Safer Internet Searching

We recently had a first grader come across some inappropriate content in a Google search at school.  Online safety for kids is a top concern at school and at home. In school, we have internet filters, but no filters are perfect, especially when it comes to images and videos. Students should be monitored closely when using the internet. The best way to make sure they do not come across inappropriate content is to have them use our selection of online resources, many of which are paid databases. These include online encyclopedias, instructional videos, and many other resources for both our youngest and oldest users. Each school in our district has a site to get to all of our online resources. At the elementary schools a these are linked to our library catalog page. (For example, here is Prospect's page).  This page has a bookmark on student machines - students can get to it from the globe icon right next to the trashcan in the dock.
If teachers have a specific topic they would like their students to study and would like additional information besides the paid resources, rather than setting them loose on the internet, we recommend creating a guided resource for them with links to sites you have chosen. One example of this is a LibGuide. Here is an example of a LibGuide about the Civil War, used at Elm School. You could also add links of pages you would like students to access on your teacher website created on GoogleSites or another site builder. Finally, if you want students to be able to reach more than what you select for them, we recommend using a filtered or guided search. (Still keep in mind that no filtered or safe search is perfect! And, filtered does not necessarily mean it is a quality source of information). District 181 pays for the resource NetTrekker, which contains 360,000 educator-curated resources. Students will need to select their school name to get started. If you are having trouble with NetTrekker in Safari, use the Chrome or Firefox browser. Other "safer search" sites I like include http://www.kidsclick.org/, which only includes sites that have been specifically added by educators, and http://www.kidrex.org/, which searches Google with additional filters. KidsClick is more restricted than KidRex. Britannica Image Quest and this one on Images for Class.

Anderson's Children's Lit. Author Breakfast

This weekend I went to the Anderson's Bookshop Children's Lit. Author Breakfast! The five keynote speakers with author/illustrators: Chris Grabenstein, Barney Saltzberg, Sara Pennypacker, Lauren Tarshis and Loren Long! There were probably 80+ other authors and illustrators there and there was one to connect with at each table. They also switched tables several times so we could connect and interact with other authors.
Chris Grabenstein demonstrated how he can create a story on the spot, which he also did when he visited our school last year. He shared some experiences that led him to where he is today, including doing improv. He shared his philosophy of saying "Yes...and," rather than "but..." which is great advice for teaching and collaborating too!
Sara Pennypacker talked about how she is an advocate for children and her process in writing Pax...which I can't wait to read.
Loren Long was also very inspirational as he talked about his newer book Little Tree. He said "if we don't accept change & hold onto fear, we stunt growth like a tree not letting go of its leaves."

The breakfast also featured book talks of great newer books, so of course I didn't leave without buying quite a few books. See below for a few of them:

First Grade MLK Jr. eBooks

In the MRC, first graders learned a little bit about Martin Luther King, Jr. and then got a chance to make a mini ebook about him using the Book Creator iPad app. In addition to learning about Martin Luther King, Jr., my main goal was for the students to explore the Book Creator app and get some experience using it. They will be using it again later in the school year to create books about a Washington D.C. monument. This was basically a "practice project" for them. If you would like to see some examples, click on the link below to reach a Google Drive folder for each class.

Mrs. Grant's Class

Mrs. Monat's Class

Mrs. Turrentine's Class

Whatcha Readin' Wednesday

I have been reading Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics this week and I love it! It is just as great as the first. My school read Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library last year for our One Book, One School, which worked out really well. (For more information, see this post about One Book, One School.) We were lucky enough to have each grade level from 3rd-5th Skype with the author, Chris Grabenstein in the fall and then super lucky to be able to get Chris Grabenstein to visit our school as he was on tour, thanks to Anderson's Bookshop. Love those free author visits!

In the sequel, kids from around the country get to compete against Kyle and his buddies in Alexandriaville, OH to see who truly are the library champions. Kyle isn't so sure his library knowledge is up to snuff compared to these library experts, and his team has its ups and downs. When they realize something suspicious is going on . . . books are missing from Mr. Lemoncello's library, the kids will have to band together to get to the bottom of this mystery.

Make sure to check out the resources on Chris Grabenstein's website, including book trailers! I love the one with Chris Grabenstein training for the olympics. 

