ESPECIALLY FOR FERN RIDGE
Know & Go @Your Library
Contact Information Bill Bass Twitter: billbass Skype: bill.bass3 Kim Lindskog Twitter: klindskog Skype: klindskog
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— Horace Mann
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Updates @your Library
tinyurl.com/libserv
A house without books is like a room without windows. No man has a right to bring up children without surrounding them with books.... Children learn to read being in the presence of books.
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All Library books are due back by May 9th! The Parkway Summer Reading List is available at www.pkwy.k12.mo.us/panda/subjectlinks/secreading.html and on the St. Louis County Library webpage. 15 new books ordered this week! This will probably be the final Folle$ book order for the year. Items that were included were books that completed a series and a few summer reading list items. Students should also apply for a St. Louis County Library card because they will have access to hundreds of eBooks, databases, and magazine subscrip*ons all online. h$p://www.slcl.org/using_the_library/library_cards Back ligh*ng is s*ll be added to the bookshelves to enhance the selec*on process for students and staff. REMINDER: If a student would like a book, please be sure they write down their first and last name and the book *tle, so that I can manually add it to the check-out system. Learning Express Library—MOREnet Learning Express Library provides users with access to hundreds of texts, eBooks and eLearning courses for FREE! Se5ng up an account is easy and once you are in you can take tests, save them for later, score them and even follow references to books or courses to help you understand the material be$er. Learning Express has also added a completely new sec*on called the Job and Career Accelerator that is loaded with informa*on on how to write resumes and cover le$ers, search for jobs and build job skills. Parkway has a full membership so all features are included in the paid service. This is a huge resource!
Highlighted & Underlined Technology, Research, and Learning Resources Booktrack—Create and Listen to Soundtrack for Books The Booktrack site allows you to add a soundtrack to a text or listen to a book that contains an ambient soundtrack. This type of digital storytelling entertainment is thought to create a be$er reading environment which leads to improved reading comprehension. Students can read the available books through a web browser and on either iPad or Android pla:orm. Students and teachers can also create and share their own booktracks through Booktrack Classroom. Registra*on is required in order to use all of features offered by Booktrack Classroom. h$p://cdn.booktrack.com/educa*on-studio/index.html#!/ (freetech4teachers.com) PowerPoint Alterna)ves Online • Powtoon—online presenta*on so@ware that allows you create free, animated video explainers with an intui*ve user interface. www.powtoon.com/edu-home/ • Toondoo - online comic strip crea*on tools that uses drag and drop features. There is also a helpful wiki to get you started. www.toondoo.com • Everyslide—share slides and run polls at the same *me. It is free to educators and students and allows you to share slides with iPad and android devices while al gathering feedback from your audience. Take your preexis*ng slides and make them interac*ve! h$ps://everyslide.com/ Free online Jigsaw Puzzles Great for those *mes when students have a few extra minutes. Try out the online jigsaw puzzles that have several different collec*ons in many different genres. There are several websites that contain puzzles: crazy4jigsaws.com, jigzone.com, and thejigsawpuzzles.com Tween Tribune Online newspaper for students from kindergarten to grade 12. It is updated daily with stories from the Associated Press and are chosen based on relevancy to this age group. Tweens can also post comments that can be moderated by their teachers. Ar*cles range from animals to entertainment. Registra*on is required but over all a great site. h$p://tweentribune.com 123 Cer)ficates It’s that *me of year when you may be looking for free printable cer*ficates and awards. They have over a 1,000 templates for school, awards, gradua*on ad many other topics. Love their mo$o—Reward Someone Today! www.123cer*ficates.com Shmoop Study Guides Homework help, teacher resources and test prep can be found at Shmoop. The site contains videos, learning guides, and online courses. h$p://www.shmoop.com/
Thinking about
Google Spread Sheet Conversion Since Google released the new version of Spread Sheets there are many new tools, the downside is if you have a lot of exis*ng sheets how do you convert them. There is no automa*c conversion to exis*ng sheets at the moment but there is a way to make to happen so that you can enjoy the all the new features. To convert your Spreadsheets:
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Open the spreadsheet you would like to convert Select ‘Download as’ from the File tab Chose the Microso@ Excel file type (doesn’t ma$er if you have an Excel account) Find the downloaded file and upload it back into Google Drive Make sure the Excel file is conver*ng to the Google Sheets format Don’t forget to share with all your collaborators from the last file! Need to see it done go to the video at h$ps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZF_rBlmYQE
New Last Week—Randomize Answers Op)on in Google Forms Last week Google announced a great update to Google Forms, that allows answers to be randomized for a number of different ques*on types, such as mul*ple choice, check boxes, choose from a list , and grid. In order to enable this feature, click on the Advanced Se ngs link inside the ques*on field and select Shuffle Op on Order. h$p://www.googlegooru.com/
Student Opportunities St Louis County Library’s Summer Reading Club The Kid Reading Club (ages 3 to entering grade 5) and the Teen Reading Club (Entering grades 6-12) starts on May 12th! There are two promo*onal videos showcasing how the club works and this year’s prizes are now available on the library’s YouTube channel. The direct links are: Kid Club Promo*onal Video Teen Club Promo*onal Video
The videos can be use to promote the club to your students and parents. Other ideas for sharing include: showing the videos during assembly *mes, pos*ng them on your website, or sending the link in a newsle$er.