Library Links

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

4.11.11

Resource for English LA Teachers and Social Studies Teachers

The Canadian Letters Project

"The History Education Network has just posted a new learning resource package on their website.  The package, generously funded through a THEN / HIER grant, contains World War I and World War II lessons for secondary Social Studies and English Language Arts classes.  The lessons directly make use of letters and documents from The Canadian Letters Project at Vancouver Island University, Canada's largest archive of wartime letters. (www.canadianletters.ca)"

Please pass along this link to Social Studies or English Language Arts teachers.
(Thanks to Dan Hughes and Paula Waatainen for sending this)

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Kid Friendly Dewey Divisions

Explaining Dewey for Kids

Sometimes the "official" categories mean little to students, especially the younger ones. Here's a kid friendly series of labels.

000s Odds & Ends, Computers
100s  Thinking, Feeling and Wondering
200s  Religion and Prayer
300s  Living and Learning Together
400s  Words and Languages
500s  Nature and Numbers
600s  Making, Selling and Fixing Things
700s  Arts and Play
800s  Literature
900s People, Places and Events

via S. Adame, via LM-NET via Learning Magazine

(Also, here's another more detailed breakdown:

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How Google Works -

The life span of a Google query
"The life span of a Google query is less then 1/2 second, and involves quite a few steps before you see the most relevant results. Here's how it all works."

[WEBSITE] - a more complete explaination.
"Every day Google answers more than one billion questions from people around the globe in 181 countries and 146 languages. 15% of the searches we see everyday we've never seen before. Technology makes this possible because we can create computing programs, called "algorithms", that can handle the immense volume and breadth of search requests."

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Orca novel study guides

Get more out of your Orca Titles

If you are using any of the Orca titles in the "Orca Digital" collection, or any of the many Orca titles available in Tumblebooks, the publisher has put together some great teacher resources that include some or all of the following:

  • Reading Level
  • Book Summary
  • Author Biography
  • Connecting to the Text
  • Character and Novel Study
  • Plot and Point of View
  • Connecting to the Curriculum
  • Language Arts
  • Art
  • Writing
  • Personal and Career Planning
  • Connecting to the Students—Ideas for Exploration
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An easier way to see Kids mags on EBSCO

Clickable covers for EBSCO mags - Elementary

I've put together a page that makes it easier to access kids' magazines in EBSCO. (No password needed at school, but from home you'll need your school ID and password - see your teacher-librarian.) Simply click on the cover of the magazines to visit the "landing page" for each of the titles.

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Education in Finland - vimeo interview

Pasi Sahlberg on Education in Finland

Pasi Sahlberg, Director General of the Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation in Helsinki, Finland, shares seven things that you need to know about Finland's exceptional education performance and what the future holds for this country's education system in the ongoing pursuit of social fairness and equality.

Newsweek ranked Finland as the best country in the world and no. 1 in education.  More than 20% f high school grads reported the ideal/favourite profession in life is to be a teacher; even higher than lawyers, doctors and others.

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3.11.11

Promo Your Library Page

A New Magazine Each Week

One way to increase student traffic on your library page is to post, once a week, a link to a Mass Market magazine from the EBSCO database. (From school, the kids can just click and view, from home, they'll need their school ID and password.) Because they get to read a new title each week, they'll have a reason to visit your site often. It will also give them a chance to see how easy it is to read articles in EBSCO and might even get them hooked on the database for other reading. (As well, you can show them how to translate articles into different languages.)

View a sample here.

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Quizlet Flashcards online

Make Flashcards with Quizlet

Create Flashcards, mini-quizzes and study groups. Use your own data or adapt flashcards made by others. Great for language learning or science vocab. (Use it on a SmartBoard!)

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Google Books now in Canada

Read seamlessly on your device

"Access all your ebooks wirelessly, no matter where you go. Google eBooks stores your library in the digital cloud, so you can read all of your favourite books using just about any device with an Internet connection. Google eBooks is compatible with Android phones and tablets, iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, web browsers and many supported eReaders. Whenever you open one of your books, we'll pick up right where you left off."

