If you’ve been on the hunt for informational text for students, you will love these resources from PebbleGo! At ISTE earlier this year, I sat down with the team from PebbleGo. Their dynamic online tool for students is designed specifically for early elementary school students. With PebbleGo you can access a wide range of K-2 research resources and informational text to share with beginning readers.
During my time in Chicago at the annual ISTE conference, I carved out time to meet with the folks at PebbleGo. It was so much fun seeing PebbleGo’s dynamic tool in action. As a consultant who visits schools across the country, I’m always on the lookout for high-quality resources to share with teachers and students. Finding informational text for the youngest readers in your school is often a challenge.
K-2 Research Resources
PebbleGo is an online, subscription-based resource for elementary school students. They have created a database for readers with high-interest, informational text. Within PebbleGo, students can access text related to content area subjects while they build their English Language Arts skills. It includes interactive lessons about topics your K-2 students will love to explore including animals, biographies, and science.
Each collection within PebbleGo features leveled text ready for young learners to navigate independently. Their digital books are specifically designed for elementary researchers. I was interested to see just how robust their library actually was when I sat down for a demo!
When you open up PebbleGo, you will have instant access to collections of digital reading resources for students. There are articles designed for elementary school students on a wide range of topics. From animals to presidents, there is a large selection for your readers to choose from this school year.
PebbleGo focuses on listening comprehension as a core component of reading comprehension in early elementary grades. This resources can help K–2 students build a range of literacy skills. With this tool, teachers can introduce students to the concept of research and credible sources as early as kindergarten.
PebbleGo and Capstone
PebbleGo is an online learning platform focusing on K–2 research from the folks at Capstone. You’ve probably heard of Capstone before. They are a leading publisher of children’s books, digital tools, literacy programs, and K–12 professional development resources for educators and students. Capstone has created content for classrooms and libraries across the world as well as for readers at home.
With PebbleGo students will have instant access to high-interest, high-quality text. These reading resources include spoken-word audio as well as text highlighting. You’ll also find audio and video media to help students dive into research materials.
Spanish Reading Resources for Students
In addition to the reading materials described above, PebbleGo recently announced the addition of new Spanish reading materials to their platform. PebbleGo Animales (the Spanish version of Animals) has already been part of the database. At the ISTE conference, PebbleGo shared their new Spanish language options for it Biographies, Science, and Social Studies collections.
Taming the Wild Text with PebbleGo
In Taming the Wild Text: Literacy Strategies for Today’s Reader, a book I co-authored with Pam Allyn, we tackle the idea of supporting readers in the digital world. There is a chapter for each of the five habits of reading to help students and their teachers “tame the wild text.” The first chapter is all about reading widely. Here is an excerpt that details the importance of giving students access to a wide range of text:
“Students of all ages should interact with a range of text. Teachers must inspire this generation of readers to become voracious consumers of language and to strike a balance between literature and informational text to achieve an understanding of text structure in the new era. These readers leapfrog between genres, platforms, pages, and screens with the dexterity and fearlessness of pole-vaulters. It is both a privilege and a responsibility to be born during a time when literacy instruction in school and beyond requires such cognitive athleticism, but students are up to the challenge.” (p. 11)
Jump into PebbleGo
With over 100 million articles read on their platform during the last school year, PebbleGo is a popular choice for students and teachers. Schools choose to renew the PebbleGo platform at a rate of 95%. This metric demonstrates how once educators have PebbleGo, they use it! Since PebbleGo first launched, students have read over 1 billion articles on their platform.
Get started with a free trial from the folks at PebbleGo. This link will take you straight to the free trial page. If you’d like to get a feel for how educators are using PebbleGo with students, you’ll want to explore their community page. You’ll find discussions, lesson plans and classroom spotlights showing PebbleGo in action!
