Wow!! Can you believe school is just around the corner? I am looking forward to seeing the faces of new and old students and getting them into the library and into new books. I have created an exciting video on Animoto to help promote my school. I hope you enjoy it.
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Final Reflection
Even though this says final reflection, it does not mean that I am done with my blog, I am just done with my summer class for my Library Science Certificate. It really has been an eye opener and fun doing this blog and learning about all the technology that could be used in the classroom or library. I still wake up at 3:00 in the morning with my brain going a mile a minute with different ideas on how to use some of this in the library.
Most of this was new to me, like Instagram, Vine Video, Comic Strips, and Twitter; well okay a lot of it was pretty new to me.
I really enjoyed doing the Vine Video and the Comic Strips the best. They were fun and short. Not short in a "oh good this is almost done", but in "oh, wow this really got my attention". I really believe the students will also like these and can do many short projects with these. I am thinking about using the comic strips for a book talk between two people, or even just name the different parts of a book. I even think that using the Vine video for different parts of a book would be fun. I would also use the QR Codes so that I could share this with parents and teachers.
The thing that worries me the most is trying to keep up with all the Book Communities we signed up for and Twitter. I know keeping up with one would be great and that would be my goal for the up-coming year. I really would like to keep the Facebook page going for our library and Goodreads since I liked their site. I might even try to keep up with Shelfari since I have it on my blog. I will also keep posting to my blog, I am not sure what I have to share is important, but maybe someone will need what ever information I put on here.
Thanks for a wonderful class.
Most of this was new to me, like Instagram, Vine Video, Comic Strips, and Twitter; well okay a lot of it was pretty new to me.
I really enjoyed doing the Vine Video and the Comic Strips the best. They were fun and short. Not short in a "oh good this is almost done", but in "oh, wow this really got my attention". I really believe the students will also like these and can do many short projects with these. I am thinking about using the comic strips for a book talk between two people, or even just name the different parts of a book. I even think that using the Vine video for different parts of a book would be fun. I would also use the QR Codes so that I could share this with parents and teachers.
The thing that worries me the most is trying to keep up with all the Book Communities we signed up for and Twitter. I know keeping up with one would be great and that would be my goal for the up-coming year. I really would like to keep the Facebook page going for our library and Goodreads since I liked their site. I might even try to keep up with Shelfari since I have it on my blog. I will also keep posting to my blog, I am not sure what I have to share is important, but maybe someone will need what ever information I put on here.
Thanks for a wonderful class.
Parents, Teens, and Online Privacy
Madden, M., Cortesi, S., gasser, U., Lenhart, A., Duggan, M. (2012, November 14). Parents, Teens, and
Online Privacy. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved July 23, 2014 from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/11/20/parents-teens-and-online-privacy/
How concerned are you with your children and the Internet? Many more parents are concerned with their children using social networks now than they were 3 years ago. Parents of younger teens, 12-13 years old are more concerned than parents of 14-17 years old of what they are doing on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. They are also more concerned about what information advertisers are learning about their children when they are on the Internet, how their child manages his/her reputation online and how they interact with other people.
Parents are helping their child set up the privacy settings, reading privacy policies, using parental controls, and talking to their child about online profiles, especially the parents of the 12-13 years old. Parents are also befriending their children on Facebook to stay connected with their child and what is happening on their page. More parents are also using social networking sites than they were 3-4 years ago, especially parents under the age of 40. Other things that have parents concerned are interactions with strangers online and the impact on their future opportunities.
Parents will also go on the Internet and search for their child to see what information they can find out on them. If you haven't done this you should do it on yourself. I did it and it pulls up the basic information, name, date of birth, addresses, and people who may be related to you. If you want more specific things you have to pay for that information. Which I was glad, because the site searched for marriages, traffic tickets, felonies, and quite a bit of other information that should not be that easy to get to, especially for free. I did try looking up my two sons and it only brought up their birth dates, which is enough information for the Internet.
28 pages
Online Privacy. Pew Internet and American Life Project. Retrieved July 23, 2014 from
http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/11/20/parents-teens-and-online-privacy/
How concerned are you with your children and the Internet? Many more parents are concerned with their children using social networks now than they were 3 years ago. Parents of younger teens, 12-13 years old are more concerned than parents of 14-17 years old of what they are doing on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. They are also more concerned about what information advertisers are learning about their children when they are on the Internet, how their child manages his/her reputation online and how they interact with other people.
Parents are helping their child set up the privacy settings, reading privacy policies, using parental controls, and talking to their child about online profiles, especially the parents of the 12-13 years old. Parents are also befriending their children on Facebook to stay connected with their child and what is happening on their page. More parents are also using social networking sites than they were 3-4 years ago, especially parents under the age of 40. Other things that have parents concerned are interactions with strangers online and the impact on their future opportunities.
Parents will also go on the Internet and search for their child to see what information they can find out on them. If you haven't done this you should do it on yourself. I did it and it pulls up the basic information, name, date of birth, addresses, and people who may be related to you. If you want more specific things you have to pay for that information. Which I was glad, because the site searched for marriages, traffic tickets, felonies, and quite a bit of other information that should not be that easy to get to, especially for free. I did try looking up my two sons and it only brought up their birth dates, which is enough information for the Internet.
28 pages
Teens and Technology
Rainie, L. (2014, July 23). 13 Things to know about Teens and Technology. PEW Internet Project.
Retrieved July 25, 2014 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/07/23/13-things-to-know-about-
teens-and-technology/.
Technology has influenced many teens in different ways. Teens today are on their cell phones/smartphones more than they are on laptops or PC's. They use their phones for almost everything, chatting, texting, social networking and the Internet.
