Blog Posts - 7/8

Bloggers must be on vacation this week or something, because I didn't have very many new postings in my Google Reader this week!

Free Technology for Teachers - I was intrigued by "Turn-O-Phrase" blog posting, so I clicked on the link and headed over to the site. I think I could spend a lot of time playing this! I love riddles and brain teasers! I also think this would be something to use in the classroom for those "fast finishers"! It would keep them occupied, but still keep their brain working. So fun!

Free Technology for Teachers - Mr. Byrne posted a tutorial video for using Google Books. I have realized that I really need to take advantage of Google and all of the services that it has to offer more! Google Books is a great tool that now that I know more about it, I will be using!

Blue Skunk Blog - Doug Johnson writes about what to do with Kindles in the library. He suggests having a plan for them, don't just get them to have them. I think he has a point. Some ebooks are available at a discount, but for the most part, they still cost about the same as any new release. My school has a couple Nooks that were purchased by the Special Ed department. We have a couple students that are visually impaired,(not blind, but they must have everything in super large print), so these work great for those students. My job, as the librarian, is to get with their teachers and find out what books they already know they will be reading this year and make those purchases. I think Johnson definitely has the right idea as far as planning ahead and knowing what they will be used for.

Never Ending Search - Joyce Valenza blogged about the evident similarities between the Mashpedia site and the new site, Zomobo. I had never heard of either until reading her post. She is right, Zomobo has clearly stolen from Mashpedia! Mashpedia looks like a pretty neat resource. I will definitely have to add it to my bookmarks.

This isn't exactly from a blog I follow, but I came across it the other day and wanted to share. A friend was talking about this program, and I wanted to look further into it. The friend, also a teacher, just completed the GO STL marathon this past spring, which is how she knew about this program. It is called Read, Right, Run. The program is for students to read 26 books, do 26 good deeds around the community (or school), and then run 26.2 miles over the course of six months. What a great idea to get the whole school involved in reading! The running part could be done in PE and the good deeds, or even the reading, could be done in all classes. The website has a day that all participants get together in STL, but you could even do it without that day. Check out the website!