Volume 2 | Issue 18
Parkway School District
Know & Go
Updates @your Library Summer Reading Program at StL County Library The County Library’s Summer Reading Club (SRC) will begin May 18th. This year’s SRC will be online with exciting new enhancements, allowing students to earn virtual badges, by not only reading, but also attending library events, playing online educational games, and visiting local cultural institutions. (What a great idea to implement into our own libraries). Here is how get SRC started in your building: ● Share the SRC promotional videos (available mid-April) with students and parents through the library website or online newsletters. ● Schedule a visit from a library staff member to promote SRC. ● Offer incentives to your students who complete the SRC. Examples: free Homecoming dance ticket, pizza party, coupon for an ice cream cone. The County library will be offering an incentive to elementary schools again this year. Schools with the highest percentage completion based on total number of students will earn a free performance (ex. juggler, magician) to be scheduled during the first part of the 2015/2016 school year. With the Summer Reading Club’s online module, it will be possible to run reports by school and provide schools with participation numbers if requested. If you have any immediate questions, please contact your local branch or feel free to contact Nicole Clawson nclawson@slcl.org
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” ~Plato Contact Information Bill Bass Twitter: billbass Skype: bill.bass3 Kim Lindskog Twitter: klindskog Skype: klindskog Scoopit:www.scoop.it/t/know-go ISSUU Newsletter Stacks: 2015-2015 2013-2014 Nancy Ikemeyer Skype: nancy,ikemeyer.pearl Twitter: NancyIkemeyer
Guess the library supporter @your Library Answer on the last page
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GOT NEWS
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Resource Roundup Technology, Research & Learning Resources HOTS for Teachers: 25 Top Resources for Higher Orders Thinking Skills: In the Top 10 web stories from techlearning.com Laura Turner shares resources to integrate Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS)into classroom curricula. As HOTS become more acknowledged as necessary for students to learn, teachers must also learn how to incorporate these skills into the curriculum. The following articles and sites offer excellent information, ideas and support for the integration of HOTS into existing curriculum and student skill sets. FastFig With FastFig you can quickly edit and solve everything from arithmetic to calculus (you will need an account). Type and share interactive math documents online and with mobile devices. It is the digital solution to solve math and format it beautifully on any internet connected device. FastFig makes math easy to type, edit, and learn equations, it is a free CAS (Computer Algebra system). FastFig documents are stored in the cloud and can be exported at any time for print, local storage, or social sharing. Bill Gates Names 6 Promising Tools for Educators In his blog, Bill Gates identified six promising digital products designed for education: ■ BetterLesson hosts lesson plans for English and math ■ ThinkCERCA helps teachers create reading assignments that push their students’ critical thinking skills ■ LightSail, an e-reader app with a library of 80,000 texts ■ Fine Tune, designed to help teachers practice evaluating their students’ writing assignments ■ Edmodo, to communicate with students and make assignments Read the full description at Gate’s Notes
Character Postcards Get students excited about reading and engaged with books by using postcards. Create a postcard from a character in a book to your class about their adventures in the story. Examples might be something like: ● Harry Potter telling the class about Hogwarts ● Cinderella talking about going to the ball ● William from Goodnight Mr. Tom talking about life on the countryside Encourage letter writing skills (narrative text) and don’t forget the amazing picture. Google slides would work great for this activity. Also talk about selecting and using creative commons or public domain images. Adapted from https://www.tes.co.uk
Crumbles Have fun with this one. Create a video message collage. A site that collects pop-culture video clips of single words which you type. Use it for an interesting twist to giving instructions or a learning objective.
