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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Tech Tip:Leveling Your Library!


I came across an interesting Pin this week....a book leveling app!  Have you heard of it?  It's called Level It Books (link to iTunes page) and you use it by scanning the bar code of a book and it will search a database to find the level of your book!  Such a cool idea right?  And seems a lot less tedious than searching through the giant Fountas and Pinnell book!

I was hesitant to purchase it, being that the reviews weren't great, and even more hesitant to post about it being that I'm not in my classroom and I don't have access to a large library to scan.  However, I did try it out on the few books I did bring home with me this summer and all of the books were in the database.  I believe the idea is that teachers will collaborate to enrich the database and the app will become more useful as more information is uploaded.  But for right now, the app is $2.99, so I wanted to share!

Here is what you see when you scan your book:
You can add your books the folder called Library and then you can use your iPhone, iPod or iPad to check books in and out of your library.  Cool, huh?  I'm not sure I'm going to use the checkout system for my entire library, but I may use it for the high demand books that sometimes go "missing." Yes, Shredderman, I'm talking about you ;-)

On this screen, you can see I added a few books I know I have in my library to see if the Fountas and Pinnell levels matched what I thought they were were.

Overall, it's a cool little tool to have.  For $2.99, I'll be pretty happy if most of my fiction texts are in their database.

Oh, and a quickie reminder that my Back to School Math Center Sale ends tomorrow!

Tell me: How do you level your library?  By lexile? By Fountas and Pinnell?  Do you level ALL of your fiction books?

Have a great day!
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5 comments:

  1. Nick RJuly 31, 2013 at 9:45 AM

    I level all of my books by Lexile. Then I sort them by lexile and genre/type.

    -Nick
    Sweet Rhyme – Pure Reason
    Follow my blog with Bloglovin

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  2. AnonymousJuly 31, 2013 at 10:33 AM

    I love this app--think it's the coolest thing! I found it on Pinterest last year and began using it this summer for my daughters. I think it will be a great tool to have for the classroom in helping kids find a just right book.

    -Veronica

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  3. CourtneyJuly 31, 2013 at 10:48 AM

    What a great app! Thanks so much for sharing. This will be really helpful for me when I make trips to library for books on a specific reading level!
    Courtney
    Polka Dot Lesson Plans

    ReplyDelete
  4. KaitlynJuly 31, 2013 at 12:03 PM

    I use Scholastic Book Wizard to help me with leveling. I have the Guided Reading Level and the Grade Level Equivalent (it always interesting when they don't match...judgement call!) I level everything that I find in the book wizard!

    :)Kaitlyn
    Smiles and Sunshine

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  5. UnknownJuly 31, 2013 at 6:58 PM

    Thanks for the app review. I have downloaded it... excited to see how it goes. I am changing grade levels and building my library so this is a perfect time for me to get organized! I think I am going to sort my books by genre but have the level written on the back so the kids (4th grade) won't be so much worried about the level but to pick books that interest them. The level will be there so they will know if the book is just right for them or will it be an easy/hard read.

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