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What it is: What makes technology SO great is the way that it can make life (and teaching) more productive and fun. Over the years, I have found so many ways that technology can make reading more rewarding for both kids who love to read, and kids who dread reading. Today, I created an "Extreme Speed Booking" website for @michellek107′s class at Anastasis. I created the site quickly using Weebly, an awesome WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) website editor. Drag and drop website building is where it is at! The idea behind the site is to introduce students to a variety of books and form classroom book groups. How does Extreme Speed Booking work? A whole lot like speed dating. :) Students spend a little time with each book and then rate them accordingly with "I want to read more", "Interesting", "Not for me", or "I've already read". Students can also make a note of how interested they are in reading the book (maybe a 1-10 scale)? This process introduces students to a variety of books, genres and authors. Students may come across titles and authors they wouldn't otherwise find. It also helps teachers form classroom book groups that are of high-interest and investment to students because they had input.

"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, "

Some great ideas

"About this Project Into the Book is a multimedia package designed to improve students' reading comprehension, as well as their ability to think and learn across the curriculum. Based on current research, the project focuses on eight learning strategies: * Using prior knowledge * Making connections * Questioning * Visualizing * Inferring * Summarizing * Evaluating * Synthesizing"

"Teaching children which thinking strategies are used by proficient readers and helping them use those strategies independently creates the core of teaching reading. If proficient readers routinely use certain thinking strategies, those are the strategies children must be taught. For the kindergarten-through-twelfth-grade reading curriculum to focus primarily on those strategies, we need a new instructional paradigm: Our daily work with children must look dramatically different from the approaches in wide use in our schools today."

103 Things to Do Before/During/After Reading By: Jim Burke This article offers a collection of interactive activities that help kids become more involved in the stories that they read.

Book Adventure is a FREE reading motivation program for children in grades K-8. Children create their own book lists from over 7,000 recommended titles, take multiple choice quizzes on the books they've read, and earn points and prizes for their literary successes. Book Adventure was created by and is maintained by Sylvan Learning.

Fun4TheBrain is a great interactive and educational site for children. It contains a variety of math, reading and science games. The reading games are perfect for reviewing parts of speech and learning sight words and vocabulary. Some of the reading games are also available in hard copy to help teach children to read by giving them a stress-free and fun approach to learning. Math games cover a range of topics such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

10 rules to develop a love of reading with your student/child. Could be a good Homelearning sharing section each week!

"Welcome, Bienvenidos! to PBS KIDS Raising Readers, where kids can play free reading games and activities with their parents, teachers, and caregivers!"

Welcome to the Guys Read Virtual Vault of Good Books. This is the place to come if you're looking for something to get a guy reading. We've collected recommendations from teachers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, parents, and guys themselves. These are the books that guys have said they like. We've gathered and grouped them to make them easier to find. So check out the categories below or type something-a title, an author, or a subject you're interested in-over there on the left.

"What technology skills do our youngest learners really need to know in order to be successful when moving to Kindergarten? Read on to find out."

What technology skills do our youngest learners really need to know in order to be successful when moving to Kindergarten? Read on to find out. Read more: http://www.brighthub.com/education/early-childhood/articles/71852.aspx#ixzz0oznTuPNG

Reading A-Z integrates technology and reading curriculum with leveled books and benchmark books formatted for digital projectors and interactive white boards. Projectable Book Tips guide educators to meet literacy instruction goals for fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, grammar, and more. Plus, our companion, printable format extends lessons with leveled books teachers send home for student practice. LEVEL aa

Awesome! Letting kids explore writing by kids/for kids online as part of the silent reading time (have 4 netbooks? then cycle the kids through each week) Anyone trying?