Book post: A Death on the Wolf

Book cover from G.M. Frazier

Frazier, G.M. (2011). A death on the wolf. [Kindle version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

The book starts with this: "The summer I turned sixteen I shot a man. It was 1969. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Hurricane Camille destroyed our farm. And I shot a man."

What a way to set the scene! Nelson, the narrator, tells the story of how that one summer changes his life. He lives in a small town in Mississippi. He works at a gas stations, helps out on the family farm, and helps take care of his little sister. Nelson's relationship with his best friend Frankie has started to change, and Nelson doesn't know why. He meets Mary Alice, who moves in next door with his aunt Charity for the summer. He dreams of the car he is saving up to buy on his birthday. Things in his life and in town are changing all at once, and Nelson deals with all these changes as they come. He is a strong character who learns about life and about himself in how he deals with each situation. 

Book post: The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Book cover from Kate DiCamillo

DiCamillo, K. (2006). The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. New York, NY: Candlewick Press. 

Edward is a rabbit doll who thinks very highly of himself. His owner, a little girl named Abilene, treats him like a part of the family or a distinguished guest, and he becomes accustomed to being valued. Abilene's grandmother bought him for her, but she disapproves of Edward's attitude. When Edward is lost and must depend on the kindness of strangers, he starts to see life and relationships a bit differently. This is a heartwarming tale, great for any kids who have ever loved a toy or want to know what love is all about.

If you love this book, check out edwardtulane.com!

Book post: Cinder

Book cover from Marissa Meyer

Meyer, M. (2012). Cinder. New York, NY: Feiwel and Friends.

Cinder is a cyborg mechanic in New Beijing. This may not sound like a Cinderella story, but it is loosely based on the old tale. I found myself comparing as I read, which was so much fun. However, Cinder is much more action-packed than you've seen this story before. Because of her reputation as the best mechanic in the city, Prince Kai brings his broken droid to Cinder to fix. She finds out secrets that she probably shouldn't know, and has to save Prince Kai (and the Earth) from imminent danger. She also discovers missing pieces from her past and has to decide what to do about her new identity. As a cyborg, she has never really fit in, but now she knows why she never can. This is a great story to read if you love alternate versions of fairy tales, science fiction, and strong but vulnerable protagonists. 

Reflection: Technology I've Learned This Summer

I consider myself to be fairly tech-savvy. I try to keep up with the technologies available to me at my school, and I use technology often in the classroom. My students submit their essays, and I comment on them, through Google Drive. I have students create presentations on the computer and do research through our school databases. Some techie assignments we have done in the classroom include creating podcasts and collaborative websites. Other teachers have come to me for advice on how to do things on their computers. However, I have learned so many online tools this summer that I feel like I knew so little before. I feel proud of what I have accomplished and how many tools I have tested this summer, and I know I will go back to school more confident in my tech skills, and equipped with many new project ideas. I now know of many more ways to share information online and to get my students doing the same. That's a great feeling to have as the end of summer approaches rapidly. I'm in the position right now that I am preparing for my long-term sub to start the school year for me, but I feel good about my abilities to communicate online and keep updated with everything I will need to do. 

Blog to Follow: Free Technology for Teachers

I've been following Free Technology for Teachers (both the blog and on Facebook) starting this summer, and I am amazed at how much its creator, Richard Byrne, knows about technology. He has such wonderful insights into how to use technology in schools, and gives tips and ideas from his own experience. How does he do it? Some times he posts multiple times per day! I have learned many things from his blog and have been inspired to do new things in my own classroom. He has given tips on how to apply (in new ways) some sites and applications I already use as well. I enjoy reading his posts and his thoughts on new tools, and I will definitely continue to follow his blog for the wealth of new ideas he shares.

Syllabus made with Piktochart

I just made my syllabus for this year's English 8 class using Piktochart! I'm pretty excited about it. I don't know yet how it will do as a printed version, but it looks great on my class website and I wanted to share it here too.

