DVDs "Spreading the word" Readers' Festival

As Vancouver gets ready to host the Vancouver International Writers and Readers festival October 19-24 (http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/media/spokenworld2010), DRC has DVDs from previous years that you may wish to preview or use with your students:

• Spreading the word 2003 : reality meets fantasy
• Spreading the word 2003 : two in the morning
• Spreading the word 3 (2006)
• Spreading the word 4 (2006)

There are also video resources on the website:

http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/schools/spreadtheword

(You can watch these in "full-screen")

Here is the link for the School Events Page (Some are already sold out)

http://www.writersfest.bc.ca/2010festival/events/school

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"Circulate this: Stories from the School Library" - audio file

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/csla-audio-journal/id367871134

Worth listening to and passing along to anyone you know interested in supporting school libraries and teacher-librarians

"Strong school libraries build strong students and lifelong learners High School Teacher Librarian/CSLA Past President Connie Williams and songwriter/ storyteller/ public radio producer Joe McHugh collaborated on an audio journal project to capture stories from teachers, school administrators, children's authors, legislators, parents, and students about how school libraries and librarians make a difference in the lives of children."

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Trailee Awards - the nominees

School Library Journal is running their "Trailee" Awards, for the best Book Trailers produced this year. You can view all the nominees on the following site:

http://reg.accelacomm.com/servlet/Frs.frs?Script=/LP/51148056/reg&Context=START

This is a great place to see the range of material being used to promote books.

(Here's a download site: http://traileenominees.4shared.com/)
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Academy of Achievement - video - audio clips

http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/halls/sci

Hear interviews with individuals who have made an impact on the world of Sports, Art, Science, Business, etc. Video clips are chunked with text transcripts. (Could even be good for high school ESL.)

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Good Books for Literature Circles

Here are some links that might be useful for teachers using Lit Circles.

Some are arranged by grade, or theme, or both.

Themed Literature Unit Examples: Grades K-8

http://classes.seattleu.edu/masters_in_teaching/teed521/professor/Literacy/MITexample.html (Good suggestions but some of the titles are older)

ATN Reading List

http://atn-reading-lists.wikispaces.com/

Teen Book Lists and Reviews

http://www.readingrants.org/

Choosing Books For Lit Circles (Literature Circles Resource Center)

http://www.litcircles.org/ChoosingBooks/choosingbooks.html

http://www.litcircles.org/ (Main Page)

Chapter One of: Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups

http://www.literaturecircles.com/readings.htm

Hatching Baby Chicks Video

I remember some time ago, a teacher was asking for a good video clip of baby chicks hatching. The Chicago Museum of Science and History has a short segment that might be useful. Please pass this along to interested staff!

http://www.msichicago.org/online-science/videos/video-detail/activities/the-hatchery/

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Bookjam Digital Book Report Contest

While this is open to US residents only, the site will allow you to see booktrailers as they are submitted. It might be a good way to jumpstart your own kids as they create a local "BookJam".

Samples

http://digitalbookreport.shycast.com/p/1

Some resources and handouts

http://www.thebookjam.com/main/content/tour-jambox3

Some other book trailer sites:

http://naomibates.blogspot.com/2008/07/how-i-create-digital-booktrailers.html

http://naomibates.blogspot.com/search/label/booktrailer

http://boingboing.net/2009/09/01/trailer-for-scott-we.html

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2010 Teen Read Awards from iRewards (indigo-Chapters)

Teen Read Awards

Website: http://www2.teenreadawards.ca/?EMS_MID=EMSx321x28608

Teen Reads: the winners are...

Teen Read Awards Facebook page

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=231579&id=33808471363

How to Weather the Frustrations of Technology Integration

Here's a (modified) quote that I think quite often applies to integrating technology into the classroom:

"When it's good, it's very very good,

but when it's bad, it's horrid."

(Apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. (American poet, 1807-1882)

Read Andrew Marcinek's advice on tech integration....

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/how-to-weather-technical-frustrations

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Writers in electronic Residence program

http://www.wier.ca/

"WiER connects students across Canada with writers, teachers and one another in an animated exchange of original writing and commentary."

You may have teachers in your school interested in participating in the program. (However, there is a fee for participation. See the site for details.)

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Kid Friendly Search Sites

Looking for kid friendly search sites?

Take a look at this Google Custom search page:

(Especially good for Intermediate and above)

www.infotopia.info

A new, exciting site to explore:

http://www.sweetsearch.com/

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Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, Tom Swift: Stratemeyer legacy

I was listening to CBC last evening and "stumbled" across an Ideas episode on what they call the Stratemeyer legacy. If you ever read Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys or Tom Swift as a kid, or know folks who still love these characters, this show is for you. It's not "up" as a podcast yet, but you can listen to the streaming audio at the following link:

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2010/09/22/the-mystery-of-the-stratemeyer-legacy-listen/

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Animal Camera - Peregrine Falcon & Gos Hawk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-_RHRAzUHM

Flying with the fastest birds on the planet:

Peregrine Falcon & Gos Hawk - Animal Camera - BBC

"The BBC show, called Animal Camera, makes use of innovative camera, sound, tracking and surveillance technology. Series highlights include footage from tiny miniature cameras strapped to birds and a sequence that solves the mystery of what baboons do at night. The series has been made by the BBC's Natural History Unit in Bristol."

