Group items tagged

Making a digital story with kids from The Book Chook - interesting presentation of how to make a digital story in movie format... 

Let me tell you about our Floor-etry. First, floor-etry is a poem on the floor. That's it. It's simple and vastly influential in the process of creating an early literacy environment.  We here at the Allen County Public Library  got the idea from Saroj Ghoting's website for early literacy. In a presentation put together by Dana Bjerke, Joanna Redman and  Kelly Wussow from the Hennepin County Library, you can flip through different slides and see inspiring ideas that make words accessible to even the littlest of patrons. We thought, "We can do that!"

And we did! We wrote a poem that is actually just a string of similes so the reader can start anywhere in the circle and the poem makes sense. We typed it up in HUGE, easy to read font, printed it out on bright paper and cut out the words. After cutting out the words, we laminated each one and added Velcro to the back for a temporary hold. We placed the poem in the front of our department in the shape of a (yellow) sun!

An Easy Way to Make Online Booklets

There are some good services on the web that will turn PDFs into books and booklets and some services that will even allow you to create embeddable booklets online, yet few are quite as simple to use as Simple Booklet. Simple Booklet is a new service offering free online booklet creation and publishing.

Advocacy: How can you support your school library? Make sure your school has a state-certified school librarian. Some schools have replaced librarians with aides to keep the school library doors open, diminishing the level and quality of instruction and projects afforded to students. Make sure to be involved in the budget process of the school. Ensure that school board members and school administrators know that school libraries and school librarians are a critical part of the school ecosytem.

Fascinating change: In 2013, I'll be "ripping" DVDs to make clip compilations for media literacy. And I'll be encouraging K-12 teachers, school librarians, and technology educators to do the same.

New resource for me (or reminded one) with digital storytelling, movie making, free educator account with student account management, etc. Wow.

Tag, you're it! It's a game we all loved to play as kids. This book makes poetry fun and interesting by inviting poets to play a game of tag. It all starts off with Jack Prelutsky writing about the moon and what would happen if it was a balloon or cheese or a sun. And then Joyce Sidman's tagged!

Welcome to Poetry 180. Poetry can and should be an important part of our daily lives. Poems can inspire and make us think about what it means to be a member of the human race. By just spending a few minutes reading a poem each day, new worlds can be revealed.

Book Talk Resources Galore: I thought it would be a good idea to archive all of the Book Talk Tuesday posts- make them a little easier to access. On this blog you will find the links to all of the books that have been shared. We will still post Book Talk Tuesday on The Lemme Library page each week... only once the week is over will I archive the post on this blog.

TriCider allows you to make a poll but then allow others to offers pros & cons & influence the decision

Infographics work in the classroom because they grab students and allow an entry point to learning - and because they sum up pages and pages, even chapters, of information that would take a reader hours to process. Interactive infographics make kids want to immediately start clicking around to see what's what. For a teacher who prioritizes an inquiry-driven classroom, that's a great starting point. Infographics and Data visualization are not just for consumption though, teachers and students can also challenge the learning process by creating original graphics for themselves.

"Extreme Speed Booking" The idea behind the site is to introduce students to a variety of books and form classroom book groups. How does Extreme Speed Booking work? A whole lot like speed dating. :) Students spend a little time with each book and then rate them accordingly with "I want to read more", "Interesting", "Not for me", or "I've already read". Students can also make a note of how interested they are in reading the book (maybe a 1-10 scale)? This process introduces students to a variety of books, genres and authors. Students may come across titles and authors they wouldn't otherwise find. It also helps teachers form classroom book groups that are of high-interest and investment to students because they had input.

As my district's technology director, I love getting the maximum bang for my buck. Maybe it's because as a former classroom teacher, I know of other ways to spend money than on wires and chips. It could be that my midwestern hardheadedness insists that only fools use two mules when one mule will do. And I know it's a deep-seated distrust of anybody who wants to make a profit selling to schools.

To mark Digital Learning Day, we'd like to spotlight the work of librarians who are making a difference, leveraging technology and digital content to enhance learning. Below you'll find examples of their work covered in School Library Journal and here on The Digital Shift, along with links on topics of particular interest to our users: ebooks and apps.

While Plagiarism can be intentional, it is more often caused by misunderstanding.  Avoiding it means understanding the role of intellectual property and what makes plagiarism wrong.  This video teaches:

Why giving credit to others is necessary
A definition of plagiarism
Steps to avoiding plagiarism
Types of ideas and media that can be plagiarized

Pinterest's inspiration boards have a lot of potential for libraries and other organizations for creating visual displays of resources and services. All of Pinterest's boards and posts can be shared on Facebook and Twitter. Here are some ideas for how you can make the most of this popular social network for your library:

Using Criteria to make decisions Youtube Video

Nonfiction texts allow children to experience the wonder of the world. Facts come alive when books about animals, people, or objects are read to children. Nonfiction texts build on children's interests and increase vocabulary and background knowledge. When we help our students become proficient readers of nonfiction texts, we help them become successful at school and in the "real world." Research shows that about 85% of what adults read on a daily basis is nonfiction. Teachers have a great responsibility in teaching students to tackle this genre. READ ON to check out resources for teaching nonfiction reading concepts, including posters, links to great Web sites and articles, printables, an exciting new way to make current events interactive, and much more!

Quite a few amazing ideas shared in this blog!

Highlighting the need to improve literacy rates and provide access to educational opportunities for all children, LitWorld will host the third annual World Read Aloud Day on March 7, 2012. Last year, World Read Aloud Day united 200,000 people in 60 countries. Show your public support for this important literacy initiative and promote reading in local and global communities by participating in World Read Aloud Day. Suggested activities and other resources are available on LitWorld's website.