Chapter Recap

• Keeping students engaged while reading independently can be challenging. 
• Allowing students to respond to text digitally can be an engaging experience.
• Reading response ideas include:
  • Create a book review.
  • Describe your favorite part of a story.
  • Identify story elements.
  • Make connections to the characters.
  • Compare and contrast characters in a story.
  • Identify the moral of a story. 
• Educators can provide online resources to give students choices in their reading selections. 

The author explains that “offering little ones a choice in what they read increases interest and creates stronger readers. When you provide digital texts for children to use in reading and responding to books, you give your students access to a wide range of titles, genres, and reading levels and expose them to themes, topics, and texts that they might not be able to access otherwise.” 

INFOhio offers many digital eBook resources. Share these resources with your students and allow them to choose what story or book they want to read or listen to. The titles from BookFlix, Capstone Interactive eBooks, and Highlights Library all include many choices as well as an option for the text to be read aloud. 

Open Space Reading Response Resources

• Comic Creator - This resource invites students to compose their own comic strips for a variety of contexts, such as prewriting, pre- and post-reading activities, and responses to literature. 
• ReadWrite Think Book Review Template - This website offers a printable book review template that you can use to guide students in writing book reviews. The template includes prompts for summarizing the book, identifying the main characters, and offering a personal opinion.
• Interactives: Elements of a Story - Explore the elements of a story using the well-known Cinderella story. Learn about setting, character, sequence, exposition, conflict, climax, and resolution.

Also find storytelling resources in the Early Learning Portal under the Creativity and Play category. 

The author says the best way to help little ones respond to what they read is to, “narrow the focus by giving them a specific prompt or story element to respond to. They can describe the setting of a story, identify their favorite part of a story, or identify traits of the main character.” After students have read a story of their choice, have them create a comic with the digital tool Comic Creator. Pick a specific story element for them to create from their story, such as setting or traits of the main character. 

Pause and Do

For inspiration, browse through some of the K-5 Book Nook trailers created by students. Some of them are very short and simple and are recorded using an iPad. Check out these examples from elementary students. 

Arnie the Doughnut

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus

The Lorax

The Book that Eats People

The Boy Who Cried Ninja

Reflecting on Your Learning

Consider the following questions:

1. Explore the blog post the author shares, More Google Forms for Little Learners: Empowering Little Learners. Do you think you could use these in your classroom or create something similar based on a story you’ve shared with students?
2. In chapter 19, someone asked, “How do I find balance between reading and writing?” Read the author’s response. Do you agree? How do you balance your time? 
3. Do you have any digital storytelling tools in your district you could use to help students create digital stories? 
4. Once students have created digital stories, be sure to share them. What are ways you could share the student creations?