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Canadian Citizenship Challenge - contest Gr 7-12

Are you up for the Challenge?
(WIN a trip to Ottawa, WIN a Citizenship Celebration for your School, WIN 100s of Other Prizes.)
The Historica-Dominion Institute is challenging students from sea to sea to be Great Canadians by studying all the wonderful things that make up Canada and then to put that knowledge to the test. New Canadians have to pass a Citizenship Exam in order to become Canadian citizens and we think that all Great Canadians should be ready to answer questions about their home and native land.

Students from grade 7 to 12 can enter themselves individually, or teachers can enter their classrooms to win great prizes and show us just what they and their country are made of!
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2.11.11

Using iPads in the Classroom - blog

Teaching and Learning: Using iPads in the Classroom

"If I had thirty iPads in my class, what would I do with them? How would I use them to help my students learn better and help me teach better? Perhaps a better question is what would I do with them that I could not do with other tools that are available and cheaper?..."

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Books - Novels - with First Nations Themes

Thanks to Martha Oldham (Librarian at Lawrence High School, Kansas) for her selection of High School materials with FN themes. (She uses the term "Native American", as she is working in an American context.)


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The Joy of Stats - Math Documentary

There's nothing boring about stats

Hans Rosling says there's nothing boring about stats, and then goes on to prove it. A one-hour long documentary produced by Wingspan Productions and broadcast by BBC, 2010. A DVD is available to order from Wingspan Productions. Director & Producer; Dan Hillman, Executive Producer: Archie Baron. ©Wingspan Productions for BBC, 2010

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Gapminder for Socials and World Trends

Explore the world via Gapminder

Gapminder World shows the World's most important trends:
  • Wealth & Health of Nations
  • CO2 emissions since 1820
  • Africa is not a country!
  • Is child mortality falling?
  • Where is HIV decreasing?
Gapminer seeks to unveil the beauty of statistical time series by converting boring numbers into enjoyable, animated and interactive graphics.

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Taking Wikis to the Next Level - AASL 2011

Wikis in LIbraries

What is a wiki? A wiki is a website with a "WYSIWYG - what you see is what you get" editing interface.It allows the user to easily create basic, functional websites, with the possibility of multiple editors. See Librarian and Student created examples. Learn how to personalize your site.

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Technology? Skills Every Student Needs

Doug Johnson Presents - Tech Skills Every Student Needs

The world in which our students will all be working and living will be different from our own. We will examine:

  • What's happening outside school in the workplace because of information technologies?
  • What skills does every student need to be a productive citizen?
  • What curricula and methodologies best teach those skills?
  • How will schools, classrooms and libraries change as a result?
  • The presentation looks at pragmatic change strategies that will help assure that all students become "technology and information literate" and looks at real ways schools can implement those changes.
Mankato Schools Information Literacy Curriculum: [LINK]

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Creating ePubs for eReaders

How to create your own ePubs

Ereaders are beginning to standardize on a couple of formats for novels and other reading material. One of the more common formats is ePub ("what is ePub?"). While it is possible to create ePubs using "Pages" (a Mac program), there are some other options. In Word, you have the option of saving as HTML and then converting the resulting HTML file with Calibre into an ePub. (Note: When saving as HTML, be sure to use the "Save as Web Page" option. Because Word normally produces really messy HTML, cleaning/converting it can take Calibre a long time, so be patient!) You can also save the document as a ".rtf", and import the document into Calibre, which can then convert it to ePub. (...but, you may have to experiment a bit to get images to work properly.)


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ABPBC catalogs online

The Association of Book Publishers of BC - Catalogs online

"Over the years, the ABPBC has produced a series of catalogues for educators, library wholesalers and retailers working in the educational field. All the titles in our BC Books for BC Schools and our Canadian Aboriginal Book for Schools catalogues have been selected from publisher submissions by teacher-librarians. The titles have been chosen for their relevance to school curricula and are annotated by professional evaluators."

