Perfect for Book Lovers!

Swap Your Paperback Books - PaperBackSwap.com
If you are like me, you have bookshelves filled to overflowing with all types of books. Here is a great website where you can trade your books with others. PaperBackSwap is so easy to use that this "digital immigrant" had no problems. After you sign up (you get 2 free credits just for signing up) and collect your old books, all you do is post them by entering the ISBN. When another member wants one of your books, you will get an e-mail. Log on to the site, and indicate whether you will mail the book. You can even print the mailing label, along with the postage. When you mail the book you will get one credit. For each credit earned, you can pick a book to be mailed to you. I have been a member since June, and I have already mailed out ten books and received five. It's a great way to add to your classroom library! You can even list the books you want on a wish list, and you will get an e-mail when one of them is posted. I have had no problems getting any of the books I ordered or getting credit for the ones I mailed. So clean out those bookshelves before school starts, and get free books for yourself or your students!

Teaching with Picture Books

I found a wonderful website for K-2 teachers and parents. We know that reading aloud to a child is so important, but we don't have the time to do it as much as we want. Lookybook has numerous picture books to read for free. You can read a book aloud in class from Lookybook while you project it on a screen. If you save it to your bookshelf, your students can read it themselves during centers. They even get to turn the pages. You also have access to other Lookybookers favorite picture books. Books can be found by searching by keyword, author, illustrator, subject, or genre. Thousands of books are available. Now you can test out a book in class before you buy it. After reading a book, you can add it to your bookshelf, e-mail it, embed it, review it, and buy it. If you are like me, you have spent hundreds of dollars buying books for your class. Now you can save some money by using Lookybook. This won't replace real books, but it will be a great addition to your classroom.

A Literacy Website

The Literacy Web at the University of Connecticut has an outstanding website for Language Arts teachers.The Literacy Web was created in 2002 to meet the changing needs of classroom teachers and students. The website contains numerous links to the latest research and educational theory, professional development, technology integration, and other literacy resources. It was created for literacy teachers of preschool through twelfth grade, special needs, ESL, and adult education.
I found The Literacy Web easy to navigate. Although there are a large number of links listed, they are well organized with good descriptions. The website is not only organized by grade level, but also by categories: What's New, Literacy Topics, and Research. Links can be found for web quests, student appropriate websites, children's literature, online lesson plans, literacy skills, technology integration, literacy journals, online discussions, and professional development.
It appears that the website has not been recently updated, which is a disappointment. I found some pages that had been updated as late as 2005. Despite this, most of the links I tried led me to working websites.
Since we are teaching students in the 21st century, as teachers, we must continually update our skills. Whether we teach Kindergarten or twelfth grade, the students will probably know more about how to use today's technology than us. This website has links to wonderful sites for teaching and integrating reading and writing with technology.
The Literacy Web is a good start for someone who is new at using technology, because so much information can be found in one place. I would recommend this website if you are in need of literacy resources. Bookmark this website, and you will find yourself using it often.

Work in progress.