1:1 Schools and ebooks, 6-12

Elementary students have been using ebooks through BookFLIX for about three years and TrueFLIX since October. We are creating a new ebook collection for grades 6-12. This "starter" collection of 220 titles includes middle school social studies titles that complement the Iowa Core. The high school collection includes biographies, financial literacy, government, science, and social studies (as recommended by a group of high school teacher librarians). The ebooks will be available 24/7. No special ereader is required. More information will be on the Heartland homepage mid-January.

Use ebooks to:
• Introduce new topics
• Build background knowledge
• Expand upon lessons
• Teach vocabulary
• Review essential skills and information
• Practice research skills to find relevant information

Supplement classroom materials
• Organize titles by topics, theme, and reading level.
• Assign titles for reading or research.
• Teach books in small group and whole group lessons.
• Students use mark-up tools to identify words they don’t know or just learned (glossary).
• Teach nonfiction book characteristics such as toc, glossary, index.
• Practice repetition and choral reading of properly pronounced words and phrases.
• Teach content-area vocabulary with definitions and glossary.
• Extend learning by inviting family involvement.
• Whiteboard compatible.
• Customize VIA with special groups such as grade, class, subject, reading group, etc.
• Start for an inquiry-based lesson for students looking for info to support an argument or a position.