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1.11.11

Library 2.0 - online conference

"The Future of Libraries in the Digital Age"

"Welcome to the Library 2.011 worldwide virtual conference, November 2 - 4, 2011. This free conference is being held online, in multiple time zones, over the course of two days (three actual calendar days when including all time zones). To register to attend, please join this site (NOTE that you may still attend sessions while your registration is pending)."

All the sessions will be recorded for viewing after the conference:
(The recording links will only become active once a session is completed and the recording has been processed.)

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Building a class site with Google Sites

Create and design an interactive website for the classroom

"Google Sites is a free website program that allows teachers to create and design an interactive website for their classroom. In this presentation Molly Schroeder will show you how to create a website that gives teachers and students the chance to easily collaborate and communicate. We'll also play with some intermediate features of Google Sites and how to really trick up your Website with some fun design features. Come and see how this powerful FREE tool will enhance your classroom."

Speaker: Molly Schroeder, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainer and Google Certified Teacher
Category: K-12
Date: 2/29/2011
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Advanced Forms in Google Docs - Webinar

Take your "Google form" skills to the next level.
"Learn how to harness the power of lesser known features in Google Forms that can save teachers time and organize a wide variety of student information and data. Learn how forms can be used within Google sites and other websites. Imagine never having to grade a quiz again."

This webinar will cover:
  • Quick review of the basics of Google Forms
  • Hidden features in forms
  • Time saving use examples
  • Self Grading Quizzes
  • Troubleshooting and lessons learned
Speakers: Kevin Brookhouser, Tim Lee - Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers
Category: K-12

Using Google Docs - how-to videos

Video Tutorials on Using Google Docs

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31.10.11

Getting to know Google search for education-

Even better search results:
Getting to know Google search for education
Recording date:         Friday, October 7, 2011 8:46 am
Duration:        1 hour 15 minutes
[LINK] Registration required - free
View slides while listening to the audio presentation.

"Google makes it simple to find the information you need, but there are strategies for finding higher quality sources even more easily. Learn the basics of predictive search, a method for drawing on what you know about what you need to find it faster, including successful word choice and using the filters on the left-hand side of the screen to uncover information you never dreamed was possible."

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Google removes the + operator?

Changes in Google Searching

"Just the other day, Google turned off the + operator.  There was a bit of a kerfuffle about it in a few blogs, and Danny Sullivan got bent out of shape about it, but relatively few people noticed that the behavior of the double-quote operator also changed at the same time..."
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"Waste" Control - videos and booklet


1) Crapshoot: The Gamble with Our Wastes (AV) 52 min
The complete documentary is available online through NFB website. Click to watch.
A hazardous mix of waste is flushed into the sewer every day. The billions of litres of water - combined with unknown quantities of chemicals, solvents, heavy metals, human waste and food - where does it all go? And what does it do to us? Filmed in Italy, India, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this bold documentary questions our fundamental attitudes to waste. Does our need to dispose of waste take precedence over public safety? What are the alternatives?

2) Story of Stuff - http://storyofstuff.org/
Created by Annie Leonard to leverage and extend the film's impact. We amplify public discourse on a series of environmental, social and economic concerns and facilitate the growing Story of Stuff community's involvement in strategic efforts to build a more sustainable and just world. Our on-line community includes over 150,000 activists and we partner with hundreds of environmental and social justice organizations worldwide to create and distribute our films, curricula and other content.

3) Introduction to EcoSchools and the five-step process : guide (booklet)
This document is available online. Click to download.


Free iOS apps until Dec 30th

NEW iOS apps from Lakeshore

"Apps for your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad. These educational apps are packed with features to get children excited about learning, and they're super-easy for kids to use!"  Free until Dec 30th.

