Internet Media Specials

Looking to show your administration how necessary school libraries and teacher-librarians are? Here is a terrific interview. Perhaps your administration should taken a listen as well. Tell them it's only 30 minutes out of their day....

When I ask students what they think a pathfinder is, they don't know exactly what it is. "Take apart the word", I say, emphasizing path-finder.  "Finding a path?", one student replies. "You're on the right track," I respond. A good library pathfinder is created by the teacher-librarian and provides the list of print and non-print resources necessary for a particular topic. Most of the time, resources that are available in that library are shared in the pathfinder. Not all pathfinders will look alike and have the same print and non-print sources. (See "Pathfinder Samples" on the page.)  Teachers can request that a specific pathfinder be created to go along with the class curriculum, i.e. "Romeo and Juliet". That is a very specific pathfinder, as opposed to "Shakespeare".   The Dewey Decimal number for the topic area should be listed so students know what area of the school or public library to find the book. (Make sure you have good signage.) Below you will find Buffy Hamilton's excellent video tutorial on how she creates a pathfinder.



ABOUT PATHFINDERS
How to Make a Good Library Pathfinder-  from Amy C. Mann, MLS

Pathfinders: Helping Students Find Paths to Information- article from Information Today, Inc.

Template for Creating Pathfinders


SAMPLE LIBRARY PATHFINDERS
ipl2 Pathfinder Listing- 10 categories

Methuen High School Pathfinders

Monarch Library Pathfinders- K-5

Pathfinder Index- for teens

Pathfinders for K-5 Graders

Ridgefield Park Junior-Senior High School- over 120 pathfinders!

Sand Creek Middle School Pathfinders

Springfield Township Library Pathfinders

Thematic Pathfinders for All Ages

Thomas Jefferson High School Research Guides

So it all started when a colleague had his students create their own coat of arms, and then they got involved in their family trees for a display outside the library. One thing lead to another, and I decided to post resources for genealogy, the "study of tracing of lines of descent or development." (Google dictionary) It's a fascinating process.

Rather than re-post the resources for each holiday, I updated the master listing for September to June.
You can find Black History Month, Groundhog Day, Presidents' Day, Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year here. Look on the right column of this blog under Books for Reluctant Readers.

One year ago, I posted 32 general sites about the weather, including lesson plans, printouts and videos. This morning in my kindergarten classes, we talked about the impending snowstorm, and it was obvious that the kids had no idea what was ahead. Currently a blizzard is on its way towards the northeast part of the country, (I am looking at 2 feet of snow in the next 24 hours...) I wanted to provide adequate resources to explain how this differs from just a snowstorm.

PHOTO AT THE LEFT: Romeo looks out at the snowfall in 2013.
© J.Greller





11 Facts About Blizzards

12 Historic Photos of the World's Most Formidable Snowstorms- from The Week





Blizzard- earth facts and information

Blizzard Lesson- includes printables





Blizzard Sentence Examples- use "blizzard" in a sentence

Blizzard Slams of the Northeast- NY Times slide show

Blizzards: Winter's Perfect Storm- photo essays

Blizzards and Snow Themed Page- from Teacher Planet

Build a Kit- get ready for an emergency

Disaster Preparedness Coloring Book- winter storms is on pages 19, 20

Pictures of Blizzards- from Google image search



Science of a Blizzard- from History.com

Snow and Blizzards-  Q and A from Scholastic

Snow Facts for Kids



Top 10 Big, Bad Blizzards- slide show from TIME

Weather: Adjectives Worksheet for Snow



Winter Storms- from WeatherWizKids

Winter Word Search Puzzle

Young students, ESL and special education students will find this new visual encyclopedia very useful. The interface is user-friendly and the current information is easy to follow.



There is a section for quizzes and videos, fun facts and galleries, but at this time the information is very limited. I'm interested in seeing how DK expands the encyclopedia to cover many more areas of study, especially the history section, which covers only nine areas. DK Find Out! is a site to watch.....

H/T Larry Ferlazzo for the link.

Those of you who read my blog know how I feel about the font comic sans. In fact, I posted Are You a Comic Criminal? in May 2013, which directed readers to a website with a presentation about why you shouldn't be using comic sans. Today I learned yet another reason why this font should not be used: this font uses more ink when printing than many fonts. Here's an infographic which explains. If you are not yet convinced about how unpopular this font is, take a look at what I found when I Googled "comic sans hate". You will be surprised how many results came up: 572,000! Still a comic sans fan? Watch these presentations below. I want to convert all of you......LOL. (If you want a list of alternative comic fonts, try these I found on dafont.com. NOTE: use discretion; some resemble comic sans..............)

Last year I posted some cartoons for teachers. Today's post is for teacher-librarians, or media specialists. They have also been added to the page for Teacher-Librarians.






 

Although I have been active on Twitter, I have neglected my blog since the holidays. Glad to say that I'm back and ready to provide you with awesome resources. In April 2013, I posted a list of 17 Chrome extensions to use with your Google Chrome browser. I have updated this list (added, deleted) to include those extensions you and students shouldn't live without. I have starred * my absolute favorites. If you'd like to browse the Chrome Web Store, click HERE.



*AdBlock Plus- blocks ads, malware and tracking

Autocopy - Automatically copies text or links when they are selected. Imagine how many times a day you click Control or Command + C. Now, you don’t have to!

Chrome Web Store Launcher- quick access to all your Chrome apps

EasyBib Tools- provides students with instant citing of a webpage




Evernote Web Clipper- clip and save things to your Evernote account


goo.gl URL Shortener- shorten the URL of any long address; if you use Twitter, this can be really handy

Google Calendar- easily connect to your events on Google calendar

*Google Dictionary- highlight a word on a web page to get the definition


Google Similar Pages- explore pages similar to the one you are on; extension appears in Omnibox

*History Eraser- "Deletes typed URLs, Cache, Cookies, your Download and Browsing History...instantly, with just 1-click on the Eraser button!"

LastPass- extension manages all passwords with one master password



OneTab- converts all your tabs into one list; saves memory

Polarr Photo Editor RAW- crop and rotate photos, use advanced photo filters

Quickmark QR Code Extension- create and read QR codes on the web

*Readability- eliminates clutter on a web page and makes reading easier


Save as PDF- saves a webpage as a PDF (does not work with all formats, i.e. .ASPX)

Save to Google Drive- save web content and screen captures to your Google Drive

*Screencastify- a simple video screen capture software for Chrome. (You need a camera or a Chrome Book)



Send From Gmail- quickly compose and email with a link to send someone

Simple Highlighter- highlights, annotates and translates

Snagit- Take a screenshot, screen capture, or screen video recording. Collaborate and show what you know.

SpeakIt! - Select text, and it will read it to you. (Great for ESL and Special Ed students!)



TLDR- summarizes a long article for you