James Patterson's Pledge to Help School Libraries

It's no secret that I love James Patterson's books. I can't even tell you how many of his mysteries I have read, and once he started writing for younger kids, I started ordering them for my school library. Even the kids who didn't like to read became enchanted with his stories. Series books I Funny, Witch and Wizard, Daniel X  and Maximum Ride get checked out on a regular basis.

I met James Patterson at a speaking event at Barnes and Noble, and found him to be funny and at ease with the large audience. He answered questions from us and autographed his latest book.

James Patterson has always believed that every child should be able to have access to books and how important reading is in education. His site, ReadKiddoRead offers book reviews, tips on getting your kids to read, contests to win free books and much more.

James Patterson and his son Jack

When I heard yesterday that James Patterson was pledging $1.25 million to school libraries, I started to think about how I could spruce up this 40+ year old library. (Scholastic is matching dollar-for-dollar with bonus points which can be used to purchase books for the classroom.) What would you do? Applications are being taken HERE until May 31, 2015.




Thank you so much, Mr. Patterson.

Amazing! 74 Infographics for Teacher-Librarians (L.A. Teachers Too!)

When your budget is low on dollars, you need to become creative when it comes to everything in your school library. Since we have a computer lab in our library-media center, (and lots of wall space...) I have decorated the lab with posters and infographics. You might have seen some of my original work, including 7 Things to Know About EBSCO, and the READ poster. There are also many posters which help students format their research paper, search for Google images, and understanding search results. When I began this search I never expected to find so many infographics for school librarians! If you are a language arts teacher, you will also find many related to grammar and reading below.

SCHOOL LIBRARIANS
27 Things Your Teacher-Librarian Does

29 Ways to Stay Creative

ABCs of Information Literacy

All Digital Citizens

America's 100 Largest Libraries 

Anatomy of a Librarian 

The Aroma of Books

At-A-Glance Comic Tutorials- from the wonderful Daring Librarian

The Benefits of Reading Books

Books VS eBooks 

Books Make a Difference in Kids' Lives: The Haves and the Have Nots

Bookworms

Bye-Bye Textbooks: How Digital Devices Are Reshaping Education

Classification Chart: Readers

Components of a 21st Century Classroom

Creative Commons Infographic

eBooks: The Greener Choice 

The Evolution of the Book 

The Evolution of Classroom Technology 

Evolution of the Noble Librarian  

The Evolution of Story Telling 

The Evolution of Typography

Finding Online Images

Formatting Your Research Paper

A General Guide to Understanding Plagiarism- EASYBIB

Google Search Genius

Guide for Your Research Paper

The History of e-Mail

The History of Science Fiction 

A History of Typography 

How Google Works  

How to Easily Archive and Embed Tweets Using Search Hash & Google Drive- Daring Librarian

The Influential Power of Print

Is Print Dead? 

A Librarian's Worth Around the World

Library of Congress By Numbers

The Literary Crisis and Kids in America

Most Targeted Books

Myth #4: Librarians Have a Lot of Time to Read

On the Road to Reading

Plagiarism: A Visual Guide

The Power of Reading to Your Children

The Power of Stories and Reading to Spark Children's Potential

Press Facts 

Progression of the eBook Reader

Publishing in the Digital Era

Questions a Critical Thinker Asks

Reading Like a Sleuth

The Rise of eReading

Students Like Social Media

Three Types of Copyright

U.S. Public Libraries at Risk 

A Visual Summary of Harry Potter 

What Does EasyBib Do?

What Makes Good Information Design? 

