Author - Illustrator Videos

The website "WatchKnow" has a collection of videos organized by subject area and grade level. The section on Authors/Illustrators features some interesting interviews with writers.

http://www.watchknow.org/Category.aspx?CategoryID=1114

Example: Author Kate DiCamillo Interview - Booklist

http://www.watchknow.org/Category.aspx?CategoryID=1377

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WatchKnow, authors,

Teaching Vocab so it sticks!

Doing it Differently: Tips for Teaching Vocabulary

By Rebecca Alber

Rebecca shares some recommended steps to make vocabulary instruction "stickier". She explains Marzanno's "Six Steps to Vocab instruction."

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Vocabulary,

Flashcards on your iPod Touch

iPod - Use it to view Flashcards

"Is it possible to use your iPod to study?  It is now!  Mr. Coley has created specially designed PowerPoint presentations that can serve as digital flash cards to help you review some of the concepts studied in class.  Using iPod's "Photos" feature, you can transfer the images to your iPod and study on the go!  How cool is that?!"

http://www.mrcoley.com/flashcards/index.htm

http://www.mrcoley.com/flashcards/flashcards_resources.htm

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flashcards, ipod

Using eReaders with students

Miguel Guhlin is currently the director of Instructional Technology Services for the San Antonio Independent School District. He writes an interesting blog on technology and education. Here are some of his posts about using eReaders and ePub books with students.

Create ePub Books (includes list of web sites that offer free content as

well as create your own)

http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/09/create-epub-ebooks-for-ipad-nook.html

eReaders in Schools

http://www.mguhlin.org/2010/08/ereaders-in-schools.html

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ePub, eReaders,

Urban Alphabet Book

Blurb, a virtual publishing site, has a number of books that could be used in the classroom. One great publication is the "Urban Alphabet Book".

"The paintings in this Urban Alphabet are from photographs taken by the American Artist Stephen Magsig from details of old theater marquees, neon signs and painted signs of local businesses. They are a record of a vanishing landscape. Most are derived from photos of the Detroit vernacular scene. With this alphabet Stephen Magsig examines a bit of Detroit’s past and shows a bit of his own."

Could be a spring board for a student project.

(NB, always preview, as some of the books on the site may not be for a student audience.)

Here are some other samples: (just search for alphabet.)
http://www.blurb.com/books/1094628 (shown below)

http://www.blurb.com/books/485625

http://www.blurb.com/books/1598322

http://www.blurb.com/books/1758291

http://www.blurb.com/books/417846

http://www.blurb.com/books/1649517

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The Alphabet Book by Techno-Mondays | Make Your Own Book

Mammals 'R' Us - interactive site

This site presents an interactive  "mammal tree" organizer that helps students see the relationships between mammals. There are also links to a blog, latest news, and some video clips.

http://www.mammalsrus.com/

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mammals, science,

The Role of School Librarians in Promoting the Use of Educational Technologies

The+Role+of+School+Librarians+in+Promoting+the+Use+of+Educational+Technologies 9 10

The Nuts and Bolts of Setting up Literature Circles

Elena Aguilar walks teachers through the steps she used in setting up Lit Circles for her class. It was not an "instant process", but the rewards are great.

"... it took FIVE MONTHS to prepare my first batch of sixth graders for literature circles. I know it was the preparation that led to the success we had. [...] What did I do during those months? I slowly, carefully led students into this structure -- paying close attention to skills, attitude, and social relationships, and then I slowly released them, looping back to re-teach or re-enforce weak skills. Here are some of the things I did:"

The Nuts and Bolts of Setting up Literature Circles

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Lit Circles,

Book trailers - Youtube Channel

This librarian has "favourited" a bunch of book trailers for secondary.  Cool idea to have them all on one page!

http://www.youtube.com/user/elginparklibrary?feature=mhum#p/a

This Elgin Park librarian has "favourited" a bunch of book trailers for secondary and created a Youtube Channel to display them.  Cool idea to have them all on one page! Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/user/elginparklibrary#g/f

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Elgin Park, Youtube, Booktrailers,

For a TL and teacher: Technology Innovation Competition

Announcing the opening of this year's Media Specialist Technology Innovation Award competition! Open to Canadians as well!

Here are the details from Laurie Conzemius (Communications Chair of SIGMS: Media Specialist Special Interest Group of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) )

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This annual award is presented to two teams of a school librarian and collaborating teacher who have conducted an exemplary technology program extending beyond the library to meet the needs of classroom students and teachers. The purpose of this award is to identify, promote, and sustain excellence in collaborative and innovative technology-based projects driven by the school library media center in support of curricular and instructional needs in elementary, middle, and high schools.

Award Winners Receive:

   * ISTE Membership (2 per team).

   * ISTE Annual Conference & Exposition registration (2 per team), and recognition at awards ceremony.

   * Featured in an article by Learning and Leading with Technology magazine.

   * $1,000 cash award payable to the school media center (1 per team).

   * $1,000 travel stipend if attending the conference (per team).

   * $300 professional library from ISTE.

