Library Links

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

19.12.14

Digital Literacy & Citizenship Classroom Curriculum - Common Sense Media

Empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly


Empower students to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in the digital world. Access the K-12 curriculum in two ways:
1) iBooks Textbooks: Media-rich Teacher Editions and Student Workbooks including videos, interactive lessons, assessments, and more!
2) Printable Curriculum: downloadable and printable lesson plans (PDFs)

See also:
Decorate with Digital Citizenship Classroom Posters
Download colorful POSTERS to remind students about digital citizenship and device care and maintenance.
Digital Toolkits
Curricular TOOLKITS put topical resources at your fingertips. In each toolkit, you'll find lesson plans, activities, videos, and parent outreach materials.

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17.12.14

MiniTFO - Vidéo-clips de chansons pour les jeunes

Primary songs in French - video clips
TFO features a number of short songs suitable for primary classes. Songs cover colours, animals, weather, etc. Hover your mouse over the thumbnails to see the video titles.

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▶ What is Genius Hour? - Introduction to Genius Hour in the Classroom

Help students explore their passion!


"Founded on an innovation championed by businesses like FedEx and Google, "the genius hour" sets aside school time (at least an hour, every week) for students to work on something they are passionate about. This video outlines some basic tenets of implementing "genius hour" programming at your school and points to further resources (tutorials, lesson ideas, and connections to other educators) at www.geniushour.com. "

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LunaPic | Free Online Photo Editor

Turn images into sketches or paintings
Do you want your students' BookCreator stories to look more like the real thing? Try converting the images to drawings or paintings to give ithemt more of a children's book feel. Use LunaPic, upload the image, apply the effect you want, copy/paste. Voilà

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The Hat By Jan Brett - WeGiveBooks

Seasonal Reading


WeGiveBooks is offering some seasonal favourites on their site. Great for projecting and sharing. Take a look!

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16.12.14

CK-12 Life Science Concepts For Middle School Textbook

Flexible, Free, Downloadable Science Text


"What exactly does it mean to be alive? These concepts will serve as an introduction to life science, discussing the basics of studying the life sciences and addressing the question, "What is a living organism?"

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Sick Science! - Science experiments made easy

Hands-on Science


"Steve Spangler, known for his experiments on local TV station, acts as a science consultant for a local school district. He helps students get motivated and more interested in the hands-on aspect of science. Explore this Youtube CHannel filled with easy-to-try science experiments for home or school."

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15.12.14

Bibliotherapy for Teens: An Expanded Booklist

Fiction for growth, succor, and learning


Ashleigh Williams has created an (expanded) booklist of YA fiction titles that address a variety of issues teens may be grapping with. (Realistic Teen Fiction and Mental Health Booklist.)

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Using QR Codes to Promote Your Library

Provide an engaging way to interact with your space
Barb Zinkovich offers some QR code ideas.

"QR codes seem to be everywhere! For the uninitiated, QR codes are the square barcodes you find on just about anything today  --  from food labels to store coupons to visitor guide brochures --  accessible with a QR reader that can be downloaded to any smartphone or tablet device. Once scanned, the codes link to a source (a video or website, for example) that provides more information on a particular topic. For that reason, QR codes can make an effective promotional tool."

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Stenhouse Publishers: In Defense of Read-Aloud - Preview online

Reading aloud is best practice

"In Defense of Read-Aloud: Sustaining Best Practice" by Steven Layne
Preview link

"The practice of reading aloud to children may be viewed by some educators as an "extra"—a bit of fluff used solely for the purposes of enjoyment or filling a few spare minutes. But researchers and practitioners stand in solidarity: the practice of reading aloud throughout the grades is not only viable but also best practice."


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It’s Not About the Books: Three Approaches for Serving Reluctant Readers

Solving the reluctant reader conundrum
In this article, Heather Booth offers three strategies for pulling in reluctant teen readers.

"It's a perennial problem -- the reluctant reader conundrum. How can we convince these potential readers that there's something great in our collections just waiting for them? [...]  Here are three strategies to consider that are about the most important part of our library: our patrons.

  • "Challenge!"
  • "Made you Look!"
  • "Rewind and Frame"
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5 Powerful Questions Teachers Can Ask Students

Start tomorrow with these five
"Many would agree that for inquiry to be alive and well in a classroom that, amongst other things, the teacher needs to be expert at asking strategic questions [...] With that in mind, if you are a new teacher or perhaps not so new but know that question-asking is an area where you'd like to grow, start tomorrow with these five:

#1. What do you think?
#2. Why do you think that?
#3. How do you know this?
#4. Can you tell me more?
#5. What questions do you still have?"

