EBOOKS FOR STUDENTS
Digital or ebooks have been available for over a decade and there is no one way to access
their digital content. However, the digital capabilities of ebooks allows us to experiment with
reluctant readers. Readers who are not using regular books may give them a try. There are many classics
available in public domain and the readers for computers are free, either Adobe Acrobat Reader or
Microsoft Reader.
The following information was taken from a presentation by Lynne Webb, Anacortes High School
and Nadean Meyer, EWU Learning Resources at the Internet @ Schools West Conference October 2006.
Dr. Terence Cavanaugh has written and presented information
about using Digital ebooks in the curriculum for years. His new book--
Digital Reader: Using ebooks in K12 Education is available from ISTE
His web site with many examples is http://www.drscavanaugh.org/ebooks/
Large Collections of downloadable ebooks
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Project Gutenburg over 19,000 books
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University of Virginia etext Center, over 2000 books
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AskSam collection of government & legislative, classic books, political background
Picture books and early readers
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International Children's Digital Library - complete picture books from throughout the world in 39 languages . There are several ways to view the books,some require a free download.
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Starfall.com- short books that help teach phonics with interactive games and sounds
Examples:
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Peacebound Trains- digital copy of a published books
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Diary of Opal Whitely- republished diary of a girl at the turn of the century in Oregon with additional help such as timeline, teacher's guide, date chronology and more
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Echo the Bat- NASA online book
Microsoft Reader- free download for PC computers, laptops and handhelds
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Remember to download the Reader 2.1.1, the text-to-speech, dictionary and Spanish or French dictionary if you want those languages as well
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Features include: highlighting, notepad, drawing, dictionary, computer speech of text
Adobe Acrobat format also has versions of classic books and a text-to-speech function
Powerpoint Presentation (.pdf) and bibliography (.doc) on "ipods, ebooks and audiobooks" Internet @ Schools West Conference October 23, 2006 by Lynne Webb and Nadean Meyer
