Nessy offering free resource Pack for teachers |
Chrome Web Store for sbstudents.org |
Nessy believes all teachers should have a basic understanding of dyslexia, and in October 2020, they are giving away resources to any teacher, anywhere in the world, who wants to understand dyslexia. There are two ways to sign up:
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ALL students have permission to ADD the apps & extensions displayed in the 'sbstudents.org' section of the Chrome Web Store to their own Google account. Click here to view a list of apps & extensions available for students. If an app or extension you would like students to have access to is not listed.. please enter a schooldude ticket.
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Audio Books & Publications
Recorded books allow users to listen to text and are available in a variety of formats, such as MP3 downloads. Special playback units allow users to search and bookmark pages and chapters.
Recorded books allow users to listen to text and are available in a variety of formats, such as MP3 downloads. Special playback units allow users to search and bookmark pages and chapters.
Mackin Books All students and staff can login with their SB accounts at sbschools.mackinvia.com. We are part of a consortium and have access to books/audiobooks that are shared (both with us as a district and the other schools in the consortium). They act just like library books; they have to be checked out and if someone else has the book, you have to wait. But, you can "request" a book and it will become available to you once it has been returned. |
Books have a built-in dictionary, bookmarking, a notetaking option and can be read aloud. There are accessibility options that allow you to change the pace and voice of the read aloud, size, font and color of the text, and more. There are 586 audiobooks right now which vary in reading level. The website does have search options, but it doesn't let you search by reading level. To find the level, you can sometimes click on the "i" on the book's cover to look at the information and find the reading level IF it is listed. Not every book has it listed.
- storylineonline.net - Streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books.
- Bookshare.org - Provides students with print disabilities a vast online library of free reading books, magazines and more.
- Project Gutenberg - Free ebooks out of copyright. Books highlight as it reads. Customize highlighting & formatting of text.
Google Apps & Extensions For Struggling Readers & Writers
- The apps & extensions listed below can be used to assist students who are struggling with reading and writing in the classroom, particularly students with dyslexia.
- Click here to view a chart of the apps & extensions by category.
- Students need to use the Chrome browser for these apps and extensions.
- Eric Curts Workshop, Tools for Struggling Students; slide presentation, session notes, training video
Read and Write for Google
Text to speech tool. A student can highlight text in a Google doc, or an article on the web, and it will read the text aloud to the student. Click here for a student tutorial. Get it here.
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Mercury Reader
Clears away the clutter from articles on web pages. Instantly removes unwanted ads & creates a simple clean page. Click here for a student tutorial. Get it here.
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Announcify
Announcify immediately reads an article aloud and blurs out the text not being read helping students to focus on just the text being read. Click here for a student tutorial. Get it here.
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Clarospeak
A simple text-to-speech reader with editing, proofing, speaking dictionary, color changing and word prediction. Copy / paste documents & web pages into Clarospeak to be read aloud & reverse. Learn more.
Click here for a student tutorial. |
Google Voice Typing
Speech to text. Students type and edit a document by speaking in a Google Doc. It is recommended to have students dictate one sentence at a time. Click here for a student tutorial.
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Open Dyslexia Font
Increases the readability of web pages by changing fonts, contrast and adding a reading ruler to assist students with dyslexia. Click here for student tutorial.
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ClaroRead Extension
Text to speech tool. Select text on a website, or a Google doc, that you want to hear and it will read it aloud to you. Learn more.
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Reader Mode
Eliminates clutter on a web page. Just click on the glasses icon in the address bar, the current page will turn into a nice-to-read black on white page for better readability. Learn more.
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BeeLine Focus Mode
Adds a color gradient to text while reading web pages aloud. Facilitates visual tracking & enables the reader to focus on other aspects of reading, eg., decoding & comprehension. Learn more.
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Chromebook Accessibility Features
The Chromebook has many built-in accessibility features for students with audio/visual needs. To access these features, click on bottom right toolbar and tap the Settings wheel.
Tap Manage accessibility features.
In this section, you will see many options including ChromeVox, Select-to-speak, dictation, large mouse cursor, high contrast mode, screen magnifier, captions, on screen keyboard, and many more. |
How to use Speech to Text on your Chromebook
In this 6 minute video, learn how to use the following features:
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iPad Accessibility Features
The iPad also has many built-in accessibility features for students with audio/visual needs. To access these features, click on your Settings.
