E-books or Online Books

E-books or online books

What is the tool?

E-books or Online books

How can it be used?

These “digital” books can be useful in helping children learn how to read. Many of the websites have tools to help children with the words that they do not understand while reading. Children love to be on the computer so this is a tool that they can use to do something that is educational on the computer rather than playing a game for fun.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this tool?

The advantages that I have found are that some of the websites make it interesting to read as a child. On some sites you can basically make your own story by deciding what is going to happen next. The sites that have tools to help the children read through a story are great! A child can pick a story and as they are reading if they stumble across a word that is difficult for them then they can click on that word and it will say it for them. Some sites also have a feature that will read the story to smaller children. Overall these tools are great for children learning to read and who love to read on their own without help.

Some of the disadvantages are that there might not be a child’s favorite story available or some of the stories are available are some that we have not heard of before. It may also make the child reliant on having the feature of pronouncing words for them rather than them trying to sound it out for themselves.

Who is the audience for this tool?

This tool can be used for both teachers and students. Parents can also utilize these tools at home so that their children are making the most of computer time. Teachers can use these as a tool for students who are having trouble reading or for students who finish early as an educational reward. Students will be having fun and learning at the same time.

What is your opinion on the usefulness of this tool?

I feel that these tools are a great resource to use in the classroom. It provides entertainment for the students while they are learning and enhancing their skills. If you have access to a smart board then you can read to the class using these tools and some of the sites have great ideas for lesson plans or activities for the classroom.

Where can we learn more about this tool?

Here are some websites that I found. I hope you find them useful!

We Make Stories
This is a free website that children can go on and put parts of stories into it to make it their own. It is like a fill in the blank story and you can make the story go how you would like it to and you can send it to friends and even compare your story with one that someone else has written.

Star Fall

This website is free and can teach children everything they need to know about letter sound all the way up to helping them read. They have great tools and games to get the children into learning how to read and to help them with all of the steps to get there.

Literactive
This website has many tools that can help you teach children how to read in the early grade levels. It has online books and it has many different activities that you can use in your classroom.
Children's Storybooks Online
This is a website that has many different books that children of all ages can read for free online. Some of the younger children’s books with even read it for them. If they want to read it alone they can just click on a word if it gives them trouble.