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A free wiki for the sharing of lead sheets

Wikifonia - music wiki

Wikifonia is a free wiki for the sharing of lead sheets.  User submitted lead sheets can be browsed or searched for by title and artist.  A variety of musical genres are represented, including rock, pop, jazz, broadway, holiday, movies, sacred, and folk traditions. Each lead sheet can be viewed and printed for C, Bb, and Eb instruments in A4, US letter, and braille formats.  They can also be quickly transposed to other keys.  Recordings of most of the tunes are available.  

Each lead sheet can be downloaded in MusicXML format, then edited further in most modern music notation programs. A video describing how to create a lead sheet in MuseSCORE and upload it to Wikifonia can be viewed here.  Wikifonia is a tremendous tool for teachers, students, church musicians, arrangers, and performers of all types.  Check it out!

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100 short films by 30 directors

Barcode.tv - an interactive documentary

Co-produced with ARTE France, the project explores our relationship to the objects that surround us. With 100 short films by 30 directors, this collective work for Internet and iPhone aims to shake up our habitual ways of seeing by offering new perspectives on everyday items.

Objects are integral to our lives — they're everywhere we look. We design, manufacture, purchase and use them in response to specific needs or functions. Objects fill our spaces and shape the ergonomics of day-to-day living. Far more than just tools or decorations, they're extensions of our relationship to the surrounding world, actors that play the roles we assign them.

Barcode.tv turns this reality on its head by letting the objects do the talking, in this sense serving as mirrors reflecting who we are. Through the project, the most common object has a story to tell, regardless of the category it falls into.
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NFB War&Peace Playlist

Selected films on War and Peace - NFB

"NFB films encompass a wide variety of war topics studied in both elementary and high schools. War is an important theme in Canadian and World Studies, Science, English Language Arts, History, Geography, Citizenship and the Arts. The films on this playlist make up only a fragment of the NFB's remarkable collection of films on war and history...

As much as possible, this playlist encourages students to construct as well as reflect on the big questions involving war. The issues covered by these clips are, in fact, endless, and involve questions that will elicit conflicting opinions...

Be sure to check this page during Remembrance Day week (Nov. 7-11, 2011), as we will be adding a new clip a day from our Valcartier Royal 22nd Regiment in Afghanistan series."

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Get Animated! School Film Festival

Get Animated... In YOUR School!

This is your chance to build your OWN film festival in celebration of the NFB's annual Get Animated! series of events. All you need to do is visit the NFB's Animation Channel at www.nfb.ca/animation, choose some films (appropriate to the age level of your students), invite your students to take part, make some popcorn and ENJOY!

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30.10.11

Developing Writers: A Workshop for High School Teachers

A video workshop for high school teachers
(Click on the VOD icon to view videos - from an American perpsective, but has some interesting ideas)

"Developing Writers: A Workshop for High School Teachers presents practical and philosophical advice for teaching writing, while examining issues every teacher faces—such as high-stakes assessments and dealing with differently abled students. Eight video programs feature teachers in diverse classrooms around the country who are helping their students grow as skilled and effective writers. Participants will observe how the teachers and their students work together to create writing communities. Professional writers will share their processes as they move from initial concepts to publication, and comments from researchers, theorists, students, and teachers add context. A workshop guide and Web site provide activities and additional information to help participants develop effective instructional strategies to bring back to the classroom."

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Physics for the 21st century - PDF / online textbook

Physics online textbook units

Each unit was written by a prominent physicist who describes the cutting edge advances in his or her area of research and the potential impacts of those advances on everyday life. The classical physics related to each new topic is covered briefly to help the reader better understand the research, its effects, and our current understanding of physics.

Click on "Content By Unit" (in the menu to the left) and select a unit title to view the Web version of the online text, which includes links to related material. Or, download PDF versions of the units. (LInks to videos - watch online or order - ie http://www.learner.org/courses/physics/video/vid_byunit.html?unit=1)
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