AASL Best Websites Spotlight: Canva

My website spotlight for today from the AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning 2014 list is Canva. Canva is a design tool for a variety of media. You can design your own posters, flyers, cards, invitations, ads, or digital designs for social media like Twitter and Facebook banners. Canva is free to join, and has many free images, but also has many images that are one dollar each, so you can spend more to get higher quality images. However, I think uploading images is the way to go. While making some designs in Canva, I could easily upload my own pictures to include. There are many background layouts available for the different types of designs, as well as patterned backgrounds and interesting text boxes. It has tutorials and a design challenge when you sign up to help you figure things out, but it is so easy to use that these are really just for fun. I think this website would be great for making flyers for different school events or clubs. There is one design choice for Kindle book covers, so it would be a great tool for making alternate book covers for display in a classroom or library.

Here's the simple Twitter header I made for my Twitter page:

AASL Best Websites Spotlight: Recite This

My website spotlight for today from the AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning 2014 is Recite This. It is a very simple tool for creating a nice display for quotes. All you do is type in the quote, then choose a template, and it creates the page for you. The image of the page can be downloaded, shared on social media, or emailed. It is that easy, and free. I already created a couple for displaying in my classroom. I think this could also be used in a variety of ways in the classroom. Students could write a one sentence description or summary of a concept or reading for quick assessment, which can then be displayed in the classroom. Students could keep their page in their notebook for quick review as well. Another idea would be asking students to find a quote related to a theme, or choose a favorite quote from a book they have read. These would be great for student-created bulletin boards. 

Here's one of the quotes about writing (from Stephen King) I made for my classroom:

AASL Best Websites Spotlight: Kaizena

I'll be sharing some of my favorite finds from the AASL Best Websites for Teaching and Learning 2014. Today's spotlight is on Kaizena. Kaizena is a way to give feedback on documents. What I love about it is that I can sign in automatically through a Google account. My school has Google accounts for all our school accounts, and I already have students turn in essays through Google Drive. I always make comments on their drafts, so Kaizena will be a great addition to what I'm already doing. Google Drive only allows for text comments, but Kaizena also has options for voice comments and links as well. I am going to try it out for the link comments. If a student has a grammatical or mechanical error that is prevalent throughout their work, I can add a comment with a link to an explanation of the error and how to fix it. With link comments, adding a link to a comment once will save it for future use; every time that comment is made, the same link will automatically be linked to it again. This will be extremely useful as an English teacher, because I often find myself making the same comments time and time again. Kaizena will be a time saver on giving feedback to student papers, and then students can individually check out the link to some sort of tutorial or minilesson on what they need to know to correct their own papers. I don't know how many times I have to explain commas splices and run on sentences each year, so hopefully Kaizena will save me some of the repetition.

Conference Presentation

Below is a sample presentation created for VAASL, where I will be presenting at the Fall Conference. This is not the actual presentation, but a practice run for how I will present. You can see my HaikuDeck slides below, and if you click on the link below the slides, you can also read my sample script with estimated time for each slide. Let me know what you think. Am I almost conference ready?

Conference Proposal - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality has so many possibilities! I have loved playing around with this technology, and thinking about what it could mean for school use.  I didn't know that this type of technology was available for cell phones. I had only thought of it as being more advanced devices like Google Glass. Augmented Reality is taking an image and overlaying it with a video so that your video comes to life on the image you have scanned. Matt Mills' TED Talk explains and demonstrates it wonderfully. Aurasma is an awesome site for creating these video overlays, or "Auras," that can be simply scanned and viewed after others subscribe to your channel.

I am definitely going to be creating some book talks and share them this way. Then students can scan some books in my classroom library and see my book talk about it. I am also going to have students do book talks this way, so that students in other classes can see them too. I really wish our school had devices for students to check out to use this technology. This will have to be a technology day activity, where we have a BYOD day to work on it. Students who are technologically advanced could probably do this at home as a book project to share with their classmates. If we had devices in our library that had this capability, we could have book trailers linked to books in the library (student-created, of course!). It could become such a great tool in the school. 

