Give Yourself Permission To Listen to Books Digitally

Students need to have access to books in order to build their literacy skills. I spend a lot of time explaining to students over the summer who dread summer reading it is okay to listen to books on tapes. Parents mouths go agape, shocked to hear this is ok. I think any way students can be exposed to text (books, newspapers, magazines, play scripts, comics, etc.) and helps foster a love of reading works! I worked hard to build a classroom library that provides choices to students at various reading levels. Students have also shared they use various apps at home on devices to get books in their hands. I do think one of the best ways is to hold a book but I am guilty of reading mostly on my IPad.

 

One of the ways students can access books at home this year is through their Tales 2 Go Account. We did a test drive of this wonderful resource in class yesterday, and I had sent home log in data for this day one. Students are aware of their at home user name and password (or should be). I love how students can choose various forms of text and listen to stories. Stories can be sorted by grade level or students can search for things they are looking for. I saw students listening to various genres of text, some laughing out loud at the fiction story they chose. Others visited stories by favorite authors.

I asked students about why kids should use Tales 2 Go.  Here is some of the feedback from our users.

Marissa said, “If they do not feel comfortable reading stories in their head it is better to listen to it online. “  Shawn shared, “If kids do not like reading so much this tool could be used. If a child feels they are not reading fast enough this helps hear someone who is fluent. Olivia told us, “If someone already read the book but did not understand what they are reading they could go on there and reread it. It also helps with words they do not understand.” Sophia added, “Students should use Tales 2 Go because students find it more appealing to do things on electronics or computers because it seems like more fun, and as a student it is more fun! Emma finished our conversation but saying, “Students should use this because you can read books that you cannot find in a bookstore. You get experience with other people reading to you too. “

To learn more about Tales to go and see tutorials click here.