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Books with Repeated Lines
Making "Stories-of-the-Week" Folders

Books with Repeated Lines
This list has been compiled from a variety of sources. If you have additional favorites, please let us know and we will add them! E-mail: julie@aacintervention.com

Making "Stories-of-the-Week" Folders
Contributed by: Caroline Musselwhite 5/00

Why: Remember the research that typically developing children from literate homes have heard their favorite stories 200-400 times (Adams, 1990; Cunningham & Allington, 1996)? Well guess what, some of our students are not getting those 200-400 story reading opportunities! We need to use multiple strategies to support students having story listening accessible. Using computer-based stories is only one approach.

What: Make a Stories-of-the-Week Folder, with aliases for several stories related to the current theme. These stories might be created using several programs:

IntelliPics (www.IntelliTools.com)
Scan ‘n Read (www.switchintime.com)
HyperStudio (www.hyperstudio.com)
dynamic screen software: ex: Speaking Dynamically (www.mayerjohnson..com) Pegasus Lite (www.wordsplus.com), DynaVox (www.dynavox.com)

This Story Folder approach only works if you are NOT using a protection software such as At Ease or Kid Desk.

How: This takes just a few steps!
1) Make a Folder on your desktop. Label it so it is easy to find (ex: Stories About Bugs).
2) Find a story you want to include. Click one time to darken it without opening the story.
3) Go to <File > Get Info and click on <Make Alias> An alias will appear - drag it into your story folder.
4) Repeat Step # 3 until you have several stories in your folder.

Logistics Tips:
1) Make a label to put on your computer indicating:

how to get to the story folder
what stories are in the folder this week or month

2) Make Pictures of Story Choices using ScreenShot or other simple programs that come with your computer, or that you get off the internet; these programs let you take pictures of the screen (ex: the first page of a computer storybook) then print them in color for choicemaking (see www.aacintervention.com)

3) Assign one staff person to turn on the computer and open the story folder each morning, at lunchtime, during free play, or any other time that children could self-select stories to listen to; some classrooms have a Computer Coordinator for each day, others go a week at a time - use what works for you!

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