A research was done with over 2000 advanced placement and writing teachers to see how the use of technology has effected the way teens look up information and if it effects have helped students or hurt them. Teachers are saying that yes technology is helping students become better researchers, it gives students access to more information and they are more self-sufficient when doing research. But, then there are those teachers that say the students are getting to much information and don't know how to decipher it, they have shorter attention spans and students hope to find information quickly and easily. If students where being graded on their research skills using technology their grade would be fair to poor depending on what is being evaluated. The bottom two skills were able to tell the difference between reliable or unreliable information and patience when looking for that hard to find information.
With technology at our fingertips we as teachers have to realize that we can not keep using the old methods of teaching, we have to broaden our thinking to include more interactive lessons were students are engaged in their learning.
So with this technology are we creating a society where the students can multitask, find answers that are in-depth and find them quickly or are we creating a society where the students have short attention spans, lack the ability to make deep relationships and lack the ability for finding in-depth answers to questions? What do you think?
55 Slides
Retrieved July 25, 2014 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/07/23/13-things-to-know-about-
teens-and-technology/.
Technology has influenced many teens in different ways. Teens today are on their cell phones/smartphones more than they are on laptops or PC's. They use their phones for almost everything, chatting, texting, social networking and the Internet.
A research was done with over 2000 advanced placement and writing teachers to see how the use of technology has effected the way teens look up information and if it effects have helped students or hurt them. Teachers are saying that yes technology is helping students become better researchers, it gives students access to more information and they are more self-sufficient when doing research. But, then there are those teachers that say the students are getting to much information and don't know how to decipher it, they have shorter attention spans and students hope to find information quickly and easily. If students where being graded on their research skills using technology their grade would be fair to poor depending on what is being evaluated. The bottom two skills were able to tell the difference between reliable or unreliable information and patience when looking for that hard to find information.
With technology at our fingertips we as teachers have to realize that we can not keep using the old methods of teaching, we have to broaden our thinking to include more interactive lessons were students are engaged in their learning.
So with this technology are we creating a society where the students can multitask, find answers that are in-depth and find them quickly or are we creating a society where the students have short attention spans, lack the ability to make deep relationships and lack the ability for finding in-depth answers to questions? What do you think?
55 Slides
Monday, July 28, 2014
Instagram and Vine
Here is my first Instagram pictures and Vine video. These are some other ways to get technology into the classroom.
Here is a picture of some Fondant Sea Creatures I created last Saturday. Sitting in my backyard watching the pool. It looks so good!!
Here are our dogs doing what they do best.
Here is a picture of some Fondant Sea Creatures I created last Saturday. Sitting in my backyard watching the pool. It looks so good!!
Here are our dogs doing what they do best.
Look at em go! https://t.co/PIJyjweEuI
— Deborah Politsch (@DeborahPolitsch) July 29, 2014
I have not been on Instagram or Vine before. It was quite interesting, to tell the truth, I had to get my son to help with the Vine Video. I do like some of the suggestions for using Instagram in the classroom. Such as pictures of the students with their projects, field trip pictures, and sharing books that they have read. Of course like all web based programs you have to be careful for the students safety. If you have not done this before try it out. The Vine Video is only 8 seconds long, but you can tell a lot in that short of a time.Screencast
Screencast are fun and a different way to grab students attention. The two that I tried out were Screencast-O-Matic and Screenr. Both we pretty simple to use as long as you have Java installed on your computer and your computer doesn't block the site. I had a lot of trouble with Screenr, even though I had Java installed, it still wouldn't record until I set the security level down to medium. Screencast-O-Matic lets you record for 15 minutes while Screenr only lets you record for 5 minutes, both of these where in the free mode.
I did my Screencast-O-Matic on how to use our library search catalog. I will be using this at the beginning of the year to show the students how to navigate through it.
On Screenr, I made a screencast on how to use MakeBeliefsComix. I had to add a few things to the comic before I started because I only had five minutes and ran out of time the first go around.
Like I said before both were easy to use once I figured out how to get Java to work on Screenr. On both you just push record and then put the box around the area you want to talk about and then hit record and start talking. For me though, I think I would use Screencast-O-Matic more because you get more time and it worked well for me at school. I did not try Screenr at school, so I don't know if I would have less problems with it there or not.
I did my Screencast-O-Matic on how to use our library search catalog. I will be using this at the beginning of the year to show the students how to navigate through it.
On Screenr, I made a screencast on how to use MakeBeliefsComix. I had to add a few things to the comic before I started because I only had five minutes and ran out of time the first go around.
Like I said before both were easy to use once I figured out how to get Java to work on Screenr. On both you just push record and then put the box around the area you want to talk about and then hit record and start talking. For me though, I think I would use Screencast-O-Matic more because you get more time and it worked well for me at school. I did not try Screenr at school, so I don't know if I would have less problems with it there or not.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
E-Reading
Zickuhr, K. and Rainie, L. ( 2014, January 16). E-Reading Rises as Device Ownership Jumps. Pew
Research Center. Retrieved July 25, 2014 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/01/16/e-reading-
rises-as-device-ownership-jumps/.
Adults 18 and over are buying more E-Reader devices than before, but people are still reading books instead of using those devices. In the survey only 4% of the adults were e-readers alone, most did both and those who are audiobook listeners will do more than one type of reading, e-readers, books or audio. Not only do e-readers use Kindle or Nooks to read but they also use tablets, phones, or their computers.
I know when I ask people if they buy or check out e-books, most will say no because they like to have the "real thing" in their hand. I have bought several books for my Kindle and I enjoy it more because I don't need a light on to read and I can get comfortable in bed and read.
In this survey, the 18-29 years old had the highest percent in all the categories; print, e-book and audiobook, while 65 and over had the least percentage in e-books and audiobooks. This is probably due to the fact that many over 65 have not had the advantage of being around technology as the younger group. Even though e-reading has increased in all age groups it still is not the most popular way to read a book. Of course, the most popular way is to have the book in hand.