I also love the idea of having Augmented Bulletin Boards, as mentioned on the Kleinspiration blog. When we have our Talent Showcase at school this year, I am definitely going to incorporate this into our displays! Students can explain their work without having to be hovering over what they have made; they can record a presentation to share. I could do these with my own phone or students could record with our school Flip Video cameras and I could add the Aura through my Aurasma account later.

Displayed here is a QR code to easily subscribe to my Aurasma channel (you must have the Aurasma app to do so).  For those of you in my LIBS 602 class, I overlayed my PowToon video from last week onto our book, Presentation Zen Design, if you want to check out my first created Aura. I also added the video to an image of the rug in my school's library, which has a reading emblem and "GSMS Library" on it. I haven't had the chance to test that one yet, but will try it when I go to the school. I'm excited about this technology and exploring its use at my school.

QR Codes

Harper Lee Quote shared using QR Voice

I have thought about using QR codes in the classroom for a while, but have never organized all of the thoughts and ideas into an actual activity. I think that will change this year. The ideas abound for what can be done with these simple codes. They can be used to simply share contact information, and I am going to do this for back-to-school night so that parents and students can save the school phone number and my email address on their phones automatically. I already saved this code to my website, and will print it out to put outside my classroom door as well. I will probably also do one with the link to my website, just to make saving it a little easier.  One challenge with using these is that my school doesn't allow students to have their phones during class, but exceptions can be made for a great educational opportunity. I want to develop such an activity for my students this year, so that they can explore content in a new way. I love all the ideas in Connect Learning Today's article "Exploring the Educational Potential of QR Codes."

One way that I think would be fun for using QR codes in the library is to share event information, such as book fairs, with a link. Another fun idea, which I read about on the blog The Adventures of Library Girl, is to do a "book+resource mash-up" by adding a QR code to a book that links to some online resource that explores or adds to the knowledge shared in the book. I think this is an excellent way to get students to extend their learning beyond the pages of the book. Library Girl had teachers collaborate with her on this project, and also stated that she had many teacher and student recommendations for "mash-ups" after the project was underway and on the shelves. This is an idea that would just keep growing. 

Book post: One Crazy Summer

Book cover from HarperCollins

Williams-Garcia, R. (2010). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad.

*2011 Newbery Honor*

*2011 Coretta Scott King Author Award*

Delphine is only eleven years old, but must always take responsibility for her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern. Her father decides that they will be going across the country, from Brooklyn, NY to Oakland, CA, to visit their mother, who left them six years earlier. The girls are swept up into a crazy summer. They try to get to know their mother but she wants nothing to do with them. They spend their days at a Black Panther-run day camp, and Delphine is not sure if they should be there. This book is a great look at a specific view of the civil rights movement, and a touching story of girls who need a mother but have a mother who doesn't know how to be one. It puts an interesting perspective on this time in American history, and could be used as a comparison with other novels set during the civil rights movement, particularly those set in other areas of the country, such as the south.

Book post: Hitler Youth

Book cover from Scholastic

Bartoletti, S.C. (2005). Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s shadow. New York, NY: Scholastic.

*2006 Newbery Honor*

*2006 Sibert Honor*

*2006 Orbis Pictus Honor*

World War II changed the world in so many ways, but none were so greatly affected as the young people of Germany. They were literally brainwashed, being taught only Nazi propaganda in schools and indoctrinated into believing that Hitler was their country's savior. Many children of Germany voluntarily joined the Hitler Youth, and others were forced to join when it became law. I love to learn about this period of history because it changed the world so profoundly, and I learned a lot from this book, especially about how the Hitler Youth was founded and about some of the key individuals. It gives  details about several interesting young people, following their lives from the beginning of the Hitler Youth to the end of the war (and some of them beyond the war). This is a wonderful history text about a very specific topic in World War II history; it is a great resource for research into what life was like in Germany during this time.

Book post: Out of the Dust

Book cover from Scholastic

Hesse, K. (1997). Out of the dust. New York, NY: Scholastic.

