Pinterestingly....

I know, what a terrible pun. I've been using Pinterest a bit recently--not actually  adding information to any boards of my own, but looking at what others have been doing. Pinterest is being touted as one of the hottest takeoffs on the Internet. It's straightforward and easy to use. Sign up, create a board with the title of one of your interests, and "pin" websites and pictures to the board. The resulting display is very visual and accessible.  Click on an image and you're taken to the site. There's a place for labels and who pinned it previously (did I say you could repin?).  Teachers have been using it to create quick-click resource websites for students.  You can't share boards and students can't use it under the Pinterest terms of service, but it is a really useful tool. Today, after reading an article by Kate Messner in School Library Journal about Pinterest and its uses by authors I checked out her Pinterest board for the book Marty McGuire Digs Worms--a book we have in our library. Kate lists a review, information about the book, a Twitter  book club link, and lots of information about worms, composting, Earth Day, and activities.

You can search for Pinterest boards when you are searching for information about a topic or to find classroom resources on a topic. Searching for the search terms Pinterest and 2nd grade listed about a dozen teacher sites with 2nd grade as a theme. Search for early literacy, math games, French revolution, whatever.

When you find resources you want to share--maybe with students or parents--create your own boards with your curated resources. You don't need any tech expertise to use Pinterest, just some things you'd like to find and share.