Don't Forget! October is Cyber Safety Month

Even though it's the last week of October, there is still time to get in a few cyber safety lessons.

Here are some great resources to help you out:

My absolute favorite go to is Common Sense Media's free curriculum for K-12.  The lessons are already created and ready to go.

Common Sense Media also has a great YouTube channel with some fabulous videos to show by students and parents.  Here are a couple of examples:

In addition to these YouTube videos, within the Common Sense Media Educator section, there is a whole section full of videos that go with their free curriculum.  I really can't say enough good things about Common Sense Media.

To see even more resources, you can visit my last year's posts on cyber safety HERE and HERE.   I've also come across a few more sites recently:

http://www.opencolleges.edu.au/informed/cyber-safety/

http://www.bgca.org/cybersafe/Pages/welcome.aspx

THIS page from Alaska's Department of Administration Enterprise Technology Services has links to tons of resources and pdfs that can be printed as well.

Microsoft also has some a page of cyber safety resources.  You can view it HERE.

Any resources you would add to the list?

Junior Library Guild

I am always looking for library book companies with great prices because with budgets being the way they are, I want the little money I do have to spend on new books to go as far as possible.  Last spring I decided to give Junior Library Guild a try, and I have been very pleased.  I used part of my book fair earnings to get two levels of books, HE (Humor Elementary) and I+ (Independent Readers+).  I get 2 new books every month for a year and many of the titles are brand new, just published books.  And best of all, because I am now a member, I have access to JLG's backlist catalog which includes hundreds of books discounted to as low as $5 per book!

I used part of fall book fair profits to purchase 25 new books...all for $5 each.  

They are not library bound, but are good, quality, hard bound books.  I make sure to reinforce the spines inside each book before I put them out on the shelf to circulate.

So far all of the JLG books have held up well and the kids are excited about the new books we get in each month.

JLG also offers many of the award winning books each year...like the Georgia Children's Book Award and the Caldecott Medal, so it's a great resource.  They also offer processing and cataloging services so these great titles get on the shelf just a little bit quicker.

If you're looking for a place to purchase some new books, check out Junior Library Guild.

Realistic Fiction

This year I decided to go back to teaching genres with my second and fourth grade classes.  We recently completed a fun activity using Auramsa, now known as HP Reveal, after learning about the realistic fiction genre.

I used a PowerPoint I created to introduce genres.  Then I explained what realistic fiction is and showed a few examples of realistic fiction books.

To wrap up, students completed an activity about realistic fiction books and checked their answers using Aurasma, now HP Reveal.

You can download the PowerPoints and activity sheets I used for this lesson HERE.  Included in this free download are 2 PowerPoints, a 2nd-3rd grade version and a 4th-5th grade version and 2 versions of the activity sheets (2nd/3rd and 4th/5th) to go along with the PowerPoints.  You can have students check their work with the final slide in each PowerPoint or use the HP Reveal (formerly Aurasma) app to scan pictures of the book covers presented in each PowerPoint.  Copies of the book covers are included in the download. The PowerPoints are NOT EDITABLE due to the clipart contained in them.  They will start on their own once you click on them to open them.

To download this pack you will need to click HERE and then click on the download button.  The picture above shows you what the download button looks like in Google Drive.  This will download the zip file that you can then open once the download is complete.

IMPORTANT: In order to use the HP Reveal (formerly Aurasma) app to check the answers, you must first follow my channel. To do that you must either click on THIS link using your MOBILE DEVICE or type in  http://bit.ly/MESMCAC on your MOBILE DEVICE that has the HP Reveal app already downloaded.

This activity goes great with my 28 Genres Bookmarks product which includes bookmarks with definitions of 28 different genres,

 AND...

my Genre Posters Pack which includes posters for 28 different genres,

OR...

...get it all in my Genre Mega Pack which includes both the posters and bookmarks, plus "secret symbols" to hide in books that match the genre you are studying.

Hope you enjoy!

Halloween Bookmarks and Buntings

Guess what I've been making.  Kristen Wallden, my favorite clipart artist just posted a new Halloween freebie so I had to make something with those cute little guys.  Plus I had some of her other sets that were perfect for Halloween.

Here's what I made:

This is a set of 4 free bookmarks.  2 are in color and 2 are in black and white for your students to color.  Click HERE to check them out.

This is a set of 24 Halloween bookmarks.  12 are in color and 12 are black and white for your students to color.  Click HERE to check them out.

I made this sweet little Halloween bunting last year.  Click HERE to check it out.

I decided to make a new bunting to go with the bookmarks. Plus that new clipart was just too cute not to make a bunting with.  LOL  Click HERE to check it out.

And I also have a free Halloween story starter available in my store.  Check it out HERE.

If you download any of these, I love to read your feedback on them.  =)

New Dewey Packs and a New Theme

I have had some requests to make my Dewey packs without themes and finally had a day to work on them.

Here are the latest Dewey packs:

This pack has signs with the star background from the Space/Alien packs.  But this pack has no clipart on it.  (This set does not come with blank signs because that would be just the frames and I didn't design the frames. They are from a frame pack I purchased from Kim Miller.  I don't want to infringe on her copyright. )Click HERE to view my Stars Dewey signs pack.

This pack has signs with a rainbow wavy chevron background.  Blank signs are included, but are not editable for copyright reasons.  Click HERE to view this pack.

This pack comes with signs in 6 different colors...all of the signs.  That's 432 pages in all.  You can mix and match the colors or use all of the same color. Blank pages are also included, but are not editable for copyright reasons. Click HERE to view this pack.

I also had a request to make some Western themed packs so I made

this Western themed Dewey signs pack that you can view HERE

and

this Western themed No Lost or Overdue Books Bulletin Board set that you can view HERE.

I am working on a Library/Media Center pack to go with this theme, but it takes a while to put those packs together, so it's not quite finished.  If you'd like to be notified when it is finished, just follow my TpT store.  Click HERE to go there now.

Now I can't promise that I will have them done anytime soon, but if you have a suggestion for a library/media center pack theme, leave me a comment.  I am always up for suggestions. Thanks so much!

October Free Author Poster

This month's spotlight author is Dan Gutman.

To download the free poster, click on the picture above or click here.

Enjoy!