ESL | Imagine This!

Monday, January 23, 2012

Bookster 3.0 is here!

Imagine Learning is excited to announce the release of Bookster 3.0, the latest and greatest version of our app for early readers. Here are a few of the great new features you’ll find in this latest version of Bookster:

New books for beginning readers: We’ve added two new books in Bookster 3.0. Not Mice! and What a Bike! bring the grand total of available books up to 11. And while the original 9 books were ideal for young children to read along with the narrator, these new books are specifically designed for beginning readers who are starting to read independently.

Unlimited recordings: Now you can save more than one Bookster recording. In fact, you can save as many as you’d like! Have your kids read the pages as many times as they want and pick their favorite takes, or save a version of mom or dad reading the book for the kids to listen to later.

Create your own movie: With Bookster 3.0, you can create and share your very own video of any book you choose. Your child can read the book and record his or her own voice, and then share the book by creating a movie and emailing the video file to friends and relatives.

Limited-time offer: These new features combine to make Bookster 3.0 the most powerful and exciting version of our app yet. And through the remainder of January, all Bookster books (with the exception of Moving and What if?, which are free) will be available for only 99 cents each. So if you’re still missing some books from your Bookster shelf, get them this week while they’re on sale!

If your school is using iPods or iPads, we’d love to have you try Bookster. If you don’t have mobile devices in the classroom, please download Bookster for your kids, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, etc. It’s a lot of fun!

We’d love to hear your feedback about Bookster 3.0. If there are ways we can improve this app to better help your struggling readers, English learners, early childhood students, or students with disabilities, let us know by leaving a comment below.

To download Bookster, look for it in the iTunes App Store or click here.

For more information about the app, click here.

Posted by Carter in Early Childhood Education, EdTech, ESL, free resources | No Comments »

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Bridging the achievement gap for English learners

KPBS in San Diego did a story about helping the English learner population in local schools. See how schools are able to address the needs of this growing population by using Imagine Learning software–check out the video below.

Do you have English learners in your school? How have you been able to meet their needs?

Posted by Carter in Education in the news, English Learners, ESL | 2 Comments »

Friday, December 16, 2011

1 holiday greeting from Imagine Learning

Season’s greetings to all the teachers, administrators, and parents who help teach our kids. Happy holidays from everyone at Imagine Learning!

To watch this video on YouTube, click here.

Posted by Carter in ESL | 2 Comments »

Monday, December 12, 2011

5 block-play activities to improve language acquisition

There’s a reason most little kids would rather play with the box a gift came in than the gift itself. A box needs no instruction manual, there’s no wrong way to use it, and the possibilities for play are endless. Boxes and simple building blocks epitomize unstructured play, an important part of early education. Recent studies have suggested that children who play with building blocks score higher in math classes and standardized tests than their non-block-playing peers and also may develop language skills more readily.

If you don’t already have a set of blocks for the classroom, start collect gift boxes for painting or wrapping. Once you’ve got a nice assortment of shapes, try out these five simple block-play activities, designed to improve language acquisition and exploration.

Read more »

Posted by Lisa in Early Childhood Education, Education research, ESL, Lesson plan ideas, teacher tips | No Comments »

Monday, November 7, 2011

Get your students writing for National Novel Writing Month

It’s November, which means it’s time to start working on your winter classroom decorations, your end-of-term grading, and, of course, your first novel.

What?

That’s right, November is the perfect month to start writing a novel with the National Novel Writing Month program. And for kids who want to join in the fun, NaNoWriMo (as it’s affectionately called by participants) has some excellent tools just for young writers. Visit the young writers website for more information. Or read about one school’s success story with NaNoWriMo here. There are plenty of ideas for getting involved and getting your students writing, so be sure to take a look.

Happy NaNoWriMo, everyone!