Scholastic has been a staple in our classroom whether we order books through a flyer, purchase books at Scholastic book fairs, or read our monthly magazine. I had no idea that Scholastic had so many activities, games, and interactive stories on their website as well. While I was looking for smart board activities, I came across this website that can be used during large group instruction time on the smart board or independently. My students and I enjoy Clifford books, so I found a Clifford themed example.
The interactive story books can help get the whole class interacting and helping "write" a story as they go along. The students can practice decoding skills and fluency, while learning about syntax. Students are able to choose a noun to complete a sentence as the story progresses. Each story has a Spanish option as well.
The standards corresponding with this interactive storybook are:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words
Here are some examples:
I can't wait to try these out in the classroom, I know our students will laugh at some of the silly nouns, just as we make up our silly sentences in a literacy center.
In addition to all of these interactive books, there were so many games on Scholastic that promoted literacy skills such as this game to build cvc words. Students are able to drag vowels to the correct cvc words to fill in the blank.
Link: Build Words Game
This game corresponds with the standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.B Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.
Finally, I really liked the sound matching game that promotes phonemic awareness. Students can listen to the sounds and find the matching sound. Here is an example:
Link: Sound Matching
This activity corresponds with the standard:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2 Demonstrate understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes).
These large group activities can promote teachers using multimodal ways. The content is engaging, with multiple pictures, moving pictures, sounds, and speech. Students will enjoy the novelty of the activity and will become engaged in a large group setting, or in small group work. Hutchinson and Colwell comment on the multimodal forms of literacy, stating that with the multimodal lives are students are living, constantly engaged in moving pictures, tables, and television, among other forms of technology, reading content should be multimodal as well. The content such as the activities described above, engages and motivates students.
Reference:
Hutchinson A. & Colwell J. (2015). Bridging technology and literacy.
I think that interactive story books are great because they integrate technology and literacy. Interactive tools, such as this one really motivates the students to read. I like how the whole class can interact and "write" a story together because collaboration (starting at early ages) is important. I like how the games that you listed are directly connected to the common core state standards because teachers often struggle to find activities that will connect with the CCSS. Thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing! I wish I had known about this when I was teaching my first graders. I had such a wide range of abilities in my class, and much of the curriculum involved worksheets. That alone was a challenge for some! Whole class activities involving the smartboard were my savior. Students learned to be respectful and patient as well as attentive as their peers came up to the board.
ReplyDeleteAnytime SmartBoards are involved students usually perk up and get excited about their learning. I like Ellen's comment about students being patient and attentive to their peers. Technology is not only helpful for learning goals but also for creating a respectful classroom climate. Thanks for the share!
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