A Virtual Backpack For The eBooks In MackinVIA Just Right For Our Kindergarteners!

Our littlest ones at Van Meter are doing such a wonderful job in the library this fall.  

They have been finding books to read and share with their families; learning how to locate fiction and nonfiction on the shelves; navigating their way through websites and online databases; creating illustrations using digital tools for a collaborative eBook; and conducting awesome research on an animal of their choice using Capstone Publishing PebbleGo.

All of them love the places we go in the library and online.  One of their favorite places to go is MackinVIA to read all of the awesome eBooks that we have in our digital collection.  I taught them about MackinVIA at the beginning of the year and we have been reading them in the library, classroom, and at home.  

Today I showed them something new in MackinVIA....I knew they would be excited because every one of them have their very own virtual "Backpack" within MackinVIA.  Their backpacks have been set up with a special username and password and are ready to be filled up with their favorite eBooks and eResources.  

After showing them the backpack in MackinVIA and how to log in with their information, I gave all of them a special bookmark with their information.  They will take this one home and we created a set for the classroom too.  To keep them all together, we punched a hole in each students bookmark and put them on a metal ring.  

First, they go to the Van Meter Kindergarten Symbaloo webmix and find the MackinVIA tile.  

This takes them into the MackinVIA website. 

The first thing to fill out is the "School".  This is the trickiest part for our little ones but we have a couple different ways that we have been able to help them with this part.  

I always keep the MackinVIA login page up on the big screen with "Van Meter Elementary School" in the "School" blank.  

Once they type in "Van Meter E", our school automatically pops up and I teach them to select our school.  

We also have little MackinVIA cards taped onto the corner of each laptop.  "Van Meter Elementary School" is populated in the "School" space, so they can see how it is spelled.  

I created the card by taking a screen shot of the MackinVIA login screen.  The students like looking here too because it is close up and easy to copy.  

I have sent the MackinVIA cards home, stapled to a bookmark, with all of our students at the very beginning of the school year.  Our families can easily get to all of the eBooks too.

On the bookmarks I sent home today, I just wrote "Van Meter Elementary" really big on another skinny piece of paper and stapled it to their bookmarks.  This happened after one of my kindergarten friends asked me to, "Write it HUGE on a piece of paper", for him to look it.  So I took the advice of him and did this for every one of them.

Once logged in their MackinVIA, they had fun searching through the different "Categories" for eBooks they wanted to add to their backpacks and read.  

A lot of them went to "Supernatural" with the little ghosts since it was just Halloween yesterday.  

Within "Groups" one of their favorite places to go is "StarWalk Kids Media eBooks" which contains over 150 wonderful nonfiction and fiction eBooks.  

All of the eBooks in this group will open up in the StarWalk Reader.

The top pick right now is Stan Mack's 10 Bears In My Bed.  I bet that this eBook in most of the kindergarteners backpack.

I love watching them learn, figure things out by themselves, and help their friends.  

It is our job to give them the tools and skills that they need to be successful and feel confident about learning all of these new things.  

The virtual backpacks for the eBooks in MackinVIA is another tool that brings this to our kindergarteners and all of our students at Van Meter.