Showing posts with label . librarians as teachers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label . librarians as teachers. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 14, 2021

Earth Day activities!

     Earth day is Thursday April 22.  Here are a few sites that have activities that engage students and  bring awareness of Earth day and global conservation!


Education. Com

https://www.education.com/resources/earth-day/?msclkid=72ef303863821bc8cebd504f6a6c81cf&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Search%20-%20Spring%20Holidays%20-%20BMM&utm_term=%2Bearth%20%2Bday%20%2Bactivities&utm_content=Earth%20Day

  

  This has some good worksheets and activities for students  to celebrate earth day



Tinkerlab


https://tinkerlab.com/fifty-earth-day-activities/


  Another site using natural materials for students.



Project Learning tree

https://www.plt.org/educator-tips/earth-day-activities/


   Some more interesting activities!


Monday, December 14, 2020

The Girl Who Lived in a Shoe- Book Review

 The Girl who Lived in a Shoe ( and other torn up Tales) is an independently publication written by a group of authors. ( L Smith,  B. Seward, M. Rietz, J. Quist  , & B. Warren) They are actually a writer's group who collaborated to produce this body of work.

   The book is written at a 2nd / 3 rd grade reading level. But it could be used with other grades also. The stories are updated and fractured for the 21st century. Students will love them!! 

   Each author  takes a fairy tale and makes it her own. The stories are geared for today's students  and beyond. Each story is catchy and invites student discussion and engagement.

 My personal favorite story is Rita Van Winkle ( Loreley Smith) and Tara and the Wolf ( Jesse Quist). They are fractured but still retain enough of the original story.  They have updated and unique items incorporated into the stories.

 The illustrations are also unique.. The authors used torn paper to build the illustrations which are extremely well done and very appropriate. On the verso, they also provide a link for free printable activities and information about creating  your own torn up tales, which is great in these times of virtual lessons/

 The book can be found on Amazon. This would be a great addition when you are introducing fairy tales and fractured fairy takes to students . It can be used for 2 and 3rd grades , which is when I introduce both, But I can also see it used in the upper grades!  It would work well  up to Middle school and could be a story starers  for student writers to produce their own , just to analyze differences and similarities , or just enjoy!






Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Making your teaching more student centered-2

  Here are a couple of more ideas for creating more student centered learning. This is not an easy task but it is so worth while to get the students engaged and involved their learning,

  1- Design more active practice  of skills and lessons that the students need .Provide more opportunities for students  to engage with materials and activities. This will ensure that students retain information  and be able to use then skill/ information a new context. If you use guided practice and provide feedback, this will also lead to student centered learning.

  2-Reveal your practices and processes  when discussing an assignment or project. Talk about your approach and share how you choose a topic. Acknowledge that are many possibilities for solving a problem.

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Making your teaching more student centered

As you thinking about back to school ( hopefully) , we can be strive to have our classes and lessons more student/learner centered. In my reading, I have come across some ideas that may help,
  1. Explain to students why you are doing things. Share with them why you are asking the students to learn a skill, perform a task,or complete an activity. Emphasize why it is important and worthwhile.

2. Eliminate should or ought. Appeal to the students/ learning. Appeal to the learners autonomy / or inner motivation. Appeal to their interests and passions instead of using controlling language.
Change your language to incorporate the student ideas. This will take time and effort but will result in better communication.

3. Do less in a lesson!  Students can only process a limited amount of information at once. So plan on fewer  learning outcomes. And then provide more active practice on the learning outcome. Give more time to each essential outcome.

Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Using Common Sense Media

Check out Common Sense  media for your remote  learning!  Or just to use for your informational /Digital literacy classes!   There is a lot of resources for librarians and tech teachers .

 First of all they have a new guide to Google  Classroom.

 There are Classroom Management   articles:
      How to find great resources.
     Guide to teaching  with Technology
     Classroom Management Tools
      Kick off the school year with interest driven projects

 Under ED Tech
      Using video for Project Based learning
       Using Video to collaborate on Project Based learning

Finally: Basic tools for Virtual and Distance learning

I  hope some of these will be helpful for you!

