Borders Summer Reading Incentive

Follow the link below to check out the Borders Summer Reading incentive. It is for children 12 and under. It is a Double Dog Dare! Read ANY 10 books, fill out a form, and return it to any Borders to receive your free book.

http://www.borders.com/online/store/MediaView_doubledogdare

Discovery Streaming

Our school has a free 60 day trail for Discovery Education. Discovery Education includes video streaming, lesson plans, and connections to many online resources!

Teachers may click on the link below and enter their code:

http://www.discoveryeducation.com/

Discovery Education Links

Today Mr. Place, Mr. Hanson, Mrs. Tedesco and I are at the Baseball Hall of Fame. We are at a conference about digital storytelling. Although we are immersed in Discovery Education products- our speaker is dynamic and I look forward to sharing many of these web 2.0 links and digital ideas with you.

This past week students and faculty in our building learned how to use our audience polling system. This new tool provides instant feedback for teachers and students. Ask your child about the "clickers" that we used to respond to our Tumblebook story!

Below is a link to a free online polling system that can be used with your cell phone. Try it out!

http://www.polleverywhere.com/

Lit 2 go!

Lit 2 Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in MP3 (audiobook) format developed by the Florida Educational Technology Clearinghouse. Look at what you can do:

• download the files to an MP3 player and listen on the go
• listen to the files on a computer
• view the text on a webpage and read along as the file plays
• print out the stories and poems

Here is how easy it is:

• You can search by title, author, keywords, or reading level. 
• An abstract, citation, playing time, and word count are given for each of the passages. 
• Many of the selections also have a related reading strategy identified. 
• Each reading passage can also be downloaded as a PDF and printed for use as supplemental reading material for the classroom. 
• Many of the selections can also be downloaded directly into an iTunes library.

Lit 2 go!

Google Wonder Wheel

Try this link to learn about the Google Wonder Wheel!

The Wonder Wheel takes your Google search results and maps them in a web making it easier to find the relevant information you are looking for. You still need to evaluate the sources because they are from a search engine, but it makes your search more visual!

Learn about it by following the links below:

http://www.googlewonderwheel.com/

Use it here..this example will take you to an Eric Canal search

Poetry Explosions!

Today, 5th graders came to the LMC and exploded Emily Dickinson's Hope Is The Thing With Feathers.

 This image is courtesy of Amherst College Library

Exploding poetry is a technique used to create individual meaning to a poem. Ms. Steiner, Mrs. Murray and I attended a poetry conference in March and explored this exciting technique. Traditionally, the reader examines the poem and is encouraged to pick out a few lines, thoughts, or phrases that appeal to him or her. Then the reader takes on the role of writer and adds his or her own thoughts. The poem is read again inserting the writer's work with the orginal author resulting a a poetry explosion! Read Emily Dickinson's poem below:

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune--without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

Wordle

Do you Wordle?

Wordle is a web 2.0 site that uses Java Script to create "word clouds". Jonathan Feinberg created Worlde in 2009. It is a great tool to make a visually appealing image for poetry, text analysis, or just for fun!



Click on the link below to create your own:

Wordle

The Grouchy Ladybug

This past week we read The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle in 1st grade and practiced telling time to the hour! 

Click here to visit Eric Carle's official website

Tumble Books

This week students in grades K-5 are discovering how to navigate Tumblebooks. The Tumble Book Library is an online collection of animated, talking picture books. The site includes quizes, games, and teacher resources. Our school already subscribes to Bookflix this is a great additional resource to keep our students reading! You can link to this from the online database and research links page under literature resources on the LMC web-page.

Welcome

Welcome to the Cooperstown Elementary Library blog! This is an interactive web 2.0 tool that will be used to share library news, resources, projects, and happenings in the Library Media Center. It is for students, staff, and the community!

If you have any questions you may reach me at sfey@cooperstowncs.org