Excellence in School Librarianship

This is a really powerful video (less than 5 minutes) compiling feedback from administrators of different schools located around the nation on the impact of school librarians. It was posted on the AASL forum yesterday and was created by Judi Moreillon, who is known for her advocacy of school librarians. This would be a fantastic resource to share with principals and other supervisors! 

*Personal side note, feel free to take or leave it: the only two aspects I really wish they had tweaked were the consistent reference to librarians in the feminine (as we all know we have some rockstar guybrarians in our midst!) and the emphasis on school librarians as the Most Important Person. We are each free to have our thoughts on this, but personally I don't think that touting ourselves as the most important members of our faculty is beneficial or accurate. We are equal partners with our teachers and administrators and students and support staff...we just have unique training that helps us fill some special roles!

Forward thinking in school librarianship...

*This post was written by Meg Brooke, Supervisor of School Librarians for Jefferson County. 

Twenty three years ago I interviewed for a library position in the system where I was moving my family. In preparing for the interview, I got my interview outfit ready (Ok…hate to say it, but this was my first thought!). I knew that I needed to get my mind and interview skills ready, and so I prepped by doing lots of reading on what was new in library theory as well as  in technology, and I talked to several practicing librarian friends. The CD-ROM was just starting to be used, and I memorized what the letters stood for and learned about information that was available on the CD-ROMS. I had a MacIntosh computer that I could use at home, and I felt prepared. But, whoa, Nellie! 

Dr. Robert Mitchell, superintendent of the system at the time, interviewed me, and I was amazed!!! This was 1990, and Dr. Mitchell was envisioning students being able to access our school library from their homes. Wow!  My finite mind could never have dreamed that big…everyone having a computer at home and being able to retrieve information from our school library…. but I’m thankful that others have minds to be able to see what possibilities lie ahead. 

Remember: computers were just appearing in schools around that time, and the library where I was hired to work had no computers….ZERO.  It took a few decades to get there, but his vision did become reality. (a side note…..Dr. Mitchell was a hero to me in several ways, but I’d love to add that he left the system a year after I was there and started the first daycare in the area that had cameras so that parents could log in and see what their children were doing whenever they had a chance to do that. A real forward thinker!)

Dreams of what our libraries will become must move from the ideas that many were taught and have practiced, too, if we are to move toward the vision of the library that our students will need.  In Harland’s The Learning Commons: Seven Simple Steps to Transform Your Library, we are given some questions to ask ourselves as we think about the future of our particular library. 

Ponder these:

• ·         Does your school need a library when most information can be accessed in the classroom using the Internet? (This is a question that we need to be able to answer!!!)
• ·         What is it that your library offers to your users in addition to accessing information?
• ·         Are you doing it well?  Could you do it better?
• ·         How can you increase and improve services?
• ·         Could you make a shift in your service?

We’ve heard the term libraries without walls, and we’re there. Dr. Mitchell got it right!  Our students can access Atriuum, Nettrekker, the AVL, and many ebooks outside of the school library. One leadership session at the upcoming AASL conference and one that was recently presented in a webinar entitled A Library in your Pocket is a reality NOW!  

High schools are without walls, providing online courses for students via ACCESS now. Our buildings are seeing changes as methods of teaching are moving toward more technology, and our library spaces will need to follow suit as well.  No longer are we just protecting what we have…our books, our AV, our equipment, but we are morphing into being the promoters of how to use what we have so that our students and teachers can easily access and use that information. 

This is just a smidgen of food for thought that you’ll find in The Learning Commons by Pamela Harland.  I hope you’ll check it out if you’re interested in moving your library forward into one that will meet your students’ needs.  

Be the “Dr. Mitchell” in the lives around you!

Christmas came to us in October!

*This post was written by our sweet and fearless leader, Meg Brooke! :)

Christmas came to us in October! J  There were some funds left in the account that we were approved to spend, and so I ordered these books for our professional development.  It does not look like we will be moving downstairs, and so I will keep these in my office upstairs.  I know that there is little time for much extra, but hopefully some of these references will be something that some or one of you needs to give that extra “umph” to take your library or you as a librarian to that next level!  Our students deserve this!

If you’re interested in any of these, let me know and I’ll send it by the PONY.  I plan to do some quick “reviews” of these in the future, too, to hopefully pique your interest.

