Interactive Digital Books Targeting Short Vowels from Literacy Centre of Expertise

Another great resource for low literacy instruction from The Literacy Centre of Expertise is the Interactive Foundational Stories–a collection of digital books, one for each short vowel sound. These books have so many great features:

• The stories are about adults and their problems, shown with beautiful pictures. Stories about adults that are at the beginning literacy level can be hard to find, but these are a great option.
• The books begin with images and audio only, then bring in print. When we build schema with images and use oral language first, before bringing in print, we prepare students to read, and we avoid overwhelming them. 
• There is a quick comprehension check at the end of each digital book. 
• While the online interactive versions work well for all-class work or individual practice on laptops, tablets or phones, there are also printable PDFs of the stories available. These include sentence strips that learners can put in order while they listen to the stories. 

Each PDF version of the stories includes instructions for how to use them on the first page. You can follow these, or use the books any way you see fit. 

For questions or comments about this tutor tip, contact Tutor Training Coordinator, Meghan Boyle at mboyle@literacymn.org.