I will be doing a survey in September to see how this plays out with children and parents of children from the ages of 5-10. I would like to see if purchasing more e-books for the library is worth the money and if these families have e-reader devices and what type they use if they do. I would also like to know if these parents would check out e-books for their children or if they just purchase them.
20 pages
Research Center. Retrieved July 25, 2014 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2014/01/16/e-reading-
rises-as-device-ownership-jumps/.
Adults 18 and over are buying more E-Reader devices than before, but people are still reading books instead of using those devices. In the survey only 4% of the adults were e-readers alone, most did both and those who are audiobook listeners will do more than one type of reading, e-readers, books or audio. Not only do e-readers use Kindle or Nooks to read but they also use tablets, phones, or their computers.
I know when I ask people if they buy or check out e-books, most will say no because they like to have the "real thing" in their hand. I have bought several books for my Kindle and I enjoy it more because I don't need a light on to read and I can get comfortable in bed and read.
In this survey, the 18-29 years old had the highest percent in all the categories; print, e-book and audiobook, while 65 and over had the least percentage in e-books and audiobooks. This is probably due to the fact that many over 65 have not had the advantage of being around technology as the younger group. Even though e-reading has increased in all age groups it still is not the most popular way to read a book. Of course, the most popular way is to have the book in hand.
I will be doing a survey in September to see how this plays out with children and parents of children from the ages of 5-10. I would like to see if purchasing more e-books for the library is worth the money and if these families have e-reader devices and what type they use if they do. I would also like to know if these parents would check out e-books for their children or if they just purchase them.
20 pages
Comic Strip Fun
Comics in the classroom can be an awesome tool to get students to be creatively thinking and writing. There are four sites below that I checked out on using comics in the classroom or library.
The Make Beliefs Comix was very easy to use. I believe I could use this with kindergarten students and up. You don't need an account for this one and everything is right there, using pictures for the directions. For the teacher or librarian there are links to click on that will give you writing prompts, lesson plans and even some free downloadable pictures. Click on this link and it will take you to my comic, http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/?comix_id=48695308C1344693.
The next one I looked at was Toondoo. I was able to do more creative things in this one. Right now the only thing I don't like is that I made my comic strip this morning around 10:30 and I still can't view it. So hopefully it will be up and running soon. This one I was able to create a character and change the features, hair and clothes on it. I was able to put a backdrop in each box and add single words or pictures, speech bubbles and thought bubbles. I would be able to use this one with second grade and up. Toondoo does have an area for schools to use but it does cost about $79.00 a month for 300 students. http://www.toondoo.com/UPDATE: I was able to add this one.
Next I got on to Pixton. Wow, what a difference. On this site I did have to do the little help videos, I wanted to see all that you could do in a comic strip. When I was working on mine at first I couldn't do all that it said you could and then I realized you had to take it off of Beginners Mode and then I was able to go to town. Like I said this is the only one that I could embed into my blog, which makes it kind of fun to think of all the possibilities one could do. Pixton also has a link for schools to use, the cost is about $170 for two months for 300 students. It is a little more than Toondoo, but Pixton has more to offer. On their site they have examples of students work, a tutorial on how to use comics in the classroom and rubrics to help grade student's work. Pixton can also be used on a Interactive White boards. You can either click on my comic or just slide it to see the entire comic.
This last one is done on the iPad and it was pretty neat. The only thing I don't like is recording my voice. The free app is very limited on what your character can look like and the backgrounds you can have. You are able to purchase additional items but not necessary. I did purchase the teacher and school backgrounds, but after I looked at them it really wasn't worth the price. You can take pictures and use them as your background, which I think the students would like that more than the pictures they have. I also believe students would like to record their voices to hear what they sound like. This could be used when students want to talk about a book that they just read or a student could give directions on how to do a project. I did mine for Open House, to play as parents came into the library. I am hoping I can loop it so I don't have to go and restart it each time. https://tellagami.com/gami/P3327S/
All these sites are good to use in the classroom, students can work together to create a comic that reviews a book, that explains how to do a project, how to explain math problems, and how to tell a story from beginning to end. These are not the only reason to use comics in the classroom room, but it gives you an idea of where to start.
The next one I looked at was Toondoo. I was able to do more creative things in this one. Right now the only thing I don't like is that I made my comic strip this morning around 10:30 and I still can't view it. So hopefully it will be up and running soon. This one I was able to create a character and change the features, hair and clothes on it. I was able to put a backdrop in each box and add single words or pictures, speech bubbles and thought bubbles. I would be able to use this one with second grade and up. Toondoo does have an area for schools to use but it does cost about $79.00 a month for 300 students. http://www.toondoo.com/UPDATE: I was able to add this one.
This last one is done on the iPad and it was pretty neat. The only thing I don't like is recording my voice. The free app is very limited on what your character can look like and the backgrounds you can have. You are able to purchase additional items but not necessary. I did purchase the teacher and school backgrounds, but after I looked at them it really wasn't worth the price. You can take pictures and use them as your background, which I think the students would like that more than the pictures they have. I also believe students would like to record their voices to hear what they sound like. This could be used when students want to talk about a book that they just read or a student could give directions on how to do a project. I did mine for Open House, to play as parents came into the library. I am hoping I can loop it so I don't have to go and restart it each time. https://tellagami.com/gami/P3327S/
All these sites are good to use in the classroom, students can work together to create a comic that reviews a book, that explains how to do a project, how to explain math problems, and how to tell a story from beginning to end. These are not the only reason to use comics in the classroom room, but it gives you an idea of where to start.
Friday, July 25, 2014
Teens on Social Networks
Lenhart, A. (2012, June 5). Presentation: Teens, Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites.
PEW Research. Retrieved July 25, 2014 from http://www.pewinternet.org/2012/06/05/presentation-
teens-kindness-and-cruelty-on-social-network-sites/.
