Connecting With Tweens

Who are the Tweens? There is so much out there to connect them to books. And more books mean better test scores! And yes, graphic novels are included in the category of BOOKS So many great ideas floating around here from our presenter Teri S. Lesesne and a room full of public and school librarians. My favorite question of the day- if money and time were no object, describe your perfect “tween” library setting. So let’s hear it, what would you want your library to provide for 4th and 5th graders?

Promethean Rocks!

This weekend I was able to attend the St. Louis Area Promethean User Group conference right at our own district offices.  Quite honestly, as one of those who learns best by playing with stuff, I wasn’t too sure I would get a lot out of it.  Boy, was I wrong!  First off, I DID get to play.  Presenters showed the tips and tricks they have discovered and we were able to use them right then and there.

Best things I took away from the sessions:

Promethean Planet is more than just flipcharts.  The ActivTips videos are terrific quick tutorials that show the magic you can create with your software.  The Forum is also very helpful.  If you have a question about Promethean there is a chance it has already been answered.

There are applications for EVERYONE!  From Resource packs on Abstract Art to flipcharts about clouds for first grade, everyone can use Promethean, even if you don’t have a board.

Using ActivExpressions is an assessment lifesaver.  By having students use the devices for pre- and post-tests, ActivExpression will tally your scores and spit out your data in various forms.

There is so much to learn and I am having so much fun digging in to ActivInspire.  Please take some time to check it out and see what it can do for your classroom!

As always, if you have any questions or would like someone to work through the software with, don’t hesitate to see me!

Kate DiCamillo Book Chat

Author Kate DiCamillo will be participating in an online book chat about her new book The Magician’s Elephant. The chat will be held at the Middendorf-Kriddel branch of the St. Charles City-County Library District.  You can view details and register on their website: www.youranswerplace.org The chat will be held on October 25th at 3 pm.

Newspapers in Education

Newspapers in Education through the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has several new programs coming up soon.  You can find details at  http://nie.post-dispatch.com/programs/.   Each of the programs are electronic access only and include special content and fun activities along with a teacher’s guide.

Celebrate Literacy Day – September 8-13th.  Registration Deadline September 4th.

Constitution Day – September 13- 30th.  Registration Deadline September 11th.

Decades- A Historic Look at the Last 120 Years – September 20 – October 16th.  Registration Deadline September 18th.

Please be sure to register early in order to receive teacher materials on time!

e-Post is an exact electronic replica of the printed St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  There is an easy How To Guide available on their website as well as some F.A.Q.’s. Please come by the library if you have any questions!

Connections Institute

This past weekend I was able to attend the Connections Institute at UMSL.  This conference, organized in cooperation with Springboard, was actually quite a lot of fun.  It was all about integrating the arts into learning Science.  I played with slugs and spiders, created a pinhole camera, and found a new hobby : Letterboxing. I hope I will have a chance to share some of these lessons with the classroom teachers in the fall.  Of course I couldn’t leave without finding out about some great science trade books and read alouds.  Author Seymour Simon was the keynote speaker and I even sat in a couple of workshops with him.  He is a very nice guy!  And I didn’t have to wait three hours to get my books signed.

Here are a few new resources I learned about this weekend:

PebbleGo This database will be excellent for the first grade animal investigation.  Please touch base with me when you are ready for this study and we will set up a trial so we can see how you like it!

ScienceNetLinks This site from the American Association for the Advancement of Science provides science lessons incorporating great read-aloud books and interactive tools.  One of my favorites: An Egg is Quiet

NSTA Outstanding Trade Books I had no idea how detailed the selection process is for this list.  It really does cull out the best of the best science books published each year.  I know I will be looking at it more closely!

Of course I added many great new books to my purchase lists for the fall.  I can’t wait to share them with you and your students.

Tweet Tweet!

Do you Twitter? Or are you one of those who have “no idea what I am talking about”?  If you don’t have time to sit and read blog after blog or scour the web for the best ideas, Twitter might be for you!  This blog post by teacher Laura Walker makes some great points about how and why teachers should use Twitter.

Now, for whatever reason, when you attempt to access Twitter from the building network you are unable to.  However, there are many Twitter tools which allow you to get posts during the day.  Once you sign up for your Twitter account, check into one of these applications to see what works for you:

twittergadget works great if you have an igoogle home page.  iGoogle is another great tool for compiling all of your info into one place.  Twittergadget streams posts and allows you to post from your iGoogle page.

twhirl installs right on your desktop and gives you updates and automatically shortens URL’s.

twitterfox is an application for Mozilla Firefox users.  Twitterfox will notify you when members of your network post a tweet and also allows you to post from your Firefox browser.

There are also a variety of Twitter apps for your phone!  To see a list of popular Twitter applications, check out Twitdom.

Happy Tweeting!

A poem for ME :-)

This limerick was created by one of my friends in honor of National Poetry Month!

There once was a librarian named Danna.
She sat in the library and ate banana after banana.
She’s hooked on books and can give the “teacher” look.
Would I like to check out a book, you betcha.

Thanks Jenna!

National Poetry Month

It is April – the official celebration of all things poetic.  There are several great sites that you can use to promote poetry with your students.  One that we will be following closely in library is the 30 Poets in 30 Days project from GottaBook.  Each day they will post a new, original poem by a well known poet.  Today, Jack Prelutsky got things kicked off with an original poem titled “A Little Poem for Poetry Month”.

Through the month, we will be tracking these poems on a calendar outside the library.  I hope you will follow along.  You can also follow 30Poets30Days as they “tweet” the poem links on Twitter.

Other great resources for this month:

Robert Munsch has posted many poems on his site.  He writes them based on letters sent to him by readers.  Hilarious!

Shel Silverstein‘s page includes a biography, fun and games, and printable poetry activities.

Scholastic offers many resources to help you teach poetry.

Try searching for your favorite poet.  You will likely find more than you imagined!  Have fun celebrating this month!

Scholastic Teacher Book Wizard

We all want to find the perfect book for each student.  Sometimes this is easier said than done and there are many factors involved in any recommendation.  Thankfully, there are some tools we can use to point students in the right direction.  Check out Teacher Book Wizard from Scholastic.  This site allows you to search by Reading Level or Read Alike.  In addition, there are great links to book talks, author information, and lesson plans.  Take a look and see if you can find that “Just right book” for your students.

Social Networking for Kids

Social Networking has us hooked.  It is a big part of many of our lives, and also the lives of our students.  But do you really want to add your students to your Friends list on Facebook?  No!  Along comes Imbee.com social networking designed for kids.  SImilar in style to Facebook and Myspace, Imbee allows students to join fan pages, post blogs, create trading cards and more.  In order to sign up, students must have verification from a parent in the form of a credit card or drivers license number.   Parents will be sent a daily summary of thier child’s activity on Imbee. 

The most appealing part of Imbee is the opportunity to set up Teacher pages.  What a fun, current way to keep up with your students and their families!