Bookopolis- on line book-site for teachers and students

 

Bookopolis is a wonderful website to assist teachers and students in their love of books and reading. It is used for students in grades 2-7. Bookopolis give new ideas for reading .Students can also connect with other students about what  they are reading.

Students can explore new books, make a bookshelf, recommend books and invite friends to join,

  Teachers and librarians can use Bookopolis to build a team of readers in their classroom and libraries. Students can produce book reviews and they can give book recommendations to their classmates and peers  ( While doing this they are practicing their writing skills  and typing skills)  Students can keep a reading logs online. 

Bookopolis offers badges and  points for students who use Bookopolis to keep book logs, write reviews and report,  and invite friends to use the site. 

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!

Wide Open School

 https://wideopenschool.org/  ( Wide Open School) is a new resource provided  by Common Sense Media. It looks to me to be a wonderful site for students, teachers , and parents ,to assist students in learning and growing and furthering their education.

    There are a multitude of learning activities that will work for students.  There is of course, Math, Science, and core school subjects with activity  links- there are also off line activities,  arts and crafts, digital activities,physical fitness,  emotional well being,life skills and virtual field trips. 

     The neat thing is also a  a daily  planning page where a day of activities / lessons are laid out.  They  also provide planning sheets for teachers/ parents/ caregivers to plan their own depending on the student. The plans are based on grade levels so students just pick their grade levels and complete the activities.

   The activities ( games, lessons, ect) are shareable with Google  Classroom , so if you are a teacher you can send specific activities to your student. The plan lays out each day of the week and activities to go with them, The students are even given a screen break and ideas on what to do! 

   I think this site will be invaluable to teachers and parents  working on virtual learning . The activities would also  be doable in the school setting. 

 

StoryJumper.com

  StoryJumper.com  is a great site ! A few years ago I did a very brief post about StoyJumper. It has come to my attention again , so I decided to really look and see what they had to offer.

 

    I think teachers and librarians would really like to use StoryJumper with their students. There  is information on the site for teachers . They give examples of projects for student activities in each subject area.( even Math & Science!!)

   There are also  ideas for different types of writing: nonfiction, expository, collaborative projects, and creative writing ideas. And there is opportunity to use student art work or use the StoryJumper art work.

 Students can have their book published online for free; Of course , there are options for the publication of the book in both hardcover or paperback for a fee.

There is a wide selection of student work,that can be read online, which will also give students a chance for reading and a spark to create their own work,

I 

https://www.storyjumper.com/school

Virtual learning / read aloud ideas

 Here are some sites with read alouds and  ideas for story times. 

Storytime with Ryan & Craig:  These two guys have a ton of  read alouds The site is easy to use . You can also search for specific titles .

Emily Arrow: Librarian Emily Arrow shares singalongs with music and stories on her YouTube channel. This will give you lots to use if you are doing storytimes this is a good place to look for ideas and songs.

Story Time From Space:  This site has  stories from space . Astronauts  read the stories

These may be helpful if you are doing in person or virtual learning. Do you use any others? I am really looking for more for the middle school age level.

Books For Snowy Days~

  I have some books I like to read during the winter months- Some our old favorites and some a little newer!

  1) The Snowy Day/ Keats. This is a classic . Peter goes out into the snowy day and explores his neighborhood. When he is cold and tired , he goes home and his Mama warms him up with dry clothes and hot chocolate.

                                                              

2) The Snow Man / Briggs. Thin is a wordless picture book that the young students love to study the pictures and tell the story

3) Bear can't Sleep/ Wilson. All of Wilson's books are excellent. This one , Bear is having trouble going to sleep for winter!

4.Katy and the Big Snow/ Burton- What can I say? Students love to hear the story about Katy. The illustrations can be explored over and over.

5. Christmas at Long Pond/ George. This is another of my favorites to read. The illustrations are rich and the story is a simple one about going to cut down a Christmas tree.

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!

