Regular readers know that I’m a big fan of Reading A-Z and the hundreds of fiction and non-fiction small books that they have for teachers to download and print-out. My students love them.
It does cost $85 per year, however. I think it’s well worth it, which is why it’s on The Best Educational Web Resources Worth Paying For… list.
However, I do know that there are a lot of teachers around the world who would find that amount a burden. So I’d like to create a “The Best…” list of sources for free downloadble printable books that would be accessible to English Language Learners, and are easy to put together.
Please offer your suggestions if you know of any. I’ll certainly give credit to people when I write the post. Thanks!
Englishbanana.com springs immediately to mind – everything in there is free with no copyright restriction. Matt, the site owner, also gives frequent online classes, free, of course.
Not strictly books, but I love Reader’s Theatre scripts. They’re motivating, accessible to a range of readers, and lots of fun. Downloadable from readinglady http://www.readinglady.com/index.php?module=documents&JAS_DocumentManager_op=viewDocument&JAS_Document_id=9&MMN_position=34:34
and Aaron Shepard
http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html
Try the HarHeel Reader (www.tarheelreader.org ) for books that can be read online and printed out. Students who are beginning ELLs can use the text to speech feature to hear the books. Quality varies as they are created by members of the site. The site was originally designed for beginning readers with cognitive and/or motor access issues, but many would be excellent for ELL students. For examples, take a look at http://tarheelreader.org/2009/06/17/ellis-island/
This site used to have a lot of free readable content to download, though there’s not there much at the moment.
If they bring it back though, they have in the past provided plenty of dual language texts. The main site hub starts here:
http://www.paulnoblelanguages.com
Hi,
I have been using mixbook with my class ,it’s a great site where you can create a book online and then either order a hard copy or publish an interactive version on your blog or website . To see an example of one of the many books we’ve published on our class blog go to
https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/blog/5109-cleverkids/entry/new_fairy_tale_by_ks
It’s an easy application and produces a fabulous book
Thanks for your wonderful blog
Ms .S (Australian kindy teacher)