Rdgwd Teacher Resources

Wonderful example of independent inquiry projects in 1st grade! Managed through google docs...

Graphic novels are all the rage. Some PICTURE BOOKS are even adding speech bubbles to show the conversation in their stories. So why not have students add speech bubbles to wordless books for a fun writing activity?

Our mission at [ http://www.youngzine.com/ ]Youngzine is to bridge the gap in class room teaching by using 21st century learning tools. Through the use of technology, our aim is to help children * make sense of and understand their responsibility in this interconnected world, * explain the context behind global events and correlate it with what they learn in schools, * provide a forum for their opinions, * inspire them about the latest developments in science and technology and * raise them as engaged and contributing citizen of tomorrow. [ http://www.youngzine.com/ ]Youngzine introduces current news and events shaping our world, in a simple, engaging and interactive manner through compelling visuals and videos that are curated. Articles are presented keeping in mind, age appropriateness, sensitivities and maturity of the audience. Further, current events are used as prompts to contextualize classroom learning with real world events. All comments on the site are moderated to ensure the safety of our young readers. [ http://www.youngzine.com/ ]Youngzine  is a great tool for teachers who want to bridge that critical gap between textbooks and the real world of science and technology, society, politics, and the environment - through interactive content, trivia and visuals. With our popular "Classroom Portal", teachers create customized assignments to stimulate and moderate discussions in a completely secure, password-protected environment.

David Lubar's topical and literary index is quite thorough and useful. Perfect for teachers to use with reluctant readers. Additionally, since the books are packed with short stories, they're perfect for identifying a terrific read aloud! Yes, there are anthropomorphic hot dogs on the covers, but they conceal a broad and deep variety of short fiction. Scroll down to find the perfect story for any classroom need.

Great for 3rd-5th grade for read alouds, maybe even 2nd for those advanced groups refusing to move on past Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

Interesting Earth Day program.

Share a Story 2012: A Quick Look Back

We had several notes over the weekend from folks who were "just now" catching up on Share a Story - Shape a Future 2012 and reading the posts. We hope you're still basking in all that great, positive energy!!

We also had a couple of other items and additions that I wanted to highlight. I'll be adding them to our Comprehensive Index of Posts and List of Contributors, but I also want to share them here.

So honored, was mentioned on this terrific blog page...

Author webpage- from author of Mal and Chad, creativity celebration!

Compressing a PDF file

Large PDF files can be difficult to archive or email. Using Preview, you can compress a PDF file so it's easier to share or store.

Every teacher, parent or anyone who deals with kids has a bag of tricks. We need a bag like that for those days when an emergency arrives, or we're feeling out of sorts, or our kids are using the "b" word - (bored).

My bag of tricks is ever-expanding. It has grown over my years as a teacher, parent, aunt and friend. In it I pop language games, reading and writing activities I think kids will enjoy, tips for doing things the Book Chook way, and links to internet treasures.

El Día de los Niños-Celebrating Young Americans is a gift from the Latino community to all children. Many nations throughout the world, and especially within the Western hemisphere celebrate "Día de los Niños" on April 30th to honor and celebrate children-who represent the hopes and dreams of every community.

In the Share a Story-Shape a Future introductory entry today, I indicated this posting would be a list of blogs I hope you will find useful in your efforts to become more familiar with a wide array of multicultural books and customs. The list is not comprehensive, but it is a list I can indeed recommend to you given my familiarity with these blogs. Let's get acquainted!

Do you enjoy reading books from and about different cultures?  Would you like to have an incentive to read more culturally diverse books?  Either way, the PaperTigers Reading the World Challenge is the one for you!

Explore museums from around the world, discover and view hundreds of artworks at incredible zoom levels, and even create and share your own collection of masterpieces.

We had been discussing a method to distill a question into its components and turn it into a strong query, the string of words she would type into a search engine to look for her answer. Students have often expressed that it's hard to identify "just the words they need."

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!

Here are 17 tried-and-true tips for recharging your creativity. We hope you'll enjoy trying some of these today!

With a library of over 2,800 videos covering everything from arithmetic to physics, finance, and history and 296 practice exercises, we're on a mission to help you learn what you want, when you want, at your own pace.

In the summer of 1865, a former slave by the name of Jourdan Anderson sent a letter to his former master. And 147 years later, the document reads as richly as it must have back then.

Whole variety of stories available to listen and read along to provided from the Screen Actors Guild.