Capstone Connect

Through the eyes of an administrator

It's clear that technology in education has changed over the years. To create a new  understanding on how myON reader is transforming reading in Columbia Missouri, take a moment to review just a part of the article below:

Wireless learning

Several schools are already piloting wireless learning programs. Parkade and Blue Ridge elementary schools have MyOn Reader. The program is an “Amazon.com” type of model that allows students to download books based on interests and reading level.

Students can read a book anywhere and at any time with a mobile device. Some students already own a mobile device, and others will need one from the school. In a few short months, students at Parkade Elementary School have read more than 8,000 titles. More importantly, it is the student’s choice and not connected to a specific assignment.

While our students are natives to educational technology, many of the adults are technology immigrants. Students demand real-time access to information and want to have a degree of control over content and sources. Teachers want to make their curriculum more authentic and relevant.

Informational technology may be the perfect fit to connect the needs of the students with the needs of the teachers.

TO VIEW THE COMPLETE ARTICLE, CLICK HERE!

 

 

Personalizing Learning

21st Century Skills, Striving Readers, Common Core State Standards and the list goes on. All of these are important initiatives that schools are dealing with to help raise the proverbial education bar in the United States and help students prepare for college and career readiness.

Personalized learning for each student should be the goal of every administrator in the country. After all everyone, regardless of age, learns differently, comprehends at different rates and levels and generally have different interests. We can always be reminded that the world is going to a more personalized approach, look at Amazon, iTunes, NetFlix, and the list goes on. Now, it seems like Washington DC is embracing personalized educational programs AND providing some fund to help implement!

"We need to take classroom learning beyond a one-size-fits-all model and bring it into the 21st century,” Secretary Arne Duncan said in a statement.

To win a share of the money, according to the article in Chicago Tribune there are funds to help promote personalization based on, "districts must come up with a way to personalize education, so that each child can advance at his own pace and explore his own interests, the rules state. Districts must also ensure that students move on only when they have truly mastered a skill - not when they have completed a packet of worksheets or listened to a semester of lectures."

Just in case you were wondering, myON reader is a personalized literacy environment that matches students interests and their reading level to a recommended book list from over 2600 digital books. With embedded assessments, students, educators and adminsitrators can monitor and measure their progress. All students whether gifted readers, struggling readers, ELL students can take advantage of the largest online digital personalized library that soon will be able to be accessed anywhere and on any device. Click here for more information!  Just saying...

 

Pump up the volume!

Everything on the myON platform is growing in volumes: students, schools, and books!

We are excited to announce another publisher to our platform. Adding to our existing publishing partners, Sylvan Dell, Saddleback and Bellwether, Orca adds additional titles from its picture book and high/low collection. The picture book collection will include critically-acclaimed titles: Pierre Le Poof! and Elliot's Fire Truck by Andrea Beck, Mechanimals by Chris Tougas, and Richard Was a Picker by Carolyn Beck. To view the complete press release, click here.

If you have ever been a "picker" or maybe have a nephewthat is a picker (because I do...don't despair he is only 3) you just have to read these titles!  Let's just hope that the volume of "pickers" don't increase!

Sharing myON stories

With the close of the 2012 International Reading Association coming to a close today we have a few great stories to share. Thanks to all of the loyal Capstone fans that visited our booth for the last two days. It was great to meet so many great teachers and educators from across the country! 

With a goal of reaching 1 million students by June is coming more of reality, we are excited to announce the large community wide reading program in Hillsborough County, winners of the New England Reading Grant and a great story from a parent with a struggling reader.

A unique collaboration between Hillsborough County Public Schools, Children’s Board of Hillsborough County,  United Way of Tampa Bay, Hillsborough County Public Library Cooperative, Tampa Bay Housing Authority, Hillsborough County Head Start, Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County, and Healthy Start Coalition of Hillsborough County will result in a community wide reading program to encourage all children to read. Learn more about the program here.

