Category Archives: iBooks
We Give Books
I came across this great website sponsored by Pearson Education a few months ago and I thought I would share it with you. It’s a great resource if you don’t have enough copies of a book for your students or if you want to read a book on an interactive white board with your students.
These are some of the first titles that popped up when I log in. You will need to create an account to use the site, and you have the option to donate money on the site to Pearson so that they can give books to other children. Every once in awhile, I will donate some money after we’ve read a particularly fun book.
There are a WIDE variety of books on here, both fiction and non-fiction. Almost every DK reader or book they have written is available, and all the other Pearson imprints.
When you want to read a book, just click on the word, “READ” at the top of the page.
If you want to make the book full screen, you just click on the button with the four arrows on it above the book:
You then click on the left/right button to turn the pages. I like using these books on my Promethean Board when I do not have a big book copy for us to use and to make sure everyone can see. If you know how to drop out the ActiveInspire software, you can use your pen and write on or highlight pages in the books. My kids love it!! The only downside is that the site will not read the books to you, you have to be the one who reads them. It’s great for practicing fluency!!
You can also search for books for different ages, genres, and by author:
There are also books written in Spanish on this site. I am usually able to find a fiction and a non-fiction book that I can pair together and we read them over several days.
Let me know what you think!
Also, be sure to check out these sites for more online books:
Bookflix (To try this one out for 30 days, each of my colleagues entered their e-mail for a 30 days stretch, then another one would sign up for another 30 days, and so on…)
Tumblebooks (you will need to sign up to use this one, although our local library has it for free if the kids know their library card number)
Kristen 🙂
My Book of Colors (Review)
Hi everyone!
I was sent a link from the nice folks at Blucher regarding a new color book they had just published for iPads and the like. I’ve had lots of fun trying “My Book of Colors” out and so have my Kindergarten kids!
As a teacher, I like this interactive book because it has many ways to interact while learning colors (not just the primary colors either!). The children can use a two finger swipe to make hidden objects appear and can tap on the color words to hear them spoken aloud. In addition, there are at least three pages showing items that are found in each color and many of the items have actions that accompany them (for example, when learning about the color blue, tapping on the Earth will make it spin). My 7 year old even though it was fun to tap and swipe to find hidden items and actions!
My students liked this book because it had many objects to explore. I made sure that the students saw the tutorial given in the sample copy so they would know how to use this book to its fullest! They loved finding their favorite colors, swiping the pages back and forth to revisit their favorite pages, and listening to the color words read aloud. I also used this book with some of my ELL students to help them review their colors. We talked about the colors and named many of the objects and then they tried to guess what was hiding behind some of the different pictures. There are 10 different colors in this iBook and 45 pages total, making the $2.99 price tag (USA) a steal for this quality book! I loved the high quality pictures and how clear they appeared on my screen (you know how some colors are wonky on certain devices?–not these colors!). There are also a total of 120 images throughout the book and 120 more hidden objects for your Pre-K or Kindergarten student to find.
If you have access to a device that has iBooks on it, I would spend the $2.99 and check this book out. It will be such a great tool to share at the beginning of the Kindergarten or Preschool, and even more wonderful for those ELL students!
Here is the link to find out more information:
This will take you to the iTunes site online, but you can search for “My Book of Colors” in iBooks and it will also come up.
Please let me know if you have any questions!
Kristen 🙂
I was given a complimentary copy of this iBooks title and offered to write a review on my blog. I received no other compensation for this review and these opinions are entirely my own.
Kristen's Kindergarten 