Reaching Readers with Online Books

Greetings from one long, lost blogger!

Hello!  It's me--Jennifer--from Stories and Songs in Second!

My summer hiatus from this royal kingdom of literacy lovers is now over! 

Know that I am glad to be back to share a wonderful website that I recently discovered!  I've used RAZ Kids, a program purchased by my school district, as my "go to" online reading resource for many years, but am going to add EPIC to my student's list of Daily 5 Listen to Reading choices this year!

I've been very impressed with the variety of literature choices provided at Epic--Books for Kids, and really like that many of the titles included in their different libraries are current, quality trade books.  There is a balance of fiction and non-fiction, and you can tailor your menu to your student's interests.

In order to show you how easy-peasy it is to sign-up for your account, I took a series of screen shots so that you'd have a picture tutorial!  I am not the most techno-savvy person, but was able to set up my account on my home laptop, and plan to access it on my iPads at school as well!  There is also an iPhone app!

I love the Scaredy Squirrel series, but don't own many hard copies.  I am looking forward to sharing more of the stories with my second graders using EPIC on my classroom SmartBoard!  I am also looking forward to sharing information with my students' families so that they can access our account at home and READ, READ, READ! 

I hope that you'll be able to use EPIC effectively this year to reach and teach more readers!  Click

{HERE} to get started!

In closing, I'd like to share this fun set of promotional posters I made for the annual literacy initiative in my building.  Maybe you can use them in your classroom or school as well?!?!   Click {HERE} to download it!  

The "We have read _____ picture books," "We have read ______ chapter books," and 

"Your teacher is reading...." posters were inspired by the ever-wise Pernille Ripp.   She writes over at Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension, and shares my love of picture books and fills her classroom with them.  I look forward to encouraging a classroom community of children who are passionate about books this year, and hope you will too!

As always, thank you for allowing me to share my story!  Continue to keep calm, teach on, and hold a song in your heart!  Feel free to visit me over at Stories and Songs in Second this week where there is a back-to-school celebration going on!