My First Impressions of Big Universe

Remember as a child, searching for “that” cookie in the cookie jar?  You know…that feeling of excitement and anticipation in the pit of your stomach grew as you kept searching for that one cookie.  And once you found that cookie, you enjoyed every bite of it!

Big Universe is “that” cookie to me!

If you haven’t already been impressed by Big Universe, then now is the perfect time to dig into the “cookie jar” to see what you are missing.  Recently, I fell upon this online company through a Twitter contact.  I was attracted to the company’s mission, “An engaging online Reading and Writing Community”.  This sparked my curiosity to learn more.

I am not going to go into lengthy detail covering Big Universe’s innovative features, but instead invite you to take a look yourself.  There are so many websites out there offering literacy services.  However, the uniqueness of Big Universe made powerful first impressions on me as a literacy teacher and mother of young children.  These are just a few features that grabbed my attention immediately and made lasting impressions:

•  A student can create their own personal, interactive online bookshelf.  This is a great opportunity for a student to feel a sense of ownership and pride of their literate life.
• Each student can create and share books with friends online.  When students are given opportunities to collaborate with peers, they accomplish meaningful learning and solve problems better than alone.
• Students learn how to navigate social media features.  Social networking is an engaging, real-life scenario that provides new ways to connect and share information.
• Each student can choose to read several online interactive books at their unique independent and guided reading level.  Students that read at their unique reading levels build fluency, increase vocabulary, and expand background knowledge.
• Students can accumulate AR points from reading the online books.  A teacher’s AR classroom program is strengthened with numerous online books children can read at school or at home.
• The online books are full of engaging content and age-appropriate.  Children given meaningful, connected text improve their overall reading achievement.
• The online books are written by various adult authors from several different publishing companies. Students introduced to the wide range of genres, authors, and topics become more proficient readers.
• Students can be an author of their own book choosing from several illustration features.  When students are given choices their intrinsic motivation increases and they become engaged learners.
• A student’s online bookshelf is carried over from grade to grade.  This is a wonderful opportunity for students to strengthen their self-concept as a reader and writer as their literate life grows over the years.