Just ONE More!

Just One More Book is a thrice-weekly podcast which promotes and celebrates literacy and great children’s books. Each weekday morning, the authors take a few minutes out of their morning coffee ritual to discuss one of their many favourite children’s books. They also feature weekly interviews with authors, illustrators and experts and enthusiasts in the areas of children’s literature and literacy as well as listener-submitted audio reviews

Fun With Spot

Eric Hill is the creator of Spot, who appeared in his first story, 'Where’s Spot?' in 1980 and quickly became one of the best-loved pre-school characters of all time. Today Spot’s adventures remain incredibly popular and are enjoyed the world over.

Spot is an early learner himself, whether off on a trip, going on holiday, starting school or learning to count. Children will identify with these new experiences and grow in confidence with Spot. Spot's friendly face and jolly personality will reassure children that gaining new skills is great fun.
The website games offer considerable opportunities for both skill and language development.

EEK!

EEK! is an electronic magazine for kids in grades 4-8 and is brought to you by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

U.S. Mint for Kids

The United States Mint H.I.P. Pocket Change™ Web site has seven areas:  Games, Toons, Coins and Medals, Coin News, Collectors Club, Mint History, and About this Site. Students can explore U.S. coin history in a fun, interactive way.

Dairy Zone for Kids

 This great site is filled with fun activities for students to learn about the great dairy state of Wisconsin. Kidz Zone has activities, games and quizzes about dairy products.

The IMC has many great books about farming. Come on in and see how "mooooo-velous" this section is!

Kids.gov

Kids.gov is the official kids’ portal to the U.S. government. With links to over 1,200 web pages from educational organizations, schools, and government agencies, it’s geared to the learning levels and interests of girls and boys in grades K-5 and 6-8.

Happy Birthday, Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo is the author of THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX, which was awarded the Newbery Medal; THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE, winner of a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award; BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, a Newbery Honor winner; THE TIGER RISING, a National Book Award Finalist; the picture book GREAT JOY; and five books starring Mercy Watson, including a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. 

6 Year Old Writes Book about Bullying

Check out this six year old that took matters into her own hands and wrote a book about being bullied.

Video Link

Give me liberty, or give me death!

Today marks the birthday of Patrick Henry. (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799) was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786. Henry led the opposition to the Stamp Act of 1765 and is well remembered for his "Give me Liberty, or give me Death!" speech. Along with Samuel Adams and Thomas Paine, he is remembered as one of the most influential exponents of Republicanism, promoters of the American Revolution and Independence, especially in his denunciations of corruption in government officials and his defense of historic rights. After the Revolution, Henry was a leader of the anti-federalists in Virginia who opposed the United States Constitution, fearing that it endangered the rights of the States, as well as the freedoms of individuals.

Happy Birthday, Randolph Caldecott!

Randolph Caldecott was born in 1846. The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children. For more information, visit here.

Spring at Last!

Today marks the first day of spring. After a long, cold winter, we are finally facing warmer days ahead. With the warmer weather comes thoughts of digging in the dirt again for this librarian. My mind is filled with planning and plotting the garden space once again. What crops will I raise ? What flowers will bloom in my yard? Now is a great time to check out the landscaping and gardening section of your local public or school library. Enjoy. Plant. Bloom.

Happy Birthday, Lois Lowry!

"My books have varied in content and style. Yet it seems that all of them deal, essentially, with the same general theme: the importance of human connections. A Summer to Die, my first book, was a highly fictionalized retelling of the early death of my sister, and of the effect of such a loss on a family. Number the Stars, set in a different culture and era, tells the same story: that of the role that we humans play in the lives of our fellow beings."

To learn more about Lois Lowry and her books, visit her website.

Full Moon

Today is the full moon. Scientists tell us it will be the biggest full moon in 20 years. Is it true people act different during a full moon? Check out the Full Moon Legends and Tales site.

The Hate List

Think bullying doesn't exist in our high school? Think again. Here is one tale of two outcasts, Valerie and Nick. Valerie spends the summer hiding out from her friends and anyone else who knows her after her boyfriend Nick puts an effective end to the school year with a violent and deadly rampage, killing students and teachers from their shared “hate list” as well as innocent bystanders before ending his own life. Just as in the dark about Nick’ actions as every one else, Valerie didn’t have any idea that Nick was planning to execute such an event and though she is injured saving another student on the list she is shunned by her community and left to bear the brunt of Nick’s crime entirely on her own.

St. Patrick's Day

Why do we wear green on St. Patrick's Day? What significant annual event takes place in the Chicago River? Discover the history behind St. Patrick's Day by visiting History.com

Collapse: Why Civilizations Fall

Explore the collapse of four ancient civilizations. You'll learn what happens when a society collapses and how archaeologists find and interpret evidence. You can visit the Maya city of Copán and search for clues to its collapse. You can also try your hand at "garbage-ology" and study what trash can tell us about a society. Collapse: Why Do Civilizations Fall? is a great interactive site for students. Check it out.