Out of the 779 teens Ms. Lenhart interviewed for this presentation 77% of them have cell phones and out of that 1/3 have smart phones. These teens were broken up into two groups; one was ages 12-13 and the other was 14-17. They are mainly using their phones to stay connected to their friends and searching the Internet. They are staying connected with their friends mostly by using Facebook. On Facebook they will send messages to their friends, post on their friends page, post status updates or photos, maybe even send private messages to their friends, and playing games. Playing games was done mostly by the 12-13 group.
When asked about teens being kind or unkind on social media, the 14-17 group said teens where mainly kind while the 12-13 group said they where mainly unkind. The study asked how they handled the unkind remarks and most of the teens said they ignored what was going on, but there was a small number of teens who said that they would tell the person to stop it. I was real happy to see that 79% would not join in on the harassment.
We have all heard of "sexting" done on cell phones, I was glad to see that from 2009 to 2011 less teens are sending these messages, but the number went up on those who are receiving them. I am hoping since we haven't heard as much about this lately that these numbers have dropped on both ends; receiving and sending.
I was glad to see that parents are talking to their teens about what is appropriate and not appropriate behavior on these social media sites. I notice one question was asking who talked to you about appropriate behavior or safety on using the Internet or cell phone and the librarian was close to the bottom and the parent was the first one, which I think is how it should be. I also believe that librarians or the technology person should do a lesson on the use of the Internet and maybe even more so on social media sites.
45 slides
Thursday, July 24, 2014
Online Book Communities
Have you ever wanted to keep track of the books you read? Well now you can and you can even share it with your friends on Facebook and Twitter. The following Online Book Communities are the ones that I checked out to see which would be user friendly and have the best look.
First one here is Booklikes, http://booklikes.com/. It reminds me more of a Facebook page or Twitter. Not the one for me, it was a little confusing to get around on and I really didn't like how it was set up.
Second one was Goodreads, https://www.goodreads.com/. This one was easy to get started on. When you first signed in a page came up with different genres for you to choose from.Then it brought up books from those genres that you might be interested in. This would be my second choice for doing a book community.
The third one I looked at was LibraryThing, https://www.librarything.com. I believe LibraryThing has more tabs and more things you can do on their site then the others. For me this was a little harder to navigate through then some of the others.
All of these Book Communities are good, it is just a matter of what you prefer and how much time you are willing to put into it. Each site is useful in that you can see what other people are reading and reviews of books.
If I was going to use one it would either be Shelfari or GoodReads, just because those two for me where easier to use. As far as using one or the other in school I am not sure how I would use it with prek-third grade students. I can see this being done at the junior high or high school where the students would be able to put the books they have read and write a review for it and share with their friends there at school. I think it would be fun to see what others have read and what they think of the book.
If any elementary librarians see this and would comment back if they have an idea on how it would work in their library, I would love to hear from you.
Sunday, July 20, 2014
Whose Talking Now - Podcasts
Who is talking and why are they talking? Podcast in the classroom or library can be a wonderful way to get students interacting with others and learning in a new and exciting way. Students can do book talks, book reviews, bibliographies on famous people, explaining math problems and interviewing people using a simple free Podcast sight like PodOmatic. These are just some of the ideas I found while searching on the Internet on how Podcast can be useful in the k-12 classroom/library.
This is a short Podcast I made on Taking Care of Library Books. This is one that I would use at the beginning of the year with books that have the type of damage I mention and since you are able to pause it, I would do so after each type of damage so we could discuss it further.
If you would like to listen to some good Podcast, The Elementary Librarian has some on topics of interest to fellow librarians.
Thursday, July 17, 2014
YouTube, Animoto, QR Codes
YouTube is one of those sites that can be very helpful to a teacher or librarian or a site that is not appropriate for school. YouTube has many wonderful videos on how to do different projects, stories to listen to, and short videos for teaching students different concepts. Here are some that I thought were interesting in helping students or just some that the students might like to view.
https://www.youtube.com/user/bbmsmedia/videos
This YouTube caught my eye because I think younger students would enjoy watching it and maybe it would remind them to turn in their books at the end of the year.
This video would help students who are looking for different books where the female is the lead character and she is strong and knows how to get the job done.
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheNHSLibrary/videos
This one I think students from all ages would enjoy, since it is librarians acting out Pete the Cat. Many students like to watch their teachers/librarians do fun things.
This video was made to help students do their poetry project. I like that it is very detailed, easy to follow and that the project is set up on Google docs.
https://www.youtube.com/user/theunquietlibrary/videos
When watching this video, I thought wow what a great idea; a mobile library able to go to the students. Even the students seemed a little surprised to be able to check out/ check in books during their lunch time. I really believe this would help get books out to the students.
This is a short video for seniors, to show them how to do their final project in PowerPoint. It is quick, but I think it is a refresher on how to do it. It is a good idea to do this for students who may have a few questions on basic tools in PowerPoint.
https://www.youtube.com/user/pikesvillehslibrary/videos
I really believe that students would enjoy watching these students as they use the Wii to do some dancing and relaxing in the library. Short but fun to watch the students having fun.
This is a good video on the registration process at this school. Students could watch it and get the basic idea of what they need to do to finish the process or to change their schedule. It is also good that it can be watched at home so the parents would know that process also.
Using YouTube in the library would be a lot of fun. The students could do skits using Fairy Tales, they could do simple book reviews and tell a story or poetry. These are just a few ideas that could be done with students in pre-k through third grade. If you have any ideas please share.
Animoto
I did not know what Animoto was until I started doing some research on it. It is like movie maker, but a lot easier to use. This would defiantly be something that younger students could do to make book trailers of their favorite books.
I did a book trailer on A Baby Elephant in the Wild, I just received this book from JLG today and really liked the pictures and the story that went with it.
