September 19, 2013

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Pick of the Day: The First Ladies (DVD)

By on November 6, 2012 Leave a Comment
DVD cover of First Ladies portraits

The First Ladies. 2 DVDs. 7 hrs. PBS Dist. 2012. ISBN 978-1-60883-724-3. $34.99.
Gr 7 Up–Five of the most influential and controversial First Ladies are profiled in this production. The segments on Dolley Madison and Eleanor Roosevelt feature narration accompanied by photographs and re-enactments of historic events. The biographies of Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Nancy Reagan are principally first person narratives that also incorporate commentary by historians, relatives, and friends with video footage of the time. Dolley Madison is considered our nation’s [...]

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A Video Hosting Solution for Schools

By on October 21, 2012
Vimeo_figures350

Under Common Core, students will be writing scripts, reviewing books, making public service announcements, and creating other content, all using video. For schools, this presents a technical challenge: Where to host all this video? SLJ columnist Christopher Harris has found a solution.

Filed Under: Common Core, Curriculum Connections, Technology, The Next Big Thing, video Tagged With:

Pick of the Day: Recovering: Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa (DVD)

By on October 16, 2012 Leave a Comment
DVD cover for Anorexia Nervosa

Recovering: Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa. DVD. 27 min. with worksheets online. Learning ZoneXpress. 2012. ISBN unavail. $79.95.
Gr 7 Up–Two serious and potentially deadly eating disorders that affect a rising number of teens and young adults—anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa—are frankly explored. Stories of recovering young adults are interwoven with facts and statistics presented by psychiatrists and nutritionists. Five main topics are covered: risk factors for eating disorders, what triggers them, why eating disorders are dangerous, treatment, and things to [...]

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Pick of the Day: Private Tutor: Your Complete SAT Critical Reading Prep Course (DVD)

By on October 12, 2012 1 Comment
DVD cover SAT study guide

Private Tutor: Your Complete SAT Critical Reading Prep Course with Amy Lucas. 2 DVDs. with workbook. Private Tutor SAT. 2012. complete package: $74.95; DVD: $29.95 ea., workbook: $29.95.
Gr 10 Up–Amy Lucas, an experienced private tutor, acts as a personal guide to the reading comprehension portion of the SAT, keeping students invested in and focused on content and practice exercises. Teens will easily relate to her upbeat and friendly approach. Topics covered include vocabulary, sentence completions, and reading comprehension techniques. She [...]

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Pick of the Day: The Fever of ’57: The Sputnik Movie (DVD)

By on October 11, 2012 Leave a Comment
DVD cover Fever of 57

The Fever of ’57: The Sputnik Movie. 2 DVDs. 88 min./three 30 min. episodes. with tchr’s. guide online. Prod. by Varied Directions Int’l. Dist. by Amazon.com. 2007, 2012 release. ISBN unavail. $179.
Gr 7 Up–By the end of World War II, our rocky relationship with our former ally, the Soviet Union, was a primary concern. This incredible program recounts how Cold War tensions peaked with Russia’s surprise launch of the first satellite to circle the planet and its dramatic effect on [...]

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Pick of the Day: Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion (DVD)

By on October 9, 2012 Leave a Comment
DVD Cover of little girl stuffed bunny

Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion. DVD. 13 min. with tchr’s. guide. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-044753-9. $59.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-545-044758-4: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44810-9: $29.95.
PreS-Gr 1–Mo Willems’s conclusion (Balzer + Bray, 2012) to his Knuffle Bunny trilogy begins with a photographic sequence of Trixie’s growth from previous books and closes with a similar sequence chronicling Trixie’s journey of maturation. Trixie and her family take a plane to visit her grandparents, Oma and Opa, in Holland. When [...]