These are the books:

I get pumped just reading the titles!  But the real worth is what’s inside………

TITLE	AUTHOR
School Libraries Matter: Views from the Research	Mirah Dow, ed
Growing Schools: Librarians as Professional Developers	Debbie Abilock, Kristin Fontichiaro, and Violet Harada, editors
Literacy: A Way Out for At-Risk Youth	Jennifer Sweeney
Get Those Guys Reading: Fiction and Series Books that Boys Will Love	Kathleen Baxter and Marcia Kochel
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and the School Library: Inquiry-based Education	Anthony Tilke
The Library Catalogue as a Social Space: Promoting Patron Driven Collections, online Communities, and Enhanced Reference and Readers’ Services	Laura Tarulli
Copyright Catechism II: Practical Answers to Everyday School Dilemmas	Carol Simpson
iPads in the Library: Using Tablet Technology to Enhance Programs for All Ages	Joel A. Nichols
Travel the Globe: Story times, Activities, and Crafts for Children	Desiree Webber, Dee Ann Corn, Elaine Harrod, et al
Book Clubbing:  Successful Book Clubs ..	Carol Littlejohn
Reference Skills for the School Librarian	Ann M. Riedling, Loretta Shake, Cynthia Houston
Integrating Young Adult Literature through the Common Core Standards	Rachel Wadham and Jonathan Ostenson
The Learning Commons: 7 Simple Steps to Transform Your Library	Pamela C. Harland
Seven Steps to an Award-winning School Library Program	Ann M. Martin
A Guided Inquiry Approach to High School Research	Randell K. Schmidt
Guided Inquiry Design: a Framework for Inquiry in Your School	Carol C. Kuhlthau, Leslie K. Maniotes, and Ann K. Caspari

This is What Happens When Students are Searching for Information on a Reliable Website during a Government Shutdown

United States Department of Agriculture - Home: Due to the lapse in federal government funding, this website is not available.


After funding has been restored, please allow some time for this website to

become available again.


For information about available government services, visit usa.gov

To view U.S. Department of Agriculture Agency Contingency plans, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/contingency-plans


Message from the President to U.S. Government Employees

The message above is what our middle school students tapped into when searching the website www.choosemyplate.gov. This is what happens in school with a Federal Government Shutdown. As Robert Burns said, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry!

Yes, the Library has Standards!

Here is a recent poster I placed outside the library door. At our school teachers have to place lesson plans outside the door and objectives for students in student language inside the room.

I wasn't asked to do this, but I thought it would be a great idea to advertise to teachers our 21st Century Standards.

Teachers have even asked me about them! It's been a great way to show that I am a part of the teacher/teaching team.

If anyone has other ideas out there for posting standards, please share them!

Digital Learning Day and Project 24: Planning for Progress

How does a dose of digital learning for district and school leaders sound? That's right - as a school librarian you are a school leader! More on this in a sec because this whole Project 24: Planning for Progress is preparation for Digital Learning Day in February. If you didn't participate in that in some small way last year, please make plans now to particpate in 2014 - which is right around the corner, by the way.

Now back to being a leader. It is incumbent on us as school librarians to rev up our engines for learning in every way - but especially digital. Excuse the cliche', but you will want to be on that train. It just may save your job one day! So, all aboard for Project 24. (You may want to sign up for School Library Journal's digital newsletter to read about New York City's Education Department asking for a variance not to have librarians...)

This course lasts for eight weeks and is free. Part of it is to help your district get a digital plan which we have in the Jefferson County Schools district, but the rest is to strengthen and learn about digital transition. This year is only the second one for this course and it sounds great! I have already signed up and I hope you will, too. It asks a few questions about your district that are quick to answer. It starts September 30 and ends in November.

All Aboard!www.commons.wikimedia.org.

Hope to see you soon in the digital world and beyond!

McAdory Jacket Slam!

*Very special thanks to Pam Bullock at McAdory High for this post.

We held our first ever Jacket Slam the last Wednesday in April in honor of Poetry Month. This event began with a student who saw the promo for the Word Up event held in Bham. She decided that we needed to put together our own event and started a sign up sheet to see if there was enough interest from the student body.

Planning began in late February and she and a small committee of students promoted it by making posters. They created a form for students who wanted to participate and share their own original work. We included poems, short stories, rap/song, and skits. In the end we had 10 students perfom their work and each area was represented. We held the event in the library and had it set up like a cafe.

After each person performed the audience snapped their fingers to show their support (much like a beatnik). The library sold snacks to the audience during intermission as a small fundraiser, and the students who performed were able to have snacks after the event was over (for free of course).

