TeachingBooks is New “Sora Extra” for Easy Access to Book-Specific Resources within Sora Reading App
At TCEA, educators can learn how to enhance instruction of ebooks and audiobooks in the widely used Sora app
CLEVELAND (January 30, 2023) – OverDrive Education announced today that the Sora student reading app is piloting a new Sora Extra that connects students to interactive reading resources from TeachingBooks.net. This new feature provides easy access to engaging learning materials that can deepen conversations about favorite books among students, educators and families. Educators can test the pilot Sora Extra and see the full TeachingBooks catalog at Booth #1672 at the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference in San Antonio from January 31–February 2.
The Sora student reading app serves more than 59,000 schools worldwide with the industry’s best catalog of popular and educational ebooks and audiobooks and award-winning user experience. Sora Extras complement the digital books and engage students in a variety of educational subjects. This new Sora Extra connects digital books in Sora with TeachingBooks’ vast collection of games, video book trailers, read-along audiobook performances, meet-the-author interviews and more.
“Since OverDrive acquired TeachingBooks 12 months ago, our goal was always to build interactive reading enrichments easily accessible in Sora,” said Nick Glass, Founder and Head of TeachingBooks. “TeachingBooks becoming a Sora Extra is the first step in the journey toward impactful integrations and access within Sora. It brings readers directly to the TeachingBooks ‘For Fun’ collection of hundreds of thousands of resources that can engage, delight and ‘bring to life’ thousands of children’s and young adult books.”
TeachingBooks has been creating and distributing resources about children’s and young adult books since 2001. Today, more than 55,000 schools and libraries have a license to this award-winning literacy service, including all students in California, Alabama and Wisconsin. In Texas, TeachingBooks is provided to all Texas schools and students that are part of the TexQuest statewide digital resources program, coordinated by the Texas State Library and Archives Commission (TSLAC). Among the resources instantly available to users of the new TeachingBooks Sora Extra are exclusive interactive games developed by TeachingBooks, including the Author Name Game, Word Searches about children’s and young adult books, and both Concentration and Jigsaw Puzzles that utilize book cover images.
Glass adds, “It is imperative that we find ways to empower all readers to feel connected to books they are reading. That is why TeachingBooks created interactive, title-specific games that not only are accessible for all ages and reading levels, but honor readers’ cultural experiences, genres and other personal interests.”
The Sora Extra pilot is launching with a few dozen school districts selected from around the U.S. Once the free Sora Extra is enabled, students simply need to select the TeachingBooks icon to be authenticated into the TeachingBooks “For Fun” section.
Demonstrations of the new TeachingBooks Sora Extra will occur regularly at the Sora booth throughout the TCEA conference at Booth #1672. Attend presentations in the booth to hear educators from around the country share how they are implementing digital content and Sora to engage their students and staff:
- How data can drive your digital collection (Henry County Schools, GA) – at 3pm CST
- A quick guide to digital reading: How to spread the word and support students (Pearland ISD, TX) – at 4pm CST
- Access for every reader: How digital deepens reading connections (Waxahachie ISD, TX) – at 11am CST
- How to soar from the ground up (San Angelo ISD, TX) – at 2pm CST
- Simple ways to create promotions that pop (Harlandale ISD, TX) – at 11am CST
- Quick tips to drive digital reading (Wylie ISD, TX) – at 12pm CST
For more information about the Sora app for schools, visit https://discoversora.com and TCEA Booth #1672.
For more information about TeachingBooks, visit TeachingBooks.net/OverDrive and TCEABooth #1672.
About OverDrive Education and the Sora student reading app
OverDrive Education, a division of OverDrive, offers the largest catalog of ebooks, audiobooks, digital magazines and other content for over 59,000 K–12 schools and millions of students worldwide. The Sora student reading app, named one of TIME’s Best Inventions, provides every student with access to the right books and supports the need for required curriculum titles, class sets and pleasure reading. TeachingBooks.net (acquired in 2021) complements Sora with one of the largest catalogs of supplemental resources that “bring books to life.” Founded in 1986, OverDrive – which also provides digital content to public, academic and corporate libraries – is based in Cleveland, Ohio USA.
About TeachingBooks
TeachingBooks is an engaging collection of resources that brings children’s and young adult’s books to life. With access to hundreds of thousands of materials including original author interviews, video book trailers, discussion questions, vocabulary lists, interactive games and more, 55,000 schools and libraries have received more than 70 million unique investigations since August 2020. Awarded the Best Digital App of 2020 by the American Association of School Librarians and the 2021 Common Sense Education Selection for Learning, TeachingBooks was founded in 2000 and is in Madison, Wisconsin USA. TeachingBooks was acquired by OverDrive in 2021. www.TeachingBooks.net
Contact:
David Burleigh
Director of Brand Marketing & Communications
dburleigh@overdrive.com
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