SLAVConnects

Interesting ideas

Includes SLV

"10 activities to use with any nonfiction book or other informational text. The goal was to get kids more engaged in reading. They are simple but effective and could be adapted in a variety Of ways.

"Links to quite a few simple library-related, online games are in linked to this post.  They are primary level but might be useful for lower secondary as well. You simply click on the flower signs to go to the games.

An app that may be useful or parents or educators when they first come across a title. Level It Books is an app that tells you the DRA, gre, lexlile, and guided reading level just by scanning it!

"This SLV guide explains how to find and use information collected in censuses from 1788 to 1901. It also includes information about the history of censuses in Australia. A census counts and describes the population of a particular area. Census data is useful for researching places & people's lives over time, or at a point in time. Sometimes information about individuals is available too. The earliest systematic collection of information about Australia's residents occurred in 1788. The colonies and states regularly collected data in musters or censuses, up until the first Australian (national) census in 1911."

Another interesting way to use the technology with a good explanation about how the author did this.

The article discusses figures that seem to show that e-book sales have plateaued and the demand for hardcopy books remains steady. "There have been plenty of ideas on how to reinvigorate bookstores, but Waterstones and Barnes & Noble appear to have benefited from less radical moves. Waterstones has spent millions of pounds refurbishing its 290 stores, adding cafs and trying to emulate local bookstores by giving store managers more control. The growth of "click-and-collect" sales also benefits shops, which can encourage shoppers to browse when they come to pick up their orders. In the US, Barnes & Noble has put its faith in selling ancillary products alongside books, including vinyl records and craft beer kits. Some in the books industry suggest bricks-and-mortar stores may have benefit from resentment of Amazon among some consumers. However, globally, there is no guarantee that physical books will be sold through physical bookstores. "Online sales of physical books are likely to remain strong," Deloitte says, in its forthcoming 2015 predictions."

" Which children's do you find moving? The team at Quotery.com has created an infographic called "20 Inspiring Children's Book Quotes." The words come from a variety of titles including Roald Dahl's Matilda, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone. The the full infographic is embedded"

"From teaching coding to modelling texts for literature analysis, teachers share the inventive ways they use Lego in lessons"

A good glossary of literary terms on @genius. Images/video help explanation and include refs to contemporary examples

"Lit Genius is a community of scholars-and a crew of heroic hearts-devoted to annotating great literature. We host everything from the classics to recent fiction to spoken word."

"Genius Hour in the classroom is an approach to learning built around student curiosity, self-directed learning, and passion-based work. In traditional learning, teachers map out academic standards, and plan units and lessons based around those standards. In Genius Hour, students are in control, choosing what they study, how they study it, and what they do, produce, or create as a result. As a learning model, it promotes inquiry, research, creativity, and self-directed learning."

"The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has received a lot of attention after the recent attacks at their office. Some of the criticism directed at Charlie Hebdo is uncalled for and inaccurate. This website tries to explain the cartoons within the context they were published so that they may be better understood."

"People may sniff, but the best of these Generation Y re-tellings bring the writing of the past back to vivid life" Some interesting reflections on new approaches to a few classics, with links to five of the best.

An interesting article that looks at teaching critical thinking but in a way that shifts the ownership for the questioning to the students. The ap[proach empowers them to think at higher levels but at the same time there is support provided with the question stems