*Winner of the 1998 Newbery Medal*

Billie Jo is a young girl growing up in the Dust Bowl when she experiences a great loss. Her mother and baby brother die because of a household accident, and Billie Jo and her father both feel a responsibility for what happened. They have to learn to live with their pain and with each other in the aftermath. Written as a series of poems in free verse instead of traditional chapters, the format adds to creating Billie Jo's first person voice. This is a great text for studying elements of poetry and it would be fun to emulate the style in writing autobiographical narrative poems. It can also be used as an introduction to life in the Dust Bowl and the challenges that people endured during that time in American history.

Book post: Team Moon

Book cover from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Thimmesh, C. (2006). Team moon: How 400,000 people landed Apollo 11 on the moon. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Co.

*2007 Sibert Medal*

*2007 Orbis Pictus Honor*

The space race was an exciting time in American history. Many people were involved in getting men into space, landing them on the moon, and returning them safely to Earth. This book outlines some of the challenges they faced, showing amazing pictures of the entire process. It is a great history lesson, but also a lesson in engineering as it details how they designed and made the suits, how they calculated the amount of fuel needed, and how they engineered the landing chutes for re-entry. The book is laid out nicely with actual photos from the mission set on black pages with white type, making the reader a part of the journey into outer space as well.

Video Creation Sites and My First PowToon Video

Here is my first attempt at a PowToon video. It wasn't too difficult to make; it just takes a while to get used to the controls and putting things in the right place on the slide (you have to pay attention to the time bar at the bottom for everything). This site is fun because it has little cartoon people that have different expressions and body language, and some are animated. It has several options for adding text and images, which is useful. They have templates you can start with, but I thought it was harder editing their templates than starting from scratch, so I used a blank one to start my video. It also has music to choose from for some ambience. The hardest thing was really deciding on the content I wanted to include, and then getting my video into a share-able format when I finished. PowToon gave me an embed code, but it didn't work, so I exported it to YouTube instead, and used their embed code to share it here. There isn't a download option, so you can only save your videos online. This video format is awesome for expressing ideas about different topics because of the many expressions the cartoon people can have. I can see students using this for making stories or sharing their own tips like the ones I did in my video.

Another video site I looked at was Animoto. I have seen people use Animoto before, and I know that it is great for making videos. I tried a few different templates and options before deciding on sharing my PowToon instead. You can upload pictures or videos into a slide show type of format, but it has so many templates and designs that it is much better looking than a simple slide show. Plus, you can add background music and text easily. These can be very beautifully made! I think this is a good alternative to regular slide shows, because maybe it would get students in the habit of narrating, not reading, their presentations. This would be a great site for creating book trailers!

I was also intrigued by PixiClip, which has a whiteboard look to it. I played around with it for a while, and it is very easy to add text and pictures, including a doodling option in which you just use your mouse to draw a picture. It reminded me of the app DrawSomething, because when you play it back, you see how the person drew it. You can add narration, pictures, and videos to this one as well. This would be fun to use for teaching someone a step-by-step process because it just follows exactly what you do in the order you add it to the screen. I plan to use all three of these sites again.

Book post: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Book cover from Simon & Schuster

Konigsburg, E.L. (1967). From the mixed-up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. New York, NY: Aladdin Paperbacks.

*Winner of the 1968 Newbery Medal*

Claudia wants to be "different," and she thinks running away from home (temporarily) is the answer. She needs to experience something important, but doesn't want to inconvenience herself too much. The planning and scheming is her favorite part, and she enlists help from her brother Jamie to run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I can't believe I had never read this book before, because it is so wonderful. Claudia and Jamie are so entertaining, and they encounter a mystery during their time living in the museum. This is a great book for talking about art, because it mentions many famous types of artwork as the resourceful brother and sister duo explore the museum. Readers can't help but be intrigued by the art of the Italian Renaissance, and especially Michelangelo, after reading this story.

Book post: Citizen Scientists

Book cover from Macmillan

Burns, L.G. (2012). Citizen scientists: Be a part of scientific discovery from your own backyard. New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company.

