I thought of this assignment because recently my son's pre-k school has joined Big Universe, an online reading and writing community. We are able to read books online everyday and sometimes in Spanish. They offer books by age, grade, category, subject, and many more options but it is not free to subscribe (there are free online libraries, such as the International Children's Digital Library). When I was a kid, I loved to read but wasn't always able to visit the library to read as much as I would've liked so I re-read books when I couldn't get more. These online reading websites gives students, parents and teachers books instantly and there is no due date or waiting period involved. We shouldn't just expect that our students will frequent these sites on their own so I suggest that we have weekly homework assignments that come from these sites.
* Books can be used with Smartboards to change up story-time a bit.
The assignment I would suggest is to create a homework assignment using the International Children's Digital Library, which is a online library that allows you to save books to a bookshelf.
1) Visit the website ICDL and create an account. Browse through the books available and play with the "add to bookshelf" button. Choose and read a book for the assignment.
2)Think of four homework questions for your student to answer. Post these questions, including the name of the book, to your blog.
Ms. Babb's Homework Assignment
Go to ICDL and read, "The Blue Sky" by Andrea Petrlik Huseinoviç and answer the following questions:
1) Name three of the animals in the sky and tell what their connection with the little girl's mom is.
2)What did the wind bring to the rabbit? What did this remind the little girl of?
3)Why was the little girl sad?
4)Where did the blackbird take the little girl?
We certainly need to add ICDL to the list of resources with which students should be familiar. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteDr. Strange,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if the University of South Alabama would pay for the subscription but with Big Universe, students are able to not only read the books but also take quizzes from the book. I've been reading books in Spanish to help my four year old son learn and to brush up on what I already know. I love this site.