E-Books

 Ebooks? 

We all knew there would come a time when everything would switch to being all virtual. We know that kids love having access to tablets and the internet, so why not find ways to educate them with it? Ebooks can be downloaded from the computer and read online. These are books that kids have access to all the time when they are connected to the internet. 

Personal Experience? 

From the website, Epic, I was able to download and read the following books: 

• Hank the Pet Sitter 
• Can I Bring Wooly to the Library, Ms. Reeder
• The Three Little Pigs
• Harold and the Purple Crayon 
• Little Red Riding Hood 

I enjoyed being able to read all of these books online and didn't have any issues getting them to download. The pictures were good quality and the story still looked like a real book. I think that is was a pretty simple website to use and I was able to navigate it and find the books without any issues. I do see how this could become an issue for some because many website require you to pay for a subscription and some people might not be able to do that. 

Use in the classroom? 

Websites with ebooks could be a tremendous help in the classroom! I think would be a great source for independent reading. It is a good way to keep track of your students learning because many of the stories have a short quiz at the end and there is an option to click on certain words if you need help with them. The computer will help you and read it to you. Having an ebook also makes the students back packs a lot lighter which would of course be nice for them. I know I remember carrying around all kinds of books at a young age thinking how heavy my back pack was! I know that that is something all students would be thankful for. 

This also would be helpful in the classroom because you would not need a hard copy of the class set of books. However, I still do believe that sometimes kids won't properly use their access to the internet and will try to do other things on their computer or kindle. I still believe it is important to have physical copies of books because some students may find it easier to read with them. Personally, I think it is easier to have a hard copy of the book when you are reading and trying to fully understand a story especially when you are able to write or highlight in it. There are of course pros and cons to the digital world, but I absolutely see how beneficial ebooks can be!