*Winner of a 2013 Orbis Pictus honor*

Citizen Scientists is a fantastic way to learn to be a scientist and learn about nature. It chooses a different population focus for each season: frogs, birds, monarch butterflies, and ladybugs. All of them tell about a national or international projects that anyone can join. Ladybugs are the focus for summer, and the Lost Ladybug Project has a website to upload photos, which has identified rare species all around the country. Getting involved in these types of projects are awesome ways for elementary and middle school kids to foster a love of nature and science. 

Book post: The Higher Power of Lucky

Book cover from Simon & Schuster

Patron, S. (2006). The higher power of Lucky. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

*Winner of the 2007 Newbery Medal*

Lucky is trying to find her "Higher Power." She helps clean up at Hard Pan's Found Object Wind Chime Museum and Visitor Center, which serves as the meeting place for all sorts of twelve-step meetings, and she loves to eavesdrop on the stories of how people found their higher power. She lives with her father's ex-wife Brigitte since her mother died, and she is constantly worried that Brigitte will realize how much easier her life would be without Lucky. Therefore, she sets out on her own with her trusty survival kit. It would be fun to watch videos of desert dust storms and learn more about the desert ecosystem to get an idea of what the conditions are like when Lucky runs away. This story has a great message of love, family, and friendship, which makes it empowering for everyone, including those from broken homes. 

Book post: The Forbidden Schoolhouse

Book cover from Houghton Mifflin

Jurmain, S. (2005). The forbidden schoolhouse: The true and dramatic story of Prudence Crandall and her students. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.

*Winner of a 2006 Orbis Pictus award*

This biography of Prudence Crandall focuses on her venture to operate a school for young African-American girls in the early 19th century. Her school was run out of her home in Canterbury, Connecticut, and many residents of the town were not happy about it. They antagonized the students and tried to put Crandall in prison, enacting a law that banned black students from going to school in Connecticut. Crandall is now considered a hero when it comes to equal rights and education, but she had a rough time fighting for her cause. This is an excellent book for learning about the early struggle for equal rights for African-Americans, as it also gives background about what was happening in other areas of the country in regard to abolitionism. 

Library Website Attempt

Here is my first attempt at creating a library website. I decided to continue working with Weebly, a free website creation site, to make it. Weebly has tons of templates to choose from, and is easy to use to embed content and add text and links. It is user friendly on the creation and the navigation sides of using the website. I have only worked on the home page so far, but I think my ideas are starting to come together to make something coherent. Please let me know what you think!

Mrs. Williams' Library Site

Book post: The Perks of Being a Wallflower

Book cover from Simon & Schuster

Chbosky, S. (1999). The perks of being a wallflower. New York, NY: Gallery Books.

Charlie is a wallflower. He sits on the sidelines observing life, but is trying hard to participate. He is starting high school having just lost his best friend to suicide, and when he starts making new friends again, they are a group of seniors who teach him a lot about life. Charlie is immersed into a world of music, books, drugs, alcohol, and sexuality. He doesn't know where he fits or what he's ready for yet, but tries to be a good friend and to be himself. Dealing with depression the entire year, Charlie is still optimistic about life as he makes observations about everything happening around him. Written as an epistolary novel, Charlie writes letters to an unnamed "friend." This would be a good exercise for all high school students; when you feel like there is no one to talk to who would truly understand, write anonymously to someone to tell them the types of issues you are dealing with. I love Charlie because he is a very dynamic character, who changes because of his experiences, the books he reads, the music he listens to, his reflections of his past, and his dreams for the future.

Book post: The House in the Night.

Book cover from Houghton Mifflin

Swanson, S.M. and Krommes, B. (2008). The house in the night. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin.

*Winner of the 2009 Caldecott Medal*

The scratchboard illustrations in this book are detailed but in simple shapes to give the pictures a dreamy look. The art is beautiful with its black background and illuminations of gold on random objects. The gold focuses on items that should stand out and be familiar to small children as they observe the house getting ready for the night. I personally didn't find the story very engaging, but I can see this as a calming type of bedtime story. It would be a good art study for learning emphasis, one of the principles of design, since the illustrator does a great job of emphasizing with the gold watercolor details.

