Keeping+Current+Gems

Posted for 5/31/10 [] from School Library Journal, May 24, 2010 Lauren Barack from School Library Journal writes about how a librarian creates a lesson plan out of the recent oil spill.The Librarian developed a LibGuide to share with the students.This LibGuide included news links, a Delicious linkroll, an RSS feed, and a Google Map that compares the relative size of the spill to Manhattan, Paris, and other global cities. The students became curious after seeing the information and their overall interest increased.

[]from LM_NET, March 2010 This is a great LM_NET post of a HIT list of School Library Coffee Houses or School Libraries turned into Coffee Houses.Read about what other libraries have done to include what they serve, what they sell, the activities that can be done and how they center the coffee house days around special events.

[]from LM_NET, June 2010 This LM_NET post is a list of ideas of things to do with kindergarten as the year is coming to a close.Some of the suggestions are similar but all it takes is one idea to spark your interest and you could be off and running with a new lesson plan.

Posted for 6/7 [] by LM_NET, March 2010. This posting is about book displays for a High School. There are ideas for book displays to be used for bulletin boards and also for displays throughout the library.

[] by LM_NET, March 2010. We all know how wonderful the volunteers are that come into our libraries. This posting is about wonderful ways to recognize them and celebrate them. A nice assortment of ways to show them you appreciate what they do.

[] by LM_NET, March 2010. This posting is a reference to anyone having problems with children not understanding why some students get different treatment than others. The original post was from a librarian who had a second grade teacher came to her requesting books that could help her explain why some students need a stand up desk, more time on the computer or other accommodations.

Posted for 6/14 [] //“The Library of Congress overhauls its portal to primary source”// by School Library Journal, Sept 2009. This is an article from last year from School Library Journal. It appears to describe the updates made to the Library of Congress that Linda was talking about in class the other night. It’s called the Teachers Page and there is so much useful information on there. Worth taking a minute and looking to see what’s there.

[] //“Mining K-12 gold from the National Science Digital Library”// by School Library Journal, Feb 2010. This article is about how difficult it has become to find science and math databases that do not cost too much. The National Science Digital Library is free and has lesson plans, digital downloads, streaming video and collaborative tools.

[] by LM_NET, March 2010. An Art teacher came to the librarian looking for books and/or articles on WWII looted artwork for her high school classes. She was looking for history and details around the topic. The hit list consists of various books, multiple websites and articles. This should make for a great reference guide for the art teacher.

Posted for 6/21 [] //“Take Pictures, Tell Stories: Flickr Extras”// by ALA TechSource, June 2010. This article was written by Cindi Trainor. She talks about Flickr and how there is so much more to Flickr than pictures. She gives good examples of creative aspects about Flickr which you may not have known about. She also talks about a seminar she went to that was about taking better photos for telling better stories in your library.

[] //“Time lost and found”// by Sunset, April 2010. Ok, so this article is not about librarians, lesson plans or school. It’s about taking time for your self and how important that is. Most of us work, go to school and have families. Take a moment to read this article. You deserve it.

[] //“Keyboard vs. Cursive”// from LM_NET, March 2010. This post has to do with a pet peeve of mine. It boggles my mind that cursive is not considered important enough to teach students. In this HIT list there is a librarian who is staying after school to teach students cursive. Shouldn’t this be done by the English department? What is going on here?

[] //“Best Poetry Websites”//, from LM_NET, March 2010. If you are ever in the need of poetry websites, there are many in this post. Lisa Von Drasek posted a list of some really great poetry websites for you to reference. The links are broken down by authors, organizations and types of poems.

Posted for 6/28 [] //“Back Talk: What a Library Closure Taught Me”// by Library Journal, March 2010. This is an interesting article by Edwin Battistella who works in Ashland, Oregon. She talks about the closing of a public library and how amazed she was of the publics support to get the library system reopened. [] //“Incentives for good behaviors”// by LM_NET, March 2010. This is an extremely long but wonderful list of good ideas. Good ideas as to what kind of incentives you can give your students to reward them for good behavior. Need some ideas? Read this post. [] //“School Library Media Month”// by LM_NET, March 2010. March is School Library Media Month. If you are looking for fun things to do then this post may help. I like the suggestion of the March Reading Madness. For those who like basketball this might be fun.