Blog Bits
I've adopted a Google Reader habit and a whole new world has opened to me! I know that blog reading is not for everyone, but I thought you might enjoy some of these interesting things that I have come across:
a. 21st Century Pedagogy - detailed blog post by Andrew Churches on current thoughts about pedagogy (with lots of diagrams).
b. New Fair Use Code of Practice - blog post by Joyce Valenza Ph.D on the new guidelines for "fair use" of copyrighted material in the classroom
c. Differentiation interview with Carol Tomlinson - differentiation in the classroom and the library
Stars and A Wish (and a Chocolate Kiss)
The library needs your thoughts. How can we improve our services to you, the students and other members of the community? What are we doing right? Please share your wishes and stars with us. Both are welcomed, but wishes would be particularly helpful. Please share your wish and help yourself to a chocolate kiss from the library. Happy Valentine's Day!
Materials for the Classroom from the Library
In the spirit of recycling and going green, as well as frugality, the library is working hard to find the right home for otherwise useful items that are not included in the library collection for various reasons. These items can be found on the gray cart marked "Items for Teachers" located outside the library processing room door. The contents of the cart changes daily. We have books and video in the languages of instruction. Several teachers have found wonderful materials in English, Spanish and German. Please stop by on a regular basis just to take a quick look - only takes a second to see if anything we have at that moment will be useful for you.
Recommending Books for Purchase by the Library
I'm repeating this post, because I have yet to receive one teacher recommendation via this link. Please, please take the time to try it out!
Recommending books for purchase by the library is now easier. All you need to do is go to the Primary School E-Bulletin Board on the Primary School Library webpage. At the E-Bulletin Board, you look for the link (on the right side of the screen) that says “Recommend Books for Library Purchase”. Open that screen, type in the information you have about the recommended book (title, author, publisher and so forth) and submit. To return to the E-Bulletin Board, simply hit the back arrow twice. Your request is automatically recorded on a purchasing list.
Summer Reading Lists
It is now time to complete summer reading lists. I must have lists by March 15 to provide them to the webmaster. If you would like me to help identify new books for your grade's list, please let me know. I would be more than happy to help you find books related to particular topics or new titles in popular series. I have kept a list of the students’ “favorite authors” as reflected in their votes for the Milner Award, so please let me know if you would like that information as you work on your lists.
Showing posts with label Copyright. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Copyright. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
October 2008
Reprise of BrainPop Instructions
BrainPOP has special password information and procedures and several teachers have asked me to republish this information. You will need a password for BrainPOP even at school. There is a special access point for teachers and an after hours password for teachers has been created so that teachers will be able to access the site after school hours from home. Students can only use BrainPOP from home until 5:00 p.m. BrainPOP is the only resource we have with this type of password arrangement. I will put the passwords on the Library and IT bulletin board in Ivana's office.
Update on Language Book Talks
We have now lined up presenters for the Spanish and German language book talks, so we will continue with our language book talks schedule and hopefully make up the missed weeks for those languages later in the year. I am delighted that Mayte S. has generously agreed to present new Spanish books and Astrid S., parent of students in the German track, has graciously agreed to be our German book talk presenter.
Here are the upcoming book talk weeks scheduled for each language:
Spanish
October 27 - October 31
French
November 10 - November 14
German
November 17 - November 21
English
December 1 - December 5
Remember that each language will be featured for an entire week. If you are interested in bringing your class, please let me know the day of the week that is best for you and we will try to work it out. We try to schedule book talks on the days of the week that are best for the greatest number of classes in light of the presenter's schedule.
Request for Book Purchasing Suggestions
Please look ahead to units of inquiry that you will be teaching in spring, 2009, and let the library know of any purchasing requests for library materials to resource the units.
Also, as you reflect on completed units during the planning meetings, please send me an email with purchasing requests based on your experience with the unit and any special needs or weaknesses in the library collection with respect to that unit.
We are actively engaged in weeding out-dated materials and replacing them with current materials that better align with the curriculum. If you are interested in participating in the collection development planning for your language collection, please let me know. Our collection will be better if you help!
The Book Club Blog
The primary school library e-bulletin board has a blog in place for The Book Club, a fledgling book club for 4th and 5th graders. It has been used in the past, but at present it is dormant and I'd love to get it going again. The students who participated previously were 4th graders and they really enjoyed posting their comments (moderated of course) on the selected books. This is a great way to encourage a variety of transdisciplinary skills and have fun too.
Is anyone interested in working with me to get this project going again? If so, please let me know.
Photos with Creative Commons License
Will your students need photographs for classroom projects? Talk with me about online sources for photos that are available for use under Creative Commons licenses. Creators of these photos have placed them them online with only some rights reserved, meaning that they have given advance permission to allow certain uses of the photos without copyright concerns. This makes these photos more desirable for school projects. Please ask me for information on Creative Commons resources if you are interested.
BrainPOP has special password information and procedures and several teachers have asked me to republish this information. You will need a password for BrainPOP even at school. There is a special access point for teachers and an after hours password for teachers has been created so that teachers will be able to access the site after school hours from home. Students can only use BrainPOP from home until 5:00 p.m. BrainPOP is the only resource we have with this type of password arrangement. I will put the passwords on the Library and IT bulletin board in Ivana's office.
Update on Language Book Talks
We have now lined up presenters for the Spanish and German language book talks, so we will continue with our language book talks schedule and hopefully make up the missed weeks for those languages later in the year. I am delighted that Mayte S. has generously agreed to present new Spanish books and Astrid S., parent of students in the German track, has graciously agreed to be our German book talk presenter.
Here are the upcoming book talk weeks scheduled for each language:
Spanish
October 27 - October 31
French
November 10 - November 14
German
November 17 - November 21
English
December 1 - December 5
Remember that each language will be featured for an entire week. If you are interested in bringing your class, please let me know the day of the week that is best for you and we will try to work it out. We try to schedule book talks on the days of the week that are best for the greatest number of classes in light of the presenter's schedule.
Request for Book Purchasing Suggestions
Please look ahead to units of inquiry that you will be teaching in spring, 2009, and let the library know of any purchasing requests for library materials to resource the units.
Also, as you reflect on completed units during the planning meetings, please send me an email with purchasing requests based on your experience with the unit and any special needs or weaknesses in the library collection with respect to that unit.
We are actively engaged in weeding out-dated materials and replacing them with current materials that better align with the curriculum. If you are interested in participating in the collection development planning for your language collection, please let me know. Our collection will be better if you help!
The Book Club Blog
The primary school library e-bulletin board has a blog in place for The Book Club, a fledgling book club for 4th and 5th graders. It has been used in the past, but at present it is dormant and I'd love to get it going again. The students who participated previously were 4th graders and they really enjoyed posting their comments (moderated of course) on the selected books. This is a great way to encourage a variety of transdisciplinary skills and have fun too.
Is anyone interested in working with me to get this project going again? If so, please let me know.
Photos with Creative Commons License
Will your students need photographs for classroom projects? Talk with me about online sources for photos that are available for use under Creative Commons licenses. Creators of these photos have placed them them online with only some rights reserved, meaning that they have given advance permission to allow certain uses of the photos without copyright concerns. This makes these photos more desirable for school projects. Please ask me for information on Creative Commons resources if you are interested.
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