Check Out These "Riveting" Free Leveled Readers from Google's Area 120

Rivet is a new product in experimentation-phase from Google and its Area 120. It comes in app form or it can be utilized just through a web browser.

Mind you, while the whole site is being built on the fly by engineers at Google, the web-cased interface is in beta, so it might have even more glitches. Oh well, the benefits far outweigh the drawbacks as this is a great tool for putting just the right reading level material into kids' hands when they could be doing far worse with devices.

Personally, I like that there are no log-ins needed and that on any type of device there is instant access. There also seems to be a wide range of interesting subject matter, both fiction and non-fiction.

The interface seems pretty easy to navigate and I like also how the presentation of text changes at different levels.

Thanks to Jen Giffen for sharing this cool new resource.

Each level's bookshelf offers a wide variety of choices.

Sample page from Level 7

Sample page from Level 3

Detroit Pistons finally do something right - teaching kids literacy concepts

As a long-time Detroit Pistons fan I have shaken my head at many of their recent management decisions and recent woeful seasons on the court.

The franchise got something exceptionally right recently though. Broadcaster Greg Kelser hosts a couple of videos aimed at improving literacy, specifically students' abilities to stake and back up claims and understanding that every writer brings a different point of view.

The videos were produced as part of the team's outreach into public education for schools in Oakland County, Michigan - the area surrounding the Piston's Auburn Hills arena and headquarters.