Epic!
Digital Reading Platform
During my first school year, my mentor introduced me to Epic! With over 20,000 digital books, Epic! is one of the most comprehensive digital reading platforms out there, and it's free! The platform has books available in various formats:
Read to Me books are read aloud. Highlighted words along the way, make it easy for readers to follow along.
Ebooks are digital copies of books. Readers can read at their own pace and click to "flip" to the next page.
Audiobooks are recordings of books read aloud to readers.
Video books are animated books read aloud to readers. These books are engaging and fun to use for the littles, K-2!
Epic! has allowed me to expand my library, and I've used many Epic! books in my lesson plans.
A few additional thoughts...
Cost
Epic! School is free for educators, but access is limited to about half of the site's library, and can only be used during traditional school hours (7 a.m. to 3 p.m.). Epic! School Plus is a paid subscription, which provides full 24/7 access to the full library. I, and many of my colleagues, have the free subscription and it's efficient for school librarian's needs.
Ease of Use
Epic! is simple to use and fun for students. With your account, you can build a library of your favorite books to use year over year. This is especially useful if you have digital lesson plans and can just include the link to an Epic! book for a lesson.
Overall, I recommend Epic! to teachers and school librarians!
Have you used this tool before? Let me know what you think!
Educators can sign up for a free Epic School account at getepic.com.