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Brain Pop- site for remote learning/ Google Classroom

  Brain Pop is another tool I have used to add to my Google classroom. There are many activities lessons, videos, games, and quizzes that go along with my 7th grade Information Literacy Curriculum
  If you have this available in your district , I urge you to check it out and see what you can use for your remote learning.
  Some of the lessons I have used are the following:

Tech: Cyber bulling, digital animation, social media

Computer Sciences: 3d printing,computer history, Internet, hackers

Digital Citizenship: I have used most of these units which are excellent
.
English: Famous authors & books, Study & Reading Skills, Writing / Book reports ,Citing sources, copyright , fact & opinion

Each unit has a video,a quiz, related readings, and other activities.

Brain Pop is a very helpful source that will engage students and support teaching and leaning,
There is also a BrainPop Jr for students in grades k- 3.

Tuesday, May 12, 2020

NSteens.org- add to your Google Classroom for Remote learning

   https://www.nsteens.org/ is another site I use to teach Middle school  internet safety and digital  literacy.There are engaging videos that students will be able to watch and learn  about many facets of internet safety. Six Degrees of Information and Friend or Fake are ones I usually begin with. A few more to consider are cyber bullying and Meeting on line.

  There are games for students to 'play'. I like the Website Warrior one for a beginning lesson
Quizzes are also included-What type of Internet user are you? is always included on my Google Classroom.

  Students also like to look at the comics and the bios of the characters in the videos and games.

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Typing.com/ Using Google Classroom for remote learning

  On my Google Classroom platform, I also have some typing lessons, games, and activities  that I assign to the student.  I want them to type correctly and this gives them practice.
  Typing.com is one site that I use. There are  videos, lessons, and typing tests. With three lessons, the students can advance quickly.
   There is keyboarding practice with reinforcement and stories for students to type. You can link this up to your google classroom which makes life really easy.
   There are some new additions that are also exciting.  There is a Tech readiness section  career prep. and Coding Essentials. This brings many great lessons to you already prepped and can be added to Google Classroom.

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Common Sense Media/ Using Google Classroom for remote learning

   If you are using Google Classroom for your online learning platform, there are a lot of assignments, activities , and games that you can add for your students.

  For instance, thank about what you want student to do/learn, or what skills you want them to master.  I have used Common Sense Media for digital literacy for middle school because that is what I was asked to concentrate on media literacy and  information skills.

   When   you sign in as an educator you get access to free lessons with lots of options. I have used parts of this and added assignments to the google classroom.  There are videos, games, lesson slides, and work/ thinking sheets. You can them track student use and do grades if you need to.

  Another time I will discuss some other items that I have used in my Google Classroom,
What do you have on your Google classroom? How do  you use yours?

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Virtual Library page-Links for your library page!

 Here are few more freebies that you can use on  your library page-


  Capstone interactive- free for students to use during school closures.  PebbleGo is  designed for K-3 students.  This site is packed with informational articles, ready-made activities, and literacy supports for all students


https://pebblego.com/free-pebblego-capstone-interactive-access-school-closu

Buncee -  You can get remote access during school closures to Buncee . And there is lots of activities and ideas  for lessons for your students. There are ideas for remote learning- check this out! There are webinars for teachers.



https://www.remotelearning.buncee.com/?utm_source=banner&utm_medium=buncee&utm_campaign=rl2020site

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

More links to put on your Library page for at home learning!

 Here are a few more  links to consider putting on  your library page for students. You may also want to let your teachers know about some of these also.

   Ranger Rick. org- lots of fun things to read about and things to do!

   https://rangerrick.org/


  Kids Scholastic-  Read, Make Comics, and play games

   https://kids.scholastic.com/kids/home/



 Virtual School Activities-   This has many links to live webcams, virtual tours, and many educational sites.  Check this out and select some great links for your students!

  https://virtualschoolactivities.com/

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Librarians! Ramp up your websites!/ coronavirus

    If your library has been closed  like the ones in my area ( NY/ PA/ CT, )  we need to  keep our  web pages  up to date and  full of resources they can use during this Coronavirus pandemic.  We  really need to ramp up our web sites so that we can continue  services  to out patrons .  I am going to look back at some past posts , library websites that I use, and will continue to search for ideas and sites that can be put on our  pages to help our patrons.
  This will be a good way to show all the resources that librarians and library's provide for students and patrons.  I am praying that this whole pandemic does not last to long , but we won't know til it over until it is over. Keep safe every one, and check back here for some sites and tools for your library pages.
  

