Digital Non-Fiction Reading with True Flix

Today, via an early morning meeting with our school LMS, Mrs. Olson and I were introduced to what appears to be a great, new digital tool for our classroom.  Best part, is it is accessible at school and anywhere else where internet is accessible...so YES, it can be used at home!

True Flix:

http://auth.grolier.com/login/tfx/login.php

True Flix is a digital reading format.  It is a subscription service, which our school bought this year for students to use.  That said, it is necessary to use a username and password (which were given to your child today) to use the service.

Once logged in, students choose a "NON-FICTION" category of interest.  Check out all of their choices:

For this example, I chose "Ecosystems."  The following are the choices I would be given with Ecosystems:

If I choose "Tundra," or any of the above (and any category period), I am first given a video to watch, followed by a digital book to read:

While the video provides, perhaps, some needed background knowledge, the book provides tons of content on the chosen topic.  Students can highlight the vocabulary words to get their definitions.  There is a read along feature, where a digital voice reads the story while highlighting each word.  Plus, the table of contents is somewhat interactive.  

In class today we tried to get this interactive website up and running; however, the district's internet was not quite cooperative enough.  In the future, this website will be very beneficial to the "non-fiction" component of Common Core State Standards and our new L.E.A.P. program at school.

Feel free to log in to the website with your child and explore!  Remember, they should have their password in their student agenda.