The 1900 House

  he sci-fi drama of time travel meets true-life drama in THE 1900 HOUSE -- a new four-part documentary that "transports" an actual modern family from 1999 back to life in 1900. Public television viewers will have the chance to vicariously experience a time-travel journey back to everyday, middle-class life in Victorian London. The adventurous Bowler Family spent three months living in a townhouse carefully restored to reproduce the ambiance and amenities of the turn of the century. As a result, THE 1900 HOUSE explores the radical changes in family and domestic life that have occurred over the past 100 years through scientific and technological innovations.The IMC also has this series available on VHS.

Skype in the Classroom

Skype in the Classroom invites teachers to create profiles that include their locations and interests. Browse the profiles of other teachers you can help or can help you and your students through Skype. When you've found someone you can add him or her to your Skype contacts.

Applications for Education
Teachers have been connecting through Skype for a while now, but until now the only way to find other teachers was through other networks like Twitter and Classroom 2.0. Now teachers can find collaboration partners within the Skype environment.

America's Story

America's Story is brought to you from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the largest library in the world and the nation's library. The site was designed especially with young people in mind, but there are great stories for people of all ages, and we hope children and their families will want to explore this site together. 

Here, you can discover what Abraham Lincoln had in his pockets on the night he was assassinated. (You will be surprised.) Or you can read about other "Amazing Americans" such as Buffalo Bill Cody and his "Wild West" show; the heroism of Harriet Tubman, who helped many slaves escape bondage; the music of jazz great Duke Ellington; or the inventions of Thomas Edison. (You will even be able to see his first motion picture!)

Open Library

The Open Library is a part of the Internet Archive. The Open Library is a collection of more than one million free ebook titles. The collection is cataloged by a community of volunteer online librarians. The ebooks in the Open Library can be read online, downloaded to your computer, read on Kindle and other ereader devices, and embedded into other sites.

Little Bird Tales

Little Bird Tales was created to help nurture children's creativity and imagination while simultaneously creating one of a kind childhood treasures that can easily be shared. Provides a safe web environment for children, free of advertising, merchandising and links to other sites.

International Children's Digital Library

The International Children's Digital Library hosts thousands of books in 54 languages from more than 60 countries. Visitors are free to browse the library and read books without having to register. If you choose to register you can save your page while reading a book and create a personal bookshelf. ICDL offers free iPhone and iPad apps for reading books on those devices.

You can browse the ICDL by age group, by genre, by language, by book length, and even by the color of the books' covers. Once you've found a book you can flip through it page by page or select an individual page from the grid display of the book's contents.

Digital Storytelling with the iPad

 Digital Storytelling can transform your students' writing into a visual masterpiece that is filled with voice and emotion, while enhancing critical thinking skills.  The iPad takes digital storytelling to a new level by making the process easier, and even more engaging for students of all grade levels as well as for their teachers.  

This site will help guide you in what you need for success in the iPad Digital Storytelling classroom.

Once Upon a Time....

Once upon a time there was a librarian who loved her students. They read books in an enchanted media center filled with magical books. They read and read and read from sunrise to sunset.


...............and lived happily ever after.

Fancy a daily dose of literature? Just sign up for DailyLit, select a book (the emphasis is on out-of-copyright classics, and most are free), then set aside a few minutes a day to read the pages the site e-mails to you at whatever time you choose.

Storybook Characters Come to Life

Some sixth grade students checking out my fairy tale wig collection. They were good sports and pretty excited about the whole idea of being a character from a book.

How Are You Using Technology?

According to Mathew Needleman, Creating Lifelong Learners, to reach high levels of engagement, thinking, and to narrow the digital divide, teachers must turn technology over to students and guide them as they become their own content producers and influencers on the community outside the classroom. He provides the following illustration to help teachers see the impact of student created projects

Embracing new technology is not always easy, but requires patience, determination and a commitment to assist digital kids in learning what skills they need to become successful in our world today. Visit the library for the latest resources on how to create dynamic lessons for our digital kids.

Twitter

Twitter is the best way to discover what’s new in your world.

 An information network

Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations.
At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. Each Tweet is 140 characters in length, but don’t let the small size fool you—you can share a lot with a little space. Connected to each Tweet is a rich details pane that provides additional information, deeper context and embedded media. You can tell your story within your Tweet, or you can think of a Tweet as the headline, and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos, videos and other media content. See it in action.

You don’t have to tweet to get value from Twitter

You don’t have to build a web page to surf the web and you don’t have to tweet to enjoy Twitter. Whether you tweet 100 times a day or never, you still have access to the voices and information surrounding what interests you. You can contribute, or just listen in and retrieve up to the second information. Some people never tweet, they simply use Twitter as a way to get the latest information on their interests.

Have you Tweeted yet? Now is the time to give it a try. Follow @nlslibrarian

Stories Online

Stories Online provides access to hundreds of digital books for your students to explore. Find your favorite and share with a friend.

LibrarySpot

LibrarySpot offers a one-stop reference experience for the serious student. The site is full of online virtual libraries, reference material, online newspapers, ebooks and so much more. This is something worth the time spent exploring. Check it out.

Welcome to the Web

Welcome to the Web is a series of lessons for teaching young students how to navigate the Internet. There are seven lessons in the series although the first lesson is really just an introduction to the site. The other lessons in the series teach kids the basic vocabulary of the web, online safety, and search techniques. The series concludes with a challenge exercise in which students test their new knowledge and skills. Every lesson in the series comes with an optional worksheet in PDF form.