See a clip from the show that shows birds flying, from the birds' perspective!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-_RHRAzUHM

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"Teaching Tolerance" Magazine

Teaching Tolerance: A Project of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Here are links for the "Teaching Tolerance" Magazine (PDF downloadable) as well as a number of lesson plans and teaching ideas that could be adapted for your individual class or school.

http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/archives

http://www.tolerance.org/teaching-kits

http://www.tolerance.org/activities

http://www.tolerance.org/mix-it-up/activity

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Tales of Animals in War

From Veterans' Affairs: (www.vac-acc.gc.ca)

"Veterans’ Week is observed each year from November 5-11. We are again offering our free educational newspapers Tales of Animals in War (ages 5-11) and the Canada Remembers Times (ages 12-18) to help engage young people in Remembrance. ‘Postcards for Peace’ and an on-line teacher’s guide are also available."

Order today at:

www.vac-acc.gc.ca/remembers/sub.cfm?source=feature/week2010/educational-resources

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La Semaine des anciens combattants se déroule chaque année du 5 au 11 novembre. Cette année encore, nous vous offrons nos journaux éducatifs gratuits Histoires d’animaux à la guerre (pour les élèves de 5 à 11 ans) et Le Canada se souvient (pour les élèves de 12 à 18 ans). Ces journaux aident à promouvoir le Souvenir chez les jeunes lecteurs. Les Cartes postales pour la paix, ainsi que le guide de l’enseignant en ligne vous sont également offerts. Vous pouvez commander vos exemplaires à :

www.vac-acc.gc.ca/souvenir/sub.cfm?source=archives/semaine2010/ressources-pedagogiques

Le déclenchement de la guerre de Corée a eu lieu il y a 60 ans. Pour

permettre à vos élèves d’en apprendre plus à propos de ce conflit,

visitez notre nouvelle rubrique web interactive, Le pays du matin calme

- Les Canadiens en Corée 1950 - 1953 à :

www.vac-acc.gc.ca/souvenir/sub.cfm?source=collections/korea

Savez-vous que nous offrons maintenant notre populaire trousse

d’apprentissage Le Canada et la Grande Guerre 1914 - 1918 :

Naissance d’une nation en format électronique ? Commandez votre copie

gratuite ou d’autres ressources à travers notre système de commandes

en ligne à :

https://crorders-commandescss.vac-acc.gc.ca/order.php?m=categories&lang=fr

Si vous désirez ne plus faire partie de notre liste de courriel,

veuillez nous répondre en inscrivant 'Désabonner' dans le titre de votre

message.

Bonne année scolaire et à bientôt !

L'équipe Web et Apprentissage d'Anciens Combattants Canada

Socials Resources - Veteran's Affairs

Many great resources are available to teach students about Canada's involvement in various world conflicts. Most of these are free, and can either be ordered, or downloaded from the following URL: https://crorders-commandescss.vac-acc.gc.ca/order.php?m=categories&lang=en

These materials are available in both French and English. Please forward this to your Socials teachers.

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Book care video on Teacher Tube

Are you looking for a short video to remind your students how to take care of their books? Follow this young student as she brings home a Clifford book, but makes every mistake possible! (Note: You can also download the video or embed it on your webpage.)

Warning: May be disturbing to some teacher-librarians!

Link to Video:

http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=121765&title=How_To_Take_Care_of_Library_Books

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The Rights of the Reader - illustrated poster

"In its preface, the book by Daniel Pennac called "Comme un roman" (Paris: Editions Gallimard/Folio, 1992), begs its reader not to use the book as an "instrument de torture pedagogique."

Pennac also enumerates 10 Inalienable Rights of the Reader:

  1. The right to not read,

  2. The right to skip pages,

  3. The right to not finish a book,

  4. The right to reread,

  5. The right to read anything,

  6. The right to "Bovary-ism," a textually-transmitted disease,

  7. The right to read anywhere,

  8. The right to sample and steal ("grappiller")

  9. The right to read out-loud, and,

 10. The right to be silent.

The illustrated poster (by Quentin Blake) based on these rights is available online:

Small version (jpeg)

http://bookxcessblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/rights-poster.jpg

Larger version (PDF)

http://www.walker.co.uk/UserFiles/file/Rights%20of%20the%20reader/NYOR_ROTR.pdf

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Own Your Space - Teen Internet Safety eBook

This free eBook is a good resource for teachers and parents. Each chapter would make a good eSafety lesson for teens and pre-teens.

"Linda McCarthy, the former Senior Director of Internet Safety at Symantec, wrote the first edition of "Own Your Space." With 20+ years experience in the industry, Linda has been hired to test security on corporate networks around the world. For the 2010 edition, Linda’s expertise is backed up by a full team to provide the best security experience possible for teens and families online." Using support form Microsoft, McCarthy has released this book as a free eBook download."

Here are a few of the topics covered in the book:

• Cyberbullying
• Hackers and crackers
• Social networking
• Phishing
• Spam
  

"When asked why she decided to partner with Microsoft to post her book online for free, author and OwnYourSpace founder says, "It is increasingly more important that schools and families have access to free security information to protect themselves on the internet."

Complete PDF download:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/C/B/3CBADB0A-19AA-4959-8ABA-4B43756CF219/Own%20Your%20Space%20Teen%20Book/Own%20Your%20Space%20Teen%20Book%20_All%20Chapters.pdf

Individual Chapters in various formats:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=87583728-ef14-4703-a649-0fd34bd19d13

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"Signing" for Classroom Management

"Third-grade teacher and award-winning, Rick Morris is a recognized specialist in the field of classroom management and student motivation. Mr. Morris is the creator of New Management, a refreshingly new way to manage your students and involve them in the learning process."

http://www.educationoasis.com/resources/Articles/sign_language.htm 

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