FREE BOOKS
Free Books in the workroom
Part of the process of library inventory is weeding (removing) books that are worn, outdated or simply not circulated. As I go through the weeding process in the weeks that follow, I will be putting library books in the workroom for teachers to use in classroom libraries. This week, there will be lots of picture books in English. Many have a Reading Counts quiz.
FIRST BOOK
If you are looking to buy new classroom books, please know that our school qualifies for a program through First Book.
You can log in to the First Book website, sign up as a teacher who serves kids in a Title 1 eligible school (52% free and reduced lunch when you sign up), and thus qualify for huge discounts on books. First Book has thousands of titles for every grade level from K-12. Yes, Spanish too.
Deeply discounted books not your thing? In addition to this benefit, First Book is the clearing house for a brand new program called Open eBooks. Open eBooks is a program aimed at in-need youth (Title 1 qualifies any teacher at Cali) that provides a FREE cell phone app to access thousands of FREE e-books! Imagine a world where you could distribute user names and passwords to your students and/or parents, then recommend that they read for 20 minutes before playing a game on their cell phone. Open eBooks is a new program aimed at cell phone users, but soon the free app will also be available for other platforms like iPads and ChromeBooks.
Once you sign up with First Book (I can help you through the process), you are in! You will be able to order new, cheap books for your classroom AND free passwords for all of your students/parents to use Open eBooks.
I realize how busy everyone is at the end of the school year, and this may sound like just one more thing to do. But if we get as many teachers as possible to sign up now, with the intent to roll out this Open eBook opportunity next year, just imagine the possibilities for our kids!