Using Vooks in Early Literacy
Written by: Sandy Goehring
Supporting emergent readers in a wide variety of ways is an important part of growing the learner. Often, it can be difficult to find resources which are engaging AND high quality to support reading development. Try thinking of non-traditional tools to get text in the learner’s hands along with the classroom library and common technology platforms. Reading aloud to students is powerful, and now with technology there are even more ways to give students the opportunity to listen to a book. “Reading texts aloud is the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for successful reading (Revisiting Read Alouds: Instructional Strategies that Encourage Students’ Engagement with Text; Vanessa Morrison, Lisa Wheeler- McCormick, 1977).” One of my favorite online resources for finding and sharing text is Vooks!
“The illustrations are brought to life through animation”
Vooks offers a wide array of engaging, high quality text in all areas. You will find traditional stories, popular books, and themed literature. The illustrations are brought to life through animation. In order to support emergent readers, Vooks highlights the text as it is being read. The stories are mainly focused toward primary learners, but upper elementary students will enjoy them as well.
“In order to support emergent readers, Vooks highlights the text as it is being read.”
Vooks is free for teachers! You can use it for individual students or project it for whole class instruction. They have created resources to go along with some of the books. Books are broken up by categories such as Foundational Reading, Social Emotional stories, and STEAM. You can find almost anything to support your units of study. There are so many ways that Vooks can be used in the classroom. Not only is it a great tool for emergent readers, but the highlighted test and movie-like illustrations support developing language learners and students with special needs.
As you begin to plan for the week, give Vooks a try! It’s easy to use, well organized, and full of resources. Be sure to check out my quick video for a live look. If you use Vooks or set up your free account, share how you use or plan to use it at #KInL.
Resources
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