

  Bring science to life at the touch of a fingertip. Download the latest iBooks Textbooks from KQED! Explore STEM topics and careers through real-world examples. Designed to engage learners through a blend of high-quality media, interactive elements and informative text, the books and accompanying iTunes U courses offer rich learning experiences both in and out of the classroom.
  tags: STEM science edtech ebooks

• Edutopia
  Edutopia presents K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work.
  This online magazine provides articles grouped by grade levels, videos, classroom guides and more. Great resource for new classroom ideas, educational research and trends, student engagement and more.
  tags: education technology teaching pedagogy edtech

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Storia on the iPad

Storia is a reader app for Scholastic eBooks.  You can purchase eBooks with your regular Scholastic account.  You can even use your points to purchase eBooks.  Below is a short demo video of Storia:

Here are some additional things to know about Storia:

1. Storia allows you make up to 40 bookshelves which you can name, however, it is best not to use student names.  Many teachers use genres or reading groups to name their bookshelves.
2. You can sync up to 40 devices on your Storia account.
3. When you shop eBooks, you can download their free book of the month that appears in the scrolling images.  This month there are two easter books that are free:

 Easter Eggs Everywhere! - The Easter Bunny's running late for Easter, and none of the eggs have been decorated! So when a sly fox offers to sell the Easter Bunny a super-duper egg-painting machine, he takes the fox up on the offer. But the machine doesn't work as the Easter Bunny hopes, and now he's in even bigger trouble! How will he get all the eggs ready in time for the big day?

Ogres Don't Hunt Easter Eggs - It's been raining ever since Brutus Bigg arrived in town. And even though he's supposed to fix up the park for the town Easter egg hunt, he seems to be messing it up so no one will go there and bother him. Is Mr. Bigg an ogre trying to claim the park as his home? The Bailey School kids are going to find out...but will they be able to stop him in time for the Spring Festival?

I personally had some trouble getting the free books downloaded, but called up Scholastic and they were most helpful in getting them into my account.  In fact, they offered to add more than one copy so I could put it in all my bookshelves.  Since you can only put one copy of a book on one bookshelf, this would have been great if I wanted multiple reading groups to read the same book.