Library Website Update

I have been toying with different tools for creating my library website, and have actually started two, just to get an idea of what I want to do: a Weebly and a Google Site. I have been playing around with the settings on both, adding content, and trying to figure out the controls.  The Weebly one is a bit more user friendly, but not quite as customizable when it comes to fonts and colors. I didn't like being forced into a template with it. However, Google makes some of its organization and embedding a bit more difficult than Weebly does. I think I am leading toward Weebly right now, but will keep exploring for now before I decide which to publish and share. Does anyone already using one of these have any tips for me?

Book post: Bomb

Book cover from Macmillan

Sheinkin, S. (2012). Bomb: The race to build—and steal—the world’s most dangerous weapon. New York, NY: Roaring Brook Press.

*Winner of the 2013 Sibert Medal*

Bomb is a nonfiction book all about the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II. It follows the stories of Americans, Brits, Soviets, Norwegians, and Germans, focusing on how the discoveries were made and how spies found out the Americans' secrets. I love that it makes the entire ordeal seem personal by telling the stories of specific people involved, like Robert Oppenheimer and Harry Gold, for example. This is a great book for learning about World War II history, so it would make a great history text, but it also teaches some science (physics and chemistry). I think this could be an excellent text for a collaborative project for world/American history and chemistry/physics.

Book post: Wonderstruck

Book cover from Scholastic

Selznick, B. (2011). Wonderstruck. New York, NY: Scholastic Press. 

*Winner of a 2012 Schneider Family Book Award*

Ben has lost his mother and has lost his hearing when he goes on a journey to find out who his father is. Rose is deaf and dreaming of life in New York City. This book melds pictures and text to make an extremely engaging story. It follows a similar format as his bestseller The Invention of Hugo Cabret. A difference in this one is that the text is a story of its own (Ben's) and the pictures are another (Rose's). The stories run parallel to one another and then merge as the book progresses. A fun activity to do with this book would be to start "curating" a story of your life to share, as a memory box or even in digital form with photographs. Ben collects things that are important to him, and realizes he is like a museum curator, putting together the story of his life, and that this quality is central to who he is. I love Ben's journey of discovery and how the stories fit perfectly together by the end. 

Book post: Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

Book cover from HarperCollins

Dean, J. and Litwin, E. (2012). Pete the Cat and his four groovy buttons. New York, NY: Harper.

*Winner of a 2013 Geisel Honor*

Pete the Cat is stoic as always in this story, in which Pete starts losing his buttons but just keeps singing. He teaches that we have to take what life throws at us, and keep a positive attitude through it all: a great message for kids and adults alike. This is a great book for early readers because of its repetition. One of the librarian aides at my local public library says the Pete the Cat books are like the new Dr. Seuss, and I am inclined to agree with her when it comes to books that are great for new readers. The book also teaches basic subtraction; when the first button pops off, it asks how many are left and answers "4-1=3" on the next page. One of the great features that is not to be missed is the free song included. There is a web address included on the book to go to HarperCollins Children's to watch Pete's song about his four groovy buttons and other videos featuring Pete.

Book post: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

Book cover from Simon & Schuster

Saenz, B.A. (2012). Aristotle and Dante discover the secrets of the universe. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

*Winner of 2013 Pura Belpre Award*
*Winner of 2013 Printz Honor*

Ari is a Mexican-American teen who is trying to figure out who he is as he deals with family secrets. He is a loner, and likes it that way, until he meets Dante at the local pool one summer and they become fast friends. Dante is more confident, and tries to bring out that side in Ari as well. They are always laughing together, and grow very close. When Dante reveals to Ari that he is gay, Ari is surprised but remains loyal to and protective of Dante because he realizes that Dante is one of the most important people in his life. This book has strong characters who feel very real. I love Dante's passion for life, and Ari's struggle to find himself. Dante wants to be an artist, and he mentions some favorite paintings that he loves. He writes in a letter to Ari, "See the thing about artists is that they tell stories. I mean, some paintings are like novels." It would be fun to take this concept and find an interesting painting to write a story about, focusing on creating a common theme.