Last summer, the Sibert Honor–winning duo Caitlin O'Connell and Timothy Rodwell witnessed the birth and growth of a baby elephant. In this intimate account for preschool through elementary readers, find answers to questions such as: What do newborn elephants look like? How big are they? What threatens them in the wild? Do they bully each other? Are they stalked by lions? What happens if they don't get enough food or water? Are they at risk of extinction?
With irresistible photographs and a text that places the reader in the wonder of the Savannah, this is a book to treasure for all animal lovers.
Click on the QR Code to see the book trailer.
QR Codes
What are QR Codes? They are Quick Response Codes, like a Bar Code, but can hold more information than just numbers. Teachers and librarians are using them more and more in the classroom, in the library and in the school. One idea that I found while searching the Internet was putting QR codes on books that link to a trailer about the book, to the authors website, or listen to reviews from another students. Other ideas where adding QR Codes to worksheets or homework that would link to a help site, putting QR Codes on a QR Tree with information that was happening at school or in the library when they were scanned.
I thought of putting a QR Code on notes going home so parents can go to the library webpage to see what events are coming up in the library, also making one for the Book Fair to get the word out and the parents could see some of the books that are on sale.
Have fun making QR Codes!
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Blogs, Blogs, Blogs, and More Blogs
Keeping up with the many Blogs that are out there can be an every hour by hour job. Thank goodness for Blog Readers; tumblr, Bloglovin', Feedly, Digg Reader, etc.; there are many of these also. Looking at them reminds me of Pinterest; all the different Blogs were there when you opened up the page. On some of the readers you had to create an account before you could see more of the blog, which was a little frustrating. There were two of the readers that I liked better than the rest; these were tumblr and Bloglovin'. I opened an account with tumblr just to try it out a little more. If you would like to visit the address is http://dpolitsch.tumblr.com.
I came across some great blogs for elementary library/librarian, also. One that I will be following is the Elementary Librarian, http://elementarylibrarian.com/ , Jocelyn Sams is the author of this blog. She has many great ideas in using centers in the library and she also has lesson plans for the whole year for kindergarten through sixth grade; of course these you will need to purchase. She even does Podcasts with many interesting people and information to help librarians.
Another one I liked was Great Kid Books, http://greatkidbooks.blogspot.com/, authored by Mary Ann Scheuer. Her first article caught my eye; How Comics Create Life-Long Readers an Interview with Jennifer Holm. This site does say it's for parents but I believe it will be good for librarians also.
I really liked Library Learners, http://librarylearners.com , authored by Cari Young. She has posted many interesting things on her blog. I really like the one about markerspaces in the library. I also spent time looking at the You Tube videos about this 9-year-old boy who created an arcade out of boxes. Wow, to have that much imagination.
Another blog that is a must to visit is Mrs. Lodge's Library, http://www.mrs-lodges-library.com/. Mrs. Lodge is the author of this blog and she has many wonderful ideas about library centers, too. She also has some nifty ideas on how to keep bookends from slipping and ideas to use for lessons on her blog.
The last blog I think would be a good one to keep handy is Mrs. ReaderPants, http://www.readerpants.net/. This blog is more middle school or high school, but I found some good ideas that I might be able to use for third graders.
If you have a blog or know of one that would be great for an elementary librarian please commit so I can check them out.
Happy Blogging!
I came across some great blogs for elementary library/librarian, also. One that I will be following is the Elementary Librarian, http://elementarylibrarian.com/ , Jocelyn Sams is the author of this blog. She has many great ideas in using centers in the library and she also has lesson plans for the whole year for kindergarten through sixth grade; of course these you will need to purchase. She even does Podcasts with many interesting people and information to help librarians.
Another one I liked was Great Kid Books, http://greatkidbooks.blogspot.com/, authored by Mary Ann Scheuer. Her first article caught my eye; How Comics Create Life-Long Readers an Interview with Jennifer Holm. This site does say it's for parents but I believe it will be good for librarians also.
I really liked Library Learners, http://librarylearners.com , authored by Cari Young. She has posted many interesting things on her blog. I really like the one about markerspaces in the library. I also spent time looking at the You Tube videos about this 9-year-old boy who created an arcade out of boxes. Wow, to have that much imagination.
Another blog that is a must to visit is Mrs. Lodge's Library, http://www.mrs-lodges-library.com/. Mrs. Lodge is the author of this blog and she has many wonderful ideas about library centers, too. She also has some nifty ideas on how to keep bookends from slipping and ideas to use for lessons on her blog.
The last blog I think would be a good one to keep handy is Mrs. ReaderPants, http://www.readerpants.net/. This blog is more middle school or high school, but I found some good ideas that I might be able to use for third graders.
If you have a blog or know of one that would be great for an elementary librarian please commit so I can check them out.
Happy Blogging!
Monday, July 14, 2014
Who Reads More? Moms VS Dads
Rainie, L. (2013, May 1). Parents, Children, Libraries, and Reading. Pew Research Internet Project. Retrieved July 11, 2014 from http://www.pewinternet.org/.
Have you ever wondered who pushed reading and going to the library the most? Well a survey was done asking parents many questions on who reads to their children, who visited the library more, who has read a book in the last 12 months and why libraries are so important to have in our communities. These questions were answered by some 2,252 Americans ages 16 and above with some 584 of these being parents with children younger than 18. After all the results were in the moms were the ones who spent most of their time with their children reading to them and taking them to the library, even with all the technology they may have.
Click here to view it on line. https://magic.piktochart.com/output/2327969-children-and-the-library3 pages
After looking at all three info-graphic sites, I chose Piktochart. It looked to have all the information I need to create an info-graph and this site also had more samplers to choose from.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Twitter for a Newbe
Twitter, what is Twitter? According to Wikipedia it is a social networking and microblogging system that people use to tweet to their followers what is happening around them or share important information in a 140 characters. WOW! You can get Twitter on your phone, your iPad, and your computer and I am sure there are other devices that you can use.Since I'm new to Twitter it has taken me some time to read what some of the tweets say and what the hash tag stands for, but by playing around on it I have found some very interesting people to follow.
