TeachersFirst's Audio Books
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These educator-reviewed resources from TeachersFirst offer audio books so all students, including emerging readers and ESL/ELL learners, can experience literature and other reading selections in audio form to reinforce and inspire literacy skills and enjoyment. Be sure to explore each site, as many include multiple categories of books and different download or listening formats. Some selections are audio only. Others include text to follow on the site as you listen, while others include options to interact with the book by clicking, responding, and watching animations. The helpful reviews suggest ideas for ways to use the audio books in the classroom or outside of school to reinforce literacy skills, improve English skills, or study literature in new ways. Narrow your search by choosing TeachersFirst's specialized collections of audio books with accompanying text or audio books with interactive features.
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Learn English Kids - British Council
Grades
K to 8
5 Favorites
0 Comments
This kids' branch of Learn English (created in the UK) contains interactives, short stories, crafts, songs, and even an opportunity for students to help their younger brothers and sisters...more
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This kids' branch of Learn English (created in the UK) contains interactives, short stories, crafts, songs, and even an opportunity for students to help their younger brothers and sisters learn English. A free log-in allows you access to printed versions of the stories (with questions), the ability to make comments, enter competitions, answer polls, and even create a "character." Another log in for teachers and parents opens up suggestions for teaching and using the resources of the site. Professionals can also find video tips and access to helpful articles. Access to the site is available in other languages such as Chinese and French, all aimed at teaching English. A text help feature using "BrowseAloud" opens up the English learning to students with vision or reading challenges. Note that vocabulary used is British, so you may need to explain a few words to US or Canadian students, e.g. "rubbish bin."
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This site includes advertising.
tag(s): interactive stories (31), preK (281), songs (49), vocabulary development (115)
In the Classroom
Primary grade and preK teachers will find many useful interactives for basic skills like colors and phonics on this site, even though it is intended for learning English. Share the activities as a center or for extra practice for struggling students. Check with your administration about whether students can register individually for the site. Introduce this site to your class on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers and have your ELL/ESL students use it as one of your learning stations. Teachers can print flashcards for survival English vocabulary such as clothes, food, parts of the body, jobs etc.; accompanying activities provide reinforcement for vocabulary. Learn English Kids changes weekly, offering weekly activities, opinion polls, learning through songs, playground fun, and more. The read-aloud stories are a wonderful option for beginning readers and even non-readers. Speech/language clinicians will join ESL and primary teachers in using the many activities on this site. It even has sorting activities such as fruits/vegetables (see "Food"). Although the interface is graphically appealing, by clicking on "Topics," users can find activities, songs, and games all organized by subject. There is also a large section for parents to help their child at home. Short stories and other interactive features of the site would work well with special education students, too. Be sure to share this link with parents of your ELL students if they have Internet access at home.
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Read Me a Book - RKS MArketing
Grades
K to 2
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Find a variety of FREE audio books for literacy development. There are books of the day, the latest chapter of a chapter book, a women's book section, sound of the ...more
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Find a variety of FREE audio books for literacy development. There are books of the day, the latest chapter of a chapter book, a women's book section, sound of the day, and letter of the day. A recommended list for different age levels also accompanies the audio books. With each book, a vocabulary list with definitions helps promote better comprehension. The sound and letters of the day offer featured sounds and pictures to exemplify beginning sounds of words with accompanying spoken words. This site requires RealAudio.
tag(s): audio books (21), ebooks (33), independent reading (118)
In the Classroom
Find an incredible way to expand your classroom library with free audio books! Use on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use the stories as a whole group lesson, or in center time activities, or as an individual activity. Struggling readers can still develop comprehension skills and independence. Improve audio comprehension for the students who need more practice in this area. Use with your ESL/ELL students to offer a wide range of books to enjoy repeatedly independently. Use as a link on your class website for extra literacy practice at home.Use as an example for podcasts. Have your students read their favorite books for your own class audio book activity on your website. Consider using enhancing student learning and use podOmatic, reviewed here. Encourage effective storytelling techniques while providing a wide variety of examples. Now you are able to meet each individual student's interests. Book lists provide further direction for more quality books.