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12.12.14

50 mini-poster images about books, reading, and libraries

Spruce up your wall-art.


"We've prepared the list of pictures and illustrations that throughout a few years of our social media activity proved most successful on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, and Google+."

Scroll down the page to see the offerings.

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11.12.14

Article: Reconciling learning the 'basics' and inquiry teaching

Fostering thoughtful debate
The staff of the Critical Thinking Consortium tackles the apparent conflict between Back-to-the-basics and "inquiry teaching". Worth the read!

"....Media reports frequently present a polarized debate between two camps: "back to basics" versus "inquiry or discovery learning."4 The resulting impression that educators must chose between one or the other is the kind of exaggerated position that often propels the educational policy pendulum to oversimplify and overreact. In this article, we seek to explain how learning the basics and inquiry teaching can be reconciled, and to document the effects of doing so..."

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"La musique dans ma classe"

Explore francophone musical tradition
Visit this site for links to music resources in French

"Music is essential to the study of language and culture. To fully appreciate French, it is important for students to be exposed to the rich world of French music, in particular the unique francophone musical tradition of Canada  (Québécois, Acadian, Métis, and French Aboriginal music and musicians.)"

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10.12.14

Seeing the Invisible: an animated treatment of van Leeuwenhoek

Seeing smaller than ever before


"In 1674, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek looked at a drop of lake water through his homemade microscope and discovered an invisible world that no one knew existed. His work inspired countless microbiology researchers, including HHMI investigator Bonnie Bassler, one of the narrators of this animated feature. Leeuwenhoek was a haberdasher and city official in Delft, The Netherlands. He started making simple microscopes and using them to observe the world around him. He was the first to discover bacteria and much more."

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Great Transitions: The Origin of Humans | HHMI’s BioInteractive

Key phases of human evolution: larger brains, tool use, and bipedality


Video [19m44] -> Also available for download from the site.

"Paleontologists have studied the fossil record of human evolution just like they have done for other major transitions, including the evolution of tetrapods from fish and the evolution of birds from dinosaurs. In this film, part of the Great Transitions trilogy, Sean Carroll and Tim White discuss the most important human fossils and how they illuminate key phases of human evolution, focusing in particular on three traits: larger brains, tool use, and bipedality."

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9.12.14

“Oniva”, a fun French TV show for kids - on DVD

A "magazine format" show for Immersion and FSL students
Great for Elementary immersion classes, and higher FSL grades, ONIVA is a show created for and by school-aged kids. In each show, the team travels and visits a school (in one of the four western provinces, the Yukon and Ontario) and examines a focus topic with young people. The show is presented in a "magazine format" and includes stories, interesting facts, a feature called "vox-pop", Q&As, a cooking segment and entertaining games. The student hosts are middle school aged but clips would work with junior high Immersion students, and high school FSL.

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What is a Makerspace?

Helping students be creative
This Makerspace is seperate from the school library, but the energy and excitement could easily be brought into an existing library learning commons.

"Andrew Goodin manages the GCAA Makerspace, a collaborative workshop in which students use their artistic abilities to solve real-world problems in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. He earned a B.S. in Chemistry from Washington State University and a Masters of Education from University of Missouri-St. Louis. Andrew is co-founder of The Disruption Department, an educational technology nonprofit that creates tangible STEAM learning opportunities for students from under-resourced neighborhoods in St. Louis. "

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Makerspaces Webinar with Diana Rendina

Students and stations and stuff! (video webinar)
"An ISTE Librarian Network Webinar with Teacher-Librarian Diana Rendina at a STEM magnet school on "Transforming your library with a Makerspace". Learn how she did it in her library and how you can do it in yours. (Streamed live on 22 Oct 2014)"

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8.12.14

Open a World of Possible: Real Stories About the Joy and Power of Reading (eBook)

Reading teaches us who we are and who we might become
"The remarkable authors in this volume—literacy experts, language researchers, librarians, children's authors, and poets—share the reading moments that enriched and extended the possibilities of their lives and made them who they are today.[...] These people credit reading with helping them dream of a future they hadn't thought possible.Their stories are our stories. No matter our medium—digital screen or printed book, magazine or comic book— reading can impart courage; it teaches us who we are and who we might become."

  • Practitioner's Guide
  • Bookmark
  • Complete site:
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5.12.14

MiniTFO - Vidéos

Vidéos pour les tout petits!

Practice your ABCs or 123s in French, review colours, do some "bricolage" with the Mini-TFO team.

