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 I am sharing a link to a site that I have been developing to share with teachers as we try a number of diverse strategies to help our students become more effective readers. The site includes information about more than 25 reading strategies. Each annotated strategy I included on the site is categorized as a strategy that students could use before, during, or after reading. I have also linked users to videos, PowerPoints, and additional information about each strategy. Click on the image below to link to my Reading Strategies for All Ages site. Please use the comment link at the bottom of this post to share successful reading strategies you have used in your classrooms. We all benefit (and so do your students) when you share your expertise!