Digital Resources

A memo that was recently put out by the US Department of Education states that virtual public schools must meet all the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. Officials say it is the responsibility of the state to provide children with access to a free, appropriate public education and that children with disabilities should be given any support needed to be successful in school - even if that school is online. The memo also states that all students must be included in standardized tests and given the accommodations they need. This memo is important for parents of children with special needs to read if they are considering the option of a virtual school.

Amazon’s Kindle has a new feature called Page Flip that could make reading a nonfiction book or textbook on a digital device easier and more productive. The feature is now available as a free download on Amazon’s own Kindle e-readers and Fire tablets, as well as the Kindle app on iOS and Android phones and tablets. Page Flip has a singular purpose: to make it easy to hop, skip and jump around a book while saving your place. You can skim past thumbnails of every page in a book, tapping to zoom in on any of those pages or zoom out to get a birds-eye view. There is also a thumbnail pinned to the screen that represents the last page you read, making it easier to go back to what you were just reading by tapping that pin.

Apple stores will add a session called "Coding Games and Programming Robots" to its Apple Camp series this summer. The three-day class will introduce 8- to 12-year-olds to coding concepts and teach them how to program Sphero robots. Check your local Apple store for more information about this and other summer camp offerings.

A survey of 1,200 children examines how upper elementary students use digital spaces for communicating, reading and writing. The study, published in the International Literacy Association’s “Reading Research Quarterly”, reveals that tweens have more difficulty using the internet for research than for reading books.  Data also shows that students are online more at school than at home, and use the internet for different tasks at home than in the classroom. The research also suggests that there is a big difference in knowing how to use a digital device and using it to locate, understand, and effectively communicate information to others.

The study advises parents that even though they may not consider themselves tech savvy, they are still likely more skilled than their tweens at reading, problem-solving, and making sense of information online, so their support is still very valuable. “With print-based reading we provide children with plenty of opportunities to read appropriate texts independently, but we also help them read increasingly difficult books so that they can continue to develop their skills,” one of the researchers wrote. The process is the same for online reading and writing, and parents should help kids learn to use all the multiple modes of information (such as color, image, video, hyperlinks, and text) that are encountered in digital spaces.

Do your kids have great ideas for projects but have trouble translating their ideas onto paper? It might be fun for them to try speech to text dictation on the computer for free with Google Docs. The summer is a great time to try this out before the pressure of schoolwork makes it hard to try something new. All you need is an inexpensive microphone, a computer with the Chrome browser installed, and Google Docs (free). Here is a step-by-step set of instructions on how to get started.

Several literary classics, including Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart and Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, are being retold through a new art form that involves using video games. The EK Theater Company , based out of Connecticut and made up of students, uses video games to convey timeless tales through performances to live audiences. Students narrate dialogue from classic works to scenes of video games as avatars move through the action. The director decides which game scene will be projected while students (the digital puppeteers, voice actors and technicians) speak lines, move characters and manage the sounds and transitions. This new source of storytelling helps students study literature through a medium that is engaging and fun.