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Google Google Classroom Updates When Google rolled out its solution for disseminating and collecting student digital work, Google Classroom, it was with the understanding that they were going to move slow and keep it simple. Archiving Classes The first change that came about this past week was the ability to archive classes. As semesters change, so do classes. Perhaps you still want the information from that old class, but you don’t want your home page getting cluttered. Now teachers can archive classes, taking the class off of their home page and making it read-only. If teachers archive a class, they will not be able to create assignments and students will not be able to turn in assignments, but they will have access to all the resources and work. ● To archive a class, click on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the class listing and select “Archive.” The class will be removed from your home page, but it can still be accessed in the Classroom folder in your Drive or by selecting “Archive” in the Classroom Menu. Go to http://blog.synergyse.com site to see the how-to images. ● If you archive a class and decide you didn’t want to...no worries! You can restore the class to full function by accessing it from the Archived section of your Classroom menu, clicking on the three vertical dots in the top right corner of the class listing and select “Restore.” Assignments Page Another new feature that has been well received by teachers is the Assignments Page. Before, if you wanted to grade assignments, you had to open the individual class and then find the individual assignment. Now teachers can access all assignments from all classes with one click. ● When you click on the Classroom Menu, in the top left corner of the page, one of the choices is now “Assignments.” When you click on this, a listing of all of your assignments from all of your classes will be made available. You can click the links to access the submissions. Go to http://blog.synergyse.com site to see the how-to images. ● Further, when you are done reviewing or grading an assignment, you can take it out of that list by selecting “Mark as Reviewed” from the menu attached to each assignment. This will put the assignment in the “Reviewed” page so you know what you have gotten done and what you need to work on. Mobile Apps Google Classroom now has native iOS and Android apps which offer greater functionality for mobile users. ● The mobile app allows users to share from other apps on the device. When a student is in another app and clicks “share”, Classroom will now be an option. So, they can attach pictures, links, or PDFs with Classroom very easily! ● Another nice feature contained in the mobile app for Classroom is the ability to take a snapshot and add it directly to Classroom. In the assignment page, the student can activate the camera of their device and take a picture of whatever they were working on and turn it in. Do you want proof that they did the frog dissection? Just have the student snap a picture and turn it in! ● Every time the Classroom mobile app is opened, the stream and assignments are automatically cached so that you have offline access. This helps eliminate lack of internet connection as an excuse for not getting assignments done. Teachers will love this! More features will certainly be coming, but please be patient! Also, keep sending feedback to the Google Classroom team and let them know what would make your Classroom experience even more powerful! This update provided from th e http://blog.synergyse.com/2015/01/new-features-in-google-classroom.html
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@your Library
Personalized Learning EdcampSTL An Unconference - February 7, 2015!
HEC-TV Programing @your LIbrary http://www.hectv.org contains programs and materials. Great for those large screen TVs in our libraries. Library Lovers’ Month @your Library librarysupport.net/librarylovers Take time to thank those who support your library and be sure to record and share any kudos, great comments, or accolades that you receive about your work and the school library. Include these in monthly and yearly reports as well February Celebrations @your Library From School Library Monthly President’s Day @your Library From the Classroom Magic blog there are some activities and videos to watch for President’s Day. One video come from School Tube and it is an audio recording of So You Want to be President.
At an UNconference, the agenda is created by the attendees at the beginning of the meeting. Anyone who wants to initiate a discussion on a topic can claim a time and a space. UNconferences typically feature open discussions rather than having a single speakers at the front of the room lecturing, although any format is permitted. This form of conference is particularly useful when the attendees generally have a high level of expertise or knowledge in the field the conference convenes to discuss, unlocking the creative genius of the attendees so that all may learn and be inspired! http://www.edcampstl.org/ Bring Learning to Life! How Augmented Reality Can Transform the Classroom Tuesday, Jan. 27 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time REGISTER HERE Being A Tech-Savvy School Leader Thursday, Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time REGISTER HERE You Need It: Reading Promotional Programming That Really Works! Tuesday, Mar. 31 at 4 p.m. Eastern Time Archived Webinars View Dynamic Databases: Revolutionizing Today's Research, Teaching, and Learning
Book Art @your Library What to do with all those old books? Elle Decoration has ideas.
Teen Tech Week @your LIbrary Invite teens to celebrate YALSA's Teen Tech Week, March 8-14, 2015. Posters and bookmarks highlighting the topics of makerspace safety, digital citizenship, as well as copyright and fair use are a great addition to your celebration and throughout the year.
School Library Month @your Library The 30th Anniversary is coming up in April! It’s never too early to start planning the library program celebration. http://www.ala.org/aasl/slm
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Student Opportunities
About Books
Goodreads Top 100 Books Amazon partnered with Student Technology Conference The 2015 Student Technology Conference (StuTech 2015), a student- Goodreads to create a list of the 100 books to read in a organized global conversation about technology in education, takes place Saturday, January 31st from 9am - 9pm US-Eastern Standard lifetime. How many can you Time. This online event (held in Blackboard Collaborate) is open to all check off your list. Scroll down and will feature student keynote speakers and conference on the redefinedmom.com presentations by students in grades 6-12. Go to http: blog to see the complete list. //studenttechnologyconference.com for the hour-by-hour schedule Here is just a teaser to get you in your own time zone and links to attend each session started: 1.
College Essay Contest Penguin Books has launched an Out of the Easy college scholarship essay contest for students! This title has been nominated for MASL's 2015-2016 Gateway Readers Award. The contest is open to 12th grade students and homeschooled students aged 17 or 18, and the prize is a $5,000 scholarship towards college. Click here to learn more about this contest and how to get your students involved. .
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St. Louis County Library will begin a new program series in January designed to help teens gain skills to transition to adulthood. The series is called In the Know @ Your Library and will explore topics such as budgeting, interview tips, how to buy your first car and more. A full program schedule is available here. The series is free and open to the public, but registration may be required.
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To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 1984 by George Orwell Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling The Lord of the Rings by J.R. R. Tolkien The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White Little Women by Louisa May Alcott The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
Guess the library supporter @your Library
Answer: Neil Young
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