Using Online Books to Push Learners in Choosing Good-fit Books

The Daily Five uses a concept called 'I PICK' Good-Fit Books. Simply put, the book is read meaningfully through the following ways:

• read the words
• read the pictures
• retell the story

I PICK Good-Fit Books concept include the following:

1. choose a book

2. determine the purpose for which a learner wants to read it

3. determine why the chosen book is interesting

4. check comprehension by throwing questions for understanding

5. check whether the child knows all the words in the chosen book (which leads to a sense of ownership of the whole reading process)

Teachers who are advocates of technology integration in the classroom can use the internet in encouraging learners to choose the books they can use in the Daily Five exercise. The internet is an alternative to the use of hard copy books. It also provides excitement, variety, and continuity of interest.

Keep on exploring sites to get the appropriate books that your learners need. However, it is very important to provide monitoring and guidance to learners who are using the internet in their reading adventure.

You may visit thislivebinder (Daily 5: Listen to Reading Livebinder) to explore more.

Click 'n Read Phonics: A Research-based Reading Lab Online

I recently attended a reading workshop conducted by the NC State Improvement Project. It was very inspiring and eye-opener. Having realized that I need to go back to basics in making struggling readers love reading, I spent hours doing research on what could be the most appropriate but handy reading lab that I could use in the classroom.

Among the numerous reading programs that I stumbled upon, I reviewed Click 'n Read because of its greater facility and flexibility. It is best to use for K through 3rd grade levels -- a real early intervention program! Likewise, it is very easy to use. Click 'n Read is purely online with hundreds of lessons and activities to choose from. The lessons are highly structured and developmental in scope. Best of all, it provides a progress report after lesson's completion. This is very helpful for teachers and parents in tracking the reading progress of the individual child.

Click 'n Read can be accessed here.

Category: Elementary

Free Text to Speech Converter for Struggling Readers

Unless you have all the time to personally address every need for differentiation in the classroom, you won't need a text-to-speech converter software.

Free Natural Reader provides the devoted classroom teacher a facility to convert a reading text instantly into an exciting audio material. How do you find your classroom filled with learners engaged in every way -- some are having a group guided reading with you, while others are quietly listening to the same reading piece that you are using to teach a skill?

Make the most of your students' experiences by providing them with strategies according to their need. The software can be downloaded here.


Category: All levels

Twitter: Communicating Made Ridiculously Easy

Now that the social media are tremendously growing in number, our world is truly shrinking as a global village. Using Facebook and Twitter alone, not only have businesses grew, but the ordinary people have come to meet old friends again. It is so exciting to connect with old friends!

A few moments before writing this post, I was browsing through my FB and Twitter (both personal) accounts. I couldn't help but look at dominant but common posts and tweets. First, there is a heavy rainfall in a Southeast Asian country right now. However, contrary to what many people all over the world do as precautionary measures during extreme weather conditions, SE Asian are very happy that floods are rising above the ground and classes are suspended temporarily. Lol! This is not to illustrate a point about a people's dislike for education. However, it only implies that certain groups have come to see certain climatic conditions as a commonplace.

The second 'bestseller' right at this posting time is Anderson Cooper's 'coming out.' The LA Times revealed that three hours after the CNN anchor posted on Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog about his once-in-a-lifetime revelation, it generated 100,000 shares on Facebook. Similarly, there is a pandemonium in Twitter, and probably in other media.


In using these as illustrations, I do not insist on letting my readers get soaked into my post-modernistic sociological perspective that was somehow affected by Michel Foucault's view of how changing power relations affected punishments (the longest run-on I have ever written!). My only point is to show how the world is 'bothered' or 'thrown into confusion' by an issue in which people in certain communities are not even concerned about. All these are brewed within the social media.


I have been using Twitter for personal and 'other' purposes. However, this is the first time that I will attempt to use Twitter for academic purposes. Please follow me.

Recommended Web Sites for Summer Fun

Even when they are away from a productive classroom environment, kids need something to harness a habit-forming exercise as they go through the demanding educational ladder. In this age where a wifi hotspot is everywhere, all that a smart kid needs is a computer.

With the sites that I have gathered below, education continues at the height of heat waves and summer fun. Always remember, however, that they need to be moderated to make their summer practice more appealing and motivating.


