History Teachers: Zoom In!

Zoom In is a free, Web-based platform that helps students build literacy and historical thinking skills through “deep dives” into primary and secondary sources.

Zoom In’s online learning environment features 18 content-rich U.S. history units that supplement your regular instruction and help you use technology to support students’ mastery of both content and skills required by the new, higher standards:

• Reading documents closely and critically
• Identifying author's point of view and purpose
• Engaging in higher-order, text-based discussions
• Writing explanatory and argumentative essays grounded in evidence

Voted by the American Association of School Librarians as one of the best websites for teaching and learning 2016.

Smithsonian Tween Tribune

Useful all across the curriculum: Science, History, ELA, Health, Arts, Technology, Current Events... The quality of the Smithsonian in the classroom.

Tween Tribune hosts high interest, reputable current events articles for K-12 audiences compiled by the Smithsonian. 

The articles are categorized by grade, lexile, language (English/Spanish), and subject area. 

Each article is available across multiple lexiles for differentiation and has an associated comprehension assessment. 

Free educator accounts offer a plethora of features: Monday morning newsletters, class and student profiles, lesson plans, article assignment capability, and assessment score grade books. 

Student privacy is protected, and all comments are educator-moderated. 

 Use Tween Tribune to compare bias/viewpoints from varying sources, support or inspire inquiry, or as a station highlighting literary styles

10 Ways to Spot a Fake News Article - EasyBib Blog

10 Ways to Spot a Fake News Article - EasyBib Blog: Fake news is popping up everywhere! Use these 10 tips to spot them a mile away.

Teens: Enter your favorite book for The Flume Award

What Is It?

The Flume: NH Teen Reader’s Choice Award was created in 2005 in response to a New Hampshire teen’s request to have a book award geared towards high school students. This award is a state-wide venture led by a collaborative effort from school and public librarians. Each year teens nominate titles, published within the last two years, they think deserve to be recognized. Librarians narrow the group of titles to a shorter list. Teens then vote for the winning title from that list.

Enter your nominations for the 2017 Flume Award here. Books must be published after 2014.
Enter ALSO here your nominations:  if you nominate the winner of the 2017 Flume Award, you will receive a gift certificate for the Little Village Toy Store.

What are your other favorite books? Check on our catalog here  if they are at the Media Center. If we do not have them, we will get them!  Enter your favorite book(s) here.

​There are many other exciting book awards, regional, national, internationals. See some of the most popular here. 

By Popular Demand: Really Simple Audio Recorder for Chromebooks

Several teachers and students  have asked for a simple solution to record sound on Chromebooks. Here it is: Simple Audio Recorder. The file format is .wav and works seamlesssly with Wevideo (you can fully edit it and then send your edited file wherever you need it to be, music player, presentation etc..).

Other recorders for Chromebook have some or even a lot of editing features and might ask you to create an account. Some have time limits. Among them,  SoundCloud, Vocaroo and Twisted Wave have good reviews. I recorded over 11 minutes  with SAR without any issue.

If you need a format other than .wav, use an online converter such as media.io.

"Oh, and one more thing". As recording is done online, plan 2-3 minutes after the recording to download your file.

2016 Teens Top Ten Books

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu (from @Truthdig)

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu (from @Truthdig): Although the title is deceiving for those expecting the fast-paced heroics of James Bond, the reader will find that this account of a small group of ordinary people risking their lives to preserve their culture is an even more rewarding and essential story.
- 2016/12/23