Archive
BrainPOP and other subscription goodies
Ben Morley just wrote and asked me re BrainPOP. Yes, we do have a school subscription!
BrainPOP creates animated, curriculum-based content that engages students, supports educators, and bolsters achievement. Award-winning online educational resources include BrainPOP Jr.(K-3), BrainPOP, BrainPOP Español, and BrainPOP ESL. All are supported by BrainPOP Educators, and feature free lesson plans, video tutorials, professional development tools, graphic organizers, best practices, and much more.
The username and password can’t be printed here. Go to the above school webpage to find them.
What else can you find there? Login/passwords for BookFlix and TumbleBooks, Global Newsbank, Atomic Learning, etc.
Atomic Learning gives you instant access to technology tutorials on things like:
- iPod Touch
- iPad
- The iPad as an i-Reader: an orientation for educators
- Podcasting and Vodcasting workshop
- plus more
Go have a look at our subscriptions….. Let us know if you have any problems logging into anything.
Note: Encyclopedia Britannica is the only one where we do NOT have a login/password for out-of-school access.
Inquiry with Kath Murdoch – Nov. 8-10, 2010
Kath Murdoch returns one year later….
I’ve put various materials and links — all relating to Kath — on the Teacher Library portal. See the Kath Murdoch page. (There are still a couple of books of hers available in the library, and every grade level should have a copy of her Classroom Connections.)
The schedule for her visit has been posted on eastonline.info (see here).
Here are my (Google Docs) notes from her visit with us Nov. 9, 2009. For those of you who were here, the notes should jog your memory. For those of you who weren’t, it will give you some idea of what we did.
A few weeks after her visit, we did a walk around each other’s teaching spaces, looking for evidence of the kinds of learning Kath promotes. Click here to see a few pictures I took that day.
p.s. In preparation for Kath’s visit — and in thinking about inquiry in general, I recommend you read Kathy Short’s chapter “Inquiry as a Stance on Curriculum” in the book Taking the PYP Forward — which you can find online here on the Inquiry page on the Resourcing the PYP website.
(We do have a copy of Taking the PYP Forward in the library, but it’s still being processed. Will be available next week.)
Hands on Literacy – Sat. Nov. 13
A reminder that you have until November 1st to sign up for the one-day professional development day
Hands on Literacy in the 21st century classroom and library
Time/location: Saturday, November 13, 2010 — 9:00 AM – 4:30PM at Tanglin Trust School
I’m on the committee organizing it (so I highly recommend it!) and am responsible for the above website.
In connection with the conference, over the holiday I created my first mobile website as well as a QR (Quick Response) code to allow people to easily pull up the mobile website using their iPhone or smartphone.
QR codes are my latest thrill. Have you seen them?
(NB: first download a free QR Code reader app for your smartphone – here’s someone who recommends a few)
You then point your iPhone/iPod Touch camera at the code and it automatically loads the information – e.g., the URL into your browser.
QR (Quick Response) Codes are a way of providing easy access to extra information.
Read the Wikipedia entry on QR Codes
Kaywa is a popular QR code generator.
Here’s a Google Doc listing interesting ways of possibly using QR codes in the classroom
If you want me to demonstrate them, stop by my desk.
Halloween….
Yes, we have lots of books relating to Halloween – plus plenty of ghost stories and generally scary stuff.
See this Resource List in library catalog: Halloween
(If you don’t see your favorite book here, leave me a recommendation in a Comment.)
Plus this related video book – perfect for playing on the IWB:
- BookFlix* — Dem Bones (the accompanying non-fiction book is about the bones in the human body)
*BookFlix is one of the two video book subscriptions we have – along with TumbleBooks – both available from the library catalog homepage. If the sites don’t automatically log you in, you need to use the login/password information which you can find under Resources & Information on the Staff-East page on the school website. Remember: both these sites can be accessed from anywhere as long as you have the login/password information.
Alternatively, you can play the game “Pumpkin Remover” (this week only) with the kids on your IWB. (And if you’ve never played “Red Remover“, you’re in for a treat. A compulsive game that makes you think….)
NB: Tampines staff
I’m sending these four picture books over with Ernie tomorrow, checked out to Kathryn, for you to share.
This is a totally comforting story of a girl who finds ghosts in her house, so she washes them in the washing machine and then makes them useful around the house. Beautiful orange, black, and white images
A Halloween version of “The Big Turnip” — how can they pull up the big pumpkin to make pumpkin pie?
A cumulative story full of noises — be sure to read ahead of time so you can act out accordingly.
A Halloween version of “The House That Jack Built”
Starting over…
Starting over, this time on a WordPress blog. Sorry, the Google Site announcement-style page just wasn’t cutting it, though I’ll still use the “Teacher Library Portal” Google Site to collect useful information.
Previous posts/info can still be found at Teach Buzz.
Give me some time to get this looking flash…….
Comments from Katie 