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Technology and Reading Ebooks in Education - Drs.Cavanaugh
Grades
K to 12
6 Favorites
0 Comments
Find a comprehensive list of sources for eBooks and ways to use them. Dr. Terry Cavanaugh has a wide variety of information dedicated to using eBooks in the classroom. Find ...more
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Find a comprehensive list of sources for eBooks and ways to use them. Dr. Terry Cavanaugh has a wide variety of information dedicated to using eBooks in the classroom. Find links for online libraries, news, blogs, history, platforms, features, accommodations, samples, and borrowing guidelines. A section entitled educational applications, features creating eBooks with PowerPoint, digital Big Books, and eBooks in higher education. Classroom lesson ideas along with reading strategies help you incorporate eBooks into your curriculum. A link to the Florida recommended eBook list is also given. Find advice on video book talks, Book trading with eBooks, and an online Book cataloging library resource tool. A section for books promoting eBooks use in the classrooms lists resources to make you proficient. Find samples for creating eBooks to fit into your own classroom needs.
tag(s): audio books (21), ebooks (33), reading strategies (58)
In the Classroom
Capture your student's interest in technology and reading with eBooks. Join the latest craze to promote life long reading. Join blogs to see what other teachers are doing. Use as a parent resource to help promote interest. Use as background information while writing grants or proposals for technology grants. Be sure to investigate the variety of classroom ideas for using technology and eBooks.Consider incorporating technology into your literature circles. You might want to start with a whole class novel, having students listen to certain chapters using an eBook. Have the "discussion director" for the group post questions on Edmodo reviewed here with the understanding that they may answer the questions on Edmodo, but these are "discussion starters" for the circle meeting in class.
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Zoodles - Mark Williamson & Rich Humphrey
Grades
K to 3
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Zoodles offers a safe web platform for kids that includes fun and educational games, videos, and activities. The BASIC membership to this tool includes countless activities in a variety...more
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Zoodles offers a safe web platform for kids that includes fun and educational games, videos, and activities. The BASIC membership to this tool includes countless activities in a variety of subject areas. Many of the activities come from other sites (Starfall, PBS kids, etc.). But this is a nice compilation of subjects and activities. The safety in this program is that once it is downloaded and opened, children don't view the regular computer toolbars anymore. Thus they can't search the web on their own. To exit the program, click QUIT and OK.
There is a parent play-along mode that helps guide learning experiences in a more personal way. Zoodles has been created to work on virtually any type of computer, including tablets and smart phones. Games are searchable by age (toddler to 8 yrs old), and subject. Many games will also have parent ratings with the educational and fun value of the activity. Creating an account is easy and requires simple user information including email and the child's age. This is used to populate age-appropriate games. There is a premium membership with more features.
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There is a parent play-along mode that helps guide learning experiences in a more personal way. Zoodles has been created to work on virtually any type of computer, including tablets and smart phones. Games are searchable by age (toddler to 8 yrs old), and subject. Many games will also have parent ratings with the educational and fun value of the activity. Creating an account is easy and requires simple user information including email and the child's age. This is used to populate age-appropriate games. There is a premium membership with more features.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): addition (225), body systems (60), constitution (92), counting (109), grammar (204), numbers (191), operations (120), phonics (68), preK (281), subtraction (188)
In the Classroom
Create 2 or 3 (or more, as needed) classroom accounts with different age levels to provide diversity for students. Each account then be bookmarked on classroom computers for student use. Share this site through your classroom blog or newsletter as a resource for learning games at home. Use activities from the site on your interactive whiteboard or projector as a classroom activity. Provide this link to parents to use on rainy days or during the summer.
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Many Books.net - Manybooks.net
Grades
4 to 12
1 Favorites
0 Comments
Many Book.net is a free web site offering eBooks from Project Gutenburg, The Human Genome Project and audio books, and creative commons works. Using author, title, genre, language,...more
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Many Book.net is a free web site offering eBooks from Project Gutenburg, The Human Genome Project and audio books, and creative commons works. Using author, title, genre, language, and recommended eBooks find your favorite reads. Join an RSS feed or Twitter to receive updates of the latest eBooks. Submit your work for consideration and possibly to be added to the selections. Register to create your own bookshelf with eBooks you have read. Keep it private, share as an embedded URL, or share on the actual site. Find conversion tools to help with any formats required. Explore the devices available to read the eBooks.
tag(s): audio books (21), ebooks (33), independent reading (118)
In the Classroom
Fill your classroom library with all the ebooks from the classics. Encourage your students to keep bookshelves of the books they read, while you make your bookshelf available to use for assignment choices or options. Encourage the continual exploration of author, time period, subject matter, and genre. Enchant your voracious and gifted readers alike!