Here is another fabulous person on Twitter. She is The Daring Librarian, @GwynethJones. Gwyneth has a blog page that she shares all her new and exciting tech ideas she has. Her newest was using Vine App for the iPad to make short video clips of book reviews. Her middle school students took a book and made a short clip of what the book was about. I really enjoyed how she tweeted about her cruise to Alaska.
Jim Lerman, @jimlerman, is another person I am following on Twitter. He has many tweets concerning technology and others that are just fun. I like the one on "Can you pass a US Citizenship test?" I went there and yes I did pass! He also has Into the Driver's Seat website that he post things that matter to him.
Kathy Schrock, @kathyschrock, is another technology guru that I will follow on Twitter, her websites and blogs. She has a lot of information that will be very beneficial to me and the teachers I work with. Her website iPads4teaching is very helpful. This site has app links that can be used to assess students, create projects with the iPad, and many more apps to help teachers and students to become comfortable using the iPad for more than just games.
Getting on Twitter has helped me see a whole new world of social networking. By following the right people you can learn many, many valuable ideas. Just being on Twitter I found out that Reading Rainbow is an app on the iPad and that LeVar Burton raised 5 million dollars to get this program into 7,500 schools and classrooms. Also, by following the tweets of Kathy Schrock, I now know where to go for help with the iPad and even found more information on the Chrome Notebooks that our school purchased.
One of those interesting people is Tony Vincent, @tonyvincent. Tony started as a fifth grade teacher, worked his way to technology specialist and now has his own business helping teachers and students with technology. The Tweet that caught my attention was his iPad app, Stick Around, to help students recall and review content from all of the core subjects.
LWB Another person I found to have a lot of knowledge about technology was Linda Braun, @lbraun2000. One tweet I found interesting from Linda was the one on "College students likely to graduate w/o real-life research skills. Librarians can help: http://bit:ly/1jgydsa via @yalsa". The main point in this article was that college students don't know how to do an in depth search for a specific topic. They are not using all the tools available to them, especially one very important one: the librarian.
Here is another fabulous person on Twitter. She is The Daring Librarian, @GwynethJones. Gwyneth has a blog page that she shares all her new and exciting tech ideas she has. Her newest was using Vine App for the iPad to make short video clips of book reviews. Her middle school students took a book and made a short clip of what the book was about. I really enjoyed how she tweeted about her cruise to Alaska.
Jim Lerman, @jimlerman, is another person I am following on Twitter. He has many tweets concerning technology and others that are just fun. I like the one on "Can you pass a US Citizenship test?" I went there and yes I did pass! He also has Into the Driver's Seat website that he post things that matter to him.
Kathy Schrock, @kathyschrock, is another technology guru that I will follow on Twitter, her websites and blogs. She has a lot of information that will be very beneficial to me and the teachers I work with. Her website iPads4teaching is very helpful. This site has app links that can be used to assess students, create projects with the iPad, and many more apps to help teachers and students to become comfortable using the iPad for more than just games.
Getting on Twitter has helped me see a whole new world of social networking. By following the right people you can learn many, many valuable ideas. Just being on Twitter I found out that Reading Rainbow is an app on the iPad and that LeVar Burton raised 5 million dollars to get this program into 7,500 schools and classrooms. Also, by following the tweets of Kathy Schrock, I now know where to go for help with the iPad and even found more information on the Chrome Notebooks that our school purchased.
I have only been communicating on Facebook for about a year; now I am looking at school library's that have Facebook pages. I have even created one for my school library. It is amazing how far social networking has taken us and that I am in the center of it all.
When looking at the different school library's Facebook pages I found many similar things and a few different items on the pages. I noticed that high school pages posted items such as new book releases, notices about what was happening in their school, and videos and pictures of the students doing different activities. One of the activities that I liked best was when students put pictures of books with a face on the cover in place of their own face. Middle school pages had pretty much the same items. The pages I was most interested in were the elementary pages. I found three that I really liked. Each one had many good ideas to offer for a person who is starting their own page. One had many pictures and sayings about reading and reminders of when books needed to be turned in. Another had a survey for parent volunteers to fill out on a Google form. Each of these schools also posted lists of activities that were happening in their schools.
As I mentioned earlier, I recently started my own Facebook page for our school library (www.facebook.com/OBryantPrimaryLibrary).
I can see many advantages of having a Facebook page; it helps promote your school library, it gets information to the public about library and school activities and special functions, and it helps to reach a wider audience.
One drawback to maintaining a Facebook page, though, is finding the time to keep it updated along with your other duties. I saw several pages that weren't up to date, some as much as a year behind. Of course this can hurt your credibility.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Balloons over Broadway
Sweet, M. (2011). Balloons over Broadway: The true story of the puppeteer of Macy's parade. New York: Houghton.
Tony Sarg is a puppeteer who creates the first Macy's Day Parade. It tells how he uses his knowledge of marionettes to create the big balloons that float down the parade route. Tony starts small, but by the end he has created the big balloons of today. Illustrations in this book are eye catching colleges that give details to the story.
Lesson plan for Balloons Over Broadway:
After reading the story to the students discuss how Tony Sarg developed his balloons over the years and talk about what a parade route is. Have students pull up Google maps on the iPads and get a map of their town or city. Plan a 2.6 mile route (like Macy's) through their town. Make sure to mark where the beginning and end of the route is, and where the best place to view the parade is.