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Pick of the Day: Titanic’s Final Mystery (DVD)

By on October 5, 2012 Leave a Comment
DVD cover Titanic hit by iceberg

Titanic’s Final Mystery. DVD. 92 min. Prod. by Bedlam Prods. and Airborne TV & Film. Dist. by Inception Media Group. 2012. ISBN unavail. $14.98; Blue-ray: $19.98.
Gr 9 Up–It’s been over a century and people are still talking about the 1912 sinking of the Titanic. Through the years, legend has overtaken fact when it comes to what really happened that fateful night. Tim Maltin, a “Titanic Detective,” leads viewers across the globe as he pieces together a new theory on why the ship [...]

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Pick of the Day: The Light Bulb Conspiracy (DVD)

By on October 4, 2012 1 Comment
DVD cover of clear light bulbs

The Light Bulb Conspiracy. DVD. 75 min./52 min. Video Project. 2011, 2012 release. ISBN unavail. $89.
Gr 9 Up–Using historical photographs, film footage, and interviews with people in Europe, the United States, and Ghana, the female narrator takes viewers from the beginning of mass production in the 1920s with Henry Ford’s Model-T to General Motors’ annual car models to Bernard London’s proposal during the New Deal era for compulsory planned obsolescence that he believed would keep people working and create a [...]

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Pick of the Day: Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct (DVD)

By on October 2, 2012 Leave a Comment
DVD pink cover with illustrated dinosaur

Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn’t Know She Was Extinct. DVD. 7 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-37414-9. $59.59; CD: ISBN 978-0-545-37498-9: $ 12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44813-0: $29.95.
PreS-Gr 2–Edwina the dinosaur helps out in her community, bakes chocolate-chip cookies, and everyone loves her, except for Reginald Von Hoobie-Doobie, the class know-it-all, who is positive that dinosaurs are extinct. When Reginald makes it his mission to force the townspeople to accept that fact, no one bothers to listen to [...]

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Pick of the Day: Don’t Slam the Door! (DVD)

By on September 20, 2012 Leave a Comment
DVD cover illustration of child with dog by door

Don’t Slam the Door! DVD. 10 min. with tchr’s. guide. Nutmeg Media. 2012. ISBN 1-933938-85-4. $49.95.
PreS-Gr 2–If the door slams it will wake the cat, who will tangle the yarn that is to be made into socks. Lumpy socks will cause dad to bump into a beehive. Who knows what will happen after that? In Dori Chaconas’s rhyming story (Candlewick, 2010), a young girl on an old-fashioned farm tries to prevent a cascade of uproarious cause-and-effect events. When, despite all [...]

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Pick of the Day: Racing Dreams (DVD)

By on September 18, 2012
DVD cover of teen in racing helmet

Racing Dreams. DVD. 90 min. Prod. by Racing Dreams. Dist. by PBS Dist. 2010, 2012 release. ISBN 978-1-60883-668-0. $24.99.
Gr 6 Up–In this fast-paced coming-of-age documentary set in the competitive world of kart racing, three young drivers spend a season navigating each other and their dreams. Annabeth Barnes, 11, Josh Hobson, 12, and Brandon Warren, 13, aspire to race in  some day, but before they can reach their collective goal, they each must face their own challenges off the track as [...]

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Pick of the Day: If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (DVD)

By on September 14, 2012
DVD cover of man on a cliff overlooking a forest

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front. DVD. 85 min. Prod. by Marshall Curry Prods. Dist. by Bullfrog Films. 2011. ISBN 1-93777-21-9. $295.
Gr 10 Up–This fact-filled program utilizes archival footage, interviews, and commentary to relate the story of one man’s involvement in the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), an organization described by law enforcement as a domestic terror organization. It traces the evolution of Daniel McGowan from city resident to environmental activist, chronicling his involvement in property [...]

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Pick of the Day: The Boxing Girls of Kabul (DVD)

By on September 13, 2012
Sepia DVD cover of woman with boxing gloves

The Boxing Girls of Kabul. DVD. 52 min. National Film Board of Canada. 2011, 2012 release.  ISBN unavail. $195.
Gr 9 Up–The opening flashback of this documentary showing the cruel treatment of women under the Taliban will grab the attention of audiences in women’s studies and sociology classes. The video shifts to present day and focuses on three women who are trying to change the lifestyle for women in  where their advancement is frowned upon. They are training to be boxers [...]

