IBooks for Read To Self

My last post explained how I use Dropbox to share documents and books with my students.  This week I took this a step further!

IBooks has some amazing features for "Read to Self" as well as for guided reading.  (I use the Daily Five model for my Reader's Workshop.)  After teaching my students about these features, it was impressive to see them in use!

First, we had to get our book from Dropbox into iBooks.  (My last post explains how to get a book into dropbox.  Our books are from Reading A to Z!)  This screen shows our book in Dropbox. Click on the blue box with the arrow, click on "Open in", then "Open in ibooks."

Now this book will be saved in the ibooks library!  We closed these apps, and opened the Settings.
Next we turned on "Text to Speech" in our settings.  We started by clicking on "General," then "Accessibility."

 Then we clicked on "Speech."

Turn on the "Speak Selection" by sliding the white circle over to make it appear green!  After this is on, you can slide the white circle to change the speaking rate.  We also have on "Highlight Content" so that the words read aloud are highlighted.

Finally, we went back to our book in ibooks, highlighted a word by pressing down on it, let go, and LISTENED to it by clicking "Speak"!  This is a simple trick that can help all readers when they are struggling with a word independently.

After learning about this, my students took a reading comprehension assessment using the cause and effect strategies they had been learning about all week.  They used the "speak" feature for words when necessary, and no one really abused this.  It helped them with their comprehension, and they felt more confident answering the cause and effect questions.  I will NOT have them use this all of the time, but it is great to have when they need it, especially for my students struggling with fluency or students with IEP's.  If you only have a few ipads in your room, this could definitely help those students who need fluency help!

One More Free Spelling Game!

I am taking a break this week from creating a new spelling game, but last week the third grade spelling pattern was dipthongs!  I had visitors come this weekend, so it was very fun and busy!  Our first official visitors since we moved that are not our families!  Here is a pic of some fun we had visiting my husband's sheep:

 Below is a free game!  Just click on the picture to download!  My TPT has more as well! 

Spelling Games Galore!

Now that we are almost a full quarter into the school year, things are getting busy!  I am balancing learning all about third grade as well as keeping my materials up to date for Common Core!  My team and I are working hard, but it is also hard to find time to post!

I have been creating spelling games each week for our Word Work station for Daily 5 during our Reader's Workshop time.  I am finally ready to share some games!  The first game is a Gingerbread Short Vowel Sort.  Click on the pictures for your free copy!

This is a review for third grade, but would also work for first or second grade!  It is a fun game, and you can get it for free at my TPT!

I also have created a third grade spelling pack with a folk tale, fairy tale, and fable theme!  You can also get this at my Teacher's Pay Teachers store.  Just click on the pictures below! 

 

The last game I have to share is a Compound Word Memory Match!  This is also free at my Teachers Pay Teachers store!

 I usually introduce a spelling game on the Monday of the week, then the third graders play for Word Work during the week.  I have four choices available during the week.  Two are the current spelling pattern for the week, and two are review.  If you have already covered these spelling patterns, they would be a great word work review!