The New England Innovation in Reading Grant provides opportunities for schools to apply for grant funds to encourage their students to become confident readers. Capstone Digital would like to annouce the following schools as winners of the 2012 New England Innovation in Reading Grant:

1. Achievement First - Elm City Middle School
2. Achievement First - Bridgeport Elementary School
3. Achievement First - Amistad Elementary School
4. North Providence School District - Stephen Olney Elementary School
5. North Providence School District - Whelan Elementary School
6. North Providence School District - Centredale Elementary School
7. North Providence School District - Greystone Elementary School
8. North Providence School District - McGuire Elementary School
9. North Providence School District - Marieville Elementary School
10. Worcester Public Schools - Lincoln Street School

Congratulations to all schools!

Interested in hearing a tremendous testimonial to myON? A parent of a struggling reader shares her story on how her son is now a reader on myON and loving it!  For a quick glimpse of myON through the eyes of a parent, click here!



myON is catching "Fire" in Cheatham County Schools

It is interesting that for the past 20 years, everyone at Capstone has been busy developing, marketing, and selling books and now we are adding to that list. For the past 18 months we are now creating, developing, marketing and selling digital resources. But what makes it all worth it is hearing about so many success stories about how kids are reading books in print AND on the computer and NOW devices.

So this week we are going to celebrate a great story that is developing in Tennessee. A great big thank you to Mike Howard and his team for working so hard to get this myON project going and hats of f to the Cheatham County Schools for providing their students their own virtual back pack of over 2600 books that they can access on their Kindle Fires!

To access the entire article, with picture, visit http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120411/ASHLANDCITY04/304110049/Kindles-fire-up-students-desire-for-learning

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Written by Randy Moomaw

THE ASHLAND CITY TIMES

Students at two Cheatham County elementary schools and one middle school are taking part in a pilot program designed to not only help improve their reading skills, but also radically change textbook distribution.

The myON reader from Capstone Digital engages students at all reading levels by providing a personalized reader-friendly environment that includes a list of over 2,000 enhanced digital books.

“It is wonderful to see these children so excited over learning,” said Dianne Williams, the district’s chief academic officer.

The program was initiated on March 19 for sixth-graders in Kristen Hagan’s language arts class at Sycamore Middle School and third-graders in Kelly Phillips’ class at East Cheatham Elementary School and Jonet Williams’ class at Ashland City Elementary School.

One of the features that drew interest was the online delivery and exchange of resources.

“In the near future all of our testing will be online, so we had to think of how we’re going to do that,” said Dianne Williams, noting the possibility of textbook delivery online in the near future.

Using funds from “First To The Top,” it took several months to get the program under way.

After learning about the myON reader, Williams said the county’s plan was revised to focus on language arts and to raise reading scores. There was a waiting period because state and federal approval on revisions to the plan was required before funds could be used for the investment.

One of the initial challenges was to find the right device for delivering the program to the students. The Kindle Fire was selected, and 80 were ordered.

 

Read more of the article at http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120411/ASHLANDCITY04/304110049/Kindles-fire-up-students-desire-for-learning

The Three Cs Mantra of Choosing Technology

In her book Screen Time, Lisa Guernsey shares her Three Cs mantra when choosing technology for young learners: content, context and child. In my mind, Capstone is king of content! For over 20 years, Capstone has developed content in book formats and now has moved to some pretty amazing screen (technology) formats.

Ensuring the relevance of the content that the child sees on the screen is an easy task with Capstone titles. Our editors are acutely aware and knowledgeable of how important age-appropriateness is, and do their best to ensure that the content in each of our eBook titles is perfect for the intended child. Many of our age-appropriate titles are included in our interactive books and programs.

Capstone Interactive Library (a Capstone product) and myON Books or Reader (both Capstone Digital products) are more than just ebooks for children. The highlighting and reading of the text help children to learn directionality, expand their vocabulary and ultimately have the literacy skills that make them ready for school and for reading.

Have a look at the products and tell me what you think! If you’re interested in trying one of these programs out in more detail, let me know and I can get you a password.

