A New Reading App from Google Makes Reading Fun!

Google’s new reading app called Rivet makes reading practice fun and easy for kids. There are over 2,000 free books organized into different categories and reading levels. Rivet uses speech processing technology and can help children pronounce difficult words. Kids can also read sentences and phrases aloud and the app will “listen” and offer corrections if needed. It has a fun interface with awards and games, and kids can also rate books and post reviews. More info can be found at the app’s official website.

Readability: Great Free Tool for Distraction-Free Reading Online

readability-logo1

Update:

The Readability bookmarking service will shut down on September 30, 2016

Readability is a tool that makes reading online much easier. Very often, web pages are cluttered with lots of sidebars, ads and additional content that make online articles more difficult to read. Readability, created by Arc90 Labs, removes the surrounding material, leaving the main article much cleaner and easier to read. Readability works with most browsers and is easy to install on your computer or mobile device.

Watch this video to see how it works.

Web 2.0 = Cool Tools

web20titleThe term Web 2.0 has been around for a few years now.  It refers to online applications that are interactive, allowing users to create, collaborate, and share.  Some common examples of Web 2.0 sites are social media sites, blogs, wikis, and picture & video sharing sites.

There are many other applications that are great for students.  Here are four examples of free online applications that you can explore. Check out each one and add a comment to this blog post. You can comment on whether sites like these are helpful or how easy they are to use.

Readthewords2 quizlet

Read The Words: Converts text to speech   Quizlet: Create flashcards

timetoast_logo Wallwisher logo
TimeToast: Create & share timelines     Wallwisher: Online sticky notes

For more great online applications, be sure to check out this wiki, Web 2.0: Cool Tools for Schools that has hundred of sites for students and teachers, arranged into 18 different categories:

cool tools for school logo

SHOW®WORLD–A New Way to Look at the World

showworld

Change the world one map at a time…

Use SHOW®WORLD, an online application and watch the countries of the world change size on the map based on the subject you select.  This is a great way to visualize data on population, resources, world religions, and a number of other topics. Data is provided by several international organizations.  Maps can be downloaded and saved as images, and data can be downloaded as an Excel file.  This is a great way to graphically show information for presentations!