It's Summer!

Well...at least it feels like it today.


I came across this "essential books" list for kids from Common Sense Media in my daily reading and thought I would share it.  I normally don't like summer reading lists because they are heavy on the "classics" of literature.  I like the classics but they don't inspire me to read when the weather is beautiful.  It's hard to read Dickens at the beach...let along any time.

This list is entirely different and I am quite impressed.

Great books, contemporary and a diverse collection for boys and girls.

I would also recommend giving the Common Sense Media site a perusal.  Over the last three years, the site has really blossomed into a "too-good-to-miss" website.

• Movie reviews
• Great lists for everything (Books, apps, movies...)
• Well done videos for use in class (like this one on Following a Digital Trail)
• Media-oriented lesson plans with handouts, videos, activities and standards alignment
• WAY too many resources for me to list here!

I guess this would be MY summer "reading" list.

This is seriously FREE!

Please thank your friendly librarians and media specialists.

Go ahead.  Maybe right now.

Regardless of our bookish nature, we love compliments and flattery as much as the next professional.  Maybe more since we spend our days sequestered with books and digital devices.

Here's why I say this...Badgerlink.

Badgerlink is a sizable collection of resources purchased and organized by the DPI's Division for Libraries, Technology and Community Learning.

Why am I so amped up about Badgerlink?  (Was that like 80s, or what?)

• EBSCO search...search thousands of newspaper and journal articles by topic or tag.  Need to find an article for research data (or want your students to find one)?  Use Badgerlink for a quick and easy search for FULL articles.

• History Reference Center...Search or browse topics by category or by popular resource to find articles from reliable sources, chapters of books AND firsthand accounts/documents on a variety of historical topics.  WOW.

• NoveList K-8...Great review site for childrens' to YA books.  The site includes the professional reviews as well as other interesting tidbits about the books, breaks the books down by genre and is searchable by age, lexile, reading and interest levels.  Great way to find new and interesting books!

• Wisconsin Media Lab/ECB...A detailed list of videos available either online (directly from the site) or part of current PBS programming (including show times) on a wide variety of subjects.  The online streaming videos play at high quality and look great on SmartBoards.

• Soundzabound...THE royalty free music and sounds library for education!  

• Encyclopedia Britannica...the elementary and middle school versions.

• If you haven't been to Teachingbooks, I highly recommend it.  Meet the Author videos, book guides and lesson plans, book readings by the author, reader's theater videos and so much more.  The resources are all linked by common core standards.

• Recollection Wisconsin...Beautiful images of Wisconsin's history.  Search by category or by map to uncover timeless photos.  The photos are provided by local historical societies and public libraries all over the state.

• So much more!  Professional crafted research guide, Science Reference Center, kids search tools,  LitFinder, bilingual resources and databases,...

Good hunting!

Limitless

As part of my job, I get to do some pretty interesting things.

I have always been interested in how the brain copes and adapts particularly as it relates to technology.  I know that our children's brains are wired differently and able to handle tasks at different and multiple levels.  Research is really just beginning to see how differently.

Here's a great sample sent to me by the creator of a multitasking test to see how well your brain can handle multiple objectives at one time.

Created by http://Open-Site.org

I would encourage you to try it...takes about 5 minutes...and curious to hear how you did and your opinions.

As a precursor, I have difficulty switching between tasks (way above the average) but I rock at handling multiple tasks simultaneously with accuracy and speed.  That's my confession for the day.  Still looking for my "Limitless" potential.


Special thanks go out to Allison for sharing!  Looking forward to seeing the research and results...

Pin-It to Win-It

Social media has truly exploded over the last decade.  I think we all get that.

Facebook is huge and we use it to keep in touch with family and friends, share interesting photos, show-off our kids or just be social (social media, right?).  Lots of schools and businesses are using Facebook to promote themselves as well.  Fast, easy, efficient and able to connect with multiple users instantaneously.

One of my favorite social media (I use social media to describe any tool that shares information, pictures and videos digitally) is Pinterest.  If you are not on Pinterest, get an account and go!

Pinterest allows you to quickly "pin" interesting websites, videos, images to a visually organized "board."  Basically, you are bookmarking your favorite places.  Remember Delicious or Diigo?  Yeah, me either.

The beauty of Pinterest:

• Any time, any where...

Pinterest has apps for computers, iPads, smartphones, etc...Ever have a chat with someone and they mention this great website and you don't write it down and forget the address?  With your phone, just Pin It during the conversation.

• It's a graphical organizer!

We are visual people.  Our brains work better and we remember more if we see something.  You can organize all your pins under boards.

• Boards

You can find a board for anything.  Literally.  As a professional tool, I search for Common Core Resources and find hundreds of boards with thousands of useful tools to teach the core.  I can also search by grade, by topic, by science experiment, by business, etc... This is truly an awesome professional tool.

• Sharing

Pinterest is a social tool for sharing and commenting on other's pins.  Great way to make connections with other people interested in the same things you are and with other professionals.

• Recipes

OK.  I added this one for myself.  Truth be told, I have NOT found a bad recipe yet from anything to drinks for summer to dinners to healthy snacks for my kids.  The recipes on here are people's favorites, ones they make often and trust.  Truly the best of the best.  My wife and I no longer have a cookbook of family recipes...we have Pinterest.

I encourage you to give it a shot.  OR, if you have a Pinterest account, let me know...so I can follow you.  Also feel free to click on my Pinterest site(s) to see what its all about.

CESA 6 Media Center

My Personal Boards