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Finding suitable ICT-based texts on the Internet to use in shared, guided or independent reading is often time consuming and fraught with problems. This page provides links big books that may be useful for literacy lessons. They are grouped under the following headings:
All About Animals – on the Northumberland Grid for Learning site
All
About
Animals
is
a
pictorial
database
designed
for
pupils
in
KS1.
The
database
can
be
used
to
support
the
teaching
of
ICT,
particularly
Unit
2C
of
the
QCA
Scheme
of
Work:
Finding
Information.
It
is
also
a
really
useful
non
-
fiction
resource
for
use
in
Literacy.
There
are
currently
records
on
65
animals,
grouped
according
to
habitat
and
listed
in
alphabetical
order
in
the
index.
http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/AAA/default.htm
Children’s Story Books On-line
Access http://www.magickeys.com/books/index.html then look down the screen to the section ‘Free Story Books to Read’. There you will find the books split into three categories – books for younger children, older children and young adults. The quality of the books varies on this site; however, the books for younger children seem fairly consistent in quality.
The Farm Animals - by Rolando Merino - An illustrated story of animal sounds.
Pirate's Treasure - by Carol Moore - A pirate in Jimmy's dream tells him where to find buried treasure. This is a free online sample of a Click-a-Word Talking eBook
The Bitaba Bird - by Carol Moore - See what wonder a black and storming night can hold. A blending of imagination with a science lesson. This is a free online sample of a Click-a-Word Talking eBook.
Wolstencroft The Bear - by Karen Lewis - Illustrated by Michael S. Weber. Wolstencroft is left on the shelf when every other bear is sold. Find out how he finds a new home.
Ollie's Jar - by Carol Moore. Ollie is an Eel – follow him swimming around his jar. The pictures contain some animation.
Round Bird Can't Fly - by Lea McAndrews. Round bird is special because he cannot fly. A good book for PHSE if you have any children who are not so confident in a subject area.
The Counting Story - by Rolando Merino - An illustrated book with animation.
Naturegrid has a collection of eight infant big books. Labelled for year R/1/2 with the appropriate term. Sebastian Swan ‘writes’ seven of these books and the eighth book, which is new, is ‘written by’ Sydney Swan – Sebastian’s Australian cousin.
The Swan Story by Sebastian Swan. A simple story describing the life cycle of swans. The literacy activities are designed to be used in the first half of the autumn term - Year R, 1, 2.
In the Autumn by Sebastian Swan. This story highlights autumnal changes. Designed to be used in the second half of the autumn term with Year 2.
Sebastian’s Waddle by Sebastian Swan. In this story, Sebastian goes for a waddle around his lake and notices signs of spring. The literacy activities are designed to be used in the first half of the spring term with Year 1 / 2.
Pond Web by Sebastian Swan Written by Year 5 and 6 children attending the Kent Children's University. It looks at the story of who eats whom in the lake! - Year 1, 2.
Sebastian’s Rhyme by Sebastian Swan. This story focuses on introducing children to CVC words. The literacy activities are designed to be used in the second half of the autumn term - Year 1.
The Lost Cygnet by Sebastian Swan. Sebastian and Sarah lose one of their cygnets. While Sebastian is searching he meets other animals and their young around the lake! The book introduces simple counting with interactive roll over buttons!
Sebastian Swan’s Story by Sebastian Swan. Designed to be used with early years children. Encouraging children to listen and identify the most common initial sound or phoneme in each sentence. Sounds featured include s, c, m, t, b, h and g.
Guess Who? by Sydney Swan. Written by Sebastian’s Australian cousin Sydney, the book has photographs and clues for children to guess what the animal is. Once they find out, there are facts for them to discover
This site provides a selection of story snippets for children to read or listen to. These could be useful when looking at story beginnings and asking children to consider the impact of the vocabulary used, the way the scene is set etc. They could also be used to ask the question ‘what do you think happens next?’ If you actually want to know what does happen next, there is an option for purchasing the book!
Their list of Naace / Mape Big Books is –
Beautifully illustrated with drawings from the paper books, these electronic books are a little small on the screen – showing the same amount of text as you would see in the paper version. If you are looking at Beatrix Potter then they will project well for a class to read.
Cecily Parsley's Nursery Rhymes
The Tale of the Pie and the Patty-Pan
You can also have Squirrel Nutkin and the Two Bad mice (two separate books!) read to you in English or Japanese using Real Player if you wish. There is also an audio slideshow of Peter Rabbit available.
Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland and The Frog Prince are available too, requiring Real Player, along with three tales from The Brother’s Grimm – King Grizzly Beard, Tom Thumb and Queen Bee. http://wiredforbooks.org/kids.htm
Non-Fiction books from The Lighthouse for Education
These are really PowerPoint presentations rather than big books themselves. Some of them contain a little too much information for the age range you would expect to be studying that topic. However, one or two pages may help in some literacy lessons.
Seaside Holidays – Now and Then
http://www.childrenstory.com/tales/index.html
The books on this site are not of the same quality for use in teaching as those above, however, if you need the electronic text for a traditional nursery rhyme or fairy tale, then you can find it here.
This site contains four sections
Children’s Traditional Fairy Tales
Nursery Rhymes - Again the presentation is not great but they are nursery rhymes that could be projected if needed.
Only one in this section – written by children
The
texts
have
been
selected
in
close
consultation
with
the
Whiteboard
Consultant
and
the
Literacy
Team.
This
page
is
maintained
by
Carol
Rainbow
to
whom
any
faulty
links,
images
etc.
should
be
reported.
Last updated 17/08/2009