More lesson plans for this book at: http://www.rif.org/documents/us/Balloons-Over-Broadway_RIF-Extension-Activities-for-Educators.pdf
5) Geography. The student understands the concepts of location, distance, and direction on maps and globes. The student is expected to:
(B) use a scale to determine the distance between places on maps and globes;
(C) identify and use the compass rose, grid system, and symbols to locate places on maps and globes; and
(D) create and interpret maps of places and regions that contain map elements, including a title, compass rose, legend, scale, and grid system.
The Three Pigs
Wiesner, D. (2001). The three pigs. New York: Clarion.
This story begins like any other Three Little Pigs story, but once the wolf starts blowing down the first pig's house the story takes a surprising turn of events. The pigs run out of one story and into another and the characters from the other story joins the pigs to defeat the big bad wolf.
Lesson Plan for The Three Pigs.
After reading the book to students, discuss the different fairy tale characters that the pigs saved and brought home with them. Talk about what other fairy tale characters the pigs could have saved. Then have the students write a story on how the pigs would save them.
More ideas at: http://www.vickiblackwell.com/lit/threepigs.html
(17) Writing/Writing Process. Students use elements of the writing process (planning, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing) to compose text. Students are expected to:
(A) plan a first draft by generating ideas for writing (e.g., drawing, sharing ideas, listing key ideas);
(B) develop drafts by sequencing ideas through writing sentences;
(C) revise drafts by adding or deleting a word, phrase, or sentence;
(D) edit drafts for grammar, punctuation, and spelling using a teacher-developed rubric; and
(E) publish and share writing with others.
It's a Book
Smith, L. (2011). It's a book. New York: Roaring Brook.
This is a simple book about reading a book. It doesn't do anything fancy, it doesn't talk to you or you can't listen to it, you just have to read it.
Lesson Plan for It's a Book.
This would be a good book to introduce kindergarten students on how to treat a book, the different parts of a book, how to turn the pages and to follow the text from top to bottom and left to write. After going over the different parts of the book, then I would have the students working with partners use the iPads to take pictures of each part of the book and upload it into Duddle Buddy and then write on each picture which part it is.
(1) Reading/Beginning Reading Skills/Print Awareness. Students understand how English is written and printed. Students are expected to:
(F) hold a book right side up, turn its pages correctly, and know that reading moves from top to bottom and left to right; and
(G) identify different parts of a book (e.g., front and back covers, title page).
Mirror, Mirror
Singer, M. (2010). Mirror, Mirror. New York: Dutton.
A book of poems written from top to bottom and then bottom to top makes for a interesting read. These are fairy tales written in poem form, then written again from the bottom to create a whole different meaning. The illustrations go along with the poem in both forms.
Lesson Plan for Mirror, Mirror:
First read the book to the students. Then discuss which fairy tales are included in the book and how the meaning was changed from one to the other. Choose a Shel Silverstein poem book or have a copy of different poems for each group. Pass out one poem to each group and let them write the reverse for it and illustrate their poems. Have them share and discuss the ease or difficulty of doing it.
(7) Reading/Comprehension of Literary Text/Poetry. Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of poetry and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to respond to rhythm and rhyme in poetry through identifying a regular beat and similarities in word sounds.
Where the Wild things Are
Sendak, M. (1963). Where the wild things are. New York: HarperCollins.
Max is being wild and misbehaving, so mother sends him to bed with no supper. Max's room slowly changes to an island where there are wild creatures and Max becomes the leader. He gets tired and hungry so he wants to go home, but the wild creatures didn't want him to. He returns to his room to something good and hot.
If you liked this book, then you might like these:
Brown, M.W. (1947). Goodnight moon. New York, NY: Harper & Row Publications, Inc.
Johnson, C. (1955). Harold and the purple crayon. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers
Viorst, J. (1972). Alexander and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret
Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret. New York: Scholastic.
This book is about 600 pages long with about half of those pages being artwork. The artwork is very important in this story since it connects the written pages together. The story begins with Hugo being taken in by his uncle and learns how to keep the clocks in the train station, in Paris, working. His uncle passes away and now Hugo must continue his work, but he also wants to fix the automaton his dad was working on before the fire. Will Hugo get it to work? Why does the old man at the toy store want his notebook?
Lesson Plans for The Invention Hugo Cabret:
Since this book contains many pictures and won the Caldecott Medal, this would be a great way to introduce the award to the students. Pull other books that have also won the Caldecott and go over why they think these books have won the award. Have them choose a picture from one of the books to look at and draw. Make sure they include the title of the book and the illustrator on their work. Create a bulletin board of favorite illustrations and hang up their drawings.
More lesson plans at: http://librarysparks.com/pdf/librarysparks/2008/lsp_nov08_LL_hugo_cabret.pdf
(4) Response/evaluation. The student makes informed judgments about personal artworks and the artworks of others. The student is expected to:
(A) identify general intent and expressive qualities in personal artworks; and
(B) apply simple criteria to identify main ideas in original artworks, portfolios, and exhibitions by peers and major artists.
Good Masters, Sweet Ladies
Schlitz, L. A. (2007). Good masters, sweet ladies. Boston, MA: Candlewick Press.
This book is written in the form of a play. It is set in a Medieval Village with children from upper to lower class. It starts out with Hugo, who is the Lord's son, he must hunt the boar he saw in the woods or be flogged by his uncle for running from his tutor. The story continues introducing a new character and how it is connected to the last be they rich or poor.
Lesson Plan for Good Masters, Sweet Ladies:
Since this book is written in the form of a play, it would be great for the students to act it out. Before students will be able to read this story they need to have a better understanding of the time period. First read the book to the class. Take some words from the book, such as: tanner, miller, apprentice, falconer, crusade, and lambing or others that the teacher sees fit. Have the students work in groups to come up with a definition, a sentence and a picture to show they understand those words. Next talk about the time period, the dialect and the community from the medieval time. Finally let them practice their parts and then perform it for other classes.