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4.12.14

Basketball Fundamentals on Learn360

Basketball Fundamentals

Grade(s): 3-5, 6-8, 9-12
Run Time: [44:42]
Marty Schupak's, Basketball Fundamentals, provides basketball techniques that are the foundation for success for all players. Coaches, parents, and players will learn how to teach and practice all of the basketball fundamentals and skills shown in this program. Whether playing on a driveway, a playground, or for a school team, this video will help players learn or polish their basic basketball fundamentals, leading to individual and team success on the court. The video highlights: Ball handling basics , V Cut, Advanced dribbling techniques, L Cut,, Ball handling games, Passing fundamentals & drills, Individual practice routines, Slow motion analysis, Offensive plays & moves, Pick and roll, Dual purpose drills, Boxing out & rebounding, Communication techniques, Defense techniques and more!
©2011, Youth Sports Club.

To view, login using school ID and Password.
To download (as a district 38 teacher), see your TL for teacher ID and PW.

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3.12.14

Canadian "Native" Flag

A beautiful take on the Canadian flag - by artist Curtis Wilson.


"I created this design while sitting at my dinner table thinking about who I am and where I came from. I like to describe myself as coming from the four corners of the Kwakwaka'wakw territory. [...] Throughout my life, I have come to learn all the different relationships, interactions, hardships and struggles that First Nations people have faced in this country. This history goes back to time immemorial there have been a lot of negative impacts on both sides. I am a person that always tries to see the glass half full and even with all of the difficult situations we have faced, I still love the country I live in and am proud to call myself a Canadian…and First Nations Canadian. I wanted to create a design that represents both my cultural heritage and the country I live in."

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2.12.14

NoveList Plus - Readers' Advisory Toolbox

Check out some new tools for book selection


"The RA Toolbox is your one-stop shop for all the resources you need to enhance your readers' advisory skills. You'll find links to a variety of helpful content like articles about current trends, genre overviews, and so much more.

  • [A student] has read everything by author A and wants another author to try? You're in luck, because our Author Read-alikes have authors B, C, D, E, and F.
  • Do you have to get ready to lead a book discussion? Our Book Discussion Guides provide not only the questions for the entire group but the answers so you can feel better prepared.
Go to EBSCO NoveList: [LINK]
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Using Video in Class

A powerful tool for instruction
Here are some links to explore that offer tips, strategies and rationale for using video in the classroom:

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Youtube to transform your teaching?

Explore Youtube content for your classroom
Mike Christiansen, a 9th grade social studies teacher at Kent-Meridian High School in Kent, WA, uses YouTube in his classroom to transform it into a 21st century learning environment. Visit the "playlist" link to see curated playlists on a number of subject areas.

�
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Readers' Theatre Plays for any season

The Play's the thing...
Our EBSCO database gives us access to a magazine called "Plays" that features Reader's Theatre scenes for a range of reading levels and abilities. I've pasted a few of searches below for you to look at. (The PDF link for each "play" gives you a printable version, as if scanned from the magazine.) If you need to access the magazine from home, use your school ID and PW to view the articles - your TL can remind you if you have forgetten!

  • Search with "Christmas" as the keyword: [LINK]
  • Search with "Hanukkah" as the keyword: [LINK]
  • Search with "Kwanzaa" as the keyword: [LINK]
  • Search with "Scrooge" as the keyword: [LINK]
  • Search with "Rudolph" as the keyword: [LINK]
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"It's in the Cards" and Other Movement Activities

Playing Cards get kids moving
http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/nov14/vol56/num11/£It%27s-in-the-Cards£-and-Other-Movement-Activities.aspx

"It's in the Cards," has really got my elementary students excited about math. To lead this exercise, I would get a deck of cards and post a code on the board; it may say, hearts = jumping jacks, diamonds = knee lifts, spades = straight jumps, and clubs = twists. Then, a student would draw a card from the deck, and the rest is "in the cards." The number on the card indicates the number the class counts by while doing the movement. For example, if a student would pick the three of hearts, the class would count by threes while doing jumping jacks for a total of 10 jumps (or until the count of 30 in this case). Then we would draw another card and repeat the process.

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A great resource list for life-long learners on your staff

"What do you want to learn today?"

"1100 free online courses from the world's leading universities —  Stanford, Yale, MIT, Harvard, Berkeley, Oxford and more. Download these audio & video courses (from iTunes, YouTube, or university web sites) straight to your computer or mp3 player. Over 30,000 hours of free audio & video lectures."

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Mindfulness Exercises

Mindfulness is a "particular way of paying attention"
"This page has a selection of guided mindfulness meditations to introduce you to mindfulness practice and support your existing practice.

