Super Reader Bookmarks

I had so much fun creating my Super Reader Library/Media Center pack, that I decided to make some bookmarks to go along with it.  You know my students love bookmarks!

I created a pack of 28 "Super Reader" bookmarks.  You can get them HERE on TpT for $2.50.

I also created a free pack of 4.  You can get them HERE on TpT.

Hope you enjoy!

Classroom Organizer

I've had a couple of teachers ask about ways to organize their classroom library so that they can know who has what book when.  By far the most inexpensive and easiest way I've found is with Classroom Organizer.

http://classroom.booksource.com/

Classroom Organizer is a FREE online program that allows you to enter the ISBN of books and store them for an online catalog of all of your classroom library books.  There is even a free app you can download to your smartphone to scan the ISBNs for quicker entry.

Once you've put in all your books, you can add your students. Then they simply enter their information into Classroom Organizer and the name of the book they are checking in or out.

There are even videos and PDFs to help you get started.  You can find those here. 

And now Classroom Organizer has added School Portal for bookrooms so that teachers can check out sets of books and even share their classroom library books within the school if they choose.

So if you or your teachers are looking for a way to organize classroom libraries, check out Classroom Organizer. It might just be what you need.

Internet Safety Games

To support the Internet safety lesson I taught, I often had links to Internet safety games for the kids to play once the lesson was complete.  I put these up on my website so that students could access them in their classroom and at home.  Here are some of their favorites:

Admongo

This is a fun, video-game type adventure that teaches kids to recognize the ads all around them, both off and online.

Cyberchase

Games, videos and activities inspired by the PBS Kids show Cyberchase.

Firewall

This is a fun tic-tac-toe type game that asks players to answer Internet safety questions.

Safety Land

Help save Safety Land from the nasty character who is trying to make the town sick.

Privacy Playground: The First Adventure of the Three CyberPigs

This is an interactive adventure that challenges players to answer Internet safety questions about the storyline.  It's a fun spin off of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf.

CyberSense and Nonsense: The Second Adventure of the Three CyberPigs

The adventure continues!  This adventure talks about netiquette and determining the difference between fact and opinion.

Webonauts Internet Academy

Another fun arcade like game about Internet safety.  Kids learn to be safe while playing.

Do you have some fun Internet safety games that you use with your students?

Free Internet Safety Curriculum

Part of my job as the Instructional Technology teacher at my previous school was to teach about Internet Safety, even to Kindergarten. It's never too early to start learning how to be safe on the Internet.

When I first started out, I had no curriculum to go by, but after searching the for resources, I soon found CyberSmart! It was a comprehensive FREE Internet safety curriculum that included parent letters, handouts, lessons and lots of links. They even offer online workshops for teachers. My county paid for one teacher per school to take the training. I was chosen for my school. I found it very informative and even fun.

I also learned about Common Sense Media about the same time and soon began to use it to look up information about websites, movies, video games, and books for my students and kids.  It gave reviews from CSM editors as well as it's users and I have continued to find it a valuable tool.  I often direct parents to this site when they are wondering about whether or not a book or a movie is appropriate for their child. It is a wonderful, free website that all parents and teachers should utilize.

CyberSmart has since merged with Common Sense Media, but the free curriculum has not suffered with the merge. There are still FREE parent letters, handouts, lessons and links to enhance lessons.  But now there are also videos to go along with each lesson.

If you have not checked out Common Sense Media's free curriculum, I highly recommend it.

eduClipper

I know I just shared my obsessions with Pinterest, but I also know not everyone can access Pinterest at school.  Enter eduClipper.

Have you heard about eduClipper?  It's like Pinterest, but for education.  You just clip what you want to save to a eduClipboard.  You can reClip, share, like and comment on others' clips. 

There's a bookmarklet tool to make clipping easy.

What can you clip?  Websites, videos, documents like Word documents, PowerPoints, and Excel documents, Google docs, images from the web and even embedded images from sites like Prezi and Glogster can be clipped.  Here's an example of some clips:

There are collaborative clipboards and you can even add classes!  Yes, you can add your students to your eduClipper account!  You can then share sets of clips with students or mark your clips as private which will hide it from other people on eduClipper.

Why use eduClipper instead of Pinterest?  Well, many schools block Pinterest, but eduClipper is likely not to be blocked because it is education related.  It would be a great place to save sites for your students to use or even have your students use it to save websites, videos, documents, and images for research.  Or use both. Save Pinterest for your personal interests and use eduClipper for school related stuff.

Educlipper is currently working on instructional videos to show all the ins and outs of using eduClipper, but if you're like me, I learn best by playing around with stuff on my own.  However, it is nice to have help if you get stuck.

And just like Pinterest, eduClipper is free. So why not sign up and try it out for yourself?

Librarians on the Web

I am on vacation right now in Florida...wohoo!  (Praying that it doesn't rain the whole time we're there.)  But that doesn't mean that you can't enjoy some good library/media center blog posts.

I have some posts scheduled, but you can also check out the library media blogs in my blog roll or on Sharing the Shelves.  And if you don't see yours listed, feel free to leave a link to your blog in the comments on this page or add your link on Sharing the Shelves.  Let's share our love of all things library!

P.S.  If you are interested in blogging for Sharing the Shelves, just shoot me an email.  jnase1@gmail.com Sharing the Shelves is a place to share library/media center ideas with other teacher librarians and media specialists. I'd love to add you to the list of authors!

Sqworl

So you've heard of Pinterest, but have you heard of Sqworl?  Sqworl is a bookmarking tool that bookmarks a website or blog with a picture of the website or blog rather than just a picture from that website or blog.

It looks something like this:

K-5 Games

You can follow Sqworls that others have created, but you can't comment on them like you can on Pinterest.  And you can't copy them, but you can share them on social media including Facebook, Twitter, and even Pinterest.

I like to use Sqworl to bookmark websites for my students to use and then put a shortcut to the those Sqworls on the student desktops.  Sqworls are especially useful for the little ones who might not be able to type in URLs to go to specific websites.  But they can click on a Sqworl shortcut and then click on the website in the Sqworl.

I actually found out about Sqworl before Pinterest and was using it to bookmark things.  It is super easy to use and it's free.  Check out Sqworl for yourself and see what you think.