Scholastic Book Wizard

The other day I was working with a group of language arts teachers and they were talking about how difficult it is to select books for students that are at their reading level.  I immediately remembered a site I had found a while back where you can find books similar to other books based on their content or reading level.  The tool is on Scholastic's website and it's called Book Wizard.  On this site you can search for books in a number of dynamic ways.  You want to find a book based on reading level?  Done.  You want to find a book that is similar in content and readability?  Done.  You can even create a list of books at certain reading levels for students to make their choice even easier.  One of the best features of the Book Wizard is the ability to find a book above or below another book in terms of reading level.  So if a book was too difficult you can find another book that is similar but a lower level of text.  The Book Wizard is super simple to use and gives you lots of different ways to narrow down your results such as genre, series, theme and interest level.

Now What?

The Book Wizard is something that all classroom teachers can use to help their students find books that are appropriate for their reading and interest level.  If you are a library media teacher, this is definitely something that will help your students to find the exact book they want.

Classroom Library Organizer

Classroom Organizer is a neat website which offers to organize those messy bookshelves in your classroom.  I immediately thought back to my days as an 8th grade English teacher and all of the books that I used to have on my shelf.  My sign-out sheet was a piece of paper taped to the side of the bookcase.  Classroom Organizer looks to do away with such cluttered confusion and even has an ingenious way of doing it.  Sign up today for a free account on Classroom Organizer and you can then download the smartphone app which will allow you to scan your books in using their barcode scanner app.  It couldn't be easier to have all of your classroom library titles available to students.  For more information, check out the introductory video below:




Now What?

If you have books in your classroom that you let students borrow Classroom Organizer is a great way to track that information and organize your collection.  You can even print out reports which display the books that are being taken out and by which student.