More ideas at: http://www.socstrpr.org/files/Vol%204/Issue%203%20-%20Winter,%202010/Features/4.3.10.pdf
(10) Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Culture and History. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose in cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students are expected to explain the difference between a stated and an implied purpose for an expository text.
(12) Reading/Comprehension of Informational Text/Culture and History. Students analyze, make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose in cultural, historical, and contemporary contexts and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding. Students are expected to identify the topic and locate the author's stated purposes in writing the text.
Bridge to Terabithia
Paterson, K. (1972). Bridge to Terabithia. New York: Crown.
Jess wanted to be the fastest fifth grader this year in school, so he would get up before chores had to be done and run in the field. In August Leslie moved in next door and eventually became Jess' best friend. They would go on adventures together in the woods behind their houses and created the world of Terabithia. During a rain storm a tragic event took place and now Jess had to face being alone once again.
If you like this book, then you may like these:
L'Engle, M. (1962). A wrinkle in time. New York, NY: Square Fish
Lowry, L. (1989). Number the stars. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.
Sachar, L. (1998). Holes. New York, NY: A Yearling Book.
We are the Ship
Nelson, K. (2008). We are the ship. New York: Hyperion.
We are the ship is set up in nine innings, it begins back in the 1800's when baseball was just beginning, talking about how the blacks moved north so they could play baseball. Mr. Nelson talks about the hardships, the conditions, and the joys these players went through just to play.
A lesson for We are the ship:
After reading the story, write down all the places the teams played in. You can choose to limit the number of places depending on your group of students. Print out US maps with states to be labeled by students and set up a legends for how many miles in an inch. Then have students draw the lines from one place to another and figure out how many miles the team would travel in a year.
More ideas here: http://www.teachingbooks.net/tb.cgi?tid=10325
b) Knowledge and skills.
(1) Mathematical process standards. The student uses mathematical processes to acquire and demonstrate mathematical understanding. The student is expected to:
(A) apply mathematics to problems arising in everyday life, society, and the workplace;
(B) use a problem-solving model that incorporates analyzing given information, formulating a plan or strategy, determining a solution, justifying the solution and evaluating the problem-solving process and the reasonableness of the solution;
Wednesday, April 23, 2014
A Big Guy Took My Ball!
Willems, M. (2013). A big guy took my ball! New York: Hyperion.
Piggie is playing with a ball, until this big guy takes it away. Piggie runs to Gerald to ask him to get his ball back. Gerald goes to get the ball and meets the big guy and runs back saying he can't the ball back the guy is to big. In the end they are all friends.
The book trailer can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsHzU7Y-_ag
Rules
Lord, C. (2008). Rules. New York: Scholastic.
Catherine has a brother, David, who is autistic. She is embarrassed by him when he acts or says the wrong things in public. She writes down several rules for him to follow, but he has a hard time remembering those rules. Catherine is a very good artist and through her art and the clinic, she meets Jason. They become friends, but Catherine is embarrassed when she meets her new neighbor while she is with Jason. Does she learn some compassion for others who are different than her?
If you liked this book, you may also like these:
Cole, H. (2010). A nest for Celeste. New York, NY: Katherine Tegen Books.
O'Connor, B. (2010). The fantastic secret of Owen Jester. New York, NY: Frances Foster Books.
Watts, J. (2012). Kizzy Ann stamps. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press.
Skulduggery Pleasant
Landry, D. (2007). Skulduggery Pleasant. New York: HarperCollins.
Stephanie, a 12 year-old girl, just lost her rich uncle. When the will is read her uncle leaves her his house and everything inside and outside. The first night she stays at the house, she is attacked, but then saved by the man she sees at the funeral and at the reading of the will. Turns out he is a skeleton with powers and a detective and the adventures are just beginning.
The book trailer can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=girNpdCQFv8
Lunch Lady
Krocoszka, J. (2012). Lunch Lady. New York: Random House.
Something is wrong with the librarians. They are acting strange and unlike themselves. Even the breakfast club can't get them to laugh. So the Lunch Lady is on the job trying to solve the mystery behind this funny caper.
If you like this book, you may like the following:
Holm, J. L. & M. (2011) Squish brave new pond. New York, NY: Random House.
Harper, C. M. (2005). Fashion Kitty. New York, NY: Hyperion Paperbacks for Children.
Cammuso, F. (2008). Knights of the Lunch Table. New York, NY: Scholastic, Inc.
This Is Not My Hat
Klassen, J. (2012). This is not my hat. Boston, MA: Candlewick.
Little fish admits to stealing a hat from a big fish, who happens to be asleep. Little fish says he won't notice and swims away as fast as he can. Read to see if the big fish notices his hat has disappeared.
The book trailer can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhbYyEdYWY8
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Kinney, J. (2007). Diary of a wimpy kid. New York: Amulet Books.
Greg writes in his diary (I mean journal), everyday. Telling of things that happen to him at home, school or even at a friend's house. He starts with the beginning of school and is giving advice on how to pick you desk so you are sitting by the people you want to be sitting by, but he gets stuck between to "dorks" as he put it. Even though Greg is not laughing all the time, you will be after reading this story.
The book trailer can be found here: http://www.schooltube.com/video/0b6f38e96ccbb623ff13/Diary%20of%20a%20Wimpy%20Kid%20Book%20Trailer
Babymouse
All Babymouse can think of this Christmas is a Whiz-Bang. She doesn't care about decorating, eating traditional foods or singing Christmas Carols; all she wants are presents, one in particular. Will she get her Whiz-Bang? Read to the end to find out.
If You like this book, here are others you might like too:
Giff, P. R. (2010). Big whopper. New York, NY: A Yearling Book.
Holm, J. L. & M. (2011). Babymouse mad scientist. New York: Random House.
Gutman, D. (2011). Mrs. Lilly is silly! New York, NY: HarperCollins Children's Book
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