1. multiplication.com (features fun games to practice the facts of the child's choice)

2. spellingcity.com (use your past school lists or choose one of theirs)

3. funbrain.com (one of the most popular; find the link for their grade level)

4. fun4thebrain.com (includes entertaining Math Games)

5. math-drills.com (over 6000 free math worksheets with answer keys)

6. kidsgeo.com (State Capitals and other map games, Rock identification game)

7. kids.nationalgeographic.com (Awesome activities, games, videos, news stories)

8. pbskids.org/cyberchase/ (Math & problem-solving games, videos, printables)

9. kids.discovery.com/ (Science games, current events, videos)

10. bestedsites.com/museumlinks.html (Explore world famous museums without leaving home)

11. gamequarium.com/ (Tons of games for every topic)

12. coolmath.com (Tons of games, boards, jigsaws, and other strategy games)


Takeaway: It is important that the facilitator of this exercise (a parent, guardian, or a teacher) familiarizes a website before introducing it to the child for the first time. It maintains high expectations among the facilitator and the child.


Category: Elementary

RSS Feeds: Making Life Really Simple

I have been using Google Reader for years. However, this is the only time that I became serious in its functionality.

Online data gathering can be a bit overwhelming. When I work on something and much is relied upon virtual data, I cannot help but give myself a break from time to time. This break is not something spontaneous. On one hand, it can even be treated as an interruption. The "break" that I am referring to is caused by hundreds upon thousands of materials that are available and are ready to offer something. However, for busy professionals like most of us, time is of the essence, and we cannot afford 'fishing' in an ocean of ideas. There has to be some sense of specificity. We need to have a sense of focus.

RSS, or really simple syndication, drives us to what we want, to what we really intend to do or to find out.

In this exercise, I have intended to subscribe initially to a couple of blogs: Teaching Blog Addict and Free Technology for Teachers (although there are hundreds in my reader; many of them irrelevant to teaching, but they feed my interest). These two hand picks are interesting in terms of their content and format. I wanted to make my new blog serious and self-sustaining. I want to see how I can define my boundaries, and the two blogs will be my references.

Overall, my experience with RSS is good. It reminds me that I need to follow the SMART principle: specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

Celebrate Learning Through Fun!

This blog aims to compile classroom activities that use technology as a tool for learning. This project is a response to the growing need for variety, creativity, and ingenuity in the modern-day classroom.

Gone are the days when teachers are stuck into the 'worksheet lab' concept -- when the only perceived way to introduce and cover the curriculum is to drag students to go over their 'assigned work for the day' in order to keep abreast of the school, district and state standards.

Teaching and learning can be fun. They only need a careful planning, a dose of creativity, an ounce of ingenuity (making local and available resources work), and a lot of spontaneity.

This effort is a product of a Professional Learning Network (PLN) initiative. Although I can clearly visualize how to maintain and sustain this blog, I am indebted to the voices in my PLN: our online facilitator and my co-participants. I wish to hear feedback and insights about proven and tested technology-integrated activities in their respective classrooms. I also wish to try and be part of their future 'experiments' in the classroom.

PLN as a new Social Networking with a twist

I have been a part of generations of social networks: Friendster, Multiply, LinkedIn, to HubPages and Squidoo, and now, Facebook. Below these giants were small, short-lived online communities that have not withstood the test of time. I have produced literally hundreds of posts, reviews, write-ups, and comments about anything that matters consequences in the online world.

PLN is an exciting virtual community for me because it is small and cohesive, and members share a common interest. This is different from the giant networks because it is "personal"; members can be reached easily without a need for an ad or a shoutout.

Generally, social networking is a plus for professional development because it enables me to stay connected with people who also have associations with other 'experts in their own rights' about topics and issues that interest me. It makes me wander into a 'small village' of individuals who have the passion for my passion, and who care for those that I care for.

My access to social networking can bring about a profound meaning to my students, their parents, and the community at large, because it introduces us into a new perspective, into a "whole new world," to borrow one of Disney's most popular phrases.

Social networking, however, has often been viewed as a negative influence, a culprit of crimes, and a promoter of violence. In my personal belief as a consumer of virtual ideas, it is our responsibility as adults and as professionals to enable the rest of the world to realize that social media, just like anything else in this world (whether it is food, medicine, or any other commodity), should be taken in moderation. Younger members of the society -- often too excited to be consumers of social media -- need guidance, and they need to be redirected once in a while.

When used properly, social media can be a powerful tool in learning, in teaching, in research, and in making this world a better place to live.