Library Links
Issue #1 Sent Monthly from your Media Specialist
Purpose
The purpose of this newsletter is to share helpful websites, collaboration ideas and great things happening between your classes and the media center.
Sites to See
Thought some of you might be interested in these sites.
"The non-profit ReadWorks is committed to solving the nation's reading comprehension crisis by giving teachers the research-proven tools and support they need to improve the academic achievement of their students.
ReadWorks provides research-based units, lessons, and authentic, leveled non-fiction and literary passages directly to educators online, for free, to be shared broadly.
The ReadWorks curriculum is aligned to the Common Core State Standards and the standards of all 50 states. Most importantly, ReadWorks is faithful to the most effective research-proven instructional practices in reading comprehension." Source ReadWorks
Thanks to the In-Tec team in Lexington 5 for letting me know about this activity. One of my philosophies is that if someone already created the wheel and they are happy to share I will use it and give credit to the creators!!!!
"Mystery Skype is an educational game, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim of the game is to guess the location of the other classroom by asking each other questions. It's suitable for all age groups and can be used to teach subjects like geography, history, languages, mathematics and science." (Source Mystery Skype web page)
This the preparation done by a third grade class for this Skype:
The class had teams that had designated jobs during the Skype. These jobs included:
• Greeters- introduce the class and tell something about the class without giving away location
• Inquirers – ask the questions
• Question Keepers – keep track of the questions and answers
• Question Answerers - responsible for giving accurate answers about our state (South Carolina)
• Mappers- keep track of clues on a map and help the Inquirers ask the right questions (paper map, Google map, wall map, etc.)
and everyone in the class had a paper map to keep track of the possible location and to rule out states that the class was not located.
Prior to the Skype, the class brainstormed some good questions to ask that would help them to quickly narrow down the opposing team's location. Some of their questions included:
1. Does your state border the Pacific Ocean?
2. Is your state big?
3. Is it very hot in summer and cold in winter/Do you have seasons?
4. Does your state border Canada?
5. Is your state in the Eastern part of the United States?
What is happening in the media center????
I will be encouraging students to know the genre of the books that they are reading. You will notice small signs illustrating book genres. I have areas in the media center with book shelves set up by genre. I have forms that students can use to keep track of the genres they are reading. Let me know if you would like for me to use them with your class I also want know if you want to schedule a more in-depth genre lesson. I have Smart Notebook files to use with this.
TEXT FEATURES
Students are being encouraged to read nonfiction smarter not harder by noticing text features. There are signs depicting these features with books that demonstrate their use. I also have a Smart Notebook file for this. If you want to schedule a more in-depth text feature lesson let me know.
NEW BOOKS
Kris ordered new books and new ebooks before she left. Those books and ebooks are now available in Destiny. Enter Destiny catalog, choose resource lists and select public resource lists, scroll through the list to New Books September to find a list of the books added. If you select printable, you will see which books are presently checked out and which are in the media center. You will also see many resource lists prepared by others that will be very helpful.
RESEARCH SKILLS
GT students are doing research. They are first learning that they must do good research using books, web sites and DISCUS. They are required to create a bibliography and site the sources they used. I have Smart Notebook files for this. I can schedule research lessons with your class. To do this you need to have a research project you want your class to complete and together we will design the way it is to be completed and the tools to use.Go to the school shared drive and look for the file folder media center. You will find everything that I am sharing with you. I would love to meet with you and your teaching teams to collaborate on lessons. I know that you have many things that you can share with me and that I can share with your colleagues. Notice I frequently ask you to let me know!!!!
Media Center Webpage
I also have pages with the SC Children's and Picture Book nominees with links to author pages and book trailers when available. You may also want to look at the research tools to help your students complete research. Take a look at the web 2.0 tools. I will be glad to work with as you use these tools and we can design research projects. I will put pictures of your projects on our media center webpage.