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ChromeVox Extension - Spoken Feedback
Chromevox is an accessibility extension that is available on Chrome browser. When enabled, it will read everything on the screen.
Here is the link to add it to your school teacher account. You can enter a school dude ticket to add it to your student's account.
To control what it reads, as well as the speed and rate in which it reads text, select the extension on your toolbar and scroll down to Options.
Chromevox is an accessibility extension that is available on Chrome browser. When enabled, it will read everything on the screen.
Here is the link to add it to your school teacher account. You can enter a school dude ticket to add it to your student's account.
To control what it reads, as well as the speed and rate in which it reads text, select the extension on your toolbar and scroll down to Options.
TOOLS for Organization
Extensity
Keep your extensions manageable. QUICKLY enable and disable extensions for Google Chrome directly on your extension tool bar. Just enable an extension when you want to use it, and disable when you want to get rid of it for a little while. You can also launch Chrome Apps right from the list. Learn more. Google Keep - keep.google.com Google’s note keeping, list making app. Create notes and/or to-do lists. Students can collaborate and share notes with teachers and peers. Access notes anytime, anywhere, using any computer or your mobile device.
Stay Focusd A Chrome extension. StayFocusd increases student productivity by limiting the amount of time spent on a website. The site will “time a student out” of a website after a designated amount of time. Learn more. ClariSketch Create messages by combining speech, drawing and photos. Take a picture. Talk and draw. Share. Your voice is recorded while sketching. Clarisketch is compatible with Chrome OS only. It works on the Chromebook, but not iPads, iPhones, Macs. Click here to view a 5-minute YouTube tutorial. Learn more. DocHub Upload, annotate and share worksheets for students to be able to write, draw, type text, highlight, insert arrows, shapes, comments and a few other special characters. Teachers and students can share via Google Drive. Learn more. Click here to download a How to card. |
Learn more details here. For tutorials, go here. For a quick student How-to Sheet, click here. Note about images: With the free version of this app, students can add images to their maps, but they will not be able to download or convert them to Google Docs.
Bubbl.us
Visual thinking, or mind map, tool for structuring information, helping students to better understand, remember and generate new ideas. Both you and your students can register for an account with your Google login. Visit https://bubbl.us/ to explore the possibilities using Bubbl. |
Insert Learning, insertlearning.com
Transform any web page into an interactive lesson. Embed questions, annotations, videos, prompts, etc., to guide your learners. Differentiate for each learner. Students can answer the questions, highlight, make predictions as they read the article. Because you can set up a class, you can track their progress.
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Watch the video below to see Insert Learning in action.
video length - 1 min 22 sec
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Vocaroo Vocaroo is an online recording tool. Students can record audio clips and then play them back. Vocaroo automatically creates a link of their audio recording. It also creates a QR code. The link & code lasts for a few months or you can download the file to save it permanently. There does not appear to be a limit to the length that you can record. Vocaroo is super easy to use. Vocaroo.com Vocaroo Help Center |
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Co:Writer
Co:Writer Universal for Google Chrome uses grammar- and vocabulary-smart word prediction to help students better express their ideas in writing across devices. Predicts words and phrases in real-time. Now, built-in speech recognition adds an entirely new way of getting ideas out! Note: Co:Writer requires a subscription. SB has limited subscriptions. If you have a student with challenges in writing and believe this program would meet their needs, please contact Laurie Faigin, [email protected].) |
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Voice Dream Reader - $10.
Text-to-speech assistive app for both Apple and Android devices that converts PDFs, web pages, Microsoft Word, and other document formats into spoken word, while also offering additional features such as bookmarking, note-taking, and a built-in dictionary. Customizable text features.. cursor, margins, spacing, color, size, highlighting, etc. Can highlight hard words, or bookmark them..
Text-to-speech assistive app for both Apple and Android devices that converts PDFs, web pages, Microsoft Word, and other document formats into spoken word, while also offering additional features such as bookmarking, note-taking, and a built-in dictionary. Customizable text features.. cursor, margins, spacing, color, size, highlighting, etc. Can highlight hard words, or bookmark them..
- includes customizable audio settings, speed
- pronunciation/dictionary settings - customize message when students type a keyword that you have flagged.
Livescribe 3 Pen Pen that records what teacher says or yourself while you are writing. Sends everything you write to an app on your smartphone or tablet. Handwritten notes instantly appear. You can even email your note. SmartPen 3 - $149 The Special Notebook - $29.95 |