Designing Your Own READ Poster

I'm on a personal crusade to get my students to read more. As digital learners, today's kids have access to computers, smartphones, iPads, Wii, Xbox 360, 3D TVs and movies. They are in a very visual world, and it's a challenge to get many of them interested in reading of any kind. I've added graphic novels and Manga to the collection, added more magazine subscriptions and asked students what they like. My latest addition to the walls of the library are READ posters. I personally designed my own rather than purchase because I wanted our teaching staff to pose with a book.  Maybe students would see their teacher with a specific book and want to check it out. Worth a try, right? And the female teachers especially appreciated the "digital plastic surgery" I did to their faces!! If you would like to download a fully editable PSD copy of the poster, you can click here.

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Nothing Quite Like a Real Book

A student asked me today if I own a Kindle or a Nook. My answer was simple; I still love feeling the pages and turning them one by one. And I also have a stack of books I haven't read yet lining my bookshelves in my home library.  Yes, one day I personally will jump on the bandwagon, but for now......

Here's a video animation which was created by a bookstore in Canada named Type Books. It sums it all up for me:

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18 Places Where You Can Find FREE Kindle and Nook Downloads

Now that our iPad2 raffle was a huge success, I am trying to decide how to use those extra dollars. As a teacher-librarian, I am always interested in getting our students to read and enjoy reading, so I thought the next big step was getting eReaders for the library. I am still on the fence as to which one to purchase, so I thought I'd start my research by seeing how many sites have free downloads for Kindle and Nook. I was surprised at the results; there are many ways to get free downloads for both eReaders.

Barnes and Noble Free Nook Books- search 0.00 and get a listing of free eBooks

Bookyards- pdf files can be ported to your Kindle

Books Buddy- a Nook app to locate free books

Digital Library NJ- Kindle, Nook; library card needed

eBooks Habit- regular postings

eReaderPerks- Kindle, Kobo and Nook; also, the "latest device news, book/ereader reviews and author interviews."

Feedbooks- Kindle, Nook; public domain books

Fictionwise eBooks- Kindle, Nook

Google eBooks: Best of the Free- Kindle, Nook

Inkmesh- search engine for free eBooks, including Kindle and Nook

Internet Archive- Kindle, Nook

Kindle Store's Top 100 Free

ManyBooks-Kindle, Nook; 29,000 downloadable books

Mobipocket- Kindle

The Open Library- Kindle, Nook; one million titles

Penn State University's Electronic Classic Series Site- Kindle, Nook; pdf files

Pixel of Ink- free and bargain Kindle books

Project Gutenberg- Kindle, Nook; 33,000 downloadable books

Public Libraries- Kindle, Nook; check your state and local libraries (I have listed my state of NJ above)

***Here is a comparison chart of Kindle vs Nook.***

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READ180 Assists Struggling Students

"READ 180 is a comprehensive system of curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development proven to raise reading achievement for struggling readers in Grades 4–12+. READ 180 is designed to maximize student engagement, teacher effectiveness, and leader empowerment."  ESL  and special education students will see their Lexile scores increase when they apply the program.  Scholastic provides a list of funding resources, as well as information on grant writing. (See the Scholastic Funding Connection )

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Sparknotes Videos Illustrate the Classics

While assisting a teacher yesterday with videos to explain Lord of the Flies, I came across Sparknotes videos. I knew that Sparknotes offered study guides in 19 subject areas, with detailed information from biology to U.S. government and politics, but was also pleasantly surprised that they also have videos which look like the drawings in graphic novels. (Kids love those graphic novels!) With a listing of 26 videos, language arts teachers can find the classics which all students have to read at one time or another, including Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Scarlet Letter, 1984, Hamlet, King Lear and Julius Caesar. Here is a sample video of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness:

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10 Resources for Book Report Templates

ABC Teach

Book Report Forms- from the Busy Teacher's Cafe

Book Report Rubric

Book Report Sandwich Station- from Scholastic; ingredients represent parts of the book report

Book Review Sheet

Collection of Book Report Ideas- 109 on the list so far

A Dozen Book Report Templates

EdHelper- different types: biography book report, general book report, nonfiction book report

Free High School Book Report Template

Special Subject Book Report Forms- includes Holocaust, animal fiction, folklore

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35 Sites to Find eBooks

150 Free Textbooks- meta collection from Open Culture's blog

4eBooks- computer programming books; very large collection

Academic eBooks- covers humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, formal sciences and professions & applied sciences.

askSam eBooks  and Databases- askSam viewer needed for downloaded books

Bartleby-small site contains classic literature, poetry and reference works.

