Now students and teachers can quickly create books, print them at school, take home to share, distribute through their school's online library and via email to friends and family. Allows Hands-On-Book users to install RealeWriter Pro on any computer at a single location/site.

Kaplan Hands-on Books

Open up a world of discovery and expression with Kaplan Hands-on Books! Developed in partnership with RealeBooks and Hewlett-Packard, Kaplan Hands-on Books is a web-driven program that enables students and teachers to author, publish and distribute picture books that supplement their curriculum – at a small fraction of the cost of commercially distributed children's books.

Create, Print, Share, Grow

Kaplan Hands-on Books projects augment classroom reading and writing curricula, providing successful learning experiences. Combining award-winning RealeWriterPro software and online digital libraries with quality HP digital cameras and printers, Kaplan Hands-on Books Publishing Centers make it easy for teachers and students in Pre-K through 5th grade to create picture books that can be printed at school for sharing at home, posted on the school's eLibrary (browse Kaplan Hands-on Books Sample Online Library), and distributed through email to friends and family.

In addition to affordable software and hardware, we offer professional development workshops to help you integrate book creation into your lesson plans across the entire curriculum, adapt the program for various age groups and grade levels, and accommodate special student populations, such as English language learners (ELL).

Why Books?

Every Child Has a Story

Every child has a story. Kaplan Hands-on Books create opportunities for that story to develop and provide a foundation for learning literacy essential skills that allow a child's mind to grow.

Kaplan Hands-on Books involve children with books in ways that traditionally published books cannot – opening up a world of discovery and expression.

Kaplan Hands-on Books projects augment classroom reading and writing curricula, providing successful learning experiences. Combining award-winning RealeWriterPro software and online digital libraries with quality HP digital cameras and printers, Kaplan Hands-on Books Publishing Centers make it easy for teachers and students in Pre-K through 5th grade to create picture books that can be printed at school for sharing at home, posted on the school's eLibrary (browse Kaplan Hands-on Books Sample Online Library), and distributed through email to friends and family.

Every Book Has a Purpose

Kaplan Hands-on Books can be exactly the curricular resource you need because you tailor your creation to your students' exact needs. A perfect complement to the core curriculum and resources in which your school has already invested, you can integrate this technology-enabled program into the classroom easily and affordably. Plus, Kaplan Hands-on Books projects support your state's standards across the curriculum.

Open Up a World of Possibilities

Reading aloud to children is the single most important activity for preparing children to become proficient, enthusiastic readers. Creating and sharing "real life" storybooks with others is the best way for any young child to acquire essential language skills that lead to strong reading and writing competencies.

Books are expensive resources that are always in limited supply. Statistics show that 61% of low-income families have no books for children in their homes and that they lack essential one-on-one reading time. In addition, few children's books are truly relevant to young learners from non-English speaking families or from families with unique cultural or ethnic backgrounds.

Award Winning Software

RealeStudios, which developed the RealeWriterPro software used by Kaplan Hands-on Books, has been recognized by several family and child literacy advocates. The Verizon Foundation recently awarded it their national Tech Savvy Award and recognized Enemy Swim Elementary School in Waubay, South Dakota for using the program to provide critically needed books to Native American families.

How it Works

Creating books has always been a wonderful classroom activity. Now, with Kaplan Hands-on Books, it's easy to make it a regular part of your everyday lessons!

Kaplan Hands-on Books puts book creation and interaction where it belongs – in the hands of teachers and children. Using RealeWriterPro software and the package of tools and resources we've collected, you can create, print and share books for young learners quickly, easily and affordably.

Unlike other, more expensive desktop publishing software, Kaplan Hands-on Books is a simple solution that is easy to use. Take a few digital pictures. Upload them to the pages. Write the words. And you've got a book! Made a mistake? No problem! Your book can be modified again and again as you see fit.

Begin with Your Curriculum

Once you start creating Kaplan Hands-on Books, you will see the limitless potential for engaging your students in virtually every subject. From basic shapes and words to more subject-specific material (science, math, language arts, etc.), the possibilities to engage your student are endless! Just think about your existing curriculum and story ideas will practically jump onto the page.

In addition to making your curriculum more engaging, Kaplan Hands-on Books engage young learners and instill a love of reading and writing. Plus your students will be able to take home their Hands-on Books to connect the classroom and home more closely than ever.

Coming soon, our Kaplan Hands-on Books Teacher's Guides will feature ways to incorporate book creation into your classroom along with ideas and examples of books that you can create in a snap. We will also offer a web-based professional community to allow teachers opportunities to share ideas, successes and best practices.

Sharing the experience

Books are meant to be shared!

• Email books to friends and family. It's easy for your students to email their books to friends and family. What they'll see on their computer screen looks like a book!
• Print a copy to take home. Your students can print their books to read aloud and share at home. The RealeWriter software handles all the complexities of page layout so you can focus on creativity. You'll be ready to print and share in no time. The Kaplan Hands-on Books School Publishing Centers include everything you need to start publishing and showing your own picture books! Plus, with the publishing center, you know that everything works together, making set up quick and easy.
• Add to your school's own picture book eLibrary Since we host the library, there's no set up required. It's simple to access teacher- and student-created books from your school online. If you desire, you can make your eLibrary accessible to other educators outside of your school to share books that have been developed in other parts of the world. (Browse Kaplan Hands-on Books Sample Online Library.)