I was very pleased with the poems performed and proud of the students who were willing to stand in front of their peers and share their personal work. The senior English teacher and I were the faculty sponsors and she was the MC while I videoed. One of our principals commended us on having the first McAdory Poetry event and has asked that we continue it next year in the fall and spring (hoping that it will empower other students to participate).

I truly loved seeing the students take control and plan and manage everything. We liked the intimacy of the library setting but would love for more students to be able to attend, so we may have to expand to the auditorium in the future.

School Libraries in Finland

Finland is the new global standard for education, and teachers from every major country in the world are flocking there to observe how they do things. Major elements in the Finnish system that differ from America's educational model include delayed school start age, how early and often students are tested, avoidance of merit pay for teachers, the amount of job-embedded professional development time teachers are provided weekly, the honorable status of teachers within the Finnish society, and the limited number of students in each classroom.

Naturally, as librarians our curiosity is inclined to wonder about the role of school libraries in Finland. Though it is rumored that school libraries do not exist in Finland, this is not true. There is a major reliance upon the public library system, and a strong tie to school libraries strengthens the programs of each.

Below are a few resources including valuable information about the vitally essential school library programs in what is currently recognized as the strongest educational model in the world:

School Library Association in Finland

Observations about School Libraries in Finland from an American school librarian

Finland's Library Network

What aspirations do the Finnish librarians provide for our own instructional practices?

Collaboration at its Best!

Collaboration can be achieved through short meetings, forms, and tweaking annual projects that teachers turn to year after year.

It can turn to fun when the teachers are so "on fire" with teaching and collaborating with you that they say things like, "What cha got next?" That's when  it no longer feels like such hard work.

The picture here is of an 8th grade Social Studies class getting help from their teacher with downloading a video on Islam.

In the January 2013 issue of School Librarian Monthly, A Matrix for School Librarians: Aligning Standards, Inquiry, Reading, and Instruction is available. The columns include CCSS, AASL Standards Indicators, Inquiry Process, Reading Comprension Strategy, and Learning Applications.

In Alabama we use the College- and Career-Ready Standards (we added a lot of standards, such as cursive writing). Here is a look at one line of the Matrix graphic and how it compares to my collaborative lesson with an 8th grade Social Studies teacher:

CCSS: Production and Distribution of Writing (Students had to research and write a script before beginning filming). 6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.

AASL Standards Indicators: Use writing process, media and visual literacy, and technology skills to create products that express new understandings. (2.1.6) Students had to use a creative scenario like freinds from differing religious backgrounds meeting up at a camp.

Inquiry Process: Demonstrating ability to integrate knowledge and apply it to answer inquiry questions. They have definitely done this with their project!

Reading Comprehension Strategy: Synthesizing information. They have done this as well! Some are teaching lessons and recording their lessons.

Learning Applications: Using Multiple literacies to create and share final products that inform, persuade, or explain new understandings. This project accomplishes that.

All of this goes to show that many lessons you already use are going to mesh with CCRS. If you are interested, this Matrix is an amazing chart and very helping for cross-checking.

The Matrix was created by Judi Moreillon, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Library and Information Studies at Texas Women's University. Click here for a link to the Matrix and search for the January 2013 article in the search window.

Postermaker site

Kids are visual, and creative posters can be the best effort we can make to help them understand announcements, details of events, etc.

BigHugeLabs and Glogster are among the most useful sites out there to help with the visual cause!

Copyright Resources

Look, none of us want to be the copyright police, but unfortunately it comes with the territory. Students (and teachers) will straight rip off others' work without a second thought. Crediting sources seems to be a foreign concept to many. 

Here are a few sites that might help: 

Teaching Students About Copyright (15 sites) 

10 Must-Have Resources for Teaching Copyright and Fair Use 

Teaching Students About Copyright With YouTube *Yeah, it's blocked. But if you watch it and then give the kids a synopsis, that might be a close second. 

Teaching Copyright 

Copyright with Cyberbee 

Teaching Copyright to Middle School Students

Alabama Virtual Library: Searchasaurus

Searchasaurus is the last in a series of posts on elementary resources provided by the Alabama Virtual Library. 

Searchasaurus is a fairly "fun" database for young researchers simply due to the dino theme. Kids dig dinosaurs. They just do. 

Once you click in to Searchasaurus, one of the first things your eye will notice is the categorical browsing capacity. Students can click on the icons for categories such as Animals, Sports, Stories, and People to learn more about what they find interesting. 