You Want to Know About Copyright

LANGUAGE ARTS
10 Do's and Don'ts for Effective Vocabulary Instruction

10 Hyphenation Tips

10 Step Book Report

11 Rules: How and When to Use a Period

12 Most Misunderstood Words in English

15 Most Useful Phrasal Verbs

The 15 Punctuation Marks

21 Rules: How and When to Use a Comma

40 Years of E-books 

Apostrophes: The Importance of Good Grammar

The Most Annoying Writing Mistakes

Passive and Non-Aggressive Voices

Past Tense 101

Prepositions

The Top 10 List of Mark Twain's Popular Quotes

Troublesome Words

The Writing Process

You Should Read This Before You Write That

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One of My Favorite Twilight Zone Episodes is About a Book Lover

"Time Enough at Last" was an episode from season one of the Twilight Zone, which told the story of a man and his passion for reading. The surprise ending is sure to elicit a discussion in your class. Although it first ran in 1959, it certainly could be adapted to take place today.

Celebrate World Book Day on March 6

World Book Day is a "a celebration of authors, illustrators, books and (most importantly) it’s a celebration of reading. In fact, it’s the biggest celebration of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in over 100 countries all over the world. Thanks to the generosity of National Book Tokens Ltd, publishers and booksellers, we can send millions of book vouchers to children and young people (more than 14 million, in fact: that’s one for nearly every child aged under eighteen in the country)."  You can find all the information about World Book Day on their website, including  Nursery Resources, Primary Resources, and Secondary Resources.

34 Lessons, Games and Resources for Language Arts Teachers

Currently, Language Arts teachers have their own tab at the top of this page, with resources on Digital Storytelling, Shakespeare and Poetry. Today I have updated the list to also have lesson plans and resources for all grade levels. The most recent list is below. As always, please share your additions by commenting below.

LESSON PLANS 

10 Great Language Arts Lessons- from We Are Teachers; 

Discovery Education Lesson Plans-covers grades 9-12; over 500 listed!

English and Language Arts-Based Lesson Plans-the Lesson Plans Page; grades noted when you choose the lesson

Growing Up With Crayons-lesson for upper elementary/middle school level; from EBSCO

Interactive Whiteboard Activities- from Scholastic; grades K-9

Language Arts Lessons for 11th and 12th Grades- from PBS

Language Arts Lessons- from ReadWriteThink; covers K-12 (grades are labeled)

Language Arts Lesson Plans-from TeAchnology

Literature and Language Arts Lessons- from EDSITEment; grades K-12

PBS Learning Media-covers English Language Arts and Literacy; all grades; choose from many subcategories

Smithsonian Education-varied topics cover grades K-12

Spelling City Lesson Plans- vocabulary; videos, worksheets, games

Teachit Lesson Plans- vast number of resources!

Top 25 Lesson Plans for 2011- from Thinkfinity; grades are labeled- K-12

RESOURCES AND GAMES
Cliche Finder- 3,300 index cliches

Common Core English Language Arts Resources- from ShareMyLesson

Curriki's Language Arts Resources-small listing covers all grades

English ELA Review Games- pick your grade level

Funbrain Game Finder

Grammar, Usage and Mechanics- from Writer's Choice; grade 9

Guide to Grammar and Writing- over 400 references

Hemingway- students can analyze their writing with this app

Integrating Technology into the Language Arts classroom

Language Arts for Middle and High School- long listing

Language Arts Games on Gamequairium

Middle School Reading Interactives- listing includes language interactives, grammar help, general comprehension stories and much more

Online Language Arts Games- from TeacherVision

PicLits- inspired picture writing

Popular Technology Resources for Reading and Language Arts- covers K-12; from TeacherVision

Powerpoint Presentations on Authors- for grades K-6

Reading, Writing, Grammar- Mr. Donn's extensive site is loaded with resources for K-12

Teaching English as a Language- from Web English Teacher; links for ELL and ESL teachers

We Are Teachers- reading, grammar, spelling vocabulary

Writing Prompts- huge listing of resources!

Ron McCallum's Appreciation for Technology

This is such an inspiring story. I had to share it with you. Reminds me how fortunate I am.