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Cookie - Cookie.com
Grades
K to 3
5 Favorites
0 Comments
Cookie is a large collection of learning games, videos, worksheets, and arts&crafts for preschool to early elementary. Find math, science, art, and language activities in many different...more
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Cookie is a large collection of learning games, videos, worksheets, and arts&crafts for preschool to early elementary. Find math, science, art, and language activities in many different formats. Search by subject, top games, and new releases. Pre-school and early elementary teachers will appreciate the many videos on the site for learning to write numbers and letters, learning body parts, and days of the week. There are interactives for students related to addition, colors, alphabet letters, and more.
tag(s): alphabet (82), audio books (21), colors (77), geometric shapes (171), matching (23), numbers (191), preK (281), puzzles (202), songs (49), worksheets (64)
In the Classroom
These interactives make great center activities to support learning. Or if individual computers aren't available, use your interactive whiteboard or projector. Consider using the IWB as a student-run center for pairs to take turns. There are numerous activities to choose from and differentiate for your students' needs. This is definitely one to save in your favorites (or bookmark). Be sure to share this link via your newsletter or list it on your class website, blog, or wiki. Use your TeachersFirst public page (part of free membership) to share with a single click!
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Digital Books - librophile.com
Grades
2 to 12
3 Favorites
0 Comments
Digital Books (was Librophile) offers free audio books and free e-books. You have several options; you can play the audio book. You can also download chosen chapters for later use,...more
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Digital Books (was Librophile) offers free audio books and free e-books. You have several options; you can play the audio book. You can also download chosen chapters for later use, open as an e-book, or open as a free audio book in ITunes. Most of the free books are in the public domain. There are some books on the site that are available only for a charge. Simply click on "free" to see the ones available at no cost. Separate links offer popular, audio, and ebooks as well as genres. There are many genres available, even children's books.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): audio books (21)
In the Classroom
Make a shortcut to this site on classroom computers as a reference. Suggest it to students as something they can use on their mp3 players. Share a story on your projector or interactive whiteboard (with speakers for audio). Provide this site on your class blog, wiki, or website for students to access both in and out of the classroom. Learning support and ESL/ELL teachers can suggest this as an alternative source of books for book reports. Students can listen and read instead of feeling saddled by tough text.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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World of Tales - Viktor
Grades
K to 8
2 Favorites
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World of Tales collects folk and fairy tales from various sources into one searchable location. Many are tales long past copyright and therefore available for use without copyright...more
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World of Tales collects folk and fairy tales from various sources into one searchable location. Many are tales long past copyright and therefore available for use without copyright concerns. There are also links to animated or audio versions. Some of the animations are from YouTube so may be blocked by school filters. Search tales by geographic origin, theme, author, book, and more. You can also change the "theme" of the page display to make it easier to see on a projector. There are advertisements that clutter the page and slow it down a bit, but having such a searchable collection is very handy.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
tag(s): folktales (49), stories and storytelling (34)
In the Classroom
Declutter the display of a specific tale by using the Reader, reviewed here, on your computer or copy/paste the text into a clear page to share on a projector or interactive whiteboard. Have students highlight their favorite passages or examples of characterization. Have students create story maps of these classic tales or produce their own "skit" versions to record on video and share on TeacherTube, reviewed here, or SchoolTube, reviewed here. Make this resource available on your teacher public page for students to select and read their stories of choice during a unit on folktales/fairy tales. World language classes can read these English language versions of tales from the land/language they are studying and write dialog between characters in their new language. Students could also create scenes using a comic creation tool like Write Comics, reviewed here, or Comics Head, reviewed here.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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My Young Child - Early Parenting Foundation
Grades
K to 3
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Find online stories to read with young children and help build values. Each title states the value taught: honesty, patience, self-esteem, respect, forgiveness, and fairness. Stories...more
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Find online stories to read with young children and help build values. Each title states the value taught: honesty, patience, self-esteem, respect, forgiveness, and fairness. Stories can be read together or children can watch a video and follow along with the story. The site includes a section for parents with tips on reading with children and promoting good values. The educators section of the site has tips for using the site in the classroom and includes more ideas for parents.
tag(s): bullying (49), child development (26), literacy (107), parent conferences (23), parents (55)
In the Classroom
These short videos/audio books are perfect to share on your interactive whiteboard or projector during class meeting or lesson on honesty or other character values. Share this site on your classroom website or newsletters for students to access at home and to share reading tips with parents. Videos can be embedded on your website or blog for review. This is a winner to share at parent conferences in primary grades!