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Pick of the Day: Destination Titan (DVD)

By on September 11, 2012
Black dvd cover with Saturn's moon

Destination Titan. DVD. 60 min. Prod. by Open University. Dist. by Films Media Group. 2011. ISBN 978-1-621010-127-8. $169.95.
Gr 9 Up–This production documents the design of the Cassini-Huygens probe, intended to journey approximately 2 billion miles to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon that may share common characteristics with Earth in its early developmental period. The probe was engineered to collect a variety of scientific data upon entering the atmosphere and landing on the moon. Its most impressive feature was its autonomous programming [...]

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Pick of the Day: A Sick Day for Amos McGee (DVD)

By on September 7, 2012
DVD cover illus Elephant, penguin, and man

A Sick Day for Amos McGee. DVD. 9 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0-545-44751-5. $59.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-545-44756-0: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44809-3: $29.95.
PreS-Gr 1–When Amos McGee wakes up feeling under the weather and stays home from work, his animal friends at the zoo board the bus to pay Amos a visit. They spend the day cheering Amos up by playing quiet games, caring for his every need, and reading him a bedtime story so he won’t be [...]

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The Best Back-to-School Video Ever | Links of the Week

By on September 7, 2012
Mr. Sharp LOVES Reading600

Who needs coffee? If this bit of inspiration from teacher Colby Sharp doesn’t jump-start your day, nothing will. This among a mix of resources and links to mark the start of a new school year.

The post The Best Back-to-School Video Ever | Links of the Week appeared first on The Digital Shift.

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Pick of the Day: Jim Thorpe: The World’s Greatest Athlete (DVD)

By on September 4, 2012
Jim Thorpe as a young man with his awards

Jim Thorpe: The World’s Greatest Athlete. DVD. 85 min./56 min. with tchr’s. guide. Moira Prods. 2009, 2012 release. ISBN 978-0-97710379-9. $85.
Gr 6 Up–Jim Thorpe’s many accomplishments as well as his shortcomings are described in this remarkable film. Born in a one-room cabin in Oklahoma’s Indian Territory in 1887, Thorpe overcame the many stigmas and hardships associated with being a Native American at that time. Even though he resisted being sent to schools intended to minimize his ethnicity, it was just [...]

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Making the Most of Video in the Classroom | Cool Tools

By on August 28, 2012
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From Vialogues and SynchTube to TED-Ed, free tools for hosting conversation around videos.

Filed Under: Cool Tools, Featured, Multimedia, Software, Technology, video Tagged With:

Pick of the Day: White Water (DVD)

By on August 3, 2012
Cover image White Water DVD

White Water. DVD. 9 min. with tchr’s. guide. Nutmeg Media. 2012. ISBN 1-933938-88-9. $49.95.
K-Gr 3–A young African American boy notices the inequities inherent in segregation in this story (Candlewick, 2012) by Michael S. Bandy and Eric Stein. He is especially struck by the drinking fountains—one for whites only, one for coloreds only. Tony Fragale gives voice to this first-person narrative as the boy becomes increasingly focused on what the “white water” must taste like. He finally devises a plan to [...]

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Pick of the Day: Bink & Gollie (DVD)

By on August 2, 2012
bink & gollie DVD cover image

Bink & Gollie. DVD. 14 min. Weston Woods. 2012. ISBN 978-0545-44752-2. $59.95; CD, ISBN 978-0-545-44757-7: $12.95; CD with hardcover book, ISBN 978-0-545-44808-6: $12.95.

K-Gr 3–Kate DeCamillo and Alison McGhee’s humorous tale (Candlewick, 2010) about friendship has won numerous well-deserved awards, including the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal. Bink and Gollie live in an exotic tree house and often communicate by walkie-talkie. These three short stories feature tall, sensible Gollie who has a rich imagination and a formal way of speaking, and short, [...]

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