Designing Your Own READ Poster

I'm on a personal crusade to get my students to read more. As digital learners, today's kids have access to computers, smartphones, iPads, Wii, Xbox 360, 3D TVs and movies. They are in a very visual world, and it's a challenge to get many of them interested in reading of any kind. I've added graphic novels and Manga to the collection, added more magazine subscriptions and asked students what they like. My latest addition to the walls of the library are READ posters. I personally designed my own rather than purchase because I wanted our teaching staff to pose with a book.  Maybe students would see their teacher with a specific book and want to check it out. Worth a try, right? And the female teachers especially appreciated the "digital plastic surgery" I did to their faces!! If you would like to download a fully editable PSD copy of the poster, you can click here.

Nothing Quite Like a Real Book

A student asked me today if I own a Kindle or a Nook. My answer was simple; I still love feeling the pages and turning them one by one. And I also have a stack of books I haven't read yet lining my bookshelves in my home library.  Yes, one day I personally will jump on the bandwagon, but for now......

Here's a video animation which was created by a bookstore in Canada named Type Books. It sums it all up for me:

17 Places Where You Can Find FREE Kindle and Nook Downloads

Now that our iPad2 raffle was a huge success, I am trying to decide how to use those extra dollars. As a teacher-librarian, I am always interested in getting our students to read and enjoy reading, so I thought the next big step was getting eReaders for the library. I am still on the fence as to which one to purchase, so I thought I'd start my research by seeing how many sites have free downloads for Kindle and Nook. I was surprised at the results; there are many ways to get free downloads for both eReaders.

Barnes and Noble Free Nook Books- search 0.00 and get a listing of free eBooks

Bookyards- pdf files can be ported to your Kindle

Books Buddy- a Nook app to locate free books

Digital Library NJ- Kindle, Nook; library card needed

eBooks Habit- regular postings

eReaderPerks- Kindle, Kobo and Nook; also, the "latest device news, book/ereader reviews and author interviews."

Feedbooks- Kindle, Nook; public domain books

Google eBooks: Best of the Free- Kindle, Nook

Inkmesh- search engine for free eBooks, including Kindle and Nook

Internet Archive- Kindle, Nook

Kindle Store's Top 100 Free

ManyBooks-Kindle, Nook; 29,000 downloadable books

Mobipocket- Kindle

The Open Library- Kindle, Nook; one million titles

Penn State University's Electronic Classic Series Site- Kindle, Nook; pdf files

Pixel of Ink- free and bargain Kindle books

Project Gutenberg- Kindle, Nook; 33,000 downloadable books

Public Libraries- Kindle, Nook; check your state and local libraries (I have listed my state of NJ above)

***Here is a comparison chart of Kindle vs Nook.***

READ180 Assists Struggling Students

"READ 180 is a comprehensive system of curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development proven to raise reading achievement for struggling readers in Grades 4–12+. READ 180 is designed to maximize student engagement, teacher effectiveness, and leader empowerment."  ESL  and special education students will see their Lexile scores increase when they apply the program.  Scholastic provides a list of funding resources, as well as information on grant writing. (See the Scholastic Funding Connection )

Sparknotes Videos Illustrate the Classics

While assisting a teacher yesterday with videos to explain Lord of the Flies, I came across Sparknotes videos. I knew that Sparknotes offered study guides in 19 subject areas, with detailed information from biology to U.S. government and politics, but was also pleasantly surprised that they also have videos which look like the drawings in graphic novels. (Kids love those graphic novels!) With a listing of 26 videos, language arts teachers can find the classics which all students have to read at one time or another, including Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, Macbeth, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, The Scarlet Letter, 1984, Hamlet, King Lear and Julius Caesar. Here is a sample video of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness:

10 Resources for Book Report Templates

ABC Teach

Book Report Forms- from the Busy Teacher's Cafe

Book Report Rubric

Book Report Sandwich Station- from Scholastic; ingredients represent parts of the book report

Book Review Sheet

Collection of Book Report Ideas- 109 on the list so far

A Dozen Book Report Templates

EdHelper- different types: biography book report, general book report, nonfiction book report

Free High School Book Report Template

Special Subject Book Report Forms- includes Holocaust, animal fiction, folklore

36 Sites to Find eBooks

150 Free Textbooks- meta collection from Open Culture's blog

1,000+ Open Textbooks and Learning Resources for All Subjects

4eBooks- computer programming books; very large collection

Academic eBooks- covers humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, formal sciences and professions & applied sciences.

askSam eBooks  and Databases- askSam viewer needed for downloaded books

Bartleby-small site contains classic literature, poetry and reference works.

