Free Web Resources for Struggling Readers and Writers

Reading First Conference 2007

Georgia Project for Assistive Technology

Featured Free Resources

WordWeb - www.wordweb.info/ - WordWeb is a quick and powerful international English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows. It can be used to look up words from almost any program, showing definitions, synonyms and related words. It includes pronunciations and usage examples, and has helpful spelling and sounds-like links. It can be accessed quickly from your tool bar.

WordTalk – www.wordtalk.org.uk - WordTalk is a free program developed for use with all versions of Microsoft Word (from Word 97 upwards). It will speak the text of the document and will highlight it as it goes. It contains a talking dictionary to help decide which word spelling is most appropriate. It sits neatly in your toolbar and is highly configurable, allowing you to adjust the highlight colors, the voice and the speed of the speech. This program is easy to use, available right in your word processing document and there is no need to open a separate window. A free video tutorial is available at: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4700cbf03cdc55e2daae

Free text readers

E-Text Reader – www.readingmadeez.com- This is full functioning text to speech software program. Reads and highlights any text that is imported into the reading window. Includes a highlighting feature with four color choices (pink, blue, green and yellow), an extraction feature that allows the chosen color to extracted from the original document, and has a selectable reading feature that reads the entire document, just the highlighted information, or just one highlight color. It is an “easy to use” reader that gives you the ability to change voices, read at any speed, and even allows you to make notes into the document you are reading. Uses Microsoft voices.

Natural Reader - www.naturalreaders.com - This is also a full functioning text to speech software program. It has an easy to use interface that easily converts any written text to speech. You do not have to import text into this program. This program can also read WebPages and email. It also has a “mini” toolbar option, which allows the reading function to be available at any time. It “floats” above any document or website and can easily accessed when needed. The paid version supports Natural voices, while the free version only contains Microsoft voices

Sayz Me - http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/61680.html - “Sayz Me is a text-to-speech application for Windows. Text can be typed in or read from clipboard. Words are highlighted when spoken. Select voice, adjust reading speed, voice pitch, font and color. Hides in system tray. Simple and easy to use. Freeware. BSD style license.” (information from publisher)

ReadPlease2003 - http://www.readplease.com/ - This is free software for Windows that can read text copied from text in any window. The ReadPlease display allows customization of background color, font style and color, and a slider bar to control text size. ReadPlease 2003 is a free version that never expires. ReadPlease Plus 2003 has a free trial period of 30-days after which you may purchase a registration code to unlock the software. This site download includes both versions of ReadPlease.

Word Talk – www.wordtalk.org.uk - WordTalk is a free program developed for use with all versions of Microsoft Word (from Word 97 upwards). It will speak the text of the document and will highlight it as it goes. It contains a talking dictionary to help decide which word spelling is most appropriate. It sits neatly in your toolbar and is highly configurable, allowing you to adjust the highlight colors, the voice and the speed of the speech. This program is easy to use, available right in your word processing document and there is no need to open a separate window. A free video tutorial is available at: http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=4700cbf03cdc55e2daae

Free Digital Text

International Children’s Digital Library - http://www.icdlbooks.org/ - this site is full of children’s books available in many languages. New books are frequently added to the collection.

Electronic Text Center at UVa Library – http://etext.lib.virginia.edu

Project Gutenberg - www.gutenberg.org – one of the most recognized sites for digital text

The Internet Public Library - http://www.ipl.org/div/books/

Arthur’s Classic Novels - www.arthursclassicnovels.com - Free ebooks and no registration! This site has a collection of 4000 children’s books, novels, classics, history, educational books and many more all in an html format. This site has a link to LibriVox. LibriVox provides free audiobooks from the public domain. There are several options for listening with directions included.

Digital Book Index – www.digitalbookindex.org - provides links to more than 133,000 titles from more than 1800 commercial and non-commercial publishers, universities, and various private sites. Most of these books are free, while others are a nominal fee. This site also has magazines, such as Rolling Stones, Harpers, and Popular Science.

Free Online Books and Stories

Magic Keys - www.magickeys.com/books - This site has several online books available for all ages and includes a variety of activities to compliment each book.

Story Place - www.storyplace.org -Online stories in both English and Spanish. Students can listen to the story and then follow up with activities (Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County)

Starfall – www.starfall.com - Primarily designed for first grade, Starfall.com is also useful for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and second grade. Includes a great free download center. To view and print most of the Starfall™ materials, you will need the free Adobe Reader.

Book Pop - www.bookpop.com - Website contains many stories that students can listen to and follow along. Book pop contains both visual and auditory outputs, Story pop auditory stories and music pop downloads music and art pop contains coloring pages. Lots of fun!!!

Book Pals/Storyline – www.bookpals.net/storyline - A collection of popular books read by members of the Screen Actors Guild. It asks questions and has PDF files that teachers can download. Lesson plans are also provided for each book.

Adapted books - http://education.uncc.edu/access/parenttips.htm - This site has a library of books at all levels adapted using Writing With Symbols. Just download and print. They give you step by step directions to download. You must have Writing with Symbols to open these books.

Free Printable Books

Very Emergent Reader - http://www.marcias-lesson-links.com/VeryEmergentReaders.html - a site created to help beginning readers. She has tips and booklets as free downloads and several pre-made thematic books for emerging readers.

Make your own Mini Books - http://www.dltk-teach.com/minibooks/index.htm - this site has several premade, printable books on various topics and themes and includes directions for printing and assembling the books. The books come with activity sheets to reinforce the stories.

Free Audio Books

Gutenberg: The Audio Books Project (free audio books) - www.gutenberg.org/audio/

Books Aloud, Inc. (free audio books with certification of disability) – www.booksaloud.org

Reading for the Blind and Dyslexic - www.rfbd.org/

Free Classic Audio Books - http://www.freeclassicaudiobooks.com/

Audio Books for Free – www.audiobooksforfree.com - allows you to download novels as Mp3 files. There is a catch, however. Those who use the site will have to suffer advertising between chapters. Children’s books do not have advertisers. You do have to register to use this site.

Free Graphic Organizers

The Writing Site – www.thewritingsite.org - this site is loaded with ideas from technology tips, writing across the curriculum, free downloadable activities and more resources.

Graphic Organizer Printables – www.edhelper.com/teachers/graphic_organizers.htm - An introduction to graphic organizers and how to use them. Also includes examples of filled-in graphic organizers (PDF File). There are a variety of free templates to print and use!

Freeology – www.freeology.com - provides free graphic organizers, journal topics, forms for teachers, and links to free teaching resources.

Graphic Organizer Resources - http://faculty.trinityvalleyschool.org/corderg/go/free.html - this site has links to free graphic organizer software, sample diagrams, assessments and other resources. Great site!

Writing Mechanics

English Grammar Connection – www.englishgrammarconnection.com - this site can customize grammar lessons based upon individual student needs. There is a free download section with various writing activities.

Handwriting Fonts for Teachers – http://desktoppub.about.com/od/fonts/p/schoolfree.htm - this site has free handwriting fonts used to teach print and cursive. They download into your font menu and you chose them from the font selection of your word processing program. This site has links to lesson plans, teaching tips and other font sources.

Free Keyboarding Programs

Kids Typing Skills -http://www.kidwaresoftware.com/kidtype.htm - Free program to download!

Nimble Fingers - http://www.nimblefingers.com/p_prog.htm - includes teaching techniques, data collection and fun exercises and games.