Treasures Trove

Please check this out!
I follow a blog called iLearn Technology.  I have it linked at this blog rather than using RSS in Bloglines.  Yesterday Kelly Tenkely posted an additional creation of hers to help her teachers using the Treasures reading program.   I believe that this post  http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=2973
would be absolutely wonderful for you to use once you get everything figured out.  You can also link to a previously created supplement that she designed for her staff.  It looks at first glance to have a whole lot of additinal fun choices for your students.  Is this cool or what?!
If we can make learning fun its just that much better for our students.  They will never want to stop learning.  And isn't that the point really?

Go Go Glogster

I finally got some time today to visit the web site called Glogster: Poster Yourself only to find out that they had an application specially designed for educators. Glogster EDU

I absolutely loved creating a poster about the two media centers that I plan on using on my Smartboard during parent open houses. New School Year In the Media Centers This application allows you to add text, images, video, sound, drawings and change walls(backgrounds).  It looked like you could also add data but it appeared that you had to pay for that feature.  Everything else about this web 2.0 application is free, free, free!  Also when you add anything you have the option to put frames around it.  When you sign up you are allowed to add up to 100 students who can also make fantastic posters using Glogster.  What a wonderful interactive way for students to create and share class assignments.  Have a wonderful week staff as we gather to get ready for our students.

Coming Up For Air

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT
At the stroke of midnight on August 27, 2010 after 12 hours of nearly continuous reading I found myself leaving the dystopian world of Panem, being startled to find myself in the familiar setting of my living room with one word in my mind...WOW.  I had just picked up my copy of Mockingjay that morning when buying a couple of items at WalMart.  I know, I know you are probably thinking, what took her so long to get a copy?!
Well, I have a quirk, one of many actually.  When I read a superb book like Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games followed by the sequel the next year knowing that I will probably have to wait another year for the final book, I wait to read book two.  I had just started Catching Fire on Wednesday finishing it up on Thursday night.  It was so good that there was no way I was going to take a chance on whether the mail would deliver book three the following day.  Of course, now I have two copies but I know my students will be using them.
And how do I describe Mockingjay to you?  I will tell you that the quality of writing does not waver.  You just get sucked into this shell of the former United States like you did in the first two books from the very first sentence. The action, suspense, psychological ploys used by characters and plot twists were so intense that sometimes I had to remind myself to breathe. Characters you have come to love or hate were so finely drawn in subtle nuances that you are actually cheering out loud or softly crying.  Katniss Everdeen, so strong, a survivor in every way and yet so vulnerable has never come to life as she did in this final book.  Peeta, her partner in that Hunger Game that broke all the rules and sparked the rebellion, has become a deadly puppet. (Or has he?)  Gale, her hunting partner from District 12 who understands her better than any other, has begun to shift his alliances.  As the plot pulled me along I could not help but wonder who would be left?  Who would be with who?  You just never knew.

And that is the sheer beauty of good writing...when the days of the story become your days...when you look up from the pages of the book and expect to see the characters in front of you...when your surroundings fade away and you...are...there.

This trilogy of Suzanne Collins will find a place on my shelves right next to Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series and J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.  They are keepers.  They are books to be initially enhaled and later savored again and again.

And just when you thought it couldn't get any better, the buzz begins about casting for the movie. Of course as good as the movies may be, they are never really quite as good as the books.

Hold the phone, stop the presses, put on the brakes...

The final book in the trilogy which began with The Hunger Games followed by Catching Fire is on its way to the shelves of Charlevoix Middle School.  Mockingjay was sent today.  Now I have a real dilemma.  I already have four books started and just received a call from the public library that another book I ordered has arrived.  What's a librarian to do?!  I'll probably drop everything to read Mockingjay because once it gets to school I won't have a chance until next summer.

"Booklist" Bonanza

With no pun intended in the title of this post that is just what the August issue of Booklist is...a spotlight on Westerns and a heads-up on loads of new good titles for students and adults. For those fans of adult chick lit, which includes some of my 8th grade students, Janet Evanovich has a new series starting with Wicked Appetite.  To followers of her books Diesel is back in all his glory.
Diana Galbaldon is entering the graphic novel format with The Exile.  This is a retelling of the original Outlander story from Jamie's viewpoint which promises to reveal new events and insights.
And Xena says that I have to let you know that Dean Koontz has a new book with a canine companion as a character.  This title is called What the night knows. 
This issue also promises that teen books with a paranormal slant will be plentiful--The Nightmarys, The house of dead maids and Nightshade.
It looks like My life as a book will be the perfect recommendation for those who love Diary of a wimpy kid and then some.  For our elementary students who can't get enough of pigs, puns and laughing out loud The adventures of Nanny Piggins and A pig parade is a terrible idea will fill the bill.
Yippee-ki-yay I can't wait for September.

Online Safety Tips for Kids Heading Back to School

It never hurts for we educators and parents to stay on top of what our children are doing online.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/home/886317-312/online_safety_tips_for_kids.html.csp

Tech Things To Try In The Classroom This Year

It will probably be next summer before any of you might try the equivalent of the online tutorial that I took this summer, (http://classroomlearning2.csla.net/), but check out this recent blog entry by Richard Byrne at Free Technology for Teachers called 11 Techy Things for Teachers To Try This Year (http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/08/11-techy-things-for-teachers-to-try.html)

Any one would be great.