Helpful resources
Premier Literacy knows that electronic reading AND writing technologies are becoming essential. Capabilities such as digital content reading and writing, focused text searching, language model summarization, user-driven content selection / extraction, and even creation of digital audio and video will all play important roles in our ability to optimize our digestion and absorption of information.
The list below is just a sampling of resources for teachers who are looking for digital content to use in the classroom or want to check out how technology is used to enhance today’s world of digital learning. You’ll find web sites that have been recommended by other educators with ideas on ways to engage and involve a new generation of students in this digital era. Most of the sites included are free or have a nominal subscription charge. You can use Premier Literacy’s tools to read content on many of these websites, including files in HTML, Microsoft Word documents, TXT and PDF file formats.
We are rapidly finding that access to information is becoming more collaborative in form……peers and colleagues more easily and openly creating and sharing information like never before. If you have favorite sites for digital content, new technologies, etc., please send us the links to those sites so that we can include those for other readers’ benefit. Emails can be sent to ronda@readingmadeeasy.com.
NOTE: All sites included in this section should be reviewed by you prior to use. Premier Literacy’s listing of a site does not constitute its endorsement of the content of these sites or of their policies or products. Please use these at your discretion.
Resource Listing
America's Story from America's Library
http://www.americaslibrary.gov/about/welcome.html
Website by Library of Congress that contains many non-book items such as letters, diaries, records and tapes, films, sheet music, maps, prints, photographs and digital materials. Stories about America's heritage are presented through a variety of subject areas.
Enchanted Learning
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html
Contains more than 20.000 web pages with activities for teachers and students on a large number of content areas for a variety of grade levels. Includes section on printable books (some are for young readers) in pdf format. Subscription for $20 per year.
The University of Adelaide Library (Australia)
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/
More than 1,000 e-books in html format.
Aesop's Fables
http://www.aesopfables.com/
Collection of over 655 online versions of Aesop's fables.
Bibliomania
http://www.bibliomania.com/
Over 2000 classic e-books. Site includes study guides (written by Oxford and Cambridge University graduates, and offer in-depth summaries, discussions and commentaries on the texts) and teacher resources for teaching English and English literature.
Fullbooks.com
http://www.fullbooks.com/
Thousands of e-books with full text.
Munseys
http://www.munseys.com/
More than 23,000 free e-text books available in many formats, including PDF and HTML. New books added to site daily.
Project Gutenberg
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page
First producer of electronic books (e-books). More than 20,000 e-books with many others available through Project Gutenberg partners and affiliates.
Questia
http://www.questia.com/Index.jsp
Subscription service with access to more than 67,000 online books and 1.5 million scholarly articles. Includes journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles on the humanities and social sciences as well as productivity tools, lesson plans, etc. Valuable resource for research papers.
Association of American Publishers
http://www.publisherlookup.org/
Publisher lookup service that helps find appropriate contacts at publishing houses for requesting electronic formats for textbooks, scanning permissions, etc. Especially for college and university Disability Support Services.
Benetech Bookshare.org
www.bookshare.org
Gives print disabled people in the United States legal access to over 35,000 books and 150 periodicals that are converted to Braille, large print or text to speech audio files. Books and periodicals from Bookshare.org contain the full text of the publication (not pre-recorded audio) that can be read with the adaptive technology of the reader's choice. The books on the website are also available in digital Braille that can be read with refreshable Braille devices, or exported to an embosser. There's a $25 sign-up fee and $50 annual subscription fee. Must provide proof of disability to have access to copyrighted digital books. There are some public domain books available to the general public.
Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic
www.rfbd.org
Producer of accessible educational materials for students with disabilities such as visual impairment or dyslexia. Contains content from literature and history to math and the sciences, at all academic levels, from kindergarten through post-graduate and professional. Varying fees and levels of membership.
Schools without Books
www.schoolswithoutbooks.org
Approximately 75 free e-books in public domain are available for reading online.
Chem4kids!
http://www.chem4kids.com/
Basic chemistry information. Includes content on matter, atoms, elements, reactions, biochemistry, the periodic table, etc.
