Library Links

"Content that might be of interest to Teacher-Librarians..."

12.6.14

Apple Learning Tour Resources

At a recent Apple Learning Tour, I was introduced to a number of great resources.
Here are some links to explore:
Visit www.apple.com/education to access additional resources. You can also view free informative webcasts featuring administrators, educators, and IT professionals at Education Seminars Online.

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Free Archived Library Webinars

Asynchronous Pro-D - on your own time

"Sharpen your professional skills by taking Infopeople training! Infopeople training is open to all members of the library community - academic, public, school, and special."

Here's a sample of the many free webinars available.
(Name, and email needed to view/listen)

  • What's New in Young Adult Literature 2014 Webinar
  • What's New in Children's Literature 2014 Webinar
  • Using Twitter for Professional Development Opportunities Webinar
  • Innovative & Engaging Teen Programming Webinar
  • Young Children, New Media & Libraries Webinar
  • Graphic Novel and Comic Collections for Teens Webinar
  • Beyond the Rhymes: Rethinking the Who, Where, and How of Storytimes
  • Street Lit and Libraries Webinar

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Genius hour: Making time for passion in the classroom SmartBlogs

Every student has a passion project inside
Learn more about this exciting concept:

"Genius Hour — a regular time in class during which students get to pursue their own passion projects — is a gift that opens students up to the world of their own talents and interests. It allows them to reach beyond the routine, unlearn the rules they've been programmed to follow and embrace the uncertainty of their own audacious dreams."

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Create a Reading culture in your school


READ, READ, READ
Looking for ways to support a reading culture? Here are some ideas that have been tried at a school near you!

1. Create an intermediate book club and invited your staff to participate:
Buy brand new books for the kids to read (and return after to build library collection). Give copies of the book to staff as well that they can keep to build their class libraries. Don't forget to invite EAs and Admin assistants!  Books read: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, Freak the Mighty and Because of Mr. Terupt.  Meet in the library regularly to discuss and share. (Enticements...Pizza lunch? Movie viewing?)

2. Support teacher professional reading:
The school provided an allowance of $30 per staff member to purchase a professional book to improve their practice.

3. Primary Readers' Choice Awards with our primary kids K - 4.  
Students read a total of 10 titles over 5 weeks, chosen from the library collection. They voted for their favourite and  the winner was announced at  Recognition Assembly. This generated a lot of excitement.

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9.6.14

How to Stress Less

Australian MHA suggestions

This graphic from the Australian Mental Health Association might just have some useful tips for all of us at the moment!

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4.6.14

Street View Treks - Multimedia explorations

A new way to explore


On the Treks site you can view images, stories, and audio files associated with a number of stunning and interesting places:  Burj Khalifa in Dubai; the Canadian Arctic; Mt. Everest; the Grand Canyon; Australia's Great Barrier Reef; the Amazon Basin; and the Kennedy Space Center. There is only a smallish collection at the moment - let's hope more get added soon!

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Google Night Walk - In Marseille

Promenade Nocturne


A great High School French virtual field-trip.... (Works best with Firefox)

Here's the "blurb" from the site:
"Night Walk" takes you on an immersive journey through lively Cours Julien, a neighbourhood of Marseille famous for its unique atmosphere and street art. Listening to your guides Julie and Christophe, you can wander around the vibrant streets as if you were really there, thanks to 360-degree panoramas that we captured at night. Your walk is enriched with photos, images, videos, sounds and interesting facts, allowing you to dive into this neighbourhood and learn more about its diverse culture and history. Enjoy your night walk!


Headphones or earbuds make for a great "surround-sound" experience, and you can select either French or English as your language!

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Google Night Walk - In Marseille

Promenade Nocturne


A great High School French virtual field-trip....

Here's the "blurb" from the site:
"Night Walk" takes you on an immersive journey through lively Cours Julien, a neighbourhood of Marseille famous for its unique atmosphere and street art. Listening to your guides Julie and Christophe, you can wander around the vibrant streets as if you were really there, thanks to 360-degree panoramas that we captured at night. Your walk is enriched with photos, images, videos, sounds and interesting facts, allowing you to dive into this neighbourhood and learn more about its diverse culture and history. Enjoy your night walk!


Headphones or earbuds make for a great "surround-sound" experience, and you can select either French or English as your language!

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The magic of Whole School reading

How to turn your school into a "reading school" - DEAR!
Teachers Louise Kanolik and Ela Turker write about how they went about creating a "reading school" culture at Loxford School in Essex.

...the most important activity a school could initiate was Whole School Reading or Drop Everything and Read (DEAR). This is an activity that involves every member of the school staff and at an allotted time each week, or if you are able, every day, every member of your school community drops everything and reads silently. In our school, we have a totally blissful and welcome 15 minutes of whole school reading during Thursday's afternoon registration time, when you can quite literally hear a pin drop around school.

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3.6.14

Capture the "essence" of a novel

Yasmine with an "e" - book collages rule!


How's this for a twist on the "book report"? Try using some of Yasmine's creations as inspiration. She choses phrases, conversations, key words, and graphic elements to assemble amazing and impressive snapshots of YA novels. Visit the link to see more of her collages and then try your own.

