Students Get New Reading Assignment: Pick Books You Like

During the summer The New York Times ran the fourth of four articles in "The Future of Reading" series. The article features the strategies of a middle school English teacher in Georgia who allows her students to select their own reading material for reading workshop. This approach has resulted in an increase in the students' enthusiasm for reading and the development of literacy skills that resulted in higher scores in standardized tests. You can read the article from here and see some slides of how the teacher transformed her classroom into a more inviting reading center.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/30/books/30reading.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=reading and august 30, 2009&st=cse&scp=1 and august 30, 2009&st=cse&scp=1

2009 BATTLE OF THE BOOKS

For Mid-Hudson Library System libraries. http://midhudson.org/department/youth/bob/Main.htm

Contact your local public library for information about how to take part in this summer's Battle of the Books!

2009 Titles
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery by John Feinstein
The Liberation of Gabriel King by K. L. Going
London Calling by Edward Bloor
Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert O’Brien
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz

SUMMER READING

Public Library Summer Program
Dive right in to summer reading at the Poughkeepsie Public Library District. There will be programs for children of all ages - and signing up for Summer Reading has never been this easy! Just pick up your Reading Record at the Adriance or Arlington Branch Libraries and dive right in to the wonderful world of books! For more details go to http://www.poklib.org/ or call.

Adriance Memorial Library
18 Bancroft Road, Poughkeepsie
Phone: 845.485.3445 ext. 3320

Arlington Branch Library
504 Haight Avenue, Poughkeepsie
Phone: 845.454.9301

5/6s Ancient Greece

Note: Always cite your sources. See my list of helpful links on the "Citations" section opposite. Use the MLA format. This picture is from ClipArt ETC (Florida Center for Instructional Technology) where you will find free clip art for students and teachers.

Online Resources

By the way, do you want to illustrate your research? I found this picture of ancient Athens on Clipart Etc. This is a free source of clipart for teachers and students.

For other copyright-friendly multimedia resources (photos, pictures, sound) look for the section Copyright-Friendly Resources in the right hand column of this blog.

Encyclopedia Britannica

Grolier Online 

Ancient and Medieval World

(Marshall Cavendish Digital)
Early Peoples
(World Book Digital Libraries)
World History: Ancient and Medieval Eras
(ABC-CLIO)

Web Sites:
Odyssey Online: Greece from Emory University. A fun interactive web site with lots of information about many topics. http://carlos.emory.edu/ODYSSEY/GREECE/welcome.html

Ancient Greece from the British Museum http://www.ancientgreece.co.uk/

Ancient Greece from BBC Schools http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ancientgreece/classics/classics.shtml An illustrated tour through a variety of topics about life in ancient Greece, including the original Olympic Games, Greek theater, and everyday life in the city of Athens.

Ancient History: Greeks. Another BBC web site http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/greeks/

Ancient Greece for Kids. http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/index.htm Everyday life in ancient Greece

The Ancient Olympics from Tufts University. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/index.html

Encyclopedia Mythica http://www.pantheon.org/ Internet encyclopedia of mythology, folklore and religion. Just click on the Greek Mythology link on the left hand side of the home page for Greek gods and goddesses and Greek people.

Mythweb http://www.mythweb.com/ This site is devoted to the heroes, gods and monsters of Greek mythology. There are also links to other web sites about Greek mythology.

The Best of History Websites http://www.besthistorysites.net/ Provides links to over 1000 history web sites as well as links to hundreds of quality K-12 history lesson plans, teacher guides, activities, games, quizzes and more. Click on Ancient/Biblical History and then click on Greece.

Print Resources

Our school library uses the Dewey Decimal Classification system, which is also used in most public libraries. If you browse along the shelves in the following areas in our library and in your public library you will find some useful books. For example, you can go to: 031 General reference area where you'll find illustrated encyclopedias such as World Book and Colliers Encyclopedia; 292 for mythology; 938 for general books about the history of Ancient Greece.

Here are some useful books about Ancient Greece that are in our school library:

Reference

292.13 JAM The Genealogy of Greek mythology

391 PEN Fashion, Costume, and Culture: Volume I The Ancient World

938 HOR The Horizon Book of Ancient Greece

938 LEV Atlas of the Greek World

Circulating

610 DAW Greek and Roman Medicine

Take One Picture: Joan Miro (1893-1983)

Thanks to a collaboration with the Frances Loehmann Art Center of Vassar College, the children of the lower school are discussing, creating and performing original works inspired by Joan Miro's painting "Birds, Personages and Blue Star" (1950). To learn more about Miro you can take a virtual tour through the Joan Miro Foundation in Barcelona, Spain to see many of Miro's paintings and to learn about the life and art of the artist. The web site is in Spanish but you can read everything in English if you click on the "language" button and select "English."
http://fundaciomiro-bcn.org/
You can also see a selection of Miro's paintings and read a short biography of the artist on the