The escape room that we made last year was so much fun that I knew that we had to do it again. But we can’t just do the same one, that would be boring and kids would already know most of the…
Once again, let me tell you how much I LOVE summertime. I have been busy busy busy creating brand new products, including a new Fiction and Non-Fiction Anchor Chart, that I’m super excited about! So, last April, I created a set of Assessment task cards for Non-Fiction Text Features. I... Read more
Check out how easy it is to use old iPhones as Listening Centers!
Josh Lacey signs up to Daniel Pennac's wise and liberating 10-point manifesto, The Rights of the Reader.
Arguably, one of the most beautiful and admired cultural centers in Europe is the city of Prague in the Czech Republic, founded circa 880. The capital of
The monumental Musaeum of Alexandria was famous for its legendary library. The tragic story of the building’s destruction continues to be a painful one for people who love ancient history and literature. So what treasures were lost in its devastating fire?
My blog focuses on the art and artists of vintage children's picture books, mainly from 1950's through 1980's.
teach traditional literature - fairytales, fables, legends, myths, and tall tales easily learning the different types and standards
A poster created for our English language arts and social studies departments (humanities) to use in their classroom, as well as in the library.
Wild women, big fish and scary faces are among the nearly 40 medieval manuscript images collected from Twitter in the last week.
Hello again-- The SuperHERO Teacher here to discuss the importance of DIVERSITY!!! The quote, "books are companions, teachers, magicians, and bankers of the treasures of the mind. Books are humanity in print" by Barbara Tuchman comes to mind when I think of building a diverse classroom library. If books are humanity in print, then we, as teachers, need to represent EACH of out students from all walks of life! All of our students are experiencing something different, whether we know about it or not. Whether it's sexual harassment, racism, bullying, abuse, suicidal thoughts, or a learning disability, everyone is experiencing their own grief, and building a diverse classroom library gives us the opportunity to help these students through challenging times with the art of literature. Buying loads of books can be EXPENSIVE! It can be frustrating at times, because we want what's best for our students, but often times don't have the resources to get them. Here are a few ideas for finding books for your library: THRIFT STORES are your best friend. Seriously, hit up 5 or 6 in a day and you'll have to call your teacher friends to help you carry all of your books inside. A lot of thrift stores even organize their books by age level, so you can head directly to the Young Adult Literature section and pick out all of the discounted books you need! DISCOUNT BOOKS WEBSITES are your other best friend! Challenge: Go to www.thriftbooks.com and type in To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. You can find new and used versions for as little as $3!!! FRIENDS & FAMILY love to help. Set up an Amazon Wish List or a DonorsChoose account and reach out to friends and family to help build your diverse classroom library. Explain to them what you're trying to achieve and HOW it will help your students grow! You'll be surprised how many people wish their teachers did the same for them and will generously donate toward the cause. Now that you have a few ways to fund your classroom library, it's time to start thinking about your students and how you can represent them through literature. That can be tricky! I've already done the research, though, and I'm happy to share 60 young adult books that represent a variety of students! Download the free poster to put in your library and the list of books here. You'll find that each of these books focuses on a different topic that might have a direct impact on your students. From The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime that features an incredible story about a mathematically gifted boy with Asperger's Syndrome to Luna, a story that follows the life of sixteen-year-old Regan as she keeps the secret of her older sister Luna's transgender identity-- this list of books is sure to include a taste of all different topics. Now that you have all of these incredible books to spoil your students with, independent reading is a must! I'm a huge fan of independent reading and the positive impact it can have on students' love for literature. I love using my "Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover" activity because it encourages students to look past the cover and truly see what's inside before judging-- just like we should encourage people to do when meeting others. Simply wrap the books in paper, write a brief description on the outside of the paper about the overall concept of the book, and encourage students to select a book based on the description! My students LOVED it so much. Here are more diverse reading options for your students! 1. Reading the World Challenge by Nouvelle ELA 2. Independent Reading Novel Discussion Questions by Presto Plans I hope this blog post gives you a starting point for diversifying your classroom library more than you already have! All the best, The SuperHERO Teacher
source Educational Technology and Mobile Learning
A list of the top 100 women of history on the web, arranged in the sequence of their popularity in web searches.