Free Library Lesson- Moe Willems

 Moe Willems gas been a delightful contributor to the world off children's books. He combines  simple drawings , engaging character,s and funny situations to pull children into  reading, We all know the Pigeon books, and they are unique.  series. Again  Moe  uses dialogue and interesting  yet familiar. situations to move the story  along.

  I happen to love The Piggie and Elephant series. Again, Moe uses dialogue and funny situations to move the story along.

Go to Moe's website and  you can find his Bio and some activities to go along with his books.
http://mowillems.com

Two of my Favorites and somethings to do with them.
We are in a Book

  1. Have students make a book with pictures .( drawn or cut out from old magazines). Have students identify each one with word bubbles.

 2. Make a book with two characters telling jokes . This could be a class activities with each student doing one page, illustrating it and writing word bubbles. Put the book together as as class book.

The Thank You Book
Students can make a class book or individual book of  what  they are thankful for. They can describe it in word bubbles.(Think November)

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.

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.

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.

Read Across America Day/ week

I read this on the Future Ready Librarians Facebook and thought it was a great idea,   I took the main idea and lent some titles that I thought would work. Use these ideas or come up with some of your favoites!

Day 1: Books about Families
         Three days oh a river in a red canoe/ Williams
          In our mother's house/ Polacco
          Tell me again about the night I was born/  Curb

Day 2: Books about taking action
         The Giving Tree/ Silverstein
          Boxes for Katje/ Flemming
           One Plastic bag/ Paul
           Stick & Stone/ Ferry

Day 3: Read a silly story
      Horton Hatches an egg/ Seuss
       Don't let the Pigeon drive the Bus/ Willems
      Any book by Jan Klassen

 Day 4:  Books about different cultures
     Brown Girl dreaming/ Woodson
     Boy who harnessed the wind/ Kamkwamba
     Goal/ Taylor
     House that Baba built/ Young

Day 5: Books about Famous People
      Abe Lincoln the boy who loved books/ Winters
     The story of Ruby Bridges/ Coles
    Let the Children march/ Clark- Robinson
    Inventors who changed the world/ Poelman



Day 5 : Books about famous people.

A Book and A hug- Great site

   This is a great site  ( A book and a hug) . If  you haven't seen this site yet , check it out. I think you will be impressed. I only just discovered it and I am loving it!
    First of all you can search for books to read  by author , title and  Everything! There is also an advanced search tab- like category, reading/ age level, and reader personality type and other additional options.
  Students can take a reader personality type to determine what type of reader they are. There are basic and advanced tests.
   Up at the top there are tabs: Books by category, read alouds, authors, lesson plans and a blog. Barbara Langridge  is the creator of the site. She is also a speakers about books and librarians. Barb was a former librarians and book store owner , so she has the experience of a book lover. Her goal is to create readers, and connect students with books.
  At the bottom of the site, there are more links. My favorite is the " If you liked, then you'll like" a great tool for students!

Free Easy Lesson for GRs. 4-7: Internet versus Print

 I have an easy lesson plan for grades 4-7, that involves students in a completion and shows them the importance of using both books and internet sources for information,
 For the set up , I have  some non-fiction books, a set of encyclopedias, and computers - laptops, desktops, or chrome books.
  Think of some simple questions that students might need the answer to- What year was Lincoln president? When did the civil war start?  Link the question to what the students are doing in Social studies or science so it has some significance.
  For class prep: Go over /ask students to tell the class how to find items in books and encyclopedia quickly/ ) use the table of contents, index, know the Encyc are in alphabetical order.
  Hand out the questions to each group. Students will work together to find answer. One person in each group should be a time keeper, writing down how much time it takes to get the answer. Students write the answer down with the time.
See who gets the correct answer first!! Each group can state the answer , their source, and how much time it took to get  the answer.
 If time permits, students can do another round of questions.
  Exit ticket: Have students determine  what source is best for the quickest answer.
   

Graphic Organizer for Primary Sources      Name  __________________________________________

1.       What kind of document it is ( letter, photograph, newspaper)	2.       Read through document. Make a list of unusual words or phrases.
3.       Is there a date on it? If so, write it down.	4.        If there is not a date, what clues might indicate when it was written?
5.       Is there a location indicted?	6.       Who wrote or created the source?
7.        What is the purpose of the document?	8.        What did you observe?
9.        What did you observe?	10.    What did you observe?
11.   Reflections?	12.   Questions?

