BMS Media Center Monthly
March, 2013
Websites to Help Flip Your Class!
Sophia
Are you looking for a site that could combine the tutorials of Khan Academy with the social features of Edmodo?Sophia http://www.sophia.org may be just your answer!
Sophia offers a space for you to create groups for your class to interact, lets you organize a "playlist" of tutorials that help you flip your class, and provides tools that help you create your own tutorials and screencasts for students.
You will also be able to collect data to help you analyze your students performance.
GCF - Learn Free.org
I will admit that when I first discovered Goodwill Community Foundation free online classes (http://www.gcflearnfree.org/) my first thought was "awesome! I can send this link to my parents and maybe I will stop getting so many phone calls about the computer or the iPad" ... but then I started to explore it and found that it has activities across grade levels for reading and math. There are many interactive activities (especially in reading) and videos that you can use in your class!
Database of the Month
This month tryout Books and Authors. Books and Authors provides author and title information on children's books - adult books. It is a great resource for author studies, or for book recommendations. If you or your students needs help selecting "what to read next" - Books and Authors is a great site to visit!
8th Grade Renaissance Art Presentation
Web-site of the Month
Learn it In 5 provides how-to videos for you and your students that will help you learn many new tools in 5 minutes or less!
Also, don't forget you are encouraged to schedule classes in the media center and I am happy to help introduce new tools and assist your classes as needed!
Staff Reading Suggestions
Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani
“Two star-crossed lovers--Enza and Ciro--meet and separate, until, finally, the power of their love changes both of their lives forever. Set during the years preceding and during World War I.”
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult
“Sage Singer is a baker. She works through the night, preparing the day's breads and pastries, trying to escape a reality of loneliness, bad memories, and the shadow of her mother's death. When Josef Weber, an elderly man in Sage's grief support group, begins stopping by the bakery, they strike up an unlikely friendship. Despite their differences, they see in each other the hidden scars that others can't, and they become companions. Everything changes on the day that Josef confesses a long-buried and shameful secret -- one that no one else in town would ever suspect -- and asks Sage for an extraordinary favor. If she says yes, she faces not only moral repercussions, but potentially legal ones as well. With her own identity suddenly challenged, and the integrity of the closest friend she's ever had clouded, Sage begins to question ....”
Book Annotations from CLAMS: http://clamsnet.org
Bourne Middle School Media Center
Email: lweeks@bourne.k12.ma.us
Website: http://www.bourne.k12.ma.us/webpages/lweeks/?school=1441
Phone: 508.759.0690