Rachel G. Payne, coordinator of early childhood services at Brooklyn Public Library, offers advice for parents.
Updated ClassDojo App Lets Teachers Collectively Respond to Student Behavior
By on August 8, 2013
ClassDojo, the free application for recording and managing student behavior, has been updated. As of today, ClassDojo sports a new “Class Sharing” feature, allowing multiple teachers to communicate more easily about their students’ behavior and collectively foster behavioral development.
YALSA Updates Teen Book Finder App with 2013 Titles
By on August 8, 2013
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has just launched an updated version of its free Teen Book Finder app—which debuted in June, 2012—to include all of the books the association honored in 2013. The first of its kind, Teen Book Finder gives teens, librarians, parents, and young adult literature aficionados access to YALSA’s recommended reading and award-winning titles from the past three years.
Olympian Family Matters | SLJ Reviews ‘Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters’ Film
By on August 7, 2013 1 Comment
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters comes roaring into theaters on August 7. SLJ reviews this page-to-screen adaptation of the second installment of Rick Riordan’s ultra-popular series.
A Brace of Apps | Touch and Go
By on August 5, 2013 Leave a Comment
What child can resist a book or app about animals? Incorporating vocabulary-rich texts and gentle environmental lessons, these apps will also find favor with teachers and parents.
Best of Apps & Enhanced Books | August 2013
By on August 2, 2013 Leave a Comment
Our favorite apps this month include a tribute to Ludwig Van Beethoven’s ‘Ninth Symphony,’ and a rhyme based on a classic children’s song. If summer’s lovely weather hasn’t got you humming, these productions will.
Ten Websites Added to ALSC’s “Great Websites for Kids”
By on July 31, 2013
The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) Great Websites for Kids (GWS) committee announced the inclusion of 10 additions to its compilation of exemplary websites for children on July 29. These online resources are geared to children from birth to age 14, and range in subjects as diverse as animals and dinosaurs; games and entertainment; history and science; art and music; and resources for teachers and parents.
A Fraught First Love, Straight Up | SLJ Reviews ‘The Spectacular Now’ Film
By on July 30, 2013 Leave a Comment
Director James Ponsoldt’s sharp take on Tim Tharp’s 2008 novel (Knopf) gives The Spectacular Now a higher level of maturity and complexity than most young adult book-to-movie adaptations. The film, starring Shailene Woodley and Miles Teller, arrives in theaters on August 2.
From Scratch to Tynker: Tools to Teach Kids How to Code | screencast tutorial
By on July 29, 2013
A screencast tour of four free applications to help kids learn how to code: Daisy the Dinosaur, Hopscotch, Scratch, and Tynker.
Tweets, Drums, and Warbles: A Digital Field Guide to North American Birds | Touch and Go
By on July 23, 2013 Leave a Comment
The perfect companion on a summer hike? National Geographic’s digital guide to North American birds allows nature lovers to identify winged creatures, learn about their habits, and record sightings, all before they can say Ladder-backed Woodpecker.
Summer Project? Six Tools to Upgrade Your School Website
By on July 17, 2013
School’s out—and time to enjoy some serious lounging. Summer is also a time to consider your Web presence. If your website could use an upgrade, consider these tools to give it a boost for back-to-school—and save you time this fall.
Pew Study: Technology Aids Students’ Writing Skills Though Challenges Remain
By on July 16, 2013
Digital technologies are impacting American middle and high school students’ writing in many ways, both good and bad, a new national report from the Pew Research Center shows. According to the survey, tech tools provide significant advantages to learning—although students are still having trouble with informal grammar and navigating the issues of plagiarism, citation, and fair use.
‘Here Be Fiction’ Site Launches with 500+ Ebooks
By on July 16, 2013
The School Library System of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership (GVEP) has announced the launch this week of “Here Be Fiction,” a site devoted to the discovery of fiction ebooks available with school library friendly licensing terms, with over 500 ebooks from 17 participating publishers.
StarWalk Kids Media Offers Free July Access to eBook Collection
By on July 12, 2013
StarWalk Kids Media has announced that it has made all 160-plus ebooks in its collection available free of charge to children, families, and educators during the entire month of July. In just the first three days after the initiative was launched via Twitter (#PopUpLibrary), nearly 3,000 ebooks have been read, the company says.
Learning Together: New Council to Study Latino Families’ Digital Media Use
By on July 11, 2013
The National Center for Family Literacy (NCFL) and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Street Workshop have created the Aprendiendo Juntos (“Learning Together) Council (AJC) to identify models and practical strategies to improve digital literacy for Hispanic-Latino families. AJC plans to use the findings to influence public and private sector investments in effective programs for the community on a regional and national scale.
Open Late: Libraries Must Be Available When Kids Do Schoolwork | Soap Box
By on July 11, 2013 Leave a Comment
Emily Gover and Caity Selleck, information literacy librarians and content developers for EasyBib and its new platform, ResearchReady, posit that libraries should stay open later hours in order to serve students’ research needs.
With Tighter COPPA Regulations, Librarians See Hurdles to Kids’ Internet Use
By on July 9, 2013
New rules take effect this month intended to protect kids’ privacy online, and some librarians are worried. Some say that the more stringent regulations may impede mobile app use in elementary schools—and also prevent kids from recreationally sharing favorite hobby sites with each other.
Augmented Reality with Aurasma | Tech Tidbits
By on July 9, 2013 3 Comments
Aurasma is an augmented reality tool which allows you to overlay images and videos on to static content, sort of like “QR codes on steroids.” The Guybrarian has incorporated it into his back-to-school library orientation plan, and thinks you should too.
Blogging for Reluctant Writers: Have students share their ideas using sound and video
By on July 8, 2013
Here Richard Byrne covers sound and video applications that enable students to blog—without writing, from SoundCloud and Animoto to a new audio slideshow tool called Narrable.
Kiera Parrott’s Picks from the Best Apps for Teaching and Learning | ALA 2013
By on July 3, 2013
The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) revealed its inaugural Best Apps for Teaching and Learning list on Jun 30 at the American Library Association annual conference. Head of children’s services at Darien Library, CT, Kiera Parrott highlights some of her favorites from the 25 winning apps that cover a broad range of subjects, inspire curriculum connections, and can be used for classroom instruction and public library programming.