The activities below are available for free download, and are to be used in educational and/or private settings. They may not be used elsewhere or for other purposes (such as for profit) unless exp…
The first day of school is full of so many things: anticipation, wide-eyes, school supplies, new faces, maybe a few butterflies. And I...
Printed on one side of double leaves folded once in Japanese style
How to keep the center solid.
At head of title: True occult knowledge gives you practical power and strength
Once my beginning English language learners have built some vocabulary and are able to decode their emergent level books, it is time to tackle the skill of retelling. It truly is the basis of reading comprehension. Plus, it's an excellent way to build their oral language skills! My upper elementary newcomers have been in school here for seven months. They've been busy building their knowledge of basic (and content) vocabulary, focusing on spelling patterns in Word Study and learning many sight words in context. It is now officially spring (YAY!), and the school year is on a fast downward-slope. To get my beginning ELLs ready for their end of the year reading assessment, the one that measures their reading progress for the year, they must learn how to retell a fictional story. Over the past few months I've been introducing and reinforcing the various parts of a story. My students have learned about "characters" and "setting," and we've talked about story "problems" and "solutions." The next step is to retell a story from beginning, middle and end. Depending on my students, I may need to scaffold the activity by using picture cards. They use these cards to sequence events and recall details. Although I am giving them the important events in pictures, they will use their oral language skills to recount the events. Once I feel that they have a solid grasp on retelling a story, I have a couple more questions that I need to teach how to respond. Students have to be able think beyond the text, so I want them to be able to 1- describe their favorite part in the story and explain why it's their favorite, AND 2- make a meaningful connection to the story. This usually doesn't take much more than me modeling for them. Usually;) During this past quarter, each time we finished a guided reading book, I'd ask them to orally share their favorite part and explain why, AND make a connection to the story. Sometimes they share whole group, and other times they turn and tell a partner. My "newcomer group" practices the skill of retelling frequently, but we do it in different ways in order to keep it fun, engaging and challenging. An additional activity I like to use is this "Read and Roll" activity. They love it, I think, because they get to roll big dice! Once big dice enter the picture, somehow it turns into a game! I love it too because it gets them talking about the various parts of their book. I'm always looking for ways to get my students TALKING about their reading. I know that this solidifies their understanding AND builds their oral proficiency skills, plus they get a lot out of hearing their group members talk about the story too. My students also love these retelling cards. I pass one or two cards to each student and they take turns asking each other questions about their story. A super easy way to get students talking about their books is by creating a "Discussion Starters" anchor chart. Sentence starters are a great support for your beginning ELLs. When I first introduced the chart, I asked the questions, but once they had some practice with it, I turned it over to them to ask each other the questions. They always start with the person's name they are directing their question to. The person responding always starts their response with the person's name who asked the question. For example... Angie - Student 1: "Michael, tell me about your favorite part." Michael - Student 2: "Angie, my favorite part is..." Since Michael was the one who just answered a question, he is the one to ask the next student a question. I'm telling you, they love this! I'm going to be honest here... I had zero time to prep a detailed lesson on this day, so I grabbed a bag of books and off I went. Luckily, I always have big and small post-it notes in my caddie, so I grabbed these BIG neon colored post-it notes and wrote a B-M-E on them. Viola! My students slapped these into their reading notebooks and we were all set! Sometimes, lessons off the cuff turn out to be really good lessons, right?! I also like to use a Story Map graphic organizer to help students organize the parts of their story. They use this to "share out" at the end of our lesson. Usually I'll have each student pick one part to share out. They might share out to the group, while other times they might share out with a partner, depending on the time. FREEBIE There are lots of ways to develop retelling skills, and I recommend using different strategies and methods to get students comfortable with the various components of this skill. For beginning ELLs, of course they are just learning this new language while simultaneously learning the skills needed to orally retell a story, so lots of scaffolds and supports along the way are a must. We know that the achievement gap can be great for beginning ELLs, and that their reading comprehension skills moving forward will depend on their ability to recall and retell stories, and other types of texts. Focusing on this skill from the get-go is essential in getting our newcomers to where they need to be in a few short years. As soon as they have enough vocabulary to talk about their emergent level books, start explicitly teaching and reinforcing "how to retell." Here are some of the resources I use to teach retelling skills. (My intermediate ELLs love the Retelling Practice for Fiction cards and the Read and Roll activity as well.) Retelling Practice Cards Story Elements Retelling and Sequencing Cards Read and Roll Fiction and Nonfiction Credit: the "dot dudes" graphic in the title is by Sarah Pecorino.
