Great Library Blogs

I am always excited when I find great library blogs because libraries are my passion!

Here are some great blogs to follow:

Ms O Reads Books

Naomi Bates

Pamela Thompson

Redhead Resourceress

Top 25 Librarian Bloggers

Biblia, the Warrior Librarian

Mundie Moms 

The UnPretentious Librarian

If you find others, please share by commenting below!

Pinners to Follow

If you are interested in educational pins, the best way to get started is by following some trusted 'educational' pinners. Once your home feed starts populating educational feeds, it is easy to find other pinners with the same interests.

Listed below are some great pinners to start your educational pinning:

Deb Henkes - http://pinterest.com/dhenkes/

Indiana eLearning - http://pinterest.com/INelearn/

Theresa Cullen - http://pinterest.com/theresaacullen/

Jon Samuelson - http://pinterest.com/ipadsammy/

Eric Sheninger - http://pinterest.com/esheninger/

and, of course, me!! LOL!!

Pam McGhee -  http://pinterest.com/DigitalDiva201/

For all you librarians out there...I just found a great pinner:
Zelia Carson -  http://pinterest.com/zmcarlson/


Want to add even more great pinners? Who are the people above following? Click on their "Following" tab to see if you want to add those to your following list.

Have you found a really great board or pin or pinner? Let me know by leaving a comment below.

Remember: You don't have to follow every board of each person you follow!

Happy Pinning!!

So Many Apps

It seems like every workshop or conference that I go to, someone has 3 or 4 apps for the iPad and/or Android platform that they just can't live without.

This past June, Connie and I and another friend, Carol, were able to attend an amazing technology conference in San Antonio: ISTE, 2013! If you ever get the chance to go, it is worth every penny!

We had some awesome sessions. In this post I will share a few apps and how to use them in the classroom. Watch for a later post that will share some great websites and other technology tools for your classroom!

Dropbox - First 2 GB free. Sometimes your phone provider will have more available for free when renewing your phone contract. Access and share your photos, docs and videos from any device.

CloudOn - brings Microsoft Office to your iPhone and iPad and links it to Dropbox, GoogleDrive, Box, SkyDrive. Free version and a purchased version. Use Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power Point on your iPhone and iPad to create, review and edit documents.

lino it - online stickie service that offers stickies and canvases. You can post, see and peel off stickies on canvases. Post memos, pictures and videos you take with your iPhone, an even files as stickies on a canvas. Set due dates on your stickies and receive a an Email reminder on the morning of the due date. Stickies with due dates can be viewed in Google Calendar or Outlook.
     Classroom use:
          Make a bulletin board for students
          Students can post reminders for homework, projects, etc.
          Post questions to review
          Put on links for students to access
          Assign projects with directions - great for research projects
          Post a question, students post a response...then have students go back a few days later and responds to someone's post
           Post a short video clip and ask students to watch and post a response
           Build a collage of historical photos, students caption them, why important
           Post a picture and ask student to identify
           Write one word that describes a literary or historical character and an example of when that one word description was evident
           Students can post short book reviews/teasers
           Use this with teachers: have them post ideas, reviews, etc for iPad apps, books, videos, etc.

Class Dojo - great online and iPad app for classroom management
         

Pinterest Basics

Pinterest

What is Pinterest?
     Pinterest is a tool for collecting and organizing the things that inspire you…kind of like an online bulletin board or scrapbook.

Why Pinterest?
     Organization
     New Ideas
     Tips, Tricks, Shortcuts
     Lesson Plans
     Collaboration

Pinterest Bascis
    Account – You must have one. Think about what you would like your Pin Pseudonym (name) to be. You can also use your current Facebook or Twitter
accounts.
     Pin - A pin starts with an image or video you add to Pinterest. Any pin on Pinterest can be repinned, and all pins link back to their source.
     Board –a place you organize your pins by topic. You could pin ideas for remodeling your bathroom to your House Projects board, for example.

Boards can be secret or public, and you can invite other people to pin with you on any of your boards.

How to
     How to create a board -  There are basically two ways to pin. If you are viewing your boards, simply click the ‘+’ sign above the words ‘Create a board.’ If you are actually on a pin (you clicked the PinIt button) and have found that you really don’t have a board that works with that pin, simply click on the pulldown menu and then choose  
     How do I pin? – It’s easy. If you are in Pinterest, you can add a pin from a website using the Pin It bookmarklet or upload an image right from your computer. If you are in your Home Feed on Pinterest, simply scroll over the picture you want to pin. Locate the red ‘PinIt’ button and click on it. From the pulldown menu, choose your board, add a comment and click ‘PinIt’ again.

Organizing
     Boards - Think of names that you can remember. Some pinners are quite creative with their board names. Others use very basic names.  Group them…alphabetically…subject…color?
     Home Feed -  Access your home feed by clicking on the word “Pinterest” that is located at the top of the browser page.
     Following – Follow an entire pinner or choose specific boards to follow.

Collaborating  
     You can allow others to pin to one or more of your boards and let them contribute ideas, information, opinion.

Public Boards – unless you designate your board as secret, each board will be public.

Secret Boards – only you and those you invite can see these boards and any content and comments connected to them.

Mobile apps – are available for iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Pinterest has a blog! - http://blog.pinterest.com/

Pinterest Etiquette

Pinterest Etiquette

Be a good Pinterest citizen:
     Don’t just randomly pin. Look at the pin first and make sure it really exists and is appropriate.
     Change the description. Make it notable.
     Pin from the outside. Add more content into the community.
     Re-comment if you try it.

Be kind & respectful. There are real people on the other end of your comments
Be Yourself. Pinning things that interest you or express who you really are is more important than having lots of
     followers.
Give credit. If you pin someone else’s idea, give them credit.
Stay alert. If you see inappropriate content, report it back to Pinterest.
Pinterest is growing and changing. Let them know what works and what doesn’t or if you have an idea that might
     make Pinterest better.

Pinterest for Teachers and Students

The more I explore Pinterest for educational purposes, the more I am fascinated by all of the amazing, creative material that I find...and so much of it is free!

You can collaborate with other teachers, share boards, share ideas, develop lesson plans and so much more!

Check out this website by Wendy Piersall. She developed the Classroom Jr website and has filled it with so many teaching resources--information, ideas, crafts, etc., all for the classroom teacher.

Wait! But what about your students? Visit The Woo! Jr and The Woo! Jr Pinterest boards to involve your students in that creative journey!

Student Created eBooks

I just read an awesome blog entry about students creating their own ebooks. 1st through 5th grade students authored their own ebooks!

Once the books met a specific criteria, the school librarian cataloged those books into the school's online catalog so that they were available for other student and teachers to read! How awesome is that?

Students used an app called Book Creator and had to research their information.

If this sounds like a project that you are interested in, visit this site for more detailed information:
part 1:
http://www.follettsoftware.com/LibraryConnections/archives.cfm/date/2013/7

part 2:
http://www.follettsoftware.com/LibraryConnections/archives.cfm/date/2013/8

Samples of 1st grade authored ebooks:
http://blog.springfield.k12.or.us/weslibrary/mrs-pattersons-ebooks-2/

Criteria for creating an ebook for the library collection:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_ysUQ7z-O38q87IFlqiNyZ5a-pUYiLEqzniZbKzLW9o/edit

Summer time....is over! Back to school

Wow! Where did the summer go? After such an awesome conference in San Antonio, it just seems like the days have flown by!

Connie and I will be presenting at Brownwood on Tuesday, August 20. This time, we hope to include a session on Pinterest in Education.

Check back for more information and get ready to rock this year!