Cosmos4kids!
http://www.cosmos4kids.com/
Basic astronomy information site. Includes content on the solar system, universe, galaxies, stars, and exploration.
Biology4kids!
http://www.biology4kids.com/
Basic biology information site. Includes topics on plants, vertebrates, invertebrates, cells, microorganisms, and animal systems.
Geography4kids!
http://www.geography4kids.com/
Earth Science information. Includes topics such as atmosphere, hydrosphere, climates, earth structure, biosphere, biogeochemical cycles, and more.
Physics4kids!
http://www.physics4kids.com/
Basic Physics information. Includes topics such as heat and thermodynamics, electricity and magnetism, motion and mechanics, nucliear physics, light and optics, and many more.
Numbernut.com
http://www.numbernut.com/
Covers basic math content such as counting, shapes, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. More advanced topics cover fractions, decimals, percentages, money, and ratios.
Webmath.com
http://www.webmath.com/
Math site that provides help solving various types of math problems. Provides explanations of steps and includes K-8 math, trigonometry, geometry, algebra, calculus, etc. Helpful for homework support.
Teacher Tube
http://www.teachertube.com/
Free site for viewing and posting videos generally created by teachers and students.
Sites for Teachers
http://www.sitesforteachers.com/
Hundreds of educational web sites rated by popularity. Many links to teacher resources ranging from lesson plans, worksheets, and educational games to such things as songs and printable stickers.
Museumpods.com
http://www.museumpods.com/id33.html
Site for many freeware software downloads related to podcasting, blogging, aggregators and RSS feeds.
Magix
http://www.magix.com/us/free-downloads/trial-versions/all-trial-versions/
Free downloads and trials for photo management, movie editing, making podcasts, and music management.
PodcastBlaster
http://www.podcastblaster.com/
$39.95 for manual, podcast software, sounds files and website resource list.
Voicethread
http://www.voicethread.com
Online media album that allows people to make audio or text comments, and share them with anyone they wish. Allows an entire group's story to be told and collected in one place. Can add annotations and/or doodles.
Gliffy
http://gliffy.com
Draw and share diagrams, flowcharts, org charts, etc. online.
bubbl.us
http://bubbl.us
Online brainstorming tool allows you to create "mind maps" of the session.
Alternate Media eXchange Database
AMX Database (http://www.amxdb.net/)
Managed by the High Tech Center Training Unit of the California Community Colleges, participation in the AMX Database is based on reciprocity - educational institutions must agree to the "terms of use" before using the system. The AMX database is intended to reduce the workload of colleges and universities producing materials in alternate formats and provide enhanced access to instructional materials in alternate formats for use by students with verified print disabilities. The AMX Database is available to the California Community Colleges and other institutions of higher education within the United States. The database contains information about what type of alternate formats are available and contact information for how to obtain the book.
Universal Digital Library
www.ulib.org
Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University began an initiative a decade ago to get 1.5 million books online with free access to everyone. The US, China and India have each contributed $10 million to the project. More than half of the books are out of copyright or scanned with the permission of their respective copyright holders. As of Nov. 2007, the library contained books published in 20 languages, including Chinese, English, Arabic and the southern Indian language of Telugu.
PICS4LEARNING
www.Pics4Learning.com
Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. The Pics4Learning collection consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers.
Pics4Learning is a copyright-friendly image library for teachers and students. The Pics4Learning collection consists of thousands of images that have been donated by students, teachers, and amateur photographers.
ReadPrint
www.Readprint.com
This free online library contains thousands of books, including many classics, for students and teachers and is searchable by author.
OKAPI
www.InterventionCentral.org/htmdocs/tools/okapi/okapi.php
The OKAPI tool is an internet application that helps you create curriculum-based assessment reading probes or run a readability analysis based on the Spache or Dale-Chall reading formulas. This tool is part of the Intervention Central website, where you can find many other tools for educators.
The IRIS Center Resource Locator
http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/resources.html
Find free resources and instructor materials that "translate research about the education of students with disabilities into practice." Materials cover a wide variety of evidence-based topics including RTI, behavior, learning strategies and progress monitoring.