able Thinking Day fact card for our passports. Perfect if you chose Holland for your Girl Scout Thinking Day or International Night celebration.…
...is a sane librarian. Right? Right. So I'm going to post my favorite, hilarious book memes today. Because, yeah, Summer Reading is right ...
Music class is an active, engaging, and joyful experience! This is especially true when our musical activities are grounded in creative and intentional teaching strategies. One of the most important teaching strategies has to do with teaching the difference between steady beat and the rhythm of
Lester Public Library, Two Rivers, Wisconsin
The escape room that we made last year was so much fun that I knew that we had to do it again. But we can’t just do the same one, that would be boring and kids would already know most of the…
Since February is Library Lover’s Month, I wanted to showcase something that librarians work very hard on and that patrons love: all those wonderful book displays!
cottagecore blog, cottagecore dress, cottagecore aesthetics, bookish, fairycore, cottage
What principals know and think about school libraries we have learned largely from our own past experiences and school librarians. I have had the distinct honor and privilege to work with and learn from some amazing librarians over the course of my career. These innovative educators have shaped my belief in the indispensable value of robust school libraries. They also have transformed how I think about learning and how I make decisions as an instructional leader. Connecting School to the World Outside the Classroom The new National School Library Standards for Learners, School Librarians, and School Libraries were released by
cottagecore blog, cottagecore dress, cottagecore aesthetics, bookish, fairycore, cottage
Explore sdhaddow's 1959 photos on Flickr!
There are resources for kids' book tastings, but what about the grown people? Here's a how-to for hosting a book tasting for adults at a public library.
Looking for virtual library tours? Here are 10 epic libraries you can tour online from the comfort of your own couch!
cottagecore blog, cottagecore dress, cottagecore aesthetics, bookish, fairycore, cottage
Explore twiga-swala's 336663 photos on Flickr!
On a recent post here on panoramicireland.com I wrote about the necessity of patience in landscape photography. I also mentioned that on most occasions here in Ireland, the weather does clear up and allow us to capture spectacular scenes under amazing light. But sometimes the weather does set in and on those occasions there are alternative things to do and photograph on a photography tour. Here is one such place, the famous Long Room Library in Dublin's Trinity College. I have photographed here on many occasions, including for Ritz-Carlton and produced this 360-degree panorama of the book repository that inspired the makers of Star Wars. Here is the link: Long Room Library Virtual Tour So on those days that don't go to plan, we always keep options in mind. To join me on a photography tour in Dublin, the Long Room Library or anywhere else in Ireland - see here.
Haven't tried a book tasting with your students yet? This fun reading activity is an awesome way to introduce genres in your elementary classroom or library!
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Free library games and resources, including printables, worksheets, and slideshow presentations designed to help kids build library skills.
In the heart of Dublin, there's a place where Bram Stoker once studied, James Joyce once researched, and where Jonathan Swift was known to frequent from time to time. Nestled down a small side street
Name of the Library: Malmo City Library Parent Organisation: Malmo City Street Address: King Oscars vag Malmo Sweden Postal Address: 205 81 Malmo Telephone :+46406608500 Web Address: www.malmo.se/b…
