Reading Rainbow 2.0 for the iPad

Hi, everybody. Hope you are all having a great start to your school year. If you haven't started back yet, I envy you. :-) We started back August 1-way too early, in my opinion. But nobody asked me, so... Anyway, I haven't been on here much lately because, as we all know, the beginning of the school year is just so hectic. But I found something I just had to share with you. If you are a fan of the Reading Rainbow series hosted by LeVar Burton (and, really, who isn't?), you have to check out Reading Rainbow 2.0 (not the official title, but I read it in an article and it sounded cute.) I found a Yahoo article about LeVar and I checked it out. You can check it out here. In the article, LeVar talks about how he has been working behind the scenes for the last 3 years to get a new version of Reading Rainbow started, but with a more technological aspect for today's kids. In June he launched Reading Rainbow the iPad app, where children can read/listen to books with animations, videos, and games. LeVar also hosts the "field trip” videos that are such a familiar staple of the Reading Rainbow series. With the iPad app the kids are in control and can select their own books from a collection of 150. I had to check it out, and I am so excited! Here are the pros of the app: Highly entertaining, brightly colored, easy to use and there are a good variety of books for children to choose from. But there are some cons, as well. While the app is free, children can only download 1 free book. After that it costs $9.99 a month, recurring. But they also have an introductory offer of $29.99 per 6 months, recurring. My daughter is in 2nd grade, so I'm not sure how much she would use this app, but it would be a wonderful app for use in my 1st grade classroom. Unfortunately, I do not have a school iPad, but there is always extra technology money so I may have to try and get a couple for my kiddos. Just wanted to let you all know about it in case it is something you would be interested in. Check it out and let me know what you think. Also, do you have an iPad you use in your classroom? How do you use it? What apps do you have for use with your kids? (I have to get all this info in case I get lucky and get one.) 

 Happy teaching! 

Jeannie

Here's a picture of LeVar, in case you haven't seen him in a while.  He has not aged at all!