CYSD Reading

"Into the Book is a reading comprehension resource for K-4 students and teachers. We focus on eight research-based strategies: Using Prior Knowledge, Making Connections, Questioning, Visualizing, Inferring, Summarizing, Evaluating and Synthesizing. Try the online interactive activities, or click below to find out how to get our engaging 15-minute video programs. Behind the Lesson provides information and teaching resources for each strategy. Watch our 10-minute professional development videos and explore the Web site for lesson plans, video and audio clips, downloads, and more."

"Start using our educational songs in Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies, and Economics today! Downloads, CDs, and more. It's a smarter, cooler Schoolhouse Rock®.*" (pay to download or stream-includes pdf of lyrics & worksheets)

The old Graphic Organizer page that was linked off the district's internal website. Please consider editing this page to add new resources and remove any that are outdated or no longer appropriate.

"sim­ple. you'll see one word at the top of the fol­low­ing screen. you have sixty sec­onds to write about it. click 'go' and the page will load with the cur­sor in place. don't think. just write."

School Library Journal's Battle of the (Kids') Books is a competition between 16 of the very best books for young people published in 2009, judged by some of the biggest names in children's books. There are some fantastic reviews of books that would be fun for our kids to read. It looks like the books are probably geared to our 3rd to 8th graders.

"Buzzwords are frequently used in news media. These are words that do not typically occur in everyday speech, but are common among newscasters, talking heads, and pundits on cable news."

"Language Technologies, Inc. has partnered with Learning A-Z to bring their award-winning content to the iPhone and iPod touch as ReadSmart EditionTM books. This web portal has been created to simplify finding our apps on the iTunes App Store, and is optimized for viewing on the iPod touch and the iPhone."

ZooBurst is a digital storytelling tool that is designed to let anyone easily create their own customized 3D pop-up books. Click on some of the pictures below to check out books created by members of the ZooBurst community. If you have a username and password you can log in and create your own books using the 'Login' link at the top right side of the screen.

Explore classic stories "The Wizard of Oz," "The Mermaid," and "Aladdin" and collect treasure. Great activity for using context clues. As the questions pop up, students who don't know the story can click on the link "Read the book to discover the answer" and be taken to the page in the book that contains the information they need to answer. Great for teaching students to go back to the text to find information and use context clues.

Ever heard of an Exquisite Corpse? It's not what you might think. An Exquisite Corpse is an old game in which people write a phrase on a sheet of paper, fold it over to conceal part of it and pass it on to the next player to do the same. The game ends when someone finishes the story, which is then read aloud. Our "Exquisite Corpse Adventure" works this way: Jon Scieszka, the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, has written the first episode, which is "pieced together out of so many parts that it is not possible to describe them all here, so go ahead and just start reading!" He has passed it on to a cast of celebrated writers and illustrators, who must eventually bring the story to an end. Every two weeks, there will be a new episode and a new illustration. The story will conclude a year from now.

"LoudLit.org is committed to delivering public domain literature paired with high quality audio performances...Putting the text and audio together, readers can learn spelling, punctuation and paragraph structure by listening and reading masterpieces of the written word. Read and listen via your web browser or on your mp3 player. Regardless of how you enjoy the audiobooks (audio books), they are free."

"The Solution to Reading Comprehension"

"Reading Bear teaches children to read by introducing phonics principles painlessly and systematically, while teaching new vocabulary. We are planning 50 presentations."

Check out the point of view activity with Poe's "Cask of Amantillado" from three different lenses. Audio included to support students who will have difficulty with the reading.

"The most dreaded word in school reading for students: book reports. Teachers assign them, viewing them as a necessary component of assessing reading comprehension. Book reports can be a contributing factor to 'readicide'. "Read-i-cide n: The systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind-numbing practices found in schools." http://stenhouse.com/html/readicide.htm. So, how can we as teachers continue to monitor our students understanding of reading material without killing the love of reading? Enter technology. Technology can help bring some excitement and creativity to the traditional book report while still displaying students understanding of reading."

Bookwink's mission is to inspire kids to read. Through podcasting and web video, we hope to connect kids in Grades 3 through 8 with books that will make them excited about reading. The videos are approximately 3 minutes long and are updated monthly. Each video booktalk is about a different topic, and additional read-alikes can be found on the Bookwink website. You can look for books by subject, grade level, author or title. We are constantly updating the book lists with our newest favorite books.