A Spoken Word About Bullying

Books to Think About -

Common Sense Media just posted reviews of "five books parents should read". What are your thoughts about these books? I have read a couple of them and I must say that Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys is one of my favorite teen lit books from this year. Which ones are in your library?

Here's a link to the books: Common Sense Media's 5 Books

More poetry resources

Just a few more fun and interactive sites to use with our students to celebrate National Poetry Month! 

DelfredaJ

North Highland Elementary School

Scholastic-Poetry-Writing with the Writers

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/poetry/index.htm

Featuring famous children’s poets Jack Prelutsky, Karla Kuskin, and Jean Marzollo offer advice to young poets on how to write poetry.  Experience the Poetry Writing Engine- a fun and interactive way for children to learn about and create different styles of poetry.

Giggle Poetry

http://www.gigglepoetry.com/

 An interactive site where kids can read  and rate poems, learn how to write them,  and create their own with fun “Fill-in-the-blank” poetry activities.

Poetry for Kids

http://www.poetry4kids.com/classic-28.html

Read and listen to funny poems by Kenn Nesbitt.  Play poetry games and learn how to write poems.  This site features an awesome Rhyming Dictionary to assist students with writing poetry.  

Common Core PowerPoint

In doing a little research on Common Core, I came across this PowerPoint that is a great starting point for exploring Common Core.

Here is the link: Increasing Informational Text in ELA, Social Studies, Science, Math. The PowerPoint is from the Long Island Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Their website is filled with Common Core strategies, rubrics, ELL, ESL, math and literacy information. Although the PowerPoint was created in 2011, all of the information is still relevant and fresh.

Importing Records into Atrium

    Here is some handy information for importing records into Atrium: 

1.  Click on the attachment in the email and choose to “save” the file ( I generally save these to my desktop, but you can save it where you want as long as you know where it is later).

    2. Open up Atrium and choose "Catalog".

3. Click "Import MARC file".

4. Click "Browse".

5. Navigate to the file you saved earlier.

6. Click "Continue".

7. Then you should get the confirmation screen. You then click the "blue" words: Review Imported Bibliographic". You will see a screen that looks like a "report" screen that says "View Imported Bibliographic".

8. Now click "edit" and add holdings by inputting a barcode for each record. Rather tedious but necessary. If you are importing records for e-books, go back to step 4 and choose "Import MARC E-book File" and follow the next steps. There will be no need to input barcode numbers.

For a document with screenshots, please e-mail dstaton@jefcoed.com

National Poetry Month

Thank you to Delfreda Coleman at North Highland Elementary for this contribution! 

A few poetry sites to get your students moving to the beat of Spring!

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr411.shtml-  Discover how a poem a day can transform your classroom

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/318-Poetry Read-a-thon is a great way for our schools to get involved globally in the reading and celebration of poetry!

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr411.shtml - Ever run out of words to use when writing poetry?  Here is a list of beautiful and ugly words to convey your feelings.
 

http://www.poets.org/page.php/prmID/361- Listen and view live poetry!

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/browse/- Download the free app to your smart device to access classical and modern poetry.

http://www.poetryteachers.com/poetclass/lessons/teachsimiles.html  - A fun way to teach poetry using similes.

http://www.poetryarchive.org/childrensarchive/home.do - Have your students listen to inspiring children’s poets express the process of coming up with their writings. You are able to publish your students’writings for others to view on The Children’s Poetry Archive.

http://www.classroomjr.com/tag/printable-poems/ - Get your kids moving and grooving with this collection free printable Poems from Classroom Jr.  

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?