WOW! New York Times Virtual Reality- Shared "The Displaced" with Monique's 5th grade "Global Read Aloud" students. They are reading the book Fish- about refugees Awesome- get the app! http://goo.gl/SJgTKz
Thursday, November 12, 2015
Friday, October 9, 2015
Dav Pilkey Reading Gives You Superpowers Event
"Reading gives you superpowers & that makes all of you in this room the real superheroes."--Dav Pilkey at SCS October 8, 2015. Thanks Flying Pig Bookstore! and Scholastic for the event and the capes!
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Digital Writing For Classrooms: WriteAbout - WOW
"A COMMUNITY WHERE STUDENTS ENGAGE IN HIGH-INTEREST WRITING FOR AN AUTHENTIC AUDIENCE AND TEACHERS HELP STUDENTS GROW THROUGH THE ENTIRE WRITING PROCESS"
The School-IT listserve (Steve Webster-SB) posted a question about student blogging - "What are you using for blogging these days? "This was my "hopeful' response- because it is new -I can't say I've used it for years, months or days- but I'm "all in" - I think they've thought of everything.
Watch Cofounder Brad Wilson talk about how to shift away from talking about technology itself and instead, to talk about writing -an Ignite Talk at the Michigan Reading Assoc.
John Spencer http://www.spencerideas.org/ another cofounder see minute 5:30 on his TEDx Tallk https://youtu.be/F-Wm0glaZ7E
- Kids can join groups within the WriteAbout community- they can post and submit to a group so that kids with the same interests can read and comment - connecting readers and writers with similar interests.
- Students can record audio messages - teachers can leave in-text comments, private comments and audio messages.
- There are 1000s? of visual & audio writing "ideas" - "Write About was built to be a part of the writing process in classrooms, helping students find an audience and teachers give personalized feedback. Social publishing and writing pedagogy are part of the same conversation, and these resources and lessons will help your class make the transition to digital writing!" **See ideas->ideas by genre
- Everything is safe; all can be moderated by the teacher. No student email accounts
- Outsiders can comment safely without being members (all guest comments are moderated by the teacher). Post to the world - a group- or only the class- you decide
- There are options for schools or districts who are looking for a writing and publishing platform - classroom options are not expensive
AND - IF you are participating in The Global Read Aloud - FREE Classroom PLUS membership for the year - built-in GROUPS & audience already there.
https://youtu.be/wecn3wb3zzs short video about Write About
They know the rules: Students under the age of 13? Please ensure you have attained appropriate parental consent to use an online learning tool and for students to publish work online.
*You need permission for ANY site where under 13's are publishing
(Download a sample parent letter and learn more about our privacy policy. View privacy layers for student posts.)
OK - if you made it this far - Wow! This was originally meant as a quick response to a listserve question from Steve Webster in S Burlington - "What are you using for blogging these days?"
Maybe it was because I was looking for the same thing- an authentic writing experience for students- I guess I am going "All In" - nothing to lose- lots of great resources created by educators who inspired me. - FYI - I am a believer in in all things GAFE - I don't think I have ever been a fan of "pay for" platforms- but it is just too hard to create something as big as this and make it free -I THINK this is something worth trying. If you have any thoughts or decide to dive in - I would love to hear about it.
Thanks,
Kari
Monday, May 18, 2015
The World's Best Literature Guide
litcharts.com
How does the Chart Board work?
- Each wedge of the red ring represents a chapter.
- Each row of colored boxes extending from a wedge represents a part of the chapter. The closer to the red ring, the closer to the beginning of the chapter.
- The colors in each row indicate which themes are “active” in that part of the chapter.
The Chart Board is interactive.
- Themes: Hover over or tap any of the themes in the Theme Key to show only that theme. Click a theme in the Themes Key to lock it.
- Summary: Hover over or tap any row of colored boxes to read the summary associated with that row. Click the row to lock the summary.
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
March Madness Books-KETBall Tournament 2015
SCS Middle School Students
March Madness is here, but why should basketball fans have all the fun? At your library, you can help us name a SCS Library Middle School Book Champion for 2015. Through a series of votes, we are narrowing our list of the 32 at SCS to one grand champion.
It's time for MARCH MADNESS BOOKS-KETBALL TOURNAMENT - WIN PRIZES, PRIZES, PRIZES!
March Madness is here, but why should basketball fans have all the fun? At your library, you can help us name a SCS Library Middle School Book Champion for 2015. Through a series of votes, we are narrowing our list of the 32 at SCS to one grand champion.
