Infusing Your Reading Block with Technology

I don't know about you, but I am always looking for ways to spice up my Reading block.  While practicing the same activities to get the students used to the routine is important, I never want my students to become bored (because we all know what happens when they become bored!).  As teachers, we want to have everything running smoothly during centers.  We do not want behaviors that will disrupt others' learning and we want every child to remain engaged. If things are not running like a well-oiled machine, it makes it harder for us to conduct our small groups.  There is nothing more frustrating than having to interrupt your lesson to deal with behavior issues or answer questions that could be answered by friends or center-mates.  If our instructions are good, the kids should know where their materials are and what they should be doing at each center.

In my classroom, we have five laptops.  I ALWAYS use technology as one of my centers.  While I like sites like ABCYA and PBS kids, I think it is important for the students to have meaningful activities that incorporate the skills or topics we are working on that week- not just play "games" (as they like to call them) during computer center time.  Don't get me wrong, there are many sites out there that have valuable practice that correlates with our Standards of Learning, but it takes a while to scope those out prior to making the center assignments.  Sometimes I just don't have time to do that in a pinch!

This is where Google Classroom has been a lifesaver.  When I have planned ahead, I can assign a particular website OR I can pull an activity from my own Google Drive and assign that to each child. The great thing about some of these assignments is that they will last alllllll week!!!  Three to five days worth of center work?  Count me in!!!  :)  Plus, the kids are SO engaged and using their reading and writing skills to create something that will stay in their digital portfolio (their own Google Drive).

I wanted to create several activities for my students this year that they could use ANY time and MANY times.  I was also looking for something that the kids could work on at home for homework. Then it came to me- BOOK REVIEWS!!!  So I sat down and created one for fiction, one for non-fiction, and one for biographies. Each is in digital flipbook format, which the kids love.  They are colorful, easy to navigate, and pretty self-explanatory.  I love that the flipbooks are assessing my students comprehension and improving their technology skills all at once!  You can even print them out and compile them to send home, if you'd like.

If this sounds like something that your students would enjoy, I hope you will check out these products in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  Try them out and let me know what your kiddos think!  It's like a book report but better, right?!?!  :)  Happy teaching!!!

Click this link to get to TPT:

Book Reviews for Google Drive