Free reading resource for parents of special needs children Archives - Page 4 of 9

Published October 1, 2013

Get Students a Bookshare Individual Membership at Home!

Throughout October, parents and educators often meet to discuss how students are progressing through the school year. Parent-teacher conferences, IEP meetings, and other face-to-face opportunities are the perfect time to discuss how students can take reading and studying to the next level with Bookshare. How? Get qualified students access to Bookshare at home. Most of our student members access Bookshare through their school account. This means that educators find and download books for students. A fast growing number of students are also getting individual memberships. This allows them to discover books on their own, download independently, and develop a personal…

Leave a Comment

Published September 14, 2013

Best Practice — Teacher Makes Stories Come Alive Through Accessible Books and Sensory Learning!

We’re sure you’ll agree that Jennifer Cassese Appleton, a reading specialist at Virginia’s Alternative Paths Training School, has mastered the art of blended learning. She is also the parent of four children, including a son with dyslexia. Jennifer wants all students to have an engaging reading experience, no matter their learning or print disability. How does she engage her students to read with curiosity and anticipation? For many books that her students read, they also do a companion learning project involving art, music, or cooking. “When you pair good literature with a sensory learning experience, you create positive memories in…

Leave a Comment

Published August 27, 2013

Parents, Is Your Child Ready for School?

This month we’re encouraging educators and parents to get ready for the new school year. If you missed our first blog, Back-to-School with Bookshare, please take a look now and share it. In this blog, we want to address parents. Starting the school year off right can set the tone for the entire year—especially when it comes to reading for children with print disabilities. Many Bookshare parents, like you, have told us about the challenges of preparing early and getting resources and support that their child needs at the beginning of the school year. Texas parents, Robbi and Andrew Cooper…

Leave a Comment

Published August 14, 2013

Get Ready for Back-to-School with Bookshare!

Back to School is a time for teachers, parents, and students of all ages to brush off the summer dust and get ready for a brand new school year. How can you be sure that you are ready to make this year a success on day one? By making sure you are prepared with the books, tools, and information that you or your students need before class begins. That way, you can spend more time focusing on teaching and learning and less time getting ready. Bookshare can help! Throughout the fall, we’ll provide you with step-by-step information to set up…

Leave a Comment

Published July 2, 2013

On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by Radical Braille Advocates… by Betsy Beaumon

On the Future of Braille: Thoughts by Radical Braille Advocates by Betsy Beaumon, VP and General Manager, Benetech’s Global Literacy Program I recently had the honor to speak at the first-ever Braille Summit, hosted on June 19-21, 2013 by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) and Perkins School for the Blind. With the goal of promoting braille literacy, this landmark meeting brought together braille experts from around the world to Perkins’ campus in Watertown, Massachusetts. My biggest takeaway from the summit: the time could not be more urgent, and more hopeful, for the future…

1 Comment

Published May 30, 2013

2013 Summer Reading Contest. Start Now!

Calling all Bookshare U.S. Student Members with Individual Memberships! Are you looking for a fun and rewarding summer reading activity? It’s time for our fifth annual summer reading event…the Catch Up on Summer Reading Contest! It’s hard to read all the books you want during the school year. That’s why we came up with this great summer contest to help you catch up on all your fun reading and you can start now. How does it work? Create a list of all the books you want to read. Read as many books as you can between now and July…

6 Comments

Published May 16, 2013

Moms Say, “Bookshare Unlocks Reading Potential for Early Learners”

There’s no better resource than a mom to share quality educational tools, and these two moms are no exception. They are avid fans of Bookshare, an online library of digital accessible books and reading technologies free for U.S. students and children who qualify with print disabilities. A print disability is categorized as blind, low vision, a physical disability, or a severe reading disability, such as dyslexia. Thousands of educators and families across America now use the library routinely to provide K–12 and postsecondary classroom reading assignments, including textbooks, English literature, teacher recommended reading, periodicals, and pleasure reading, such as bestsellers…

1 Comment

Published February 25, 2013

Bookshare Members: Join Read Across America Day!

Saturday, March 2, is Read Across America Day, an annual event sponsored by the National Education Association (NEA) to motivate students to read. This year, it coincides with Dr. Seuss’s birthday. Schools are celebrating on Friday, March 1. Whether you celebrate on Friday or Saturday, let’s show the NEA that Bookshare students are readers! Add Dr. Seuss’s books to your students’ Bookshelves! It will be so easy to get all the titles to them! Watch this video to learn how to use Bookshelves in schools. Or look at the first-time user guide. Post a picture on Facebook of your students…

Leave a Comment

Published January 11, 2013

Books about Bullying for All Grade Levels

Bullying can take many forms and harms everyone involved–victims, perpetrators and bystanders. Here are some books that tell stories about how kids have responded to bullying, and that share ideas of how you can help stop it, wherever and whoever you are. Big Bullies (grades K-2) Animal friends find ways to help each other stand up to a bully. The Meanest Thing to Say (grades 1-3) A new boy in second grade tries to get the other students to play a game that involves saying the meanest things possible to one another. Pinky and Rex and the Bully (grades 2-4)…

3 Comments

Published December 21, 2012

“Bookshare Made a Difference” Contest Winners

Congratulations to all participants in the “Bookshare Made a Difference” Contest. This year, 210 people submitted entries, and over 2,000 people participated in the public voting! All entries were wonderful and very moving; there were some close votes. From your stories, you are all winners! So who are the prize winners? Drum roll please… The Grand Prize goes to Katy Noelani Kingery, the author of the entry, “From Baby Honu to the Ocean!“ The 2nd and 3rd place winners were a tie! Congratulations to Teresa Paporello, the author of the very moving poem, “An Ode to Bookshare” And to Elizabeth (Beth) Heintz…

2 Comments

Category: Free reading resource for parents of special needs children