The Scoop on: Storia

I mentioned in my last post how I have fallen in love with the Scholastic for Teachers website!  While surfing their site this month, I learned about a new e-reading application to use in the classroom called, "Storia".  This program was created by Scholastic with a goal to help students become star readers!  It can be used with PCs, iPads, and Android devices.  Before I begin to tell you some of the specific features Storia has to offer, I would like to share with you this video about Storia in the Classroom:

Did that spark your interest?  What I like about Storia is that it can be used in so many different ways with or without teacher input.  It can easily become part of your regular reading instruction and is geared for readers in grades K-8th.  This app can be used in your classroom for: whole-class reading, partner-reading, small groups, and for independent reading (Zimmerman and Tomasello, 2013).

Your students have many opportunities to explore and practice reading with Storia.  Independently, their reading experience can become a very personal one, as they can go at their own pace with stories of their choosing.  There are also enough "shelves" in the Storia program, so each child can have their own bookshelf that holds the stories their have completed.  With so many e-books available, creating your classroom's own library would be easy to do!

Built into most e-books for Storia are enrichment activities that allow students to gain further understanding of the story and extra practice in sequencing, decoding, and answering general questions.  Teachers can use the Notes section for writing prompts and short questions that will help build comprehension skills.  Also included in Storia's e-books are Reading Inventories to help teachers measure comprehension.  Of course, improvement of reading fluency in your classroom can also be measured through sharing exercises where students work with peers in genuine conversations about what they're reading. 

My school does not have tablets for our students.  However, I am excited to use this application with my computer and my projector.  Using my screen,  I can project the stories for the entire class to see. I can utilize this program for whole-class reading to build fluency and then go forward with the enrichment activities included in each e-story.  Another good thing to remember about Storia, is that students can use it at home, too!  This is especially useful for English Language Learners and reluctant readers.  Students that fall into these categories can use the "Read to Me" function of Storia.

If you use this reading app in your classroom, I would love to hear how it is going!  If you're wanting to get started with Storia, click here to register for an account.

References: 

[Storia Logo]. Retrieved October 22, 2013, from: www.scholastic.com/storia

[Storia in the Classroom Video]. Retrieved October 22, 2013, from: http://teacher.scholastic.com/ereading-resources/video-how-to/

Zimmerman, A. & Tomasello, D., Scholastic Teachers. (2013, October). What is Storia?. Retrieved October 22, from: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/introduction-using-storia-classroom