Anyone remember being a kid and struggling as you learned how to read? Wanting to read books, but not yet ready for the hard ones? Well, Torah Day School Library just received a set of 14 Wonderbooks. Wonderbooks are print books that come along with audio narration. Dr. Malka Ungar saw the books in a local library. Right when she saw them, she thought of Torah Day School, and what a great addition they’d be. With the help of a grant, specifically for enrichment, the books were purchased.
Back in the day, if you wanted to listen to a story and follow along, libraries had CDs that came along with the book that you could play in a CD player. The Wonderbook Company devised a more lucrative method of audio for kids’ books. Instead of discarding the CD because people generally don’t own players, the Wonderbook has the audio attached. Each Wonderbook had an audio player attached to the inside front cover. The player is easy to navigate, with clearly marked buttons to play, pause, power on, rewind and fast forward the story. There is an audio jack of course, for headphones so that the whole room doesn’t hear the story as well.
Wonderbooks are specifically helpful for the transitional readers, students who are in the early stages of reading. Research shows that listening to audiobooks helps children make the connection between print words and what they sound like. When students first learn to read, they work on decoding, pronouncing words using the letters and sounds. When students hear the words being pronounced as they are ‘sounding them out’, they make the bridge to fluency. Then they can read with a flow and comprehend what they are reading instead of focusing on how to pronounce the words.
The new books are in the school library, ready to be used! Students may use them while visiting the library, or teachers can take out book for their class, through Miss Alexis. There is a set of National Geographics Books; Volcanos, Meteors, Planets, Robots, Safari, Sleep Bear, Slither Snake and Cheetahs. There is a set of Magic School Bus Books; Inside Earth, Inside the Human Body, Inside the Solar System and on the Ocean Floor. Come check them out! For more information on Wonderbooks go to https://playaway.com/wonderbook/.