Picture Books in the Virtual World

Even though I am not physically with my students, there is nothing I love more than sharing a great picture book with them.  But how do I do that?  As you may know, I see my students twice a week for our live lessons.  This is where the students come to our virtual classroom and can see me and interact with the content I’m teaching.  When teaching, I use the camera that is built into my laptop.  This way the students see me the whole time and I can easily show them things like picture books.

Here is a sample of what my students see in their video box:

I also have an external camera hooked up to my computer that I can set up to point down on anything I may want to give them a better view of (e.g., picture books, math manipulatives, science experiments…)

My favorite way to read a book to them during class is using this external camera so they can get a good look at the illustrations and it’s less awkward than trying to show them the book through my laptop camera.  I also have a gooseneck phone stand that I hang my external camera on to get a good angle.

Here is my setup for reading during Class Time:

Another way I share picture books with my kids is I record a video of myself reading to them each week.  I pick a book that fits with the theme for the week or simply a book I love and I want them to love, too.  This is another way I use my gooseneck phone stand.  I use my iPhone to take a video of the book while I read and then I upload it to YouTube.  This allows me to convert the link to a Safe YouTube link and send it to my kids easily.  Since I don’t “have” them every day, I can’t just pull them in and read to them.  This is my way of doing that and sharing books that I love with them.

Reading picture books and seeing students get excited about reading is one of my favorite parts of being a teacher.  I’m happy to say I have a found a way to translate that love into my virtual teaching world.

What is your favorite picture book right now?  Let me know in the comments!