Wow! I truly don’t know what to say or even think about this whole situation. So I am not going to even try. What I am going to do is tell you about two ways your students can access free eBooks from home. You will definitely want to share both of these with students, parents and teachers.
Junior Library Guild – free access to their collection of e-books
Junior Library Guild is providing unlimited access to their eBook platform for students to read online. They have three platforms to choose from: elementary, middle school and high school. This website will provide you with the information you need to gain access. There is no login required to read the books, students just have to choose which stream they want to search: elementary, middle school or high school.
The only option available is to read the book online. There is no read-aloud option. There is a wide variety of books available including nonfiction and Spanish titles! Also there are some early chapter books as well as picture books. Some of the books also feature multicultural characters.
Many public libraries offer free access to Tumblebooks, but having your own library access will make it easier to share with parents and teachers. I have not seen this offer posted anywhere online (although I could have easily missed it), another librarian in my district shared it with me. You have to send an email to [email protected] and ask for access. Each school needs to do this. They will send you a unique password.
I emailed them this morning and received a reply within minutes. They sent me different icons and banners to put on a website. And they provided me with links to 4 different databases. I never knew they had more than one. Their website provides a detailed overview of the 4 different databases, but I want to share my thoughts with you as well.
- K-6 children’s ebook database
- Tumblemath – math ebook database
- Teen Book Cloud – grades 7-12 ebook database
- Audio Book Cloud – all ages database
K-6 eBook Database
This database has so many books to choose from. And I was very excited to see a selection of graphic novels! You can find picture books, chapter books, nonfiction, nursery rhymes and songs and much more. There are puzzles and games for kids to play as well as comprehension quizzes. I also saw a video section with many educational videos.
Tumblemath – Math eBook Database
All I can say about this resource is wow! Share this site with your classroom teachers immediately. Of course all of the books in this database are about math. Some of the series I saw are MathStart, Math is CATegorical, Math Matters, Rosen Math Books, Sir Cumference and Cloverleaf Books. You may not recognize these series right now, but when you see the book covers you will definitely know these books.
There are titles for preschool students all the way to upper elementary and even middle school. The topics include counting, time and temperature, measurement, probability, graphing and finance (money, wants and needs). There is also a quiz portal that is broken up by CCSS standards up to grade 5. The quiz section alone is a fabulous resource.
Teen Book Cloud
This database has a wide variety of YA literature as well as classic literature, nonfiction and hi/low titles for teenagers. Even though this is for teenagers I saw Because of Winn-Dixie, Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew graphic novels and a few others that elementary students would read. However, right next to the Hardy Boys is One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. I would not give elementary students free access to this site though. However this would be an excellent resource for high school special education. Share this site with secondary librarians in your district.
Audio Book Cloud
This is a collection of audio books for children and young adults. There is a wide range of titles, but no picture books. There is a section for Spanish audio books too. Again, this has a very nice selection of titles to choose from.
And don’t forget to check the Wakelet board I created. I am still updating it whenever I find new resources.
I am also working on some new digital products that I hope will help make it easier for you to share lessons with your students during this time. Stay tuned for those!
I also have a Distance Learning Category in my store with 48 different products that can be used for remote teaching. Most of these products are digital but I also included my no-prep printables as well.