Teaching with Primary Sources

     Primary sources offer direct insight to show case history as it was happening. Original photographs, newspaper articles, journals, diaries, speeches and artifacts give details to the time and place of the event.,

      Lesson: 1. Selecta primary source to share with the class (check out The Library of congress American Memory.

  2. Make copies of the document and also a graphic organizer and distribute them to students

 3.  Provide the historical context of the primary source document. Help student fill in the Organizer. Students can work on their own or in groups of 2 to 3 to do this.

4. Students study the document to help them describe what they observe. They can record observations on their organizer. Have students ask questions about elements of the source that seem important. See if students can determine the purpose f the document.

Other questions to ask: 1) how dependable do you think this source is?

2) Would you recommend this source for others to use.

5. Have students rank the document from 1 to 10. 10 being the most dependable. Have them support reasons for their ranking.

Breakout boxes

Breakout boxes – in libraries

     Breakout boxes are an active and immersive problem solving experience where groups of students work together to solve problems and get answers.

   The problem / task can be customized and coordinated to ane content / lesson area. The activity can have students practicing a skill, introduces new concepts, or review material at the end of the unit.

  The breakout boxes come with a large box, a small box, several locks, an invisible ink pen and a UV flashlight.  You can also use a timer if you want to limit time of activity.  

    Breakout edu has many educational activities on their site, created by the company or by educators who put their units on the site. Envelopes hidden in books, under tables, puzzles purchased cheaply, games made on the computer are other ways to create engaging activities. You can also use scavenger hunts. Virtual reality headsets, and other digital resources to create clues and activities for students.

   Creating different kinds of clues require students to work together to figure out answers.

Coming soon- benefits of breakout boxes.

EduBreakout Boxes

     The other day, the Science teacher and I did the first try out with the breakout boxes. These boxes have online links to puzzles/ activities/lessons  that require small groups of students to work together to solve problems and unlock the boxes . Each clue reveals more clues to further the result and to get the boxes open to get the solution and the prize!
     The online activities are extremely detailed and also give the teacher step by step instructions to seeing up the boxes. Most have a video that accompanies it to show the process.
     The students really enjoyed the activity. One student told the Science teacher " This is better than gym class!" Students read directions, looked around the room for more clues and worked together to solve the hints and clues, The only trouble we really encountered was resetting the lock at the end of   each period.

Lesson-: 1-2-3 Summary

 Many times we ask students to read and summarize an article or a passage . We want them to be able to present an overview of the article. We need them to tell us what new information they acquired.

   An organizer can help them show what they understanding about the information given. Give then the article and a graphic organizer to the students. In the first section( it can be a bubble, rectangle, or square)  , they will fill in prior knowledge ( what they already know about the subject before reading) .

  While students read have them highlight or underline the important ideas  in the paragraphs Then in the second section ,they can write in 3 or 4 main or most important facts they have discovered.

  In the third space, students can write down a fact or idea that was interesting to them , or a question they had about the topic. Students can then use this to write a short summary if you wish.

  The first time you do this , you may want to model what to do in each section. This can be adapted to almost any grade level.  You could have students do this in pairs.
  

Learn around the world- Virtual Field trip

     Learn around the world provides virtual field trips based on Geography and Science. They take classes around the world. Classes can visit space stations, underwater labs, and foreign countries. Many of the programs are interactive. They offer both paid ad free trips.

    Geoshow is geography based, interactive and free. Do a Geoquiz( like Kahoot) and participate with other classrooms  around the wor4ld.  The spring line up is on the site for what they are offering.

    Virtual field trips are 45-60 minutes long. The staff travels to locations around the world to showcase people, and places.

     When you sign in and register , the sites also gives an introduction,  standards , and lessons to go along with the VFT. There are also teacher resources linked to each field trip – note taking sheets (for an additional small fee and other items to go along with the VFT