It's time for MARCH MADNESS BOOKS-KETBALL TOURNAMENT - WIN PRIZES, PRIZES, PRIZES!
Read the directions below - fill out a bracket- before 3/25 when voting starts!! Watch your email to vote online!! or use the iPad voting center in the library.
Questions? Confused? ASK us at the library.
32 well-read titles (including some classic longshots) have trained up to earn their spot in this year's tournament. Some of last year's competitors have returned, some have lost their spot to shiny young upstarts and/or older and steadier favorite reads. Can Katniss hold onto her championship title, or will she fall to Max’s Wild Things? So many "series" books and so little time...Starting as soon as the brackets go on display on today, the books will face off in 16 matches with East and West divisions of some kid’s favorites and popular Literature. Come by the library to fill out a bracket today. Vote for your favorite books online starting Wednesday after you all turn in your brackets. Prizes will be awarded to students with a winning bracket AND all voters have a chance to win.Round 1 votes for the Thunderous 32 will be counted next Wednesday afternoon. Vote now on lots of books you have known and loved, known and despised, or need to know!Let the passionate wuthering of your tell-tale literary hearts begin!
CLICK THIS LINK TO VOTE HERE
Thursday, March 12, 2015
Friday, March 6, 2015
inklewriter - create interactive stories
inkle is looking to bring interactive stories to the classroom, and give teachers free and simple get-stuck-right-in software to use with their students. From within a web-browser, the inklewriter will let students make and play interactive stories with no programming required.
Sunday, January 11, 2015
What Do Teenager's Think of Social Media and Why They Don't Use Facebook.
This is relevant
"I read technology articles quite often and see plenty of authors attempt to dissect or describe the teenage audience, especially in regards to social media. However, I have yet to see a teenager contribute their voice....."
Sunday, November 16, 2014
Presenting YA RETELLINGS – an epic chart brought to you by Epic Reads. Read your way through this list of 162 young adult books that are retellings or re-imaginings of popular classic literature, myths, fariy tales and Shakespearean plays.
http://www.epicreads.com/blog/an-epic-chart-of-162-young-adult-retellings/
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop
Just in case you were wondering....
A Learning Secret: Don’t Take Notes with a Laptop by Cindi May for Scientific Americant
Students who used longhand remembered more and had a deeper understanding of the material
Really interesting study published in Scientific American
We know that.....
-Laptops in the classroom enhance their academic performance. Check
-Laptops do in fact allow students to do more, like engage in online activities and demonstrations, collaborate more easily on papers and projects, access information from the internet, and take more notes.
Check Check Check
Obviously it is advantageous to draft more complete notes that precisely capture the course content and allow for a verbatim review of the material at a later date. Only it isn’t. New research demonstrates that students who write out their notes on paper actually learn more.
When it comes to taking notes, students need fewer gigs, more brain power.
I have a great 2 color pen method -stop by and learn how
Friday, June 6, 2014
Want free YA audiobooks this summer? Sync Week is here!
The SYNC free audiobook project is back, with a pairing of free YA and classic audiobooks. Download each pair during the week they're offered but listen anytime (no annoying DRM or files that expire).
Details about SYNC are here.
This week's downloads:
June 5 – June 11
ALL OUR YESTERDAYS by Cristin Terrill, Narrated by Meredith Mitchell (Tantor Audio)
JULIUS CAESAR by William Shakespeare, Performed by Richard Dreyfuss, JoBeth Williams, Stacy Keach, Kelsey Grammer, and a full cast (L.A. Theatre Works)
ALL OUR YESTERDAYS by Cristin Terrill, Narrated by Meredith Mitchell (Tantor Audio)
JULIUS CAESAR by William Shakespeare, Performed by Richard Dreyfuss, JoBeth Williams, Stacy Keach, Kelsey Grammer, and a full cast (L.A. Theatre Works)
Look for these great titles in the coming weeks:
June 12 – June 18
CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein, Narrated by Morven Christie and Lucy Gaskell (Bolinda Audio)
THE HIDING PLACE by Corrie Ten Boom, John Sherrill, Elizabeth Sherrill, Narrated by Bernadette Dunne (christianaudio)
CODE NAME VERITY by Elizabeth Wein, Narrated by Morven Christie and Lucy Gaskell (Bolinda Audio)
THE HIDING PLACE by Corrie Ten Boom, John Sherrill, Elizabeth Sherrill, Narrated by Bernadette Dunne (christianaudio)
June 19 – June 25
I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU by Ally Carter, Narrated by Renée Raudman (Brilliance Audio)
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery, Narrated by Colleen Winton (Post Hypnotic Press)
I’D TELL YOU I LOVE YOU, BUT THEN I’D HAVE TO KILL YOU by Ally Carter, Narrated by Renée Raudman (Brilliance Audio)
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery, Narrated by Colleen Winton (Post Hypnotic Press)
June 26 – July 2
FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK by Matthew Quick, Narrated by Noah Galvin (Hachette Audio)
OCTOBER MOURNING: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman, Narrated by Emily Beresford, Luke Daniels, Tom Parks, Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd, Christina Traister (Brilliance Audio)
FORGIVE ME, LEONARD PEACOCK by Matthew Quick, Narrated by Noah Galvin (Hachette Audio)
OCTOBER MOURNING: A Song for Matthew Shepard by Lesléa Newman, Narrated by Emily Beresford, Luke Daniels, Tom Parks, Nick Podehl, Kate Rudd, Christina Traister (Brilliance Audio)
July 3 – July 9
TORN FROM TROY by Patrick Bowman, Narrated by Gerard Doyle (Post Hypnotic Press)
TORN FROM TROY by Patrick Bowman, Narrated by Gerard Doyle (Post Hypnotic Press)
PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Narrated by Jim Dale (Brilliance Audio)
You'll also need the free Overdrive Media Console app (details here; Overdrive Media Console interfaces with iTunes if you want to integrate your downloads into your existing iTunes Library).
SYNC is open to anyone over age 13.
SYNC offers 2 FREE audiobooks each week through Aug 20, 2014. Sign up for email or text alerts that invite you to download the new titles as they become available.
Find out more...
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Try Kaizena with Your Google Apps
Kaizena is an audio recording tool syncs with Google Drive to provide teachers
and students the easy ability to record their voice within Google
docs. Teachers and students can also add text comments and resource
links. Teachers report that many students prefer to listen to their
teacher's comments rather than read them. A student audio reflection
can also be added to the learning
process. Perhaps most importantly, this tool has the potential to save time.
Friday, March 21, 2014
The MAGIC of AUGMENTED REALITY-- Create Your Own!
The magic of augmented reality… Create your own!
Some of you have seen the awesome example of AR- “augmented reality” we shared in the library (The Fantastic Flying Books… ) you focus your iPad on a page in the book and it comes alive - the “reality” (page in book) is “augmented” with technology. AR blends real life with virtual reality.
There is a wow factor - but what about the “so what?” Now we - teachers, students can create our own augmented reality experiences! Easy as 1-2-3! I see sooooo many amazing possibilities for learning. It’s hard to imagine it if you have not experienced it. Stop by the library for a tour!
See the IMAG·N·O·TRON in action! from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.
Some of you have seen the awesome example of AR- “augmented reality” we shared in the library (The Fantastic Flying Books… ) you focus your iPad on a page in the book and it comes alive - the “reality” (page in book) is “augmented” with technology. AR blends real life with virtual reality.
There is a wow factor - but what about the “so what?” Now we - teachers, students can create our own augmented reality experiences! Easy as 1-2-3! I see sooooo many amazing possibilities for learning. It’s hard to imagine it if you have not experienced it. Stop by the library for a tour!
See the IMAG·N·O·TRON in action! from Moonbot Studios on Vimeo.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Powerful Questions
Your students can find answers to these questions at the library. http://t.co/uFYTOcgWTW pic.twitter.com/CobNh4S7kN
— Kari Ahern (@kariahern) February 5, 2014Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Sorting Fact from Fiction: The News Literacy Project for Middle School
Excellent teaching points - lessons - short videos to help us learn how to sort fact from fiction on media sources including Twitter - check out the stories about Hurricane Sandy & Boston Bombing - HERE
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE
"The News Literacy Project (NLP) is an innovative national educational program that mobilizes seasoned journalists to work with educators to teach middle school and high school students how to sort fact from fiction in the digital age.
Students learn how to distinguish verified information from raw information, spin, opinion and propaganda — whether they are using search engines to find websites with information about specific topics, checking a friend's Facebook page, viewing a video on YouTube, watching television news or reading a newspaper or blog post.
The project gives students the critical-thinking skills to become smarter and more frequent consumers of credible information across all media and platforms. They are taught to seek news and information that will make them well-informed and engaged students, consumers and citizens."
HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT TO BELIEVE
"The News Literacy Project (NLP) is an innovative national educational program that mobilizes seasoned journalists to work with educators to teach middle school and high school students how to sort fact from fiction in the digital age.
Students learn how to distinguish verified information from raw information, spin, opinion and propaganda — whether they are using search engines to find websites with information about specific topics, checking a friend's Facebook page, viewing a video on YouTube, watching television news or reading a newspaper or blog post.
The project gives students the critical-thinking skills to become smarter and more frequent consumers of credible information across all media and platforms. They are taught to seek news and information that will make them well-informed and engaged students, consumers and citizens."
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Historypin
Watch the introduction:
Historypin is a way for millions of people to come together, from across different generations, cultures and places, to share small glimpses of the past and to build up the huge story of human history.
Everyone has history to share: whether its sitting in yellowed albums in the attic, collected in piles of crackly tapes, conserved in the 1000s of archives all over the world or passed down in memories and old stories.
Each of these pieces of history finds a home on Historypin, where everyone has the chance to see it, add to it, learn from it, debate it and use it to build up a more complete understanding of the world.
Friday, December 20, 2013
Monday, December 2, 2013
Freedom FLIX Bringing History to Life
Check out the Freedom FLIX trial at the SCS Library homepage.
For grades 4-8!
"FreedomFlix transforms content from the highly successful Cornerstones of Freedom series into enhanced eBooks. All the eBooks are supported with a deep and diverse reservoir of related content and primary sources featuring videos, audio, images, and text. FreedomFlix helps students hone literacy skills, build knowledge of important historical topics, and cultivate 21st Century Skills through the inquiry process. And FreedomFlix aligns to the Common Core Standards by featuring multiple text types and a cross-curricular, nonfiction focus."
For grades 4-8!
"FreedomFlix transforms content from the highly successful Cornerstones of Freedom series into enhanced eBooks. All the eBooks are supported with a deep and diverse reservoir of related content and primary sources featuring videos, audio, images, and text. FreedomFlix helps students hone literacy skills, build knowledge of important historical topics, and cultivate 21st Century Skills through the inquiry process. And FreedomFlix aligns to the Common Core Standards by featuring multiple text types and a cross-curricular, nonfiction focus."
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
PebbleGo & Multimodal Literacy
Check out PebbleGo - Find the link to the trial on the SCS Library homepage
Friday, November 8, 2013
Figurative Language Lessons and Activities
Figurative Language lessons from Vocabulary Spelling City
Reinforce your students' understanding of figurative language with VocabularySpellingCity's figurative language lessons, interactive games, printable worksheets, and powerpoint presentations. Learning figurative language gives students at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels the ability to transform their pencils into paintbrushes, as they paint a picture with their words. VocabularySpellingCity can give your students this gift by providing figurative language lessons and exercises that will establish an understanding of the main types of figurative language.
Reinforce your students' understanding of figurative language with VocabularySpellingCity's figurative language lessons, interactive games, printable worksheets, and powerpoint presentations. Learning figurative language gives students at the elementary school, middle school, and high school levels the ability to transform their pencils into paintbrushes, as they paint a picture with their words. VocabularySpellingCity can give your students this gift by providing figurative language lessons and exercises that will establish an understanding of the main types of figurative language.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Book Creator Now has handwriting and free-hand drawing feature + Easy Sharing
The new update to Book Creator is the addition of support for handwriting and free-hand drawing in your books!!!!!
And Sharing:
And Sharing:
The latest updates to Book Creator allows you to export your books to ePub 3.0 format. The exported file can be opened and read in the Chrome web browser using the free Readium browser extension. This is a great option as it allows a parent who doesn’t have an iPad at home to view his or her child’s work at home.
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Using Google Drive with Students
This is a good post from PLP
Several Ways to Share Content...
Shared Class Folders ....
Naming Folders and Docs
Don’t Let Google Drive Leave Tire Marks on Your Lesson Plans
Several Ways to Share Content...
Shared Class Folders ....
Naming Folders and Docs
Don’t Let Google Drive Leave Tire Marks on Your Lesson Plans
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Monday, October 7, 2013
100 Great Children's Books 100 Years
How Many Do you Know?
"These 100 fantastic tales have withstood the test of time at
The New York Public Library or are on their way to becoming new classics.
How many do you know? Check them out—and check them off!"
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Friday, September 20, 2013
Everything You've Been Told About How You Learn Is a LIE
Everything You've Been Told About How You Learn- NOT what you think - surprising new science.
... the way students learn, always couched in such a way as to indicate these were scientifically accepted facts. You know everyone learns differently. Do you think you learn better through words or pictures? Did you know you learn different subjects with different sides of the brain?"Click here to read more via popsci.com
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Skyping Authors in the Classroom
A few years ago Joey Adams connected with a classroom outside Atlanta, GA via Skype. The classes shared book discussions over several months. Joey brought his students to the Cwing lab, attached a webcam to the top of the big screen, had his students arrange chairs in front, and then he popped up a YouTube video of a plane landing before switching to Skype and connecting with the other class. The kids loved it.
You don't have to be that elaborate, but Skyping with another class or (even better) an author is motivational and rewarding for students. Here's a link to an article appearing in the Sept./Oct. issue of ISTE's Learning & Leading magazine. This article tells how to find authors and how to connect with them. There are plenty of resources and how-to's to get started. For technical set-up at school, if you want some help, we can provide assistance. We have microphones to borrow that work better in larger groups, and we can help you set up a Skype account and use if, if you haven't done so. Let us know how we can help with the places you'll go.
You don't have to be that elaborate, but Skyping with another class or (even better) an author is motivational and rewarding for students. Here's a link to an article appearing in the Sept./Oct. issue of ISTE's Learning & Leading magazine. This article tells how to find authors and how to connect with them. There are plenty of resources and how-to's to get started. For technical set-up at school, if you want some help, we can provide assistance. We have microphones to borrow that work better in larger groups, and we can help you set up a Skype account and use if, if you haven't done so. Let us know how we can help with the places you'll go.
Monday, September 16, 2013
SpellingCity for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch on the iTunes App Store
VocabularySpellingCity is a fun way to learn spelling and vocabulary words by playing engaging learning games using any word list. The most popular activities are Spelling TestMe, HangMouse, and our vocabulary games, available to Premium Members. The most popular word lists are Sound Alikes, Compound Words, Hunger Games and SAT Words. This is a free app!
SpellingCity for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch on the iTunes App Store
Thursday, September 12, 2013
If great authors of the past posted to Instagram
If great authors of the past posted to Instagram (and other great authors commented)
Click above to see more from 22 Words
What if some of history’s famous writers had posted their pics online with captions and hashtags so that other famous writers from history could then occasionally come along and respond in the comments…
Ernest Hemingway (with F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Retronaut WOW! See the Past Like You Wouldn't Believe
Explore Eras, Categories and Clusters!
The past is a foreign country. This is your passport.
What others are saying about Retronaut:
“Riotous and marvellous delights”
- AnOther
- AnOther
“Forget Dr Who; Chris Wild is a real Time Lord”
- BBC
- BBC
“Time-travel may be all in your head”
- CNN
- CNN
“Best of the web”
- Daily Mail
- Daily Mail
“The very best of the internet”
- Good Web Guide
- Good Web Guide
“Enlightenment and wonder”
- Guardian
- Guardian
“Amazing”
- In Style Magazine
- In Style Magazine
“Web time-lords”
- Town Magazine
- Town Magazine
“The hidden power of your internet browser – time-travel”
- Times
- Times
Google Drive: A Better Method for Giving Students Feedback
Using Google Drive for Student Feedback
Last year Google Docs was upgraded to become Google Drive. Like its predecessor, Google Drive allows you to create and share documents with ease. The enhanced Google Drive format has given the program some wonderful additional features that I encourage you to explore. However, right now I want to highlight how useful Google Drive is in providing feedback for students. (If you are not familiar with Google Drive, here is a brief video highlighting the concept.)
Google Drive: A Better Method for Giving Students Feedback
Last year Google Docs was upgraded to become Google Drive. Like its predecessor, Google Drive allows you to create and share documents with ease. The enhanced Google Drive format has given the program some wonderful additional features that I encourage you to explore. However, right now I want to highlight how useful Google Drive is in providing feedback for students. (If you are not familiar with Google Drive, here is a brief video highlighting the concept.)
Google Drive is entirely free and works within any browser, although to enjoy all of its features, you do need to use Google’s Chrome Browser. Chrome is also free and will allow you to integrate content and material across devices and platforms. It’s certainly worth adding to your software toolkit.
Using Google Drive with student writers
With Google Drive students can create a variety of content, but here we are going to focus on word processing documents.............READ MORE
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