Reading for Enjoyment

Smories

Smories is a free resource where kids can have stories read to them by other kids. It's a simple, safe alternative to sites like youtube where young viewers can click away to unknown destinations. Here is how it got started:

We got the idea for smories.com during an extremely long journey in a very dirty Land Rover from the Kalahari desert in Botswana to Cape Town in South Africa in February last year.

Our daughter (8) had the idea to film herself with our ipod reading Enid Blyton short stories, and then play them back to her younger sister (6). This kept them entertained for hours.

Our kids have always loved reading to each other and are transfixed when other children read them stories. They are also obsessed with the internet and will make their way to youtube any time they get their hands on a computer.

We thought a website that had a continuous flow of new stories, read aloud by kids, would make a healthier destination than so much of the stuff out there. Imagine you're stuck in traffic and need to keep a miniature person entertained in the back. Access a playlist of smories stories from your i-phone and voila...

Check it out. There are stories for 3-4 ish, 5-6 ish and 7-8 ish year olds at this point. The children reading them are mostly from the UK. They are so engaging!

They made a special version of Smories for the iPhone and iPad. Visit www.smories.com in your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad, and you'll see what they mean. ***We recently introduced an ipod cart here at Hosmer...just in time for students to watch these lovely stories during reading month.

Read!

March is Read-a-thon month at Hosmer. It is a wonderful, longstanding tradition. Parents, teachers and students all join in on this 31 days of reading fun. This past Friday was Hat Day. It was delightful to see the students express themselves through the hats they wore. It clearly was an example of the third principle of Universal Design for Learning - "offering multiple means of engagement".

I hope to post various reading related activities and sites, so keep checking back! Meanwhile, curl up with a good book.