I find that every year, the kids come in more and more digitally-oriented. I can read them a story and inevitably they fidget and play with their shoes and talk to their neighbor. I do the different character voices, I cold call kids that look like they aren't paying attention--nothing works. But if I play the same exact story on the Smartboard, suddenly I have every single student engaged! My neighbor was telling me that her daughter, who is 3, walked up to the tv and started swiping it the other day-she could understand why the image didn't change like it did on the ipad! These kids are growing up in a different era, and I think we have to cater to that.
Tumblebooks is a great resource! It is a pay service, however if you Google the name plus public library, you will find a link where they post the stories for free. They have a whole bunch of Robert Munsch stories on there, The Dot and Ish which I know are teacher favorites.
Another is Discovery Education (United Streaming). Sometimes they are hard to find because if you search for stories there are thousands. But I will type in "Weston Woods" which is the publisher and many favorites come up. My kids love Angus, Where the Wild Things Are, Tikki Tikki Tembo and Chrysanthemum. One of my favorites is the Tale of Two Chickens...(didn't she know he was a fox--she doesn't read! :)
Barnes and Noble has a place they call Online Storytime where there are only a few titles-but good ones and they are read by their authors, including the Kissing Hand which I know is a staple in many classrooms for the first day of school.
Another great resource is YouTube. I know, you can't access it at school. Just download the videos with a program like YouTube Downloader. I was so excited to find this gem recently-read by Shel Silverstein.
And this one where celebrities read the stories. Of course, the kiddos don't usually know who the actor/actress is, but I find it to be very cool!
And lastly, this is one that I put my kiddos on when they work in stations. I like it because the text comes up as they listen to the story. They have fractured fairy tales and cute little rhymes in the preschool section.
It's an interesting day in age huh? I just got a projector in my room this spring, and I can use youtube. I'm looking forward to using it to my advantage this next year.
ReplyDelete❀ Tammy
Forever in First