  • Mindfulness of the Breath
  • Body Scan
  • Mindfulness of Walking
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Connecting passion with the resources to learn

Will Richardson speaks at TEDxNYED
"A parent of two middle school-aged children, Will Richardson has been blogging about the intersection of social online learning networks and education for the past 10 years at Weblogg-ed.com. He is a former public school educator for 22 years, and is a co-founder of Powerful Learning Practice, a unique long-term, job-embedded professional development program that has mentored over 3,500 teachers worldwide in the last four years."

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1.12.14

New Graphic Novels Reading Lists

Engaging GN titles that are sure to excite children
"The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has released three new Graphic Novel Reading Lists intended for children from kindergarten through 8th grade.   PDF downloads of the book lists are available in color, and black and white.  

"ALSC's three Graphic Novels Reading Lists are full of engaging titles that are sure to excite children," said Ellen Riordan, ALSC president. Graphic novels on the list are defined as a full-length story told in paneled, sequential, graphic format. (The list does not include book-length collections of comic strips, wordless picture books or hybrid books that are a mixture of traditional text and comics/graphics.) The list includes classics as well as new titles that have been widely recommended and well-reviewed, and books that have popular appeal as well as critical acclaim.

(Thanks to Wendy for the link)
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28.11.14

Bookmas Tree anyone?

Holiday display for you library?
Think about how you might spice up your holiday display using those old encyclopedias that haven't been checked out in a while!



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25.11.14

Black iPad Display Stand

Thinking about using an iPad as a search station?
[Link to tablet display cases]
Use an iPad stand like this one. Simply put a Safari shortcut on an iPad desktop that points to your Destiny catalog or download the Destiny Quest app and browse the collection that way.  Cheaper than a stand-alone computer, a space saver too. (It is available in white, silver or black.)




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24.11.14

Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education | edX course

MOOC exploring Indigenous ways of knowing in classrooms

"This Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) explores strategies, teaching exemplars, and resources that support the teaching and learning of Indigenous ways of knowing in classrooms, schools and communities. (Video intro: http://youtu.be/wUsx9fJDgJg )"

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The "KYVL for Kids" Research Portal - How to do research?

Get on the Research Rocket
Check out this interactive diagram that walks students through the steps needed to do "good" Research: lots of explanation, definitions, examples and printables.

(Here's a version with sound and animation: http://www.kyvl.org/kids/f_portal.html )

Step 1: Plan your project
Step 2: Search the Library
then Search the Internet
Step 3: Take Notes
Step 4: Use the information
Step 5: Report Out
Step 6: Evaluate "How did I do?"

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What’s Good? Curating and Evaluating Video Content

Strategies and tips to help identify and evaluate videos
"Part of every educator's job is figuring out what content to share with students and video is no different. In this capacity, teachers become curators of videos, finding quality content that can be used for a particular purpose. Educators can curate videos on their own, looking for either instructional or supplemental content distinguishing the gold from the garbage. For time-strapped teachers looking for help with curation, here are some strategies and tips to help identify and evaluate videos without spending endless hours online."

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Sustainability Classroom Resources from -> Resources for Rethinking

Connect students to important issues that are affecting our planet

"Developed by "Resources for Rethinking" to connect students to some of the efforts being made to solve important problems that are affecting our planet, Hot Topics are published during the school year to coincide with the timing of national and international campaigns taking place to raise awareness of these key issues. Each Hot Topic edition includes links to classroom materials from the "Resources for Rethinking" database that will encourage students and teachers to explore the environmental, economic and social dimensions of these issues and to take action in support of the larger campaign."

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A "branded" cover slide for your presentations - Haiku Deck Blog

Creating a Logo Slide and more


Follow the instructions to create a "branded" cover slide for your presentations that feature the presentor, or the topic, or the audience! Haiku Deck seems to get better and better!

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Digital Bytes - PBL from Common Sense Media

Another approach to Project-Based Learning


Digital Bytes teaches teens digital citizenship through student-directed, media-rich activities that tackle real-world dilemmas:

"Using the Digital Bytes website, teens choose a topic, or "Byte," that resonates with their interests. They learn from the real-world experiences of others who've encountered digital dilemmas that raise questions such as:

  • Why does cyberbullying happen, and how can you stand up for yourself and others?
  • When is it OK to copy something from the Internet?
  • How can the Internet help you launch a new project or bring a community together?
  • Why should you care if websites track what you do online?
"Teens then express their ideas for how they'd respond to these questions by creating multimedia projects, presentations, and videos that showcase their authentic voices and talents.

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