LIS 568 - BookFlix
New Tech Tool: BookFlix
Kaitlyn Casper
LIS 568 Week 2: 6/2 - 6/8
Initial Impression
This week, the online tool I tried was BookFlix! I had heard about this tool from a school librarian that I work with and I thought it sounded super fun. Upon visiting the website, it was cool to learn that it's free to use! It didn't require any payment, nor does it show ads. It also seemed really kid- and user-friendly right away, with large buttons, colorful pictures, and simple text.
Exploring BookFlix
I started clicking around and checking out different categories, like animals and nature, ABCs and 123s, and the featured pair, which was about fish. It was really cool to see that BookFlix shows a fiction story alongside a similarly-themed nonfiction book. At first, I thought that it would just let me see the pages of each book, but I was pleasantly surprised to see that BookFlix actually shows a movie-like video of the fiction book! It also had the option to show read-along words or to just watch the story. I like that option because it can be great for kids who are learning to read but also for babies and toddlers who aren't able to yet.
I also loved that BookFlix comes with little games and activities that you can play after watching the fiction story and reading the nonfiction book. A book pair about clouds and the water cycle had a definition/word match game, a fact or fiction game, and a "which came first?" game. For this pair in particular, it was interesting to see that the fact or fiction game had a strong focus on teaching kids that clouds are not personified, as they seem to be in the fiction story. Not only is BookFlix educational on science, math, history, and other topics, but it also teaches kids concepts like facts versus fiction, and how to recognize different elements of fiction and nonfiction.
Is BookFlix a good classroom resource?
I can see so many uses for BookFlix in both the classroom and the school library. As I mentioned before, BookFlix not only teaches nonfiction concepts in an entertaining, kid-friendly way, it also teaches kids how to read, how to recognize words and their definitions, how to discern fact from fiction, and so many more skills. It would be super fun to use bookflix as a class, or to have students do it individually. It could even be great for group collaboration assignments so the students could learn how to collaborate with each other and respect the ideas and opinions of their peers. It would be ideal to choose BookFlix pairs that align with what the students are learning in their classrooms, so that they could practice their knowledge. Though BookFlix seems very educational, it's also really fun! It can be hard to create applications that make learning fun, but BookFlix definitely succeeds at that. Overall, I think BookFlix is an awesome resource for teaching concepts to younger children, and I wouldn't hesitate to use it for library lessons!
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