What does Yasmine use? I'm not sure but here are some starters....
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Librarydoor: Fixing Google-able assignments

Rethinking research assignments
Helping teachers (and TLs) rethink research assignments (especially from pre-packaged curriculum programs):

"We've boiled it down to 5 simple steps, because we know that brain research says the brain can't remember more than 4 at a time!
  • Administer the Google litmus test
  • Insert Essential Question at the beginning which will foster synthesis of those facts and conclusions
  • Require credible library resources to be used
  • Embed technology for engagement - somewhere
  • Insure that students have an opportunity to "present" their knowledge
Now we really know that there is more to it than that, but these simple 5 will not scare them away from "Repackaging Research"

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Explore 3D Models at HHMI's BioInteractive site

Examine molecular structures and viruses in detail
Fascinating 3D models - they can even be printed! These resources will appeal to High School Biology teachers.

"Our 3D-models are linked to other BioInteractive educational media, such as short films, lectures, and classroom activities, to further support learning key concepts in biology and earth science. All our models are based on current research data."

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“Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons"

A model for developing and implementing library learning commons
"Leading Learning: Standards of Practice for School Library Learning Commons in Canada, 2014 presents a model for the development and implementation of the school library as a library learning commons. It provides educators with a common set of standards of practice for moving forward. CLA President Marie DeYoung stated that the organization considers this publication as a "definitive learning support that is critical for all Canadian schools."

PDF download: http://clatoolbox.ca/casl/slic/llsop.pdf
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For Educators : Juno Beach Centre

Learn about Juno Beach  - Online Resources
"The Juno Beach Centre offers this collection of online archives, websites, and Canadian history resources designed to help Educators incorporate primary research and learning in their classrooms. You will find useful links to other institutions and projects relating to the Second World War, tools for researching Canadian military records, and First Nations culture."

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29.5.14

READ poster idea

Create "READ" posters of your staff and students

Snap a picture of a staff member reading in their natural environment. Import the pic into BigHugeLabs and use the motivational poster template. (I chose portrait mode).
You can change the message, the subtitle and the colours to match the photo you've chosen. Your finished product can be printed "letter size" on a colour printer, or used on a webpage. (If you want to pay for it, BigHugeLabs will even print a real poster for you and mail it.)

You can make this even more fun by using the SmartBoard software (Notebook). Import a staff picture, use the "Set image transparency" feature to remove a single colour background and then superimpose it on a second image. (ie an amazing background - cliff edge, Everest, Pamplona, etc.)
The final combination result can be captured as a screen shot and uploaded to BigHugeLabs and used with the poster template.

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WebPath Express - now search by Lexile

Want to make your Webpage searches more useful?

Destiny's WebPath Express searches a database of webpages carefully selected by Follett. These results are ranked by age/grade-level and tagged with topic terms, type of resource (ie. biography) and come with a short description of the site. You also have the option of restricting by domain, language, format and source. What's new is that you can now sort your search results by Lexile.

Access the eLibrary from the Destiny page, and choose "WebPath Express" from the left-side tabs:
Run a search on your subject of interest, and then in the results, select the Lexile range you want, and click the "Get Results" button. This should help you find more usable websites.

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Dictionary of Canadian Biography - added to HS Visual Tab

"A biographical reference work for Canada"

"There are now almost 8,500 biographies on this website, comprising the complete contents of volumes I to XV, which describe the lives of those whose deaths or whose last-known activities occurred in the years 1000 to 1930. Also included are entries on voyagers whose verifiable dates precede 1000 – Saint Brendan (Bréanainn), Eirikr Thorvaldsson (Eric the Red), and Herjólfsson Bjarni – and more than 70 biographies of individuals who died after 1930.

Secondary schools will notice the addition of the "Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online" to Destiny's Visual Tab. (Also viewable in French) The complete work will span 1000AD to 2000. Content from Volume 16 is currently being added and the remaining volumes (up to 22) will be added over time.

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26.5.14

Mathematics and Science in SD38 - Janice N's blog

Want some great Math and Science ideas?
Janice shares some of the work she has been doing in Math and Science. Many of her ideas incorporate iPad apps as a way of representing learning and documenting findings. (Some of her video content is still on her original blog: http://sd38mathandscience.blogspot.ca )

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Grade 7 shelf anyone?

What are your Grade 7s reading?
Some TLs are building a shelf to entice Grade 7 readers and give students something to look forward to in their last year of Elementary school. What defines a Grade Seven Shelf? "Edgy but not too edgy! Socially relevant! Controversial (maybe just a bit), lots of drama, challenging themes ....etc. etc." What are your criteria? Share the titles you label Grade Seven Only and help your colleagues generate a must-have list.

Some possible cadidates:
See also: MiddleShelf Digital Magazine
Middle Shelf is a digital review magazine about books for middle grade readers and features author interviews, reviews, excerpts, and more

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Creating a Culture of Reading!

We're All In This Together
How do we create a culture of reading? Emily Meixner offers some important steps we can take:

".... The truth of the matter is, we can't really establish a culture of reading in schools unless everyone is on board, unless everyone is, at some point or another, visibly a reader.  From the administrative offices to the library to classrooms to the lunch room to the locker room, we have to become one big team with one very explicit mission: to prove to students that when it comes to reading, we're all in this together.  We're totally and fully and happily in cahoots with each other...."

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