What kind of book-lover/mother/educator would I be if I did not acknowledge Dr. Seuss’s birthday today? I dedicate this post to the memory of the man who made so many children and adults happy, successful readers.

Click on the screenshot image (found at the top of this post) to access the Happy Birthday Dr Seuss portal site I researched and developed as we celebrated Dr. Seuss day in our school. The site includes information about Dr. Seuss, his books, quotes (with buttons that students can use to have the phrases read to them), and links to games and online activities that feature the characters and imagination of the beloved Seuss. Explore the orange circles found at the top of the site to access the numerous links and resources I put together.

You can also gain access to four free digital Seuss books when you download and open a free kidthing account (you do need to download and install the program on your classroom or home computer). Use the code KTCODE-NEA5RAA to receive free books that you can project from your computer. The offer is good through March 30th, do don’t wait too long! I have pasted a copy of the offer I received below. I know it sounds too good to be true, but believe me these books are free!  Click on the image below to go to the site and register for your free account. And, yes, they are trying to sell books, but I have to tell you I was impressed with kidthing. Let us know what you think by using the comment link found at the bottom of this post.

In addition to being a Dr. Seuss fan, I have been a long-time fan of the International Children’s Digital Library site. Whenever I share this site with librarians, foreign language teachers, general education teachers, and of course students we are all in awe at the number, quality, and diversity of books found on this site. Registration is optional, but if you register you can…

• select the language you prefer to use
• return to the last page you were reading
• save your favorite books in a personal bookshelf
• access these features from any computer

Enjoy the books and resources I have shared today and send happy thoughts upward (and around you) as you think of all the wonderful men and women who have shared their writing talent over the years.  Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

I happen to believe that the future is clear…at some point students read books and carry their text books on computers and hand held devices. Oh wait…that’s already happening! Granted, I don’t think the electronic reading trend has caught on as quickly as some people predicted. In the mean time, Kobo is a great way to test out eReading without having to buy an expensive device. Wired has reported that, “Kobo is so far the best and most comprehensive service we have used to buy and read books, especially for non-US residents…The Kobo app puts Amazon’s rushed-out Kindle for iPhone to shame.” The New York Times has reported that “the Kobo service plans to offer 1.8 million free books from the Internet Archive and 200,000 other books starting at $9.99 and serve the European Union, Asia and the United States.”

Currently, Kobo offers 219 free ebooks. Many of the free books I first came across were romance books, but there were a number of classic books available online as well. When I tested White Fang online I was impressed with the easy-to-read online format and was particularly pleased to see that the Kobo online book worked very well with TidyRead. Kobo combined with strong>TidyRead would make it very plausible to project books on interactive white boards for group analysis in the classroom and of course students could also read books online at home if they forgot to bring home their traditional copies (as long as they have Internet access, of course). When I compared the price of books on Kobo with the price of books available on Amazon.com the Kobo pricing was comparable to Amazon.com Kindle prices.

Perhaps portable books will not become a viable trend for a while, but hey…why not take a few minutes to explore Kobo and consider whether the free books might be worth sharing with your students? What have you got to lose?

Today a couple of teachers and I worked with data from past state tests to determine instructional areas we could focus on to improve scores and enrich student learning. Inference was one area that cropped up as an area of weakness. Below, you will find several inference resources I discovered this evening as I researched strategies, tools, and resources that could be used to help students understand and develop inference skills.

So what is inference? Below, you will find several of my favorite definitions:

• Inference is a judgement based on reasoning rather than on direct or explicit statement. A conclusion based on facts or circumstances. For example, advised not to travel alone in temperatures exceeding fifty degrees below zero, the man in Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” sets out anyway. (Dictionary of Literary Terms)
• Inference is a logical guess based on evidence based on evidence in the text.
• Inference involves making conclusions about a piece of literature when the connection is not provided in a piece of literature.

The following resources may be helpful as you teach the skill of inference…

• Practice Making Inferences and Drawing Conclusions – good material to use with elementary students
• Brain Pop Jr. Make Inferences – excellent information that includes a link to a great little (free) Brain Pop Jr. video
• Inference Riddles – an interactive resource
• Teaching Tips:  Inference – a portal of additional links relating to Inference
• Teaching Inference, Interpretation and Analysis with New (and Old) Technologies
• Critical Thinking: Distinguishing Between Inferences and Assumptions – an excellent article adapted from the book, Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life, by Richard Paul and Linda Elder
• Teaching Students to Make Inferences – a Bright Hub! article written by Keren Perles

Graphic Organizers that can be used to help students:

• Inference Notes (.pdf file)
• Text & Subtext: Drawing Inferences (.pdf file)
• Inference or Prediction? (.pdf file)

PowerPoints that help teach inference: