Thing 19: Social Reading & Book Stuff

Here's another topic I've been wanting to explore.  A parent just told me today how much she loves her Goodreads scanner for when she's in a book store, and the librarians in my district have been debating if Goodreads, Shelfari, or something else is best for sharing what we're reading with each other and with our students.  (After working on Thing 14, I'm also excited to add a lot of the book/literacy apps (such as Overdrive, http://daybydayny.org, etc.) to my "Library in Your Pocket.") In Thing 19 I browsed through most of the topics, then focused on the book sharing since that's  been on my agenda.  I've heard of Library Thing, but haven't explored it before. Right from the registration process on good reads I liked it better than Shelfari.  In Shelfari I found rating books cumbersome and boring.  In Goodreads I quickly found myself excited to see so many of my favorite children's picture books, including classics like Winnie the Pooh and Peter Rabbit, and very recently published favorites like Echo.  I was also immediately noticing titles that are new to me, and wanting to get distracted and follow their links to find out more about them. I spent some time updating my shelf and selecting books I want to read, then got the widget and pasted the html into my webpage to share what I've recently read with my students.  I hated the look of the shelf!  :( So, I took it down.  Maybe I'll use Goodreads for my own book selection tool and Shelfari for sharing?  The problem is, life is too busy to maintain two shelves!  I guess I'll keep playing around with the Goodreads shelf.  I spent some more time on the Goodreads widget customizer, but still couldn't get it right.  For now, I swapped out my Shelfari for my new Goodreads on this blog.  I'll keep trying to get it to work how I want it, and to create book groups on Shelfari with my students.  Maybe a summer reading book group?

Thing 14: App-palooza!

I was so happy for Thing 14 because I facilitate and Elementary Library iPads in Education PD course and have 15 iPads in my library, and never feel like I'm on top of Apps!  I know it's impossible to be be and expert when the options are so numerous and ever-changing, but it's great to explore some new options.  I will also share all of your resources with the teachers and librarians in my PD group.

In my library I currently use my iPads as production tools (mostly iMovie and Keynote) and for internet access to the catalog, databases, and research links.  "Library in Your Pocket" inspired my to create an app for my students' for summer reading logs. Last year I began using the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge for students summer reading logs.  I give prizes to participants in the fall.)  When asking students to reflect over the past week on if the liked the online scholastic log we used last summer or the paper calendar logs we used previous years better I learned that easy access to the Scholastic log was  the biggest challenge last summer. So, if I create an app with a direct link and a QR code for it to send home to parents, hopefully the app will help! So I of course realized I can't create an app for that, but I can create a QR code, and then give instructions to parents on how to Add the site to the home screen, creating an easy to use one touch link to the Summer Reading Challenge logs.  :)

I'm also very inspired to create the "Library in Your Pocket" QR list for back to school night 2015!

Thing 13: School Library Web Presence

I misread the first paragraph of Thing 12 and thought it sad a library web presence is optional  . . . WHAT!!!! I thought.  Thank goodness it was a misread because I strongly agree that it is not optional. I began creating websites in graduate school in 1996, and have always maintained an active school library. Creating a website is the first step, keeping it dynamic rather than static is the next key step.

With that thought in mind, I've been using Dreamweaver for what feels like forever, and have been wanting to make the move to a free online software for years.  I know I'll be losing some control, but want the flexibility to make changes from any computer and want a web facelift.  I've been browsing around for a few years, and had narrowed it down to Weebly, google sites (encouraged by my district), blogger and Wix.  I look the look of blogger, but the nature of a blog doesn't allow for my pages to be quite as extensive as I like.  I love that you have examples of good library sites using each.  I've been searching for years and it's hard to find great examples. (I do wish there were more elementary examples.)   I've been using google sites for a district summer reading site and don't love it. I had narrowed it down to Weebly, but after exploring the sites you posted I may change my mind.  My plan is to begin moving my site over a page at a time this summer.  My current site is extensive with a lot of subpages, so it's a big undertaking to make the move!  To that end, I want to avoid the junk drawer as I revamp and move things over.  My current site is at:
http://www.nisk.k12.ny.us/hillside/specials/mediacenter/index.html

Another site I recommend to anyone exploring for examples of great library sites and blogs is:

http://edublogawards.com/2014-awards/best-library-librarian-blog-2014/

Thing 12: Media Skills

I've been wanting to learn for some time how to get rid of backgrounds of images, so I was excited to see your Silly Palm Tree.  When I went to play around with ClippingMagic I was disappointed to find there was a monthly fee to use it.  I did a web search for free image background removal programs and came across Background Burner by Bonanza. (https://www.bonanza.com/background_burner)

I took Mo Willems' Cat the Cat image to add to a class photo for a book created by kindergartners, creating the overlay using Microsoft Word.  When doing this, I noticed Word also has a background image remover! I'm looking forward to playing around with these more in the future when adding characters to pictures for student books and more.




For online photo albums I often use Smilebox and share student videos on Vimeo, which is very easy to upload to from an iPad. Examples of how I've used these to share student work can be found on my library wiki. Most recently, 4th graders created video commercials to advertise products they will be selling to raise money for a local charity.

Thing 11: Coding

After doing the Thing 11 lesson in November of 2014, I registered my 5th grade students (and some 3rd & 4th) to participate in the Hour of Code event.  They loved it!  I was very excited to try something new, and look forward to doing more coding in school.  I had one girl tell me after the Hour of Code that her mom signed her up for a coding summer camp.  That's the carry over to the real world of my students that I'm always hoping for.  I of course also added coding links to my website, and students used it regularly, even staying in form recess to do, for several weeks after the coding event.

Next on the agenda is a Scratch Jr. coding app activity with 1st grade students, reinforcing story setting, sequencing in a story, and estimation  in math.  They will create a story, and will have to code the character's movements with first, then, etc. and by how many spaces (estimation) to get to the character's destination.  Another librarian in my district, Kate Kirkpatrick, did this and the unit went very well!  An article about this unit is below.

http://yourniskayuna.com/blog/2015/04/23/birchwood-elementary-students-first/