Bibliotastic-free downloads for indie authors; rating system for titles

BluePortal- computer-related titles, such as Facebook for Dummies, Javascript Bible and the Digital Photography Workflow Handbook.

Bookyards- currently 800,000 ebooks

eBook Lobby- categories include art & photography, children's books, literature & fiction and sports.

eBooks Directory- close to 1700 titles; includes textbooks, lecture notes; updated daily

Flatworld Knowledge- free textbooks

FreeBookSpot- 96 categories and over 4,4000 titles

Free-eBooks- register for free; download on iPhone or computer; includes magazines

Free Computer and IT Books

FreeComputerBooks- 12 major categories and 150 sub-categories; includes tutorials. lecture notes and computer and math eBooks.

FreeBook-s- download for iPad, smartphone or eBook reader; this is a search engine which looks through many collections to find eBooks.

FreeTechBooks- covers computer science, engineering, programming, textbooks and lecture notes.

GetFree eBooks- free legal downloads

Globusz Publishing- ePublishing house which has free downloads

Google Books- thousands of public domain titles for free download

KnowFree- ebooks, video training, educational materials; IT books and magazines

Kobo- includes NY Times Bestsellers, Oprah's Book Club

Lendink- loan and borrow "officially lendable eBooks for your Kindle and Nook."

ManyBooks- more than 29,000 eBooks; download to iPod, eBook reader or PDA

Memoware- some categories include literature, (biography, horror, children, western...) reference, (education, computers, history..)

New Jersey State Library- new ebooks

The Online Books Page-"over 1 million free books on the web".

OnlineComputerBooks- just what the title says....free computer books

Online Free eBooks- mainly pdf downloads; nine categories

Page By Page Books

Planet eBook- free classic literature

Project Gutenberg- 15,00 titles, all in the public domain. Easy download text files written in ASCII; readable on all computers.

ReadPrint- "thousands of books for students, teachers & the classic enthusiast".

Science Books Online- textbooks, lecture notes, monographs

The Universal Library- hosted by Carnegie Mellon University, it has one million titles, most of which are older works (before 1923)

This Picture Needs a Caption

I came upon this picture online and thought about how it really needs a caption. Why don't you submit your idea in the comments section?

Why I Order Graphic Novels for the Library

I know that there are many teacher-librarians and media specialists who do not feel that graphic novels have a place in the school library. I've heard comments such as "They're the same as comic books!" and "High school students shouldn't be reading picture books". Today's digital learners are constantly preoccupied with visual stimuli, including video games, computers, TV, movies and cell phones that it's no wonder that our book circulation statistics have shown a decline in the last few years.

Problem #1- Dealing with kids who say they hate reading
That always hurts to hear, but I'd rather they were reading a magazine or a graphic novel, because then they would at least be reading, right?

Problem #2- Special education students who have various problems
I have students who not only have ADD, they dislike reading. (see problem #1) Cool pictures in a graphic novel can possibly keep their interest, especially if the artwork is awesome. The books I have purchased include a few Twilight Zone stories, classic novels (Beowolf, Frankenstein) and Anime.

Here are a few articles about graphic novels in the school library:
How Graphic Novels Thrive in High School Libraries: A Discussion 
2011 Great Graphic Novels for Kids- from ALA
Graphic Novels, Seriously- from SLJ
Must Have Graphic Novels Secondary

DailyLit Provides Books Via Email or RSS

A great way to motivate your students to read this summer is to introduce them to DailyLit. Once they sign up on the site, students will receive their book installments via email or RSS feed. Reading can be done on a computer or any mobile device, including Blackberry, iPhone or iPad. Thanks to Kristen Swanson for posting on her site.