Mrs. Nash's Class

Cast Books are EXCELLENT TOOLS for differentiating instruction with students. Teachers can personalize a book for any student in your class by reinforcing comprehension as needed. Animated Coaches/Agents model comprehension strategies and prompt students to think about particular parts of the story or topics.

The Cast books have built in coaches that support diverse learning needs. The coaches direct student learning even when students are working independently. Some of the digital books include text, images, audio, glossary terms (that are linked within the story), and coaches that provide hints, prompts, and modeling. These books can be viewed online, downloaded to a computer, saved to a CD, or shared with others. Teachers and students can use the Cast Book Builder to create interactive digital stories.

How can you integrate UDL Book Builder into the classroom: Use the Cast Book Builder to create interactive stories for your students that meet their specific learning needs. Include students and familiar locations in your stories to boost reading motivation. Students love starring in their own stories. As you are creating a book in the Book Builder, be sure to develop the coaches within the book. The coaches can offer reading hints, strategies, and model good reading. Start a school library of teacher created digital books. If a digital library is developed, be sure to note which reading skills are being emphasized so that other teachers can quickly sort through books that will match their students learning needs and interests. Students can also create digital books from their writing. The writing should be ready to publish (correct spelling, grammar, etc.). These stories can easily be shared online with other students in class, in the school, and with pen pals. UDL Book Builder would be a great tool for creating stories as a class using the interactive whiteboard. (Taken from The UDL Bookbuilder site)

Tips: The UDL Book Builder site has a great section with tips for authors and illustrators using the Builder. These tips are helpful for any adults creating a book, but are also worth sharing with students using the too

BOOKS CREATED BY UNDERGRAD STUDENTS at Concordia University Wisconsin.

Click the link---be sure to also click the coaches on the bottom of the pages.

FALL BOOK IDEAS

What Should Sandy Do For Winter by Natalie

All About Fall by Rebecca

The Little Leaf by Alyssa

Activities In The Fall by Tony

The Pumpkin Patch by Kirsten

Penney's Perfect Pumpkin Pie by LeeAnna

SPRING BOOK IDEAS

The Story Of My Life (a flower)

My First Camping Trip by Tiffany