Lit Picks and Tech Tips

2012-2013 Mark Twain and Show Me Nominees Announced

CINDY MATZAT — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 15:49:52 +0000

It’s been so hard for me to keep this information secret, but they finally released the titles of next year’s Mark Twain Award nominees and Show Me Readers Award nominees! This is my third year on the Mark Twain Award committee, and I have enjoyed reading the hundreds of books that have been sent to the committee for consideration for the award. It’s a tough job, but I can at least say that I’m very familiar with current books for our kids. Ok, enough chit chat – here’s what you’ve been waiting for:

2012-2013 Mark Twain Award Nominees:

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea
Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs
The Clockwork Three by Matthew Kirby
Drizzle by Kathleen Van Cleve
The Familiars by Adam Jay Epstein
Ghost Dog Secrets by Peg Kehret
Half Upon a Time by James Riley
Hide & Seek by Katy Grant
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper
Palace Beautiful by Sarah DeFord
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
Twenty Gold Falcons by Amy Gordon

2012-2013 Show Me Nominees:

Fly Free by Roseanne Thong
How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
Librarian on the Roof!: A True Story by M.G. King
Lucky Beans by Becky Birtha
Memoirs of a Goldfish by Devin Scillian
Pierre the Penguin: A True Story by Jean Marzollo
Stand Straight, Ella Kate by Kate Klise
Sylvia Jean, Scout Supreme by Lisa Campbell Ernst
The Blue House Dog by Deborah Blumenthal
The Can Man by Laura Williams

You might start looking in your book orders and at the spring book fair for these titles! I will host my annual Mark Twain Book Club this summer if you want the challenge of reading all 12 books before the start of the school year. It’s always a great time.

Enjoy!

Charlotte’s Web Activities

CINDY MATZAT — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:51:45 +0000

I hope that you have all enjoyed listening to the audio book of Charlotte’s Web, and that your students are excited to attend the play this Thursday. Here is an online activity and corresponding lesson plan that you might want to use. It is a comic book creator that lets students create their own comics based on the book.

Let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

Class Management Tool and a Great Video Resource

CINDY MATZAT — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 20:47:13 +0000

I have two interesting sites to share with you this week. The first one has been a hot topic on the eMINTS discussion list the last couple of days. It is called Class Dojo, and it is a tool you can use to provide students with instant behavior feedback. Here’s the description from the website:

”ClassDojo works by setting up real-time feedback loops in the classroom, to recognise and reinforce desirable behaviors and values. You can recognise and reinforce specific behaviors and accomplishments with just one click, and have real-time visual notifications appear on your smartboard, laptop or projector. All recognition is logged automatically, and student behavior records are automatically created and updated so you don’t have to do any other data entry (unless you want to, of course!). ClassDojo automatically generates analytics, shareable character report cards and insight into your classroom that has never before been possible.”

Basically, you project a diagram of your class on your SMART Board, and then you can click to provide positive or negative feedback for specific behaviors. I’m not sure how I feel about this tool, since the feedback is pretty public, but when we give oral feedback to kids, it’s public, so maybe this is ok. I’m curious to see if you think this would be useful. If you try it out, let me know what you think.

The other resource I want to share with you is PBS Learning Media. This is a great resource. It is a searchable database of videos, lessons, etc. from PBS, and it’s free. I glanced at the Language Arts section and narrowed it down to the grade levels I teach, and I found lots of great stuff. Check it out and let me know if you like it.

Enjoy!

Cindy

Interactive Base 10 Blocks Site

CINDY MATZAT — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 19:26:43 +0000

Here’s a neat interactive site you can use on your SMART Board or on the student machines to have students practice with base 10 blocks. Let me know what you think of it.

Bulletin Board Ideas!

CINDY MATZAT — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 17:15:07 +0000

I don’t know about you, but coming up with bulletin board ideas is one of my least favorite activities. Leave it to the online community to come to the rescue. I just found this great site that has lots of bulletin board activities categorized by months, seasons, holidays, grades, subjects and themes. Be sure to check it out next time you are stuck coming up with a bulletin board masterpiece.

Bulletin Board Ideas

Enjoy!

Cindy

Interesting article on mentor texts

CINDY MATZAT — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 13:53:17 +0000

I was going through my Google Reader this morning and came across this post on mentor texts that I found interesting. I thought I would share it with you. The book the author refers to sounds interesting.

http://readingyear.blogspot.com/2011/08/mentor-authors-mentor-texts-by-ralph.html

Let me know what you think.

Cindy

Good article on benefits of using eBooks

CINDY MATZAT — Sat, 13 Aug 2011 12:27:44 +0000

I thought you might like to know that using eBooks like Tumblebooks and Bookflix are good for your students! Here’s an interesting article from School Library Journal that I thought might interest you.

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/slj/printissuecurrentissue/890540-427/are_ebooks_any_good.html.csp

I’ll have some more exciting information about new eBooks you can use coming soon!

New Windows Sneak Peek

CINDY MATZAT — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 15:14:51 +0000

The new Windows 8 shows that technology is taking a big step forward with the prolific use of touch screens on tablets (gotta love the iPad for that one). It will be good for us to think about how this impacts the way our students access digital information. Will the traditional keyboard and mouse be a thing of the past? Something to think about.

Free Trial of True Flix

CINDY MATZAT — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 17:01:53 +0000

We have a one month free trial of True Flix! Here’s the description from the site:

“TrueFlix is the only online resource that leverages the award winning True Books content to help students hone literacy skills, build knowledge of subject-area content, and cultivate 21st Century skills through the inquiry process. All of the True Book titles are supported with a deep and diverse reservoir of related content and primary sources featuring videos, audio, images, and text.”

Check out the brochure for more information.

Be sure to check your email from me to get the username and password. The site is linked from our building’s website. Be sure to use it with your students and let me know what you think. Our trial ends May 15.

Wonderopolis – a great site to inspire reading, writing and thinking!

CINDY MATZAT — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 21:22:37 +0000

Check out this great resource for encouraging students to read, write and wonder!