                                       

Win a FREE BOOK for your library

Capstone Digital would like to incent all users of myON reader to share their story on how myON reader is impacting their reading experiences. It may be a story on how a student has increased reading time, or possibly recording a large number of books read (by student, group, class, etc), or even recording an increase in Lexile® level. Regardless of the story we want to hear it and when you submit your story, you will receive a FREE hardcover or paperback book for your library.

To submit your myON reader story, please go to our website!

 

Book Apocalypse?

I'm writing today about a very important issue that isn't given enough attention. I am a big proponent of e-books and other electronic content. I own a Kindle, and I've used most of the other tablets and e-readers. I certainly don't have a printed set of encyclopedias at home, but I do use the online version of Encyclopaedia Britannica all the time. So, when I heard the news that the Britannica has decided to quit printing physical encyclopedias, my rational brain said, "Oh, that makes sense. Most people aren't buying them. Yes, concentrate on your online verson." But my reptilian, id-brain said, in a small, scratchy voice: But what about the apocalypse? 

It could be because my husband was watching Doomsday Preppers the other day that my neurons put these two things together. I am personally not a doomsday prepper. I have no stockpile of food or water. I'm not even prepared enough for the CDC standards. But I do love my apocalypse entertainment. Night of the Living Dead is a favorite movie, and The Road is a favorite novel.

But if I had The Road on my Kindle rather than in hard copy as I do now, how would I read it when zombies have eaten the brains of the power company workers? A very rational discussion ensued in the comment section of a blog post I recently read on the rise of e-books. One commenter observed that, if civilization collapsed, you'd have more pressing matters than how to charge your e-reader.

Another person replied that, well, yes, for a bit. But when you take care of food, shelter, and water, then you're going to want some good old fashioned escapism. Really—if there were a time for escapism, I think the apocalypse would be it.

I imagine that the local library would be ransacked, especially titles about making solar panels from materials around your house or how to make your own urine potable. But beyond that, I worry about all the knowledge that's out there in electronic form that just, well, disappears. Like this wonderfully insightful blog post.

I will continue to hail the electronic revolution. Reason usually prevails, after all. But if I ever do decide to make an emergency kit, I don't think my Kindle will be a part of it. But my copy of The Road just might.

Gillia Olson, Managing Editor

Current Trends in Early Learning

I follow the Hatch blog quite closely these days as I am learning about early learning education. A recent article by Sue Bredekamp, an early childhood educator for 40 years, discusses the current trends that have had the greatest impact in recent years. Some of the items on her list include:

1.  Emphasis on learning standards – Head Start outcomes, common core & state Early Learning Standards
2. Accountability culture – assessment of teacher effectiveness & child outcomes (CLASS in Head Start); state data systems (QRIS)
3. Demand for evidence-based curriculum with literacy & mathematics focus
4. Increasing role of digital media at home & in schools, and in professional development
5. Achievement gap present at preschool and growing over time

Have these trends affected your work and how have you adjusted to them? Let us know!

Are you attending 2012 IRA in Chicago and a current classroom teacher?

Join the 2012 IRA School and get myON reader for FREE for 1 year!  

That’s right! We are looking for classroom teachers to implement myON reader in their classroom for a year—FREE! This would be great for your current students, and perfect for a summer reading program! 

 

 

myON reader is a personalized literacy environment that has the largest digital library with over 2000 enhanced digital books matched to a student's interests and Lexile^® level. Our growing collection of books include reading supports-highlighting, online dictionary and professionally recorded audio. Through the embededded assessments, students and educators can track, monitor and measure a student’s reading growth and project their future reading levels. Students can access myON reader anytime, anywhere there is Internet access and is now available on the Kindle Fire!

Preview myON reader here!

What’s the catch? 

Just meet the below criteria, fill out the form, get chosen as a participant and myON reader is yours!

• You are re registered to attend IRA, and willing to speak about your experience with myON reader at a session in the Capstone booth
• You are a classroom teacher willing to implement and use myON reader for an hour per week for a year
• You are willing to provide us with testimonials and feedback on myON reader
• You are willing to create a video on how you are using myON reader with your students

Meet these requirements? Sign up today!