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Thursday, September 24, 2015

Module 2 Blog Post

Interactive Storybooks: 
Stories that can be read from a computer screen, on mobile devices, or as print books with interactive buttons

Clifford's Emily Goes to School is an example of an interactive storybook. I LOVE these for literacy centers in the younger grades. I particularly like ones like this because because have a few options as far as reading: you can read the text yourself or you can click on the speaker next to the line and it will read the text to you, allowing the students to hear the text as they see it, building their phonics and fluency skills. This interactive storybook has incomplete sentences and a word bank for students to fill in the blank. Each answer is correct and it changes the story, so it's kind of like one of those choose-your-own-adventure, so the students can be involved and invested in their reading.

Virtual Reality: 
Computer generated environment designed to provide a lifelike simulation of actual settings, often uses data gloves and headgear to immerse user in simulated environment. representation of real or imaginary worlds in which the user interacts through multiple senses.

Google brings virtual reality to the classroom in a very cheap way as described in this article. I honestly think this is so cool! This is something we dreamed about when we were kids and watched on Sci-Fi shows, but now it's a tool we can use in our classroom to take our kids on exciting fields trips without ever even having to leave the classroom! This article talks about how the virtual reality only needs cardboard, mobile devices, and software. One example is through Expeditions with the Planetary Society and the American Museum of Natural History, and once you receive the kit, you can take your whole class on a virtual field trip together.

Interactive Storybooks on the iPad

4 comments:

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  2. Using interactive storybooks during literacy centers is genius! Reading on a tablet can help "spice-up" reading for students. Interactive storybooks can also minimize the amount of teaching tools you need to invest in. If you have a tablet and headphones, then you will not need as many tapes and tape players for when students are listening to audio.

    Virtual reality is so important to elementary school. You never know where you might end up teaching. Your school might not have a lot of funding, or your class might not be able to take many field trips, so this is where virtual reality (field trips) comes into play. Great resource, Hannah!

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  3. Interactive storybooks have been one of the students' favorite literacy centers in every classroom I have observed. The interactive component engages students especially. Classroom iPads enable teachers to provide their students with access to so many more books than they would be able to supply physically in the classroom. I also love that you pointed out how the storybooks will help developing readers build literacy skills. Great resource!

    I also love your virtual reality resource! This tool helps students "experience" the content. Unfortunately, we won't be able to take our students on field trips every day. However, the virtual reality brings the field trip to the classroom!

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  4. I really liked how you pointed out how on some interactive storybooks the students can fill in the blank and personalize the story to their own. At a young age that's really necessary so the students get invested and can learn how reading can take them on adventures. With all the technology that the students have access too, this would be completely doable in a classroom to integrate reading and technology together.

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