One of the second things you will notice is that there are 5 buttons at the top offering choices (Home, Dictionary, Encyclopedia, Pictures, etc.). These are like what we call bread crumbs in Sharepoint and remain at the top of the screen no matter where you click within the database. This provides a handy anchor for young students. 

Teachers can also limit each individual student's search by Lexile level to ensure they are perusing content most appropriate for their reading level. 

Enjoy using this with your students! 

App-tastic

Here are some great resources to use with your iPads and iPod Touch devices!

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/apps-elementary-classroom-mary-beth-hertz

http://appitic.com/index.php?option=com_sobi2&catid=106&Itemid=309

http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/Digital+Storytelling

Pinterest + Contest = Fun!

*Today's post was written by Meg Brooke, one of the school librarians at Shades Valley High School/JCIB. 

OK, all of you “Pinners” in the Jefcoed library world. We have a contest especially made for YOU!  Michelle wroteabout Pinterest on a blog post several weeks ago, and hopefully several of you have started using this tool for curating your ideas as well as others’ ideas on various boards. I know that several of you are Pinterest addicts because you follow me, and I, you!  It’s a lot of fun, and I’ve learned so much from you and others in the Pinterest world.

I ran across Joyce Valenza’s blog post today, and got really excited when I saw that it pertained to Pinterest.  Say the word, and I’m all about reading anything Pinterest related. Rather than recap her post, I’ve copied and pasted it below so that you can read it and see if the contest is something that would interest you. If so, the contest rules link is at the bottom of Joyce’s post.

You can also view her original post here: http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/neverendingsearch/2012/03/07/syracuse-poses-a-pinterest-contest/

Good luck, and happy pinning!

 Syracuse poses a Pinterest challenge

from NeverEndingSearch by joycevalenza

I am beginning to love Pinterest as a tool for searching, exploring, and curating visual content.  Teachers and librarians are currently settling this visual territory with their boards of professional content.

In the spirit of Pinterest Challenges, the iSchool at Syracuse University just announced a forward-thinking, library-flavored Pinterest challenge.  Participants are invited to share their new library vision on Pinterest, the highly popular, visual (and pretty) curation network.

The Pinterest Contest for the New Librarianship is a search for a a few good boards that define and illustrate the future of our profession.

But, well beyond the contest itself, the resulting boards should demonstrate the value of this tool for creating communities of practice and visual professional sharing.  I am hoping it will create beautiful inspiration for us all.

Kelly Lux, Executive Editor of Information Space and Social Media Strategist and Community Manager for the iSchool, writes of the Pinterest platform,

"communities revolving around shared interests are creating dialogue that transcends borders. Librarians are using it as a way to build a collection of resources, organize display ideas and facilitate collaboration. The Pinterest community is a reflection of your local community—members include Moms swapping recipes, lifelong educators and professionals networking and making their experience a resource for others, young people building their careers and defining their lives, artists and entrepreneurs sharing their products and services."

Lux shares the example of librarian Joe Murphy’s boards

Source: learningtimesevents.org via Joe on Pinterest

To enter the Pinterest Contest for the New Librarianship challenge, submit your Pinterest Board URLs in any of these three ways:

• Tweet the @iSchoolSU using the hashtag #NewLibPinterest
• Leave a comment on their Facebook page under the contest post
• Share via your comment in the blog post announcing the event

Winners will receive a copy of David Lankes’ ground-breaking and provocative Atlas of New Librarianship.

Entries will be accepted through March 19th.  So start pinning your library future right now!

The Big6 In Middle School: Teaching Information and Communications Technology Skills by Barbara A. Jansen

Spring is in the air which can only mean one thing in most of Alabama's public school libraries! Research. Paper. Season. It's an exciting time in the middle and high school library, but an anxiety-ridden time for those doing the research and writing papers.

Throughout the year I reach for The Big6 In Middle School: Teaching Information and Communications Technology Skills by Barbara A. Jansen to assist students and teachers with projects and research. But in the spring it is always within grasp. (The Big6 is a model of information problem-solving developed by co-authors Mike Eisenberg and Bob Berkowitz, The Big6 in Middle School, xi).

This book features many types of research organizers for students and is chock-ful of information essential for school librarians.

