Blogging for students

As a teacher I am always looking for innovative ways to get students more involved in their own education. Blogging about classroom activities, content learned and questions they have would be a great way to get kids involved in their own learning while growing as 21st century learners. Plus it would be a great way for parents to find out about what their students are learning and to get to know their child as a student even better.

There are lots of great blogs out there for kids. To start check out:
http://onlineschool.net/2009/10/27/100-best-book-blogs-for-kids-tweens-and-teens/ a great article with loads of great links for student blogs.

If America Were a Village

A companion to “If the World Were a Village”, “If America Were a Village” (http://www.kidscanpress.com/US/If-America-Were-a-Village-P3154.aspx) is a unique an eye-opening look at the population of the United States. Taking statistics about our country and applying them to a 100 person village it's amazing what the readers discovers. For example, did you know that 50 people in this US village would live in just 9 US states or that 3 people in this village are in education, training and the library profession? An interesting and informative read that would lend itself well to a number of follow-up classroom activities.

Teacher Librarians

While doing a search for lesson plans today I was surprised and delighted to find http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teacher-librarian which really does eloquently explain what we do and our role and purpose and school. Though Wikipedia is a hot-button topic of discussion among many library circles its popularity cannot be doubted and I was pleased to see Library Teachers have their own listing.

Jeopardy Games

I have been doing Social Studies review with 5th grade using a Jeopardy game I created which has helped students review the curriculum in an innovative and engaging way. I went online and found a bunch of other great ones to use:
http://www.hardin.k12.ky.us/res_techn/countyJeopardygames.htm

School Library Studies

There have been numerous studies over the last few years that have all concluded the same thing: School Libraries work! Elementary schools with librarians have high test scores and children have better access to books.

Want to learn more:

http://www.nyla.org/content/user_1/Preliminary_Report_Small.pdf is great report. Pleasant Valley was lucky enough to be selected to be one of the schools who got to participate in this study.

Also, find several reports at: http://www.lrs.org/impact.php

PV's Library Catalog

PV's Library Catalog is now online. Check out OPALS at: http://snb.scsd.opalsinfo.net/bin/search/beginner which will allow you to search for books in the PV collection from anywhere!

"The Mailbox"

"The Mailbox" is an excellent magazine which includes teacher tips and ideas, ready-to-use worksheets and unit ideas. There is one for kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd-3rd grade and 4th-6th grade.

The PV library has begun subscribing to this magazine and started routing it around the building this morning. This magazine really is a must have for any elementary school library. Check it out: http://www.theeducationcenter.com/tec/

Web Resources

There are so many web resources available online it can be challenging to find what is needed.

Nettrekker is a great place to find the best websites avialble http://www.nettrekker.com/.

A local school district also has an excellent selection of web resources organized in one place www.niskayunaschools.org/district/Library/k5.htm

Welcome!

Welcome to the Pleasant Valley Library Blog! This blog will be updated often with information about our school library, current activity and pertinent library information.