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As summer draws to a close and the days start getting shorter, the unmistakable energy of a new school year begins to fill the air. Amidst this whirlwind of excitement, there's one place within the school that holds a special allure for both voracious readers and curious minds alike – the library. And with the start of a new school year comes a collection of new titles that promise to captivate and inspire!
If you’re a long-distance commuter like me, try listening to an audiobook. It won’t put you to sleep and you’ll find yourself relaxed once you get to your destination! Once you download the Sora app onto your personal Wi-Fi devices (no more than five), locate your school library and log in. You’ll find a collection of over 7000 titles, and if you need help logging in, ask your school librarian. New titles for adult level readers include:
The infusion of new titles into this virtual library collection also presents an opportunity for educators to incorporate fresh content into their lesson plans. From assigning relevant reading materials to organizing book discussions, teachers can offer a variety of book formats to enrich teaching strategies and deepen student engagement. Sora is now a partner with TeachingBooks, a fantastic resource you can access once logged in to resources.caboces.org. Find lesson plans for many titles used in K-12 classrooms, author interviews, book and movie trailers, and vocabulary-building activities. If you wish to have personalized training in using Sora or TeachingBooks, or wish to schedule an in-school training, reach out to me at Cecelia_Fuoco@caboces.org. By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES Learning Resources
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 Students are connecting with a broad collection of ebooks and audiobooks through OverDrive’s Sora app. Inspired by educator and student feedback, Sora offers both assigned and pleasure reading incentivized with digital badges for achievements. It was also named one of TIME’s Best Inventions of 2019. During spring and summer 2020 Zoom trainings, educators downloaded Sora onto personal devices and discovered how to change an ebook’s font style to dyslexic, increase text size, highlight text, and make notes – even in an audiobook. Teachers were thrilled to learn that class sets can be assigned to students and highlighted texts and notes may be exported in response to an assignment. As a result, 19 titles (class sets) have been assigned to more than 450 students in 7 districts since September. The combination of convenience, ease of reading on-the-go without wi-fi, and personalized reading experience has led to over 9,127 non-assigned ebooks and audiobooks being borrowed within the CABOCES’ region September 1 through October 27, 2020. See the graph below for the most popular titles checked out since September 1, 2020.  This digital collection is not limited to students in grades PreK – Twelve. Teachers and support staff can access many books featured in the NY Times’ Best Seller’s list and USA Today’s popular titles, as well as those that complement PD trainings.
For more information on how to maximize Sora at your school, please contact Cecelia_Fuoco@caboces.org. By: Cece Fuoco, CA BOCES Learning Resources |