   * Inscribed award plaque (one per team).

Read about past winners and download information about nomination materials, criteria, and the judging rubric from the Awards website at:

http://www.iste.org/membership/awards-and-recognition/list-of-awards/sig-media-specialist-technology-innovation-award.aspx

Laurie Conzemius

SIGMS Communications Chair

Christmas Wishes

Digital greeting personalized with Smilebox

Teach English idioms with videos. (ESL and others)

The BBC has produced a series of "Bill Nye" style video clips on a range of English idioms that use sports, colour, body, food, animals, etc. Your ESL teachers might find this useful. The clips could also be used as part of a creative writing workshop!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/theteacher/

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ESL, idioms, BBC,

Author-Illustrator Websites for K-8

Authors & Illustrators

Here's a page of author/illustrator websites.

Pages are tagged for Middle School, Elementary School or K-PreK.

Some contain podcasts, video interviews, games, quizzes or teaching materials.

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Immigration lesson website - Grade 5

Immigration "Webpath" for the Grade 5 level. (BC teacher created.)  Includes clickable links with worksheets for the unit study. Incorporates computer skills.

"These lessons are designed for teachers to help grade 5 students learn about immigration and Canadian Citizenship through a series of fun activities involving discussion, books, role playing and computers. Teachers may wish to consult with their school ... Librarian to get help in doing some of the activities in this unit."

http://sd71.bc.ca/sd71/edulinks/immigrat/immless.htm

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immigration, Grade 5, socials,

Some 6+1 resources

6+1 Trait® Definitions

http://educationnorthwest.org/resource/503

6+1 Posters

Reading Lady.com

Printable Benchmark Papers

Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5

An overview of the model along with the scoring rubrics for each trait.

http://senior.billings.k12.mt.us/6traits/

Some Teaching resources and picture book titles

http://wiredinstructor.net/bookshelf.html

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6+1 traits, writing,

StatsCan: Learning resources bulletin, December 2010

The December 2010 issue of Learning resources bulletin is now available at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/edu/edu06/edu06c/edu06c_0041-eng.htm

In this issue:

•         Get your free booklets: "Canada at a Glance"
•         Canadians students among the best in the world!
•         Explore your province's education indicators
•         Environment: Energy and water conservation
•         Aboriginal children: languages, childcare, participation in sports
•         All about Christmas trees!

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statscan,

Writing Fix - Home of interactive writng prompts

WritingFix: Inspired Teachers Sharing Great Ideas

"outstanding writing lessons strategically designed to "fix" your most reluctant writers."

http://writingfix.com/index.htm

"Navigate this website's menu bar (at left, in the light blue area), to discover pages dedicated to hundreds of complete writing lessons developed during local workshops, and thousands of student samples submitted by teachers all over the world who used the posted materials to inspire their students to write."

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WritingFix, writing,

Hi-Lo Series for Struggling Readers - QuickReads -with samples

This looks like a great re-issue of a hi-lo series, with brand new, very appealing covers. Take a look at the link below, where you can see the covers and read excerpts from a number of the titles. (towards bottom of webpage) Good for reluctant readers and ESL students.

http://www.sdlback.com/t-free_samples_quick_reads.aspx

Artel in Burbaby is selling them for  $ 4.50 CDN each (w 20% discount for schools)

There are some bundle deals as well. (But make sure you get the new covers, and not the older ones. https://secure.arteleducational.ca/catalog/index.php

604-435-4649 (Burnaby)

Literature Circles Resource Center

Literature Circles Resource Center - College of Education  - Seattle University

http://www.litcircles.org/index.html

("information and resources for teachers and students in elementary and middle school")

Contains a number of suggestions for developing and maintaining Lit Circles.

Extension activities

http://www.litcircles.org/Extension/extension.html

Booklists for Literature Circles

Some of the links to book lists on the site have expired, so I've reworked the list, pasted it below without the expired URLs.

(Links taken from http://www.litcircles.org/Books/books.html)

Cynthia Leitich Smith's Children's & Young Adult Literature Resources

•http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/cyalr_index.html

Boys Read: Turning boys into readers

•http://www.boysread.org

Out of the Ordinary Teen Book Lists

•http://www.readingrants.org/

The Lazy Readers' Book Club

•http://lazyreaders.com/

•http://lazyreaders.com/level/index.php?level=Young+Adult&order=title

•http://lazyreaders.com/level/index.php?level=Children&order=title

Critical perspectives of indigenous peoples in children's and young adult books

•http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/

SELECTING CHILDREN AND YA LIT OCT 2010.pdf

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Lit Circles,

Copyright-free images and photographs

 EduPic Graphical Resource

http://www.edupic.net/search.htm

EduPic Graphical Resource was launched in September 2006 by teacher William Vann as a source of free images for teachers and their students. Now with over 6000 different photographs and education illustrations, the images on EduPic are "free for use by educational professionals and the students they serve without permission."

While not as nearly extensive as a "Google image search", there are some good images here, and they are all "free."

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copyright free, images