Speakaboos (online books)

One sentence description:  Speakaboos is a website with online stories.

Website: http://speakaboos.com/stories

Grade: K-3

Detailed description:  Speakaboos is a website with many features.  I will focus on the “stories” feature in this post.  There are many online stories that can be categorized by many topics (too many to list but a few are fairy tales, nursery rhymes, Arthur).  There is a search feature which allows you to search by theme, author, or celebrity.  Celebrities read the online stories.  Some authors also read their stories, for example Marc Brown reads some of the Arthur books.  Some of the stories are also in Spanish.  The stories play on their own but there is a pausing option.  Not all the stories are free, so to access all the stories you must become a member.  There are also lesson plans, worksheets, and online games to go along with each story.

Online Stories (on KOL Jr.)

One sentence description:  A website with online stories.

Website: http://kids.aol.com/KOL/1/KOLJrStories

Grade: K-2

Detailed description:  The website KOL Jr. has many sections, but I will only focus on the “stories” section.  Maybe in a later post I will review the other sections but for now you will have to check it out yourself.  The “stories” section includes online versions of published books.  The stories are not animated but there are illustrations.  The text is read and the words are highlighted as they are being read.  The story flips between the pages on its own but there is a pause feature available to pause the story at any time.  The stories are organized by these categories: animals, Arthur (by Marc Brown), fairy tales, family, rhyming.  I do not know if the stories are word for word of the original story or not, but I would assume they would be.  This would be a useful website for a struggling reader.

Books by Ezra Jack Keats

One Sentence Description:  The author Ezra Jack Keats official website with animated stories.

Website: http://www.ezra-jack-keats.org/

Grade: K-2

Description:  This website is all about the author Ezra Jack Keats.  My favorite resource is the animated stories.  There are three of Ezra Jack Keats’ stories which have been animated.  The “Educator’s Corner” link sends you to a page with links to lesson plans/ideas.  Some are related to Keats’ books, including those which are not animated on the website.  The “Kid’s Corner” link is where the animated stories are located.  There are also games as well as activities (coming soon) for students to play.  There are many other links related that you can check out (I only mentioned the ones that are more geared towards teaching lessons) including the author’s biography and awards.