Day 3 - Valuable Website

What is a website you can’t live without?

www.pebblego.com

It’s actually an online database for K-3 students. There are 4 databases that you can purchase Animals, Biography, Social Studies, and Earth and Space. The text is perfect for my young readers and the computer can even read it aloud to students. They can click on a highlighted word and the computer will define it for them. There are also printables, short videos, range maps, timelines and learning games.

The first two years I paid for it with grant money and library funds. By then the teachers were hooked and I was out of grant options. Since they had spoken so highly of it this year my principal funded it. My teachers have grown to LOVE it and it’s important that you get it on your side by showing thme how fabulous it really is. Also tell your ESL teacher and other teachers about it. If they have a student who has a low reading level then those students would find PebbleGo beneficial.

Day 2 - eBooks and Audiobooks

Your library and eBooks and Audiobooks:

I haven’t jumped on board with as many audiobooks. One year I bought a bunch of paperback books with CD’s through Scholastic Book Club. I focused on buying books that had to do with the holidays each month. SBC usually does a bundle and I would buy that with my funds or with scholastic points. I put them in hanging bags from Demco and teachers can check them out. They tend to use them in their listening stations. I have used them for class lessons and when I am not feeling well or for a sub. I like that they have questions on the second track too.

I like to think I have a healthy eBook collection for a Primary school. We do have a Follett Shelf and I won a grant in Fall 2013 to buy a bunch of Interactive eBooks  with Digital Content Creation Tools through Gareth Stevens and Rosen Publishing. They are all science based and require a student to create a report on what they learned.

Rosen Publishing Information

If you would like to take a peek at our Follett Shelf here is the link MNP Follett Shelf

I love how the books give students a choice of the type of project they want to create and then walk the students through the process. There are also royalty free images there for students to choose from and drop in their report. The end project can be printed out.

We also have 6 Nooks. I leave those out during check-out time. Once a student has their books checked out they may take one of the shelf and read 1 book. Then they have to put it back. Before putting them out I did a mini-lesson on how to use one.

Last year I held an eBook in-service and the reception was fantastic. I had 22 teachers come. I haven’t had a chance to really walk them through the new Interactive eBooks with Digital Content Creation tools but I need to do that soon. I do think that teachers do tend to forget about them so whenever a teacher comes to me asking to pull materials on a topic I let them know what we have available digitally too.

I also sent a letter home to parents telling them about what we had available. I also gave them the usernames and passwords so they could access them from home.

January 2014 - What happened to it?

I am proud of myself for weekly blogging towards the end of 2013 but now that 2014 has rolled around I'm wondering what just happened to January! Is it just me or has this month flown by?

In the back of my mind I have been reminding myself to get back to blogging so maybe it's a good thing that I ran into this today "20 Day Blogging Challenge - Librarian Version over at the Risking Failure Blog.
http://www.risking-failure.com/2014/01/technology-changes.html

I have now printed the challenge off so here I go...can I actually blog 20 days straight? We'll see!

Day One
Share a tech tip
This year the librarian across the street and I started "M&M's Media Minute" on Monday's  (The M&M stands for our last names, Minner and McFarland). Our principal sends out a Morning Memo each school day that keeps us up-to-date and aware of things coming up in the immediate future. We take turns submitting something for the Media Minute which could be a website, tech tip, or new book synopsis. We try to keep it short. We e-mail it to our principal and she puts it in the Morning Memo and it goes out to everyone.

A Book and A Hug

Have you seen the website A Book and A Hug? I saw mention to it on LM_NET along with a "Which Reading Superhero Are You" reading quiz to help students and librarians know what type of reader your student is. Students can fall into 1 of 4 categories by gender. 
For the boys its
- Belonger/Connector
- Seeker/Leader
- Jokester/Thrillseeing Party Animals
- Answerman

For the girls its
- Heart/Home/Friends Forever
- Joan of Arc Empath
- Wild Thing/Mirette/Annie Oakley
- Investigator Analyst

As I type these categories I can already thing of a few students whose names pop into my head. I bet some answers would surprise me.

I am thinking about giving my second grade students this quiz when we return in January. It might be fun to make some symbols for each category and then have students gather with their "like-minded" classmates. They would also know who to turn to for a book recommendation.

I would be excited for the results so that I could guide their selections better. Maybe I can even put a selection of those books on a shelf and designate each shelf with which Reading Superhero is represented there. I can see something fun coming from this and more importantly I can get to know my students better, which can be hard to do in a school of any size. I can also be a better resource to them and offer suggestions.

38 titles in 38 minutes

Can you find 38 minutes in your day to hear about the new Spring 2014 releases from Scholastic?

If you are a school librarian you can actually scroll through and go directly to your grade level so your time spent would be even shorter. There were also author interviews sprinkled throughout.

I think as book lovers we want to hear about ALL of the new titles. I know I starred some books that I would like to read and add to our school library collection. Just click on the link below and get your pen and paper ready!

Scholastic Video

Teachers Pay Teachers SALE

Teachers Pay Teachers is running a Cyber Monday and Tuesday sale. The code is CYBER to get 8% off. A lot of teachers are seling their products at an additional discount of anywhere from 5-20% off.

My particular store is 10% off and I have added new products.
- True/False Non-Fiction book lesson plan and printable.
- True/False PowerPoint presentation
- I updated to State Book Award lesson plan to the 2013 Volunteer State Book Award nominees.
- I also posted 2 grants, one of which I recently won.

My Thanksgiving Favorites

Did you know that a lady named Sarah Hale helped make Thanksgiving a national holiday?

Did you know that a baby boy was born on the Mayflower and his parents called him Oceanus?

Did you know that children drank beer aboard the Mayflower? (Only after the drinking water in the barrels spoiled)

Today I am going to share my 3 favorite Thanksgiving holiday books.

Thank you Sarah! by Laurie Halse Anderson
I always think of this book as the I listen to all of the stores who open earlier and earlier every year for Black Friday deals. I bet Sarah Hale is rolling over in here grave! I LOVE to read this to my first grade students every year. We have a discussion about today's modern pens and the type of feather quill pen Sarah did her writing with. It makes Sarah all the more admirable! My favorite quote from the book, "It took Sarah thirty-eight years, thousands of letters, and countless bottles of ink, but she did it. That bold, brave, stubborn, and smart lady saved Thanksgiving...for all of us."

Molly's Pilgrim by Barbara Cohen
The third graders in Molly's class must create a pilgrim to display at school. Molly's mother, a Russian immigrant, helps Molly decorate hers. When the assignment is due at school Molly's classmates ridicule her pilgrim. This endearing story teaches students that pilgrims didn't just arrive in America via the Mayflower.

I had a teacher ask me for some good read aloud chapter books. With the upcoming holiday I immediately thought of Molly's Pilgrim. The teacher who is reading it to her second grade students said that her kids have developed such empathy for Molly that they are very concerned about how her classmates treat her and they have been asking her all types of questions. There is also a short video out there. I had to borrow it from another school. The class that I leant the book to is coming into the library tomorrow to watch it. I can't wait to see it for myself.

If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern
An oldie but a goodie! This little question and answer book is filled with a goldmine of information. Even though it has an older copyright date I can't bring myself to weed this little gem! I love reading this book as a "filler" when you have a few minutes of class time left. I am choosy and sometimes watch what I read (as a K-2 librarian). I don't tell students that the pilgrim children drank beer on the Mayflower. It's one of those interesting tidbits that would definately make it home to mom and dad's ears! It was only because their water supply which was stored in barrels went bad...but do you think they'll remember to tell their parents that part!?!