Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Calling all Teacher Librarians and Media Specialists!



Sharing the Shelves is a place to share library/media center ideas with other teacher librarians and media specialists. I'd love to add you to the list of authors!  If you are interested in blogging for Sharing the Shelves, just shoot me an email.  jnase1@gmail.com



Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Have fun reading with STORYBOTS!

In December I came across a resource on Facebook that I am happy to share. It is called Storybots and it allows you to take a photo of your child or student and put them in the ebook that is created on the app or website. My oldest daughter has a print book like this her grandpa made for her where she visits Sesame Street and we still read it seven years after he gave it to her, so I knew my girls would love it.

I downloaded the app on my iPad and found out you get one free book, but then you have to pay $4.99 a month to get access to the other books and resources. Before I jumped in, I wanted to make sure my girls would use it. It was a hit - even my 2 year old laughed and giggled as her face moved across the screen in the characters body.

So I emailed to see about getting a subscription and what it all entailed and if it might also work on the Kindle we purchased for the holidays. I was very happy with the response. They do not currently have an android app, but they are working on one. They do have some of the apps available on the website - including Starring You Videos, ABC and Learning Videos, and Activity Sheets and I just got an email that Starring You Stories will be making a website appearance soon. They were also VERY kind to let me know that since I was an educator I could get a FREE subscription to all of their apps. This includes all the apps listed here which are the ones I listed on the web, plus these for apple products - Math Racer Starring You, Tap & Sing Interactive Music, Beep & Bop, Kids Radio, Kid Quoter, Coin Flip, Share Timer, and some holiday themed videos starring your class or family. All you have to do is fill out this form and they will send you an access code. And they were very quick and friendly to check in with me to see that the code worked for me.

I have not had time to try all of the apps, but my Kindergarten students absolutely love starting our time together with the ABC videos on the website and my 1st and 2nd graders have had fun seeing themselves star in the stories we have had time to read together.

This is a fun and exciting way to fill your digital shelf with some free books! Please take some time to check it out!