Candace Fleming visit + Giveaway

Candy (Candace) Fleming visited our school yesterday and gave our students an amazing presentation! As I mentioned in an earlier post, we read Fleming's Lowji Discovers America for our One Book, One School program. Candy Fleming talked to the students about how she gets her story ideas in a very amusing and engaging way! I highly recommend her as a speaker.

For the K-2nd graders, she interacted with students about the kinds of tools we use for writing - pencils, erasers, computers, etc...but also explained that our eyes and ears are some of the most important tools! She showed some pictures of her travels to Asia and explained how the different animals she saw gave her "story seeds" for her picture book Oh No!

For the 3rd-5th students, she also talked about using her eyes and ears to get story seeds - pointing out students in the room and how she might be able to use them in a story. One of her ideas for a story came from a trip to the beach with her son. As they ate their boring picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, they saw a group of people having a delicious-looking birthday cake for a seven-year-old down the beach. Suddenly some seagulls swooped down and stole a strawberry and a number seven candle from the top of the cake and flew away with them. Fleming explained that that gave her a story seed for the book Clever Jack Takes the Cake. As she began to write the story, she gathered more seeds. When her younger son said if the book had a princess, it should also have a monster, that idea became another story seed. Another seed sprouted when her older son was offended that her story was going to have a strawberry in it because he is allergic to strawberries! Fleming explained that all those seed swirling around helped her form the story Clever Jack Takes the Cake, a tale about a boy who makes a cake for a princess' birthday, but it ends up getting destroyed bit by bit as he travels to the castle - by blackbirds, an ogre, and even the guard explaining that the princess is allergic to strawberries.

For both groups, Candy talked about writing Lowji Discovers America. A story seed for that book came from a new family that moved into Fleming's neighborhood. They family had come from India and their son had never been to America before. Some of the phrases he said and the things he did, such as watching automatic doors in amazement, gave Candy Fleming ideas for her story.  Fleming also talked about how much research she does for her writing, even her fiction. To write Lowji Discovers America, in addition to learning about Indian culture, she traveled to India for a month. She shared how many drafts she wrote before sending the book to her editor (about 5-6) and showed a picture of the total number of drafts she wrote before it was finished (she didn't know the number but it was probably 12-15).

Her speech was very inspiring. I walked into several classes in the afternoon and they were taking story seeds from the world around them and doing some writing! I had one teacher say her students begged her for more time to continue writing!

I'd like to spread the happiness in a small way and offer a giveaway for a signed copy of Lowji Discovers America! Please comment below with your name and either email address or Twitter handle to enter. Retweet my tweet about the contest for another chance to win. I'll draw a random name on Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 8pm Central. 

Creating eBooks in Book Creator

Our first graders are currently using Book Creator to create a simple biography of Martin Luther King, Jr. Later in the school year, their classroom teachers want them to research Washington DC memorials and monuments in groups and make a digital book about their monument. This MLK Jr. project is kind of a practice book to get them familiar with Book Creator. As kindergarteners, they used Book Creator one time to create a (very guided) how-to book about how plants grow. Some of them remember this more than others. :)

We learned about Martin Luther King, Jr. through books and videos, including My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris. To keep the ebook simple, they need to have a cover and three pages with at least one sentence and a picture. At least one of their pictures needs to be a drawing and the others can be photographs. I found about ten photographs and shared them so they would be on each iPad's photo stream. (With newer iPads, I could have Airdropped them, but these iPads are too old so I actually put the photos in Dropbox and downloaded them on each iPad.) I will post soon about how the project finishes up!

What's Popular at Prospect - January

Here's a peek at our most circulated titles in January!

#10 - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Old School by Jeff Kinney


#9 - Of Giants and Ice by Shelby Bach



#8 -  The Watermelon Seed by Greg Pizzoli













#7 - We are in a Book! by Mo Willems












#6 - The Adventures of a South Pole Pig by Chris Kurtz












#5 - The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett





#4 - This is a Moose by Richard Morris

#3 - Lego Club Magazine
I get this magazine for free! And boy, is it popular!








#2 - Sidekicks by Dan Santat.


And the book that has been checked out the most is the same #1 book from November and December....
The 13-Story Treehouse by Andy Griffiths!