Creating a Library Website

In looking at some Free Tools for Creating Websites, I was considering what would be the best platform for me to create my sample library website. There are many great options to consider, but I think I will be going with a Google Site because my school system already uses Google mail and apps, so this would be the best to seamlessly integrate into many of the tools we are already using. However, I also know that my school system doesn't use Google Sites for their webpages. Maybe my site can persuade some librarians or teachers to change their minds about their hosting site! 

I found these library webpages that I am going to use as examples when I start working on mine:

• Brookline High School Library: This one is a Weebly, and I love the look of it. It is so clean, and I like their scrolling pictures (including their mission statement!) and their embedded content. It is easy to navigate and has a lot of good ideas that I want to use, such as the slideshow of teachers' reading choices and the Padlet collaborative question.
• La Salle Prep Library: They use a Google Site, so it is probably more representative of what I will be working with. I love the side navigation and how it links to classroom resources for every subject. They have several ideas that I really like, such as the "Library in Your Pocket" app suggestions (with embedded QR code) and the "got books?" page for students to request new books.

With so many creative librarians out there, I feel that I have a high goal to aspire to in creating my website, but seeing some of the great examples and variety of content out there is inspiring me. I'm excited to get started! I'll be posting a first attempt at my main page this week.

Book post: Little Mouse Gets Ready

Book cover from Toon Books

Smith, J. (2009). Little mouse gets ready. New York, NY: Toon Books.

*Winner of a 2010 Geisel Honor*

This funny comic is about a little mouse getting ready to go to the barn with his family. As he gets dressed, he tells the reader all the fun things they will do when they get there. The surprise ending made me and my daughter laugh. This book would be an excellent introduction for how to make a simple comic, since it is done all in comic panels. It displays only one or two panels per page to make it easy for young readers to read themselves, making it a fun and quick read.

Book post: The Spider and the Fly

Book cover from Simon & Schuster

Howitt, M. and DiTerlizzi, T. (2002). The spider and the fly. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers.

*Winner of a 2003 Caldecott Honor*

This treacherous poem of a cunning spider trying to trap an innocent fly was written by Mary Howitt in 1829, but is modernized somewhat by DiTerlizzi's illustrations. They are all black and white and silvery. The book has panels that are reminiscent of silent movie captions with growing spider webs in the background, and the characters have a 1920s style of dress. I love the look of this book, and think it could be used to teach about early film because of the setup of the pages. Students could create their own silent films using this as an example. It also has a strong rhythm and rhyme scheme and would be great for studying poetry. The story behind it warns children against listening to flattery, because we know what happens to the fly in the end.

Book post: Son of a Gun

Book cover from Eerdmans

De Graaf, A. (2012). Son of a gun. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.

*Winner of a 2013 Batchelder Honor*

Nopi and Lucky are a sister and brother who lived through war in Liberia. They had to experience things as child soldiers that children should never have to know about. Nopi is 10 and Lucky is 8 when war enters their lives, and they try hard to escape it for years. Unfortunately, child soldiers are common in many places around the world, and de Graaf has written this story, based on interviews of Liberian children she met post-war, primarily to teach children what this kind of life can be like. The narrative addresses children in the Western world, and has a section at the end devoted to facts about Liberia. It is a great teaching tool for children to see another world view from the perspective of other children. While the book centers on war, the author is careful not to make the scenes too graphic for her audience; she focuses on the emotions of the characters and their love for their family.

Book post: A Wrinkle in Time

Book cover from Macmillan

L'Engle, M. (1962). A wrinkle in time. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

*Winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal*

Three children (Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin) travel through time and space to rescue Meg and Charles Wallace's missing father and possibly save the earth. They meet all sorts of interesting beings on their adventures, and find out that they have powers they never knew. I cannot believe I had never read this before. It was one of those books that I always meant to read and never got around to, but I am so glad I finally did. Meg is a wonderful protagonist as she struggles and learns more about herself. This book can easily be categorized as both science fiction and fantasy. It has many learning opportunities, such as the allusions to famous historical figures that Mrs. Who quotes. The quotes are always important to what is happening in the story, and help guide the children along the way. 

What to read...

I think this Bitstrips status is appropriate as I decide what I should read next.

