Summer Read 2012: Fair Weather

      I have a confession: The only reason why I smuggled this book from Library Room 401 on Friday was because I needed  to read something for a long subway ride, and this particular book was small and thin enough to stash in my purse. 

      I was NOT disappointed! Richard Peck's Fair Weather takes place in Chicago, during the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Chicago denizen  Aunt Euterpe invites here sister's family to visit this magnificent Fair. What makes this story a real charmer is that Aunt Euterpe's relations live in rural Illinois and have never seen anything outside their small farm community. 

      Rosie Beckett is the 13 year-old narrator who spins a hilariously heart-warming account of how her, her older sister, rascal young brother, and unconventional Grandpa's lives are turned upside down while in big-city Chicago.

      If you want a quick and fun summer read, I hope you will consider this book.  

     Happy reading!!!

Digital Citizenship = Common Sense

This poster tells my students, in very clear language, how to make wise decisions about taking photos of their friends. Don't let your friends, even your BFF, take weird photos of you. 

The Who, What, Where, When and Why of China's Great Wall

The image you see above is a detail from http://www.china.org.cn

My students of Class 603 learned about ancient China with their social studies teacher. As librarian, I supported my students by helping them learn more about using effective research skills, team work, and responsible sharing of their work.

I am so excited to share with you their work, which is a short video clip about China's Great Wall.

To see what resources Class 603 used, you can check out our wiki at http://ancientchina80x.wikispaces.com/

Share your newsletter online!

Here is something for my very busy teachers: If you want to create a class newsletter for your parents and/or school community, try to go PAPERLESS. You can share your newsletter by uploading it onto your website or blog. 

How to upload your Microsoft Office Publisher newsletter:

First, you create your newsletter in Microsoft Office Publisher.

Save it somewhere, preferably on your flash drive.

Then go to http://zamzar.com/ .  This free service “… is dedicated to helping you transform your songs, videos, images and documents into different formats.” I've been using Zamzar for a long time, and trust me, it's FREE.

On Zamzar, follow step one and select your Microsoft Office Publisher newsletter file.

Step two, you will convert your newsletter file to PDF.

Step three, enter your email address.

In a little while (depending on how busy the Internet is), you will receive in your email your newsletter in PDF.

Now you have a format that you can upload and share with everyone.

Easy Peasey!

What's on hold here?

Here are the books that are currently on hold for my library patrons to pick up.

pic saved in Evernote

There are other titles "on hold", but the copies are still in circulation, being enjoyed by my students. 
My students are queued for these titles:
The Hunger Games
Out from Boneville
El niño perdido
Diary of a Wimp Kid: The Ugly Truth.
Amelia's book of notes and note passing
Blood beast


Curious what other librarians are holding? Check out
http://www.librarygirl.net/?m=0 
and
http://100scopenotes.com/

Evernote

Evernote just might be my new best friend.

While teaching class 603 today,  I wanted to show my students how I completed my “how to write a paragraph” graphic organizer, but had no way of projecting it for the class to see.

So I used my iPhone and took a picture of my worksheet and  saved it in my Evernote iPhone app. Then on my laptop, I logged into my Evernote.com account  and voila! I was able to upload my iPhone photo up onto the screen. My entire class could see how I used the worksheet to help me write a paragraph about China’s Great Wall.

I’ve had the Evernote app on my iPhone for the longest time but rarely used it. I think one goal for me this spring is to try using Evernote at least once each week.

The American Museum of Natural History: a world-class treasure around the corner

Photo by Chris Gibson of AMNH Beyond Planet Earth Exhibit

Last week on December 9 I attended my very first Educator Evening at the AMNH. It was on a Friday night, and it was free. How could I resist?  The American Museum of Natural History is conveniently located on 81st Street at Central Park West. From our school MS80x, you take a D train and then the C train. It stops right at the museum's door.
This particular Educator Evening event celebrated AMNH's newest exhibition Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration. 
After working all day, I was greatly surprised to find an elegant reception complete with cool live music, chilled wine and hot hors d'oeuvres.  I ran into some old friends, and gathered some resources and flyers for the science teachers in my school. I really hope my teachers and students will take advantage of this amazing resource.

This YouTube video may not be accessible on school computers.