Symbaloo- Tech tool

Symbaloo  is an exciting tool to use - either with students or as an organizing tool for much used items It helps you organized the internet so you can find  and share resources!

   You build a webpage by first creating the title and then you can personalize with colors of your choice.You can add new sources- even articles  I think and radio stations. You chose a title , pick a color , and then up load a link I am just learning , but if you haven't seen this  it really is cool. And it is not to hard to learn.

This become a webmix. You can also search in the gallery for other webmixes that have already been done. Theses are very helpful and you can find lots of interesting links that way'

To Do lists

In the morning ( or at night before you go home) ,whichever works best for you, you write your to do list- right?  You might want to divide your list into three columns:
Today's Priorities                       This week to do's                                            Would be nice to do


I keep this limit to 5 items in each column. Then I go back and see if there is anything  that can be avoided or delegated. Look at the tasks that are really worth you time and energy. Get rid of anything that is not necessary. This way you can focus your day on doing what is most important and will make the most impact for you students . teachers, or patrons,. I make my list before I go home. Then in the morning, I look at my list again  and cross off items if I feel it is not worth my time.

 Then I focus on what is most important  and even get some 'nice to do  " items which is very nice feeling! 

May Bulletin Boards

  It  is the end of April , so I am thinking of what to do about those bulletin boards.
 Here are some ideas of what I have used in the past.

Sneaking around with a good book- copies of sneakers , students will put on their favorite spring books  and put them on the board.

-"When we read we Grow.'May flowers-  Blue Back ground
  Battle of the Books - groups. scores , announcements.

"We're wild about Books!"- Jungle theme ( animals , trees) around slogan, maybe even titles on tree leaves, or book jackets if you have more room.

"Read, Return, Repeat"  Make slogan like the Recycle, Reduce, Reuse green arrows- put book jackets around that.

"Don't be angry -Read a Good Book"   Angry birds and book jackets or titles

Elink- site for Curation or Pathfinders!

Elink is a free site where one can share information using computers, tablets,  or phones.  It is easy to publish and edit the content on the go. This will help students (and others) share online content .  So you could include videos, webinars, podcasts, articles, images, google docs and more.

  Curating with elink is a simple way to  share. You choose a template, add the links or articles, save the content  and then share your elink webpage.

It is easy to use . I use it to create pathfinders for specific student projects. Then I post on the library page and students use the links to complete projects. 

 This was one of the links in the Curation post that I wanted to try first- I made a pathfinder today for one of my teachers- It was really easy to set up! I will do more of these!

Curation:A new term for Educators

 One of our goals in education is higher order thinking skills. So we are trying to get away from students simply recalling information.  One new concept I've been reading about s curation.

Curation is the collecting and organizing of facts/ writings of high quality and then sharing those collections with the world. A student could collect: articles, images, videos, audio clips or a mixture of items that all relate to a topic . It’s like “The top 10” or “The Best of” something.  

Curation projects require students to  : Understand the information, analyze  and  organize it to make sense, and evaluate  / judge the quality  of the items. 

Book Review- Where Can We have the Party?

   The animals ( Elephant, Giraffe, Monkey, and Snake) are trying to find the best place to a birthday party for their friend Chimpanzee. But each idea of a place they come up with won't work for the chimpanzee or the four friends.  

     They finally find the perfect place- Hungle Bungle Park. The friends decorate the park with balloons, ribbons, streamers , and a Happy Birthday banner.  The whimsical illustrations are soft and  make a soothing yet colorful  jumble of the zoo and its animals.

    The party was a surprise  so they all yelled surprize when Chimpanzee arrived.  The friends danced, and played games, and had lots of fun together.  When the party was over, Chimpanzee told them,"This was the best birthday party ever!"

   This is a fun birthday story for children from 2 to 7.  The jungle party with the animals is a great twist on the birthday theme. The illustrations are fun and age appropriate . All the animals are friendly  looking and happy. This would make a great gift for a child's

birthday, they will want to read this story over and over.

Budget Book- a good way to organize

      A few years back I was on my "notebook ". I organized all my important papers into three ring binders to keep everything straight and items together.   I decided last week  ( I 'm at the middle school now) that the note book organizing was the way to go  to keep like items together.  It worked at the public library  when I had a tiny tiny office,  now here my office is bigger but has even less space  and places to organize important papers.

     The first thing I did was to organize  and figure out how to build my binder. Previously I had items in two hanging file folders that were located on my desk placed in one of my file holders. Every tune I took one out to work on something ( which was weekly) the papers would either fall out or get in the wrong spot.



      So in the binder  I put  four divider tabs.  The first was labeled pending, so all the purchase orders still  out / not received were hole punched and place behind this section. I also made a section marked general in which I placed information about the  budget in general- amounts for  materials and supplies, amounts for chapter 53 ( funds for books state assigned).  So depending on the PO , I placed them in whatever tab they belonged.  These were the completed  Po with items we had received,

     Now when I have budget papers  they are finalized, I hole punch them and put them in the proper section. When I pull out the book, the items stay where they belong.  It makes it easier to grab what I need and also is much easier to keep in order.  MMMMM What else can I put in those binders??