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

All students Need Great School Libraries

All students Need Great School Libraries


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ3b2-9dbb4

  Watch this video!  It has some excellent talking points . And some ideas you can use in defense of school librarians and libraries.  Let me know what you think!

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

Abby the Librarian

   I keep finding different websites for librarians and just want to share  in case you have not  found then yourselves. Abbythelibraian  is a great site for librarians ( school & Public) who do preschool or Kindergarten lessons or sessions.
    There are routinely Picture book Roundups which I love! She gives us brief summaries and also shows the cover. So if you are looking for  recommendations for new books you will be pleased. Some of the titles are brand new or soon to be released.
   She also gives short reviews of new books for elementary / middle school students . Again a big help for your collection development. She also gives book recommendations for special days and seasons.
   There are several other advantages to this site. Abby gives ideas for programs for preschool/ kindergarten and family reading. So if you need ideas  for story times this is a good place to check out.n There is a link on her site that gives themes    and book lists to go with them.

Tuesday, February 11, 2020

Why students need a librarian

   If you need to defend your position there are lots of resources that you will find. But much of why students need librarians is basic , so here a few to think about and add to your list.
   1) Librarians provide materials matched to student learning styles and abilities.  There are print, on line and audio resources. Many of the online and audio can be adapted to student levels. Some can provide sources that can be read aloud to students,

  2) The library website  ( provided & maintained by librarians) offers 24/7 access to the online catalog and electronic resources, databases and lists of curated sites  for specific projects.

 3) The Librarian and the library provides information that is carefully selected and  appropriate for students learning needs and projects.

  Use these as needed. In future posts , I 'll add a few more reasons why students need a library and a librarian.

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Monthly Report- should I do one?- Book Giveaway!

   I think every librarian should do a monthly report.  Even if you have loads of classes,  maybe no help, and are crunched for time, make time to at least do a brief report.  I am suggesting that a basic simple report  to administration leads to greater understanding of what librarians do.
    Why? First of all, doing a monthly report  demonstrates that you do more than just classes  or just book check out.   Many Administrators and staff   have no  idea of what is involved in running a library. If you give even the basic details you can show what else you are doing to maintain the library
  It is our job as librarians to  educate our Administrators and staff of what librarians can do and should be doing!
  If you do a monthly report, what do to include? Leave a comment below - join the conversation! When you follow me or leave a comment you will be entered to receive a copy of "The Organized Librarian"- Drawing to be held at the end of the month/1

Friday, November 23, 2018

The Button War- Book Review

 Set during WWI , in a Polish village,is where the boys Button War starts. Seven boys who hang out together agree that the guy with the best button will be the Button King.
  The competition is fierce. Jurek  decides He will be the king, just because he thinks he is the best. Patryk and the others don't want him to win. Most of the them don't like the idea , but they don't want Jurek  to be the king, he is a bit of a bully.
  So they steal buttons form the soldiers wash line, and then begin  cutting them off dead bodies of the soldiers as the fight between the Germans and the Russians escalates.
  Jurek will do anything to be the Button King. The game becomes more and more dangerous. Patryk keeps on with the challenge  because he doesn't want Jurek to win, the others agree. The war torn village loses families to death and those so scared they leave. And still Jurek will not give up.

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Middle School Blogs! Middle School Book Club!

   I am  hoping to promote  that student in our 7&8  grades  will be blogging next year.  I am hoping to work with the ElA teachers  or maybe start a lunch time book club for students.  Each group - a 7th and an 8th would have a blog attached to our library website.  Then they will read the book and then discuss . The students will be volunteers!  
    I will write an intro to the book( or maybe have the students do a book review.)Then students can present their ideas about the book in the blog during the month- So I am thinking that  maybe a monthly meeting would work.   I will think about it over the summer. 
    But if you have any ideas , please comment below!  I am looking for some input

Sunday, February 7, 2016

Projects/ Activities for February ( Middle school Information Literacy Classes)

    In 7th grade , we are doing some Black American History Month projects.  I have a pathfinder set up for students to read about some famous Black Americans- this gives them a link to the people  and leads them to Biography.com to get quick answers.

     Also there is a research aspect which delves into one person. Students are looking up why the person was famous and other interesting facts.   With these facts , they will be making a wordle poster  for another grade!

     On our Activity table, there are hearts to write their favorite books on, a movie survey, and a fiction find game.