Thursday, May 1, 2014

32 Great Websites to Celebrate Cinco de Mayo

(May 5th is Cinco de Mayo)

A to Z Teacher Stuff- printables, worksheets lesson plans

Ask History: Cinco de Mayo- from the History Channel

Apples for the Teacher- crafts, word searches, puzzles and teaching ideas


How to Make a Cinco de Mayo Pinata- step by step instructions are clear and easy to follow

Interactive Timeline- from PBS



The International Flavors of Cinco de Mayo
by ShaylaMae.
Explore more visuals like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Kiddyhouse- lesson plans, webquests, crafts, printables

Kids' Cinco de Mayo Activities- Pinterest board


Kinderart- crafts for kids


ReadWriteThink- lessons, websites and activities by grade level


Remember, Remember the Fifth of May- NY Times article


Rethinking Cinco de Mayo- from the Zinn Education Project


Scholastic- grade level specific lesson plans and activities are here

The Story of Cinco de Mayo- from K-12 Teacher Resources Wiki

The Teacher's Corner- lesson plans and activities

Teacher's Guide to Cinco de Mayo- from TeAchnology

What to Really Eat on Cinco de Mayo- from Smithsonian.com


Why Do We Celebrate Cinco de Mayo?- video from CNN

With Social Media and the Internet, The World is a Bit Smaller

Assemblyman Gary Schaer
and me at last night's
Board of Ed. meeting.
It's always amazing to me how many new people I know from all over the world because on the Internet. I am a child of the 60's, so the first time I used a computer was to type a report for my masters thesis. I had borrowed the Apple computer from the school I worked for, and saved my report on a 5" floppy disk. It never ceases to amaze me how far we have come over the last 25 years since the Internet was brought into our lives. Even State Senator Corey Booker follows me on Twitter! 

Several weeks ago, I was contacted by my teachers' union president that our local Assemblyman, Gary Schaer wanted to recognize my accomplishments at a Board of Education meeting in April. Me? How does he know about me, I pondered. How much information was there out there on me that I didn't know about? Time to Google myself and my blog. (Every so often you should do this; interesting results can come out of it.) I chose SEARCH TOOLS > PAST YEAR so I would get recent results.

So here's what I found out: The Pentagon (yes, that one) Library Intranet  lists my blog  as a "useful link for an eBook search". The AASL blog did a recent post about my 2013 Edublog Award for Best Library Blog, and said "Please check out this awesome resource and you will see why it was voted Best Library Blog in 2013!" American Libraries Magazine mentioned me and the list of poetry resources I had posted for National Poetry Month. eSchool News put me on a list with 10 Follow-Worthy Educational Blogs.

Now I know I have strayed a bit from my original idea, and thank you for allowing me to boast a bit. Last night at our Board of Education Meeting in the school library, Assemblyman Gary Schaer recognized my contributions as a media specialist and educational blogger. My administration all attended, including the Mayor of our town, who said some very nice things about me. (I'm not used to this, but it felt great!) The best part of the evening, is that two of my Library Council students came to the meeting! With the horrible weather, I couldn't believe they were there (it was raining buckets) with my assistant, a young blind man from the town who looks after the library and makes sure things run smoothly when I am not there. (He is not a full-time employee, yet he gives 110% every day) I was so happy to see their smiling faces when I arrived. Wow. How things have changed since the Internet entered my life.

Throwback Thursday #11




Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Doodle 4 Google Voting Has Begun

Finalists for the Doodle 4 Google have been posted! Students representing the 50 states in grades K-12 are competing for  a $30,000 scholarship and a $50,000 Google for Education technology grant for his or her school. Voting ends on Friday, May 9, 2014, and the winner's doodle will appear on Google's main search page. Place your vote HERE.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

The Makerspaces Post Has Been Updated!

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the post I did on Makerspaces, I am adding more to the list of resources. (Remember that I live in New Jersey, so you will see some NJ resources.)

Add Some Flair to Your Year-End Report: Digital Presentation Tools

Before computers and the Internet, school librarians had to type their reports on either a manual or electric typewriter. Fast forward to today, and there are so many different ways to make a digital presentation. You can utilize a design program such as InDesign, then save as a PDF, as done here by ALA. Or, you can take it up a notch and create an infographic or digital presentation. (Click the tab for "Infographices" at the top of this page for tools and information on creating your infographic.) If you are doing something unique for your report, please share below. Here is a small list if you want to think out of the box and bypass Microsoft Word or Powerpoint.


36 Best Tools For Data Visualization- if you are planning on making an infographic or slide presentation, you are bound to find something here.

Animoto-as an educator, you can obtain a FREE pro account, which allows HD videos up to 20 minutes in length, with over 2,000 music tracks to choose from.

Easel.ly- "create and share visual ideas online"

Emaze- simple interface and templates

Empressr

Glogster EDU- reports can be presented in poster style, with added graphics, music, text, photos and more

Kizoa- free slide show and collage maker

Powtoon- "bringing awesomeness to your presentations"; use their cartoon characters to make a great presentation for you

Prezi- "make your presentations zoom"

SchoolTube- make your own video and it won't be blocked in your school!


School Library Reports- Jennifer LaGarde (Library Girl) has shared eight different school library reports, so you can see different programs used to create them

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