Mobile App Monday - Imagistory

Imagistory provides an entirely new reading experience. Not only is it fun and easy to use, it's also highly educational, helping to foster creativity and imagination. It can also help develop language and early literacy skills. Using wordless picture books, you and your child use your imaginations to create a story with the pictures. The stories you create can be recorded and saved so you can listen to them again later and share them with loved ones.

Want to learn more about it? Please visit:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id562786443

Mobile App Monday - Fun with Verbs & Sentences

This app is developed for language ages 2-5 with eye-popping color drawings and 266 delightful animations--a cutting-edge way to show and teach action words! It provides a fun way to visually show left to right sentence building (early literacy concepts) and sequence the parts of a sentence in the right order.

Want to learn more about it? Please visit: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/fun-with-verbs-sentences-hd/id713921450?mt=8

Mobile App Monday - iTouchiLearn Life Skills: Morning Routines for Preschool Kids

iTouchiLearn Life Skills: Morning Routines Edition helps build early learning literacy and life skills. Immerse your child into the virtual world of morning routines. Each routine contains a unique activity that must be completed to move on to the next routine. After successfully completing each morning routine, players receive star rewards and play in the rewards play space.

Want more information? Please visit: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/itouchilearn-morning-school/id409137843?mt=8#

Mobile App Monday -- First Words

Looking for a pre-literacy app? Try First Words. This version is for education professionals and speech language pathologists. Professional uses the same intuitive interface that is so easy for preschoolers, kindergartners, and kids with special needs to use. Kids will love the beautifully drawn pictures and matching entertaining sounds while learning how letters correspond to sounds and how letters sounds form words.

To learn more about this app, visit: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/firstwords-professional/id507560748?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Mobile App Monday - Word Magic

Looking for an app for young children just beginning to learn to read? Word Magic is designed for kids ages 3 to 6 to help them learn their letters and how to create words. It's an award-winning app that has a very simple design and is also attractive and offers "rewards" for getting the correct answers.

Want to learn more? Visit: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/word-magic/id293630633?mt=8

The best of Corwin: Differentiated Instruction

The best of Corwin: Differentiated instruction in literacy, math, and science is a collection of the best chapters from critically acclaimed Corwin publications. Current research on the most effective practices in differentiating instruction in literacy, mathematics, and science is showcased, including many strategies and classroom examples.

Email us at cedir@indiana.edu to check out this title, or use worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Rebuilding the Foundation

From the product description:

Rebuilding the foundation: Effective reading instruction for 21st Century literacy is not a prescription for designing reading programs. Rather, it leads its readers to engage in a deeper and more thoughtful professional conversation about what is meant by effective reading instruction for all students. The contributors examine how reading instruction is conceptualized and what must be done to make it work for all students. Hence, this book is less about building onto or altering existing models of reading education and more about how reading educators and policymakers might think about rebuilding and reconceptualizing, perhaps from the ground up, what it means to provide effective instruction in reading to all students at all levels.

Send us an email at cedir@indiana.edu to check out this title. Or try worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

RTI and the adolescent reader

From the product description for RTI and the adolescent reader: Responsive literacy instruction in secondary schools:

"This accessible guide defines RTI and explains why and how it is considered a viable intervention model for adolescent readers. Drawn from real secondary school cases demonstrating tiered interventions, the text includes evidence-based strategies, discussion questions for each case study, and prompts that foster critical thinking and the application of chapter ideas."

Want to check it out? Email us at cedir@indiana.edu, or try using worldcat.org to find it in a library near you.

Mobile App Monday - MeeGenius!

Got a child who needs help with literacy skills? Looking for an eReader app? Try, MeeGenius! This fun app narrates children’s books that are already in the public domain. It comes with 12 books pre-loaded, but you can download free or purchase others. All books are narrated by a human voice. Highlights the words as it reads to help children with visual and auditory learning skills.

For more information, go to: www.meegenius.com

Mobile App Monday

Dragon Dictation

Dragon Dictation is a free voice recognition application powered by Dragon® NaturallySpeaking®. According to its website, Dragon Dictation is up to five times faster than typing on the keyboard! It creates voice-­to-text transcriptions that may be sent as SMS, Email, or pasted into any application using the clipboard. Languages that this app supports are: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and it must have Internet access to work. For more information, go to: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-dictation/id341446764?mt=8

Literacy Beyond Picture Books

Literacy beyond picture books: teaching secondary students with moderate to severe disabilities is a compilation of creative lesson plans and games for use in the classroom. Editors Dorothy Smith, Jill DeMarco and Martha Worley and their team have come up with an assortment of activities that range from crafts (painting a "Jungle Mural", making "Mountain Views" from construction paper) to reading activities (vocabulary card games, themed word games) to everyday skills (baking "Potato Chip Cookies"). The book contains everything a teacher needs to get started with an engaging curriculum.

Interested in this book? Indiana resident? Email us!

Not an Indiana resident? Find this book at your local library through WorldCat.

Differentiated Instruction

Differentiated Instruction for the Middle School Language Arts Teacher is designed to provide teachers with a wealth of new and exciting strategies to engage students in all aspects of the writing process. Lessons can be modified to accommodate students with different learning styles and opportunities to involve parents are also provided. It's a great resource that gives teachers valuable tools for teaching standards-based curriculum in inclusive middle school classrooms.

Interested in this book and an Indiana resident? Contact us!

Not an Indiana resident? Find this book at your local library!

New, Free Activities That Promote Early Literacy

Funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, and created by Angela Notari-Syverson, Ph.D. and her colleagues, fourteen new parent education handouts are now available at www.walearning.com. These activities are designed to be for use during car or bus rides, walks, or any other activities outside of the home, and they help parents bond with their children while teaching early literacy skills. Covering rhyming words, music, nursery rhymes, the I Spy game, and maps, these exercises are sure to create an enjoyable learning experience for young children, with or without disabilities. The creator of the handouts allows for their copy and distribution, as long as they are not sold. For any questions, contact Mary Maddox at memaddox@walearning.com.