One of my favorite tools is the Big6 Assignment Organizer for Grades 7-9. It is found on page 181 of the reference book. The first question asks the student to answer, "What am I supposed to do?" It seems a simple question, but students get stumped and they have to go back to their teacher if they can't answer it. The sheet continues with Information Seeking Strategies, Location and Access, Use of Information, Synthesis, Evaluation, and due dates. It is a tidy little organizer that keeps research on track for students. Many other presentation guidelines and planners are featured in the book that are extremely useful as well. I wish I could copy it here, but the cover of the book will have to do.

Here are some other useful tidbits in the book:

• Correlation Chart Between Big6 Skills and State Curriculum Standards or Tested Skills
• Checklists for Writing Assignments for Different Grade Levels
• Lesson Plan Examples
• Note-Taking Methods
• How To's of a Class Project Wiki
• Many Different Charts and Graphs

The book, published by Linworth, is available from different jobbers, Amazon, and your favorite online ordering spot. If you order now, you'll have everything you need to ease the stress of busy researchers.

Pebble Go

Although the Alabama Virtual Library offers several good databases for elementary aged children, they can still be a bit complicated for the youngest students in our buildings. 

Pebble Go is the best database for early childhood that I've ever used, and teachers of all grades here at North Highland LOVE using it with their children. You pay an annual subscription fee to have access, and then you will be given a school-wide user name and password to use. Our PTA paid for it the first year, and I have used library funds to split it with PTA the two years we've had it since then. Because it benefits every child in the school, the PTA really enjoys using their funds on this service. 

If you decide to subscribe, begin sending home notices to parents with the school login information. Print each teacher a sign for their class with the user name and password printed, and post several in your library and computer lab. 

Here are a few great reasons my teachers and students love Pebble Go:

Pebble Go truly is created for young readers/learners. It has all the basic features of a "big boy" database, but in simplistic terms and clicks that even first-week-of-school kindergarteners can operate. 

There are 3 different individual databases from which to choose (you can subscribe to one or all three). We use Animals most often with the lower grades, but the upper grades like Earth & Space and Biographies as well. Each database is filled with categories and sub-categories of entries. Here is an example of what you would see in PebbleGo Animals: 

Students can choose a category of animals and then a sub-category until they find an animal they are interested in. Most article have a "Watch" button, which students can click to view a short video of the animal in action. Each article also has a button students can click to have the article read to them aloud. Hyperlinked words provide students with definitions to unfamiliar terms as well. 

Click here to see how easy it is for a student to click on a video! 

Each article also has printing capability and citation support, which will generate a citation for students to use in reporting their research. It's always good to promote ethical use of information even from the very beginning! 

If you have any questions about Pebble Go or would like to order it for your school, I can direct you to the vendor who represents this company in our area. Just shoot me an email! 

Alabama Virtual Library: Britannica Learning Zone

Another of our gems in the Alabama Virtual Library is Britannica Learning Zone. Though it is not searchable, it is a great database for the early childhood years. The interface is very simplistic and user-friendly. Once students "click to enter," they have four main categories from which to choose: Explore, Play, Read, or Draw. 

There are also several other content categories students may select. They include First Steps, I Can Read, Numbers, Sounds, Time, Words, etc. These scroll slowly across the bottom of the page, marquee-style to ease students' process of selection.  

One interesting feature is that once students enter BLC, the task bar as well as any additional open tabs are removed from the internet page, making it very difficult for the students to leave the site. I have a few little angels who like to click their way around the universe before I can stop them, so this is another very desirable feature for working with young children. :)

If students choose the "Explore" category, they can choose continents to learn about. Once they choose a continent, they can pick a specific area and one click will display a short video of life on that continent. This is an excellent feature for English Learners, as we work to build up their background knowledge about various topics. 

"Play" will take them to simple literacy and math games (instructions read aloud). 

"Read" will provide various words and definitions, with sample sentences (also read aloud). 

"Draw" is a more simplistic version of Microsoft Paint, but will permit printing so students can carry their work out of the library or computer lab. 

The only improvement I would suggest for BLC is to enable searching. Searching is the heart of information literacy, and even our youngest should be learning how to recognize and use search boxes. 

Citation Aggregators

I don't know how in the world I made it through undergrad without a citation generator. Plugging a source was easy enough (and my pre-librarian consciousness willed it), but figuring out all that punctuation was sort of a nightmare at times..especially when one professor wanted Turabian, the other wanted MLA, and a third wanted APA style.

These days, students are well versed in all the citation generators available. CitationMachine, BibMe, and EasyBib are just a few examples of free websites that, given the necessary information, computes a nice and tidy citation to be copied and pasted into their References slide or page.

