Tune into Technology Linky: Integrating Technology into Reading

This week’s theme is Integrating Technology into Reading. We are going to focus on Daily 5 since that is how we set up our reading block.

During “read to self” my kids have a choice to read from book baskets and/or to use their Raz-Kids account on their laptops. Our district has an account to Raz-Kids. It has been a wonderful edition to our reading block. My kids love reading from their Raz-Kids accounts. I also love when they choose this because there are so many wonderful features on this program.  When a child reads to self using Raz-Kids I can see which stories they are reading, I can make sure that students are only reading books at their independent reading level, students can record themselves reading, and there is a comprehension piece which is also wonderful.

This student is listening to his recording of a book on Raz-Kids.

Read to someone is the one part of daily five that I have a tendency not to do each and every day. In first grade when we do read to someone students get easily distracted and off topic.  I am hoping next year if I slow down the “building stamina” part of our read to someone I will have more success with it!

Anyways, when we do read to someone I will sometimes have students read into Garageband together as a reward to my partners who are working really hard.  Students will take turns reading pages or reading their story together.  I love it because it promotes fluency as they listen to themselves and often  record and rerecord themselves many times.  Students like it because they enjoy listening to their voices!


Word Work:

Our little friends are still learning to read which means our word work time is very important so that they can develop their skills as readers. I love using the free ABC Magnetic Alphabet Lite app on the iPads for word work. I use this app practically everyday in a word work center or during the word work practice of my guided reading groups.  

I say a word that fits our word focus of the week (words in the -an family, silent e words, words with -ing ending, etc.) and then they find that letters to make the word and pull those letters up on the screen.  After we have made a few words, I say one of the words and then my little friends “send it back home” by swiping the letters of that word back down to the bottom.  I also use this same activity with my little kinder friends but they are identifying letters instead of making words. If you aren’t doing this in a teacher guided center, you can instead have one student be the teacher while their partner is working on the iPad. One student can be the teacher by reading a word from a list and then the other partner needs to make the word on the iPad, using this app. Then the students switch roles so everyone gets a chance to use the iPad and practice their words!

Meet with the Teacher:

We know that “Listen to Reading” is another Daily 5 center, but since students are able to listen to reading during their Read to Self time on Raz Kids, we are focusing on our ‘meeting with the teacher’ time instead as that is a major portion of our daily reading blocks! Similar to Raz-Kids, I use our Reading A-Z subscription to find great books that cover a variety of word work skills we are working on that my little friends can then read on the iPads or Macbooks.

I find books that are at my students’ instructional reading level and then save them as PDF’s in my Dropbox account which I can then use to open on each iPad or through uploading them to our website server where students can access them.  Check out this post here for more information on how I do this! I use these stories during our guided reading groups where I can easily assist students with their reading. My little friends love the stories that Reading A-Z has to offer and so do I because they really help my little friends be successful readers.

Work on Writing:

Writing is such an important component to incorporate into a daily reading block.  Writing activities give my little friends the chance to show me their application of whatever skills we have been practicing. My favorite tech idea for writing centers is a website called Storybird where students can create their own stories with their choice of illustrations.

I love Storybird for the ridiculously cute illustrations and how simple it is for my little friends to use it. Also, since there are SO many fun illustrations to choose from, my little friends never get sick of their “work on writing” time when we use Storybird!

We hope you found something new to try out in your classroom.  Please link up any ideas you have for technology & reading! We are so excited to read your tech ideas for reading! (And see you next Thursday for our focus on Integrating Technology into Math.)