Waffle Bytes

From the Michigan eLibrary: MeL’s EBSCO host e-books are downloadable in ePub or PDF format. The PDF version is a fixed layout of the print version of the book, and ePub allows the text to be adjusted easily for any device or screen size. With Adobe Digital Editions (freely downloadable from Adobe.com), e-books are mobile friendly. The ePub format also makes e-books compatible with adaptive technologies, including screen reading software. The table of contents in the e-books links directly to a specific chapter.  You can also read the e-book right in your web browser. The e-books can be organized and downloaded to Google Drive – or any other file storage. Passages can be highlighted, shared, notes added, emailed, and printed. For researchers and students, there is an automatic citation generator that can be used in conjunction with popular products like RefWorks, EndNote, or Zotero. For librarians and teachers, integrating these e-book features should be an essentia...

(This is the start of our new Stay-At-Home series focused on practical ways you can use a resource to foster creativity, connections, and collaboration.) There are a variety of companies providing eBooks and/or Audiobooks for parents and educators while students are not able to attend their schools.  But, what can you do with them - or any book for that matter? Teachers : Here are some ideas for ways eBooks or Audiobooks can be used to connect with your students. Share a link to one of your favorite books in your communications with your students, along with why it is one of your favorites.  Invite students to read or listen to it, and invite them to share back a link to one of their favorites. Encourage students to create their own "audiobook" recording of a book for elementary school students (you may give some examples of appropriate books), which you can then share with your elementary teachers for sharing Inspire students to create a book report on what they are...

Are you an educator in a Title 1 school?  If so, you are eligible to participate in the Open eBooks Initiative! Go here to get more information at Open eBooks .  This does require registering with First Book - which supplies both access to the app and "new books and educational resources - for free and at low cost - to schools and programs serving children in need, from birth to age 18."  From the Library of Michigan: " Open eBooks is an app containing thousands of popular and award-winning titles that are free for children from in-need households. These eBooks can be read without checkouts or holds. Children from in-need families can access these eBooks, which include some of the most popular works of the present and past, using the Open eBooks app and read as many as they like without incurring any costs. The goal of Open eBooks is to encourage a love of reading and serve as a gateway to children reading even more often, whether in school, at librari...