The difference between a citation generator and a citation aggregator is that a generator does just that...it pumps out a citation, given the proper information. An aggregator, on the other hand, is a collector. EasyBib is a great example of an aggregator because your students can create accounts and then save and organize their citations over time. That is immensely helpful to students collecting a variety of sources for assignments.
Zotero is another example. Many users enjoy Zotero because it has a plug-in you can install to your browser and it will automatically generate a citation (and save it) for whatever site you are reading/browsing/etc. Additionally, Zotero will input citations directly into your word processing software. Pretty nifty!

Kids today...sheesh! They have it made! :)

First Friday Recap: Alabama Virtual Library

Last week I and several others from our district attended January First Friday session, sponsored by the State Department of Education. The presenter was Deloris Carlito, and her topic was the Alabama Virtual Library.

The AVL is a resource cherished by every one of us, and we have several blog posts written here about ways to maximize the databases in our schools. Though we may have extensive experience using this great storehouse of information, there is always room for us to grow and add to our knowledge about the various databases.

One of Mrs. Carlito's points of emphasis that resonated with me were the three cornerstones of the Alabama Virtual Library:

• Equity
• Economy
• Excellence

There remains enormous variety in the social, economic, and ethnic diversity of our schools, both in the district and around the state. The AVL levels the playing field by providing 24 hour, free access to high quality information resources. It is obviously to our economic advantage to support use of the AVL, as we are not charged any fees as schools or individual users whatsoever to gain access. The resources included are top quality, highly recommended sources of information; over and again they prove their worth as solid, reliable, multifaceted sources to use with and recommend to our students and their families.

Suggestions she made for school librarians for promoting the AVL include:

1. Set the AVL as your library/computer lab home page. 
2. Create guides for teacher and student use.
3. Provide teacher PD on the Alabama Virtual Library.
4. Encourage teachers not to accept assignments unless the references list includes databases from the AVL. 

We must remember that we have to USE the AVL or we LOSE the AVL. Any opportunity we can take to thank our legislators for their continued support of the Alabama Virtual Library (or let our students share their thanks as well) will go a long way in securing this resource for our students.

Another point of interest Mrs. Carlito mentioned was the Helpdesk on the AVL site. If a user has any issues whatsoever accessing the resources or if a librarian needs training materials, use the Helpdesk to request materials (mouse pads, bookmarks, etc.) or assistance.

One of my most valued take-aways from this First Friday session was learning how to sort topic/keyword searches by Lexile level to ensure all students are reading the same topic on their individual grade level. For example, if you are working with a 5th grade class and they are researching American presidents, tailor each child's advanced search to their Lexile level, and boom! Everyone is reading material on their independent level yet also meeting their needs. Not too hard, not too easy, but "Juuust right!" (Elementary folks who do the Goldisocks lesson will totally get this.)

Okay, so maybe you're like me and have no frame of reference for Lexile levels. After all, many schools utilize the Renaissance Learning products to assess student's individual reading levels. Here is a link that can provide more information about Lexile levels and their grade level equivalent. It's not all inclusive, but it's a good start.

http://www.lexile.com/about-lexile/grade-equivalent/grade-equivalent-chart/

Who else attended the session? What were your take-aways from this presentation?

Gettin' Digi with It

Over the next few days, you ladies and gentleman (especially elementary level folks) may find the following links/activities useful for working with excited students on the verge of the holiday break!

• Read Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby, and use one of the following link to decorate a gingerbread house:
• http://www.janbrett.com/trim_a_jan_brett_gingerbread_baby_house.htm 
• http://www.highlightskids.com/flash/gingerbread-house (*shared by Jennifer Anders at West Jefferson Elementary)
• Facilitate a discussion among students about how Christmas is celebrated in various countries around the world. Direct students to gather some research about a country of interest to them and compile their findings in a video clip, poster, or Wordle. 
• Provide time for students to use the AVL or other sources to research prominent winter holidays (Kwanzaa, Christmas, Hanukkah, Chinese New Year, Eil Al Adha, Three Kings Day, Mardi Gras, etc.) and create a chart, table, or graphic comparing the various celebrations. This would provide great practice in using information ethically! 
• Guide students in completing this internet scavenger hunt on various winter holidays around the world: http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/internet-field-trip-holidays-x2019round-world-wide-web
• Pull up a few of the sites on this blog on your interactive white board and let your students head off to Winter Wonderland!