Book post: Rapunzel and the Seven Dwarfs

Book cover from August House

Claflin, W. (2011). Rapunzel and the seven dwarfs. [Tumblebook version]. Retrieved from tumblebooks.com

I watched the Tumblebook version of this book, which was an interesting format for this one. The book was read by the author, so it sounded more natural than some of the other Tumblebooks I listened to, and he even does voices. I liked how the Tumblebook zoomed in on details sometimes, and animated some of the pictures. It is a fractured fairy tale, and combines elements of other stories, along with a moose for a narrator, and a moose who saves the day in the end. The language of the story was interesting; I think the moose is supposed to sound like a simple country bumpkin (think Gomer Pyle). For example, he messes up his subject-verb agreement ("he don't") and says the witch was "distremely angrified" instead of "extremely angry." This would be a great book for teaching fairy tale elements, because it still has many of them, and mixes them around in crazy ways. I think that most children familiar with fairy tales would find this one funny.

Creating audio for the classroom

Record music and voice >>

I like Vocaroo because it is easy and doesn't require any downloads or email addresses to use, although those are among the possible options. The audio can be emailed, embedded into a webpage, shared through social media, or downloaded. One negative is that it must be recorded as it will be in the final version: no editing. This is difficult for longer assignments, but would be a great option for short presentations or reflections.

I have had a podcast assignment in class before. We used Audacity, a free software program. It is great because you can stop and start as many times as you need to, and edit the audio in many different ways. If you want others (who don't have Audacity) to be able to hear your recording, you'll need to download a file converter as well to convert the .aup files to .mp3, which is not too difficult but can be time consuming if you do it for your students after they record, like I did. Then I posted the file using SoundCloud, a great audio sharing site, and linked them to my class website so that students could hear each others' podcasts and parents could hear their children's projects. It was definitely time consuming, but rewarding in the end. 

Podcasts for the Classroom

InformED recommends these 50 Educational Podcasts, and I checked out a lot of them, but my main purpose was looking for something I could actually have students listen to in the classroom. To that end, I like Grammar Girl and How Stuff Works.  Grammar Girl has many interesting English topics included, although many of her "Quick and Dirty Tips" would be too advanced for many of my students to follow. I am a long-time fan of How Stuff Works, both the articles and the podcasts, particularly Stuff You Should Know, which has a wide variety of general topics, Stuff Mom Never Told You, which covers women's and gender issues, and Stuff You Missed in History Class, which specializes in all things historical. Some of these are not always classroom appropriate, so I would suggest listening to them ahead of time to anyone planning on using them for class. For my own professional use, I like LitTech as well. It discusses educational issues centering on literature, libraries, and technology. 

Book post: Olivia

Book cover from Simon & Schuster

Falconer, I. (2000). Olivia. New York, NY: Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

*Winner of a 2001 Caldecott Honor*

Olivia is a spunky pig who is always on the go. This book introduces us to the character and her favorite things. She loves playing dress up, going to the beach, and going to the museum. Art students could learn about strategically chosen color from the artwork in Olivia. Every page is in black and white, with touches of red throughout. It leaves plenty of white space on each page, which makes the book feel very clean and well planned. Olivia is very playful and ambitious, which makes her adventures fun to read.

Book post: Jimi Sounds like a Rainbow

Book cover from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Golio, G. and Steptoe, J. (2010). Jimi sounds like a rainbow: A story of the young Jimi Hendrix. New York, NY: Clarion Books.

* Winner of a 2011 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor*

The early life of Jimi Hendrix is conveyed through Golio's poetic words and Steptoe's vibrant mixed media illustrations. As a boy, Jimmy loved art, recognizing the beauty around him in sound and color. Getting his first guitar changed his life. This book has many possibilities for learning: it has many elements of poetry (metaphor, onomatopoeia, alliteration, etc.), descriptions of the musical experience, examples of tying art to words, and is a biography of a music legend's childhood. The title of Jimi Sounds like a Rainbow is perfect because of the bright colors and the descriptions of Jimmy's longing to paint pictures with his music.