Bibliotastic-free downloads for indie authors; rating system for titles

BluePortal- computer-related titles, such as Facebook for Dummies, Javascript Bible and the Digital Photography Workflow Handbook.

Bookyards- currently 800,000 ebooks

eBook Lobby- categories include art & photography, children's books, literature & fiction and sports.

eBooks Directory- close to 1700 titles; includes textbooks, lecture notes; updated daily

Flatworld Knowledge- free textbooks

FreeBookSpot- 96 categories and over 4,4000 titles

Free-eBooks- register for free; download on iPhone or computer; includes magazines

Free Computer and IT Books

FreeComputerBooks- 12 major categories and 150 sub-categories; includes tutorials. lecture notes and computer and math eBooks.

FreeBook-s- download for iPad, smartphone or eBook reader; this is a search engine which looks through many collections to find eBooks.

FreeTechBooks- covers computer science, engineering, programming, textbooks and lecture notes.

GetFree eBooks- free legal downloads

Globusz Publishing- ePublishing house which has free downloads

Google Books- thousands of public domain titles for free download

KnowFree- ebooks, video training, educational materials; IT books and magazines

Kobo- includes NY Times Bestsellers, Oprah's Book Club

Lendink- loan and borrow "officially lendable eBooks for your Kindle and Nook."

ManyBooks- more than 29,000 eBooks; download to iPod, eBook reader or PDA

Memoware- some categories include literature, (biography, horror, children, western...) reference, (education, computers, history..)

New Jersey State Library- sixteen categories on current topics

The Online Books Page-"over 1 million free books on the web".

OnlineComputerBooks- just what the title says....free computer books

Online Free eBooks- mainly pdf downloads; nine categories

Page By Page Books

Planet eBook- free classic literature

Project Gutenberg- 15,00 titles, all in the public domain. Easy download text files written in ASCII; readable on all computers.

ReadPrint- "thousands of books for students, teachers & the classic enthusiast".

Science Books Online- textbooks, lecture notes, monographs

The Universal Library- hosted by Carnegie Mellon University, it has one million titles, most of which are older works (before 1923)

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This Picture Needs a Caption

I came upon this picture online and thought about how it really needs a caption. Why don't you submit your idea in the comments section?

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Why I Order Graphic Novels for the Library

I know that there are many teacher-librarians and media specialists who do not feel that graphic novels have a place in the school library. I've heard comments such as "They're the same as comic books!" and "High school students shouldn't be reading picture books". Today's digital learners are constantly preoccupied with visual stimuli, including video games, computers, TV, movies and cell phones that it's no wonder that our book circulation statistics have shown a decline in the last few years.

Problem #1- Dealing with kids who say they hate reading
That always hurts to hear, but I'd rather they were reading a magazine or a graphic novel, because then they would at least be reading, right?

Problem #2- Special education students who have various problems
I have students who not only have ADD, they dislike reading. (see problem #1) Cool pictures in a graphic novel can possibly keep their interest, especially if the artwork is awesome. The books I have purchased include a few Twilight Zone stories, classic novels (Beowolf, Frankenstein) and Anime.

Here are a few articles about graphic novels in the school library:
How Graphic Novels Thrive in High School Libraries: A Discussion 
2011 Great Graphic Novels for Kids- from ALA
Graphic Novels, Seriously- from SLJ
Must Have Graphic Novels Secondary

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DailyLit Provides Books Via Email or RSS

A great way to motivate your students to read this summer is to introduce them to DailyLit. Once they sign up on the site, students will receive their book installments via email or RSS feed. Reading can be done on a computer or any mobile device, including Blackberry, iPhone or iPad. Thanks to Kristen Swanson for posting on her site.

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