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Interactive Storybooks Online: Online Talking Stories - Woodlands School
Grades
K to 5
7 Favorites
0 Comments
This site is an aggregator of many sources of online stories with audio components. Most of the stories would appeal to the early elementary age group. There are some tales ...more
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This site is an aggregator of many sources of online stories with audio components. Most of the stories would appeal to the early elementary age group. There are some tales by Aesop which may also appeal to older children. Additionally, there are some classic children's stories. The text is not included on the sites. Since this is a British sponsored site, many of the stories may be new ones for American readers. Two of the links to "offsite" locations were not working properly at the time of this review. However, all of the rest were working fine.
tag(s): folktales (49)
In the Classroom
Have students try out this site on individual computers, using earbuds. Provide the text to the stories so they can read and listen. If individual computers aren't available, share this site on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Share the site with ESL/ELL students so they can improve their pronunciation and aural word recognition. Learning support students with weak reading skills can also benefit from hearing the stories. Make a listening center on classroom computers and share the link on your class web page for students to repeat the stories at home, as well.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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Aesops Fables Online Collection - John R Long Star Systems
Grades
1 to 10
1 Favorites
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Come on in and enjoy the ageless and timeless wisdom of Aesop and his Fables at this award winning site. There are a total of 638 Fables, indexed in table ...more
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Come on in and enjoy the ageless and timeless wisdom of Aesop and his Fables at this award winning site. There are a total of 638 Fables, indexed in table format, with morals listed. Aseop lived 2,500 yeas ago and never wrote any tales down. Ambrose Pierce, Jean De La Fontaine I, Rev. George Fyler Townsend, and Hans Christian Andersen have retold these tales. A life history of Aesop is included. Some tales include audio narration, while all are in written format.
tag(s): folktales (49)
In the Classroom
Aesops Fables, comprehensive resource for fable collection is necessary for every classroom. Have a very extensive collection of life, history, morals, and fables. Use during language arts as part of a genre study or as part of literary themes. Use on an interactive whiteboard or projector. Use on individual computers and include in centers. During Writing Workshop, find ways to change the morals into modern stories. Use as scripts for Readers' Theater, podcasts, or reading comprehension. During character development, challenge students to find ways to incorporate into lessons.Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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News English Lessons - Sean Banville
Grades
4 to 12
7 Favorites
0 Comments
This site, created by Australian Sean Banville of "Breaking News English" (reviewed here), has high interest, "easier" news for students to read and...more
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This site, created by Australian Sean Banville of "Breaking News English" (reviewed here), has high interest, "easier" news for students to read and many teaching materials to go with them. Though the look of the site is cluttered with advertising and plain text, the content is worthwhile. Developed for ESL/ELL students and teachers, the site would also work well in a subject area, learning support, or reading classroom. There are MANY articles "ready to go," including mp3 audio files to listen to the articles. At the time of this review there were 200+ new additions! Each article includes several types of activities such as "online gap fill" (a Cloze reading activity), vocabulary flashcards, and hangman, and matching. A full script is available in pdf form. There is also an online, interactive quiz for students. The articles, and a lot more activities, can be downloaded and printed, too.
This site includes advertising.
This site includes advertising.
In the Classroom
The articles are short and interesting, a perfect match for non-fiction reading comprehension. With so many different activities to choose from, it will be easy for the classroom teacher to differentiate. There is an mp3 audio version of each article so students can listen as they read. Assign small groups of students to present the news each week, using the interactive whiteboard to show others the country and city from which the article originated. Make the newscasting experience even more real by having students read scripts of these news stories or their own original stories using a Easyprompter, reviewed here. Students can then go to another news source such as 4 News Wall, reviewed here, to see what else is happening in the news. For a projecth and to enhance student learning, have the small groups create a "talking map" using a site such as Zeemaps, reviewed here. This site allows students to create audio recordings AND choose a location (where their article/story took place). What a fabulous way to share the article with the rest of the class!Add your comments below (available only to members) | Become a Member
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