eText Resources

Finding, Adapting and Using Digital Text





Use these resources to create digital libraries of electronic supplementary or alternative materials. Below are links to some of the best places to find good, searchable digital text. Use the links under the heading eText Support to create materials with scaffolds to learning built in.


eText Collections
Internet Public Library
Links to picture books, short stories, poetry, myths, fables, magazines and info about authors. Lots and lots of great electronic text – don’t miss this one!!! Use an advanced search and GROK IT!

Project Gutenberg
Light literature (such as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, or Aesop's Fables), heavy literature (such as Moby Dick or Paradise Lost), and references (such as almanacs, encyclopedias, or dictionaries) in downloadable formats

Accessible Books Collection
A wonderful site that houses hundreds of high interest low reading level fiction in html format. Subscription for a school is $49.95 for the year!

NetTrekker through Learnport
Learnport is a state of Michigan portal for educators. Join and log in for access to free resources. Under the resource tab, locate NetTrekker. NetTrekker is aneasy to use database of quality material available with Lexile leveled texts AND text to speech built in.

eTheme
eThemes is a database of content-rich, age-appropriate resources organized around specific themes. These resources are created for educators to use in their classrooms.



On line Magazines and Newspapers

Scholastic News

National Geographic Kids Magazine

Sports Illustrated for Kids

Time

People

New York Times

Detroit Free Press

Detroit News


Leveled Reading Sites

Window on the Universe

Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for Kids



eText supports

Diigo
Use this tool to annotate, highlight, share and bookmark websites.

Vocabulary Support: On-line pop-up Dictionary
Download this tool to check definitions, find related words and images related to the word. Works only when connected to the internet.

Babel Fish Translation
Can be used to translate small amounts of text or websites. Some caution should be used as it often overlooks the nuances of language translation.

Spark Notes
On line cliff notes. Text and now mp3.


Text to Speech

Natural Reader
Have all of your electronic documents read out loud. With Read Naturally, you use the “Miniboard” to read right on the Internet or in any other document. Natural Readers comes with several voices.

Read Please
Read Please is another free text to speech program. Cut and paste any document into the Read Please window and you can turn your text into talking text. Read Please provides a few voice options, adjustable font size and highlights the words while it reads.

Click N Speak
Read websites out loud in Mozilla's Firefox with this free download.


Audio and Video Supports for Text

Lit2Go
Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format.

Librivox (compliments of Dana P.)


Learn Out Loud

RocketBooks
Rocketbooks are video study guides that provide summaries and detailed analyses of literary works.


Adapting Text


Learning from Text
Dave Edyburn's article about the dilemma we face in deciding between remediation and compensation. He explores helpful ways to look at, find, use and adapt electronic text.



blocks_image