One For The Boys

A great recommendation from a librarian friend today led me to a fabulous website created by the always wonderful Jon Scieska. GUYSREAD.com is set up with titles that appeal to the younger, middle and older boys. It includes links to authors and also has GUYSREAD posters and bookmarks available for downloading. What a great resource for parents and teachers alike as a springboard of recommendations and ways to get more boys in the library!

FBA-Todd Parr

This author/illustrator is one of my favorites! Being home in the US for the summer, I have a basket of books that I read with my six-year old niece. Without fail, the ones she chooses to read over and over (and over!) again are my Todd Parr books, and a recommendation from a first grader is considered an expert opinion in my book. His books are beautiful in their simplicity and whimsical nature with a message gently tucked inside. In my search for an image of Todd Parr's books, I came across his website . This discovery is one of my favorite things about technology--you start by looking for one thing and wind up going down paths along the way that lead you to fantastic new information. I had no idea that he had a TV show and is also a designer! My library will be stocked with all his books, including a new book coming out in the fall about adopted children called We Belong Together.

Global Learning

While perusing other edublogs today, I landed on one called The Connected Classroom, created by Kristin Hokanson, and one of the postings had a list of global resource sites. Being that global living is my gig, I checked some of them out. My favorite was one called KATW, or Kids Around the World. Put out by the Peace Corps, it has interviews and photos from children around the world doing everyday things. In trying to find ways to integrate with classroom teachers next year as our school launches flexible scheduling, this is a great lesson that I am tucking away for the fall. What a great way to shake up the traditional "come to the library, check out a book on a country and study the people of that country" lesson. Most of the interviews can be either read online or listened to, which enables younger students to obtain the information as well. Lesson plan ideas are included, as well as a Returned Peace Corps Volunteers section that allows you to contact returned volunteers in your area to bring in as guest speakers. Check out The Connected Classroom for more globetrotting ideas.

Canadian Authors

Canada has so much to offer in the way of literature and music, and all too often we Americans don't know what we are missing from our lovely neighbor (or neighbour to the Canadians) to the North. My good friend Pierre sent me the link to the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) radio where there is plenty to peruse in regards to Canadian and international literature. Between the Covers highlights Canadian contemporary fiction, and, although it is no longer broadcasting new readings, there are plenty of archived readings to enjoy. Worth checking out!

Teacher/Librarian FBA- Fabulous Book Alert

Build Your Own Information Literate School. Carol Koechlin and Sandi Zwaan; Hi Willow Research and Publishing: Utah, 2004.

I love this book and can't wait to use it as a librarian when I start in the fall! I love it because it has all the elements of a teacher reference book that continually comes off the shelf and is dog-eared like mad--it's interesting, accessible and manageable. There are practical and relevant lesson ideas of how to integrate the library into the classroom curriculum. And, as I move into the library arena, I am noticing through conversations I've had with either beginning librarians or veterans that there are many questions of how to actually get started working with various grade level teams and how to get a handle on flex scheduling and integrated teaching. The desire is there, but often the first step of breaking into a different way of teaching is not yet formed. Koechlin and Zwaan's book makes that transition even easier with their information literacy lessons. Each lesson has the benchmark, or infoskill, provided in the top left corner as well as the introduction to the lesson, weblinks to further information and the lesson itself presented at three different levels: novice, apprentice and infostar, depending on the grade level.

A new book is also out by these two authors called Info Tasks for Successful Learning: Building Skills in Reading, Writing and Research. The review states that it has 50 mini-lessons on information literacy and is a great companion to the first book.

Facebook

I admit I was hesitant when a friend suggested I try out Facebook , a social networking site that is all the rage. Not sure why really, but I guess it seemed like something for the younger folks to use. However, she was persistent and convinced me to set up an account, and I love it. Being an overseas teacher and a member of a very transient population, Facebook has helped me reconnect with old friends and former students from around the globe. International students are a different breed in that they don't have the reunions that typical highschoolers in the United States have--they lead a peripatetic lifestyle and lose touch all too often. I love hearing from a former fourth grade student who is now in her last year at university and seeing a folder in one former students' account of our school in Ecuador and the many students with whom she is still in contact. You will also be surprised at how many "grownups" are on Facebook as well. I've only begun to tap the tip of the iceberg with its capabilities and hope to dive in deeper.

Adding A Clustr Map to Your Blog

Being a traveler and a collector of maps, I love the idea of adding a ClustrMap to a blog. This allows you to see the various locations of the people around the world who visit your website. I wanted one for a while and then sat down one day to figure out how to do it, and it's not too difficult. It take a few days for it to get up and running, but you will see red dots in the locations. Here are the instructions:

1. Go to www.clustrmaps.com
2. Click on the icon on the top that says GET ONE!
3. Type in your blog address and the email address you want the password sent to
4. That's it for part one. Just wait for the password to come to your email account.
5. Now take the password (copying and pasting it works best) and go back to the clustrmaps page.
6. Add in your blog address and the password where it tells you to
7. Now you will see an HTML code (this is the computer's way of telling it to put the Clustrmap onto your page)
8. Copy this code and then go to your blog
9. In the LAYOUT section, there is a part that says HTML/Java Script. This is where you will paste the HTML code.
10. Save changes once you have pasted onto this part.
11. Check out your blog now. You should have a small map that says (updates soon).