THE MAGIC OF EBOOKS IN EDUCATION (CONTINUED)

LITTLE FOX [Little Fox] - Little Fox stories are highly engaging, beautifully illustrated, animated stories written for grades Pre-K to 9, with emphasis on ELL students. They are designed to quickly help build vocabulary and fluency, and the curriculum is structured by level so that readers progress systematically from Level 1 to Level 9 using series and single stories.
         The extensive library hosts over 3600 eBooks and includes well-known, kid-friendly songs and stories that range from simple tales about basic concepts (e.g., ABC Book, Meet The Animals) to mysteries, fantasies, biographies, and classics such as Black Beauty, Around The World in 80 Days and Shakespeare.
         Little Fox's aim is to 'recreate an immersion experience by developing content that is rich in English and of high-interest to children.'  The program has downloadable MP3s, printable books, read-along audios, and text-only reading, and offers mobile access on Smartphones and tablets for anytime-anywhere learning.

BENCHMARK FONÉTICA Y GRAMÁTICA
[Benchmark Education] - A reading program for K-2 Spanish speakers (also helpful for ESL students), Benchmark Universe continues to change and adapt to the literacy needs of a diverse student population.
         Fonética y gramática teaches initial literacy skills to K-2 Spanish-speaking children, utilizing a robust educational website with authentic Spanish poems, stories, and nonfiction, linking the eBooks to a complete package of hard copy instructional materials in order to supplement learning in the classroom. The interface allows many adjustable features, most significant of which is the ability to adjust the speed of audio read-along for added clarity; and there is 'virtual page turning' in the lower right corner of each page. Explicit, systematic instruction matches the traditional Spanish phonics sequence:  Students progress to learning and working with essential types of words; then grammar lessons enable them to read and write complete sentences.
         A complete program (Print + Online) typically consists of 20 Lap Books, 366 Decodable Readers (6 copies of 61 titles), 25 Student Anthology Books,  Poetry Posters, Teacher's Guides, Activity and Assessment Books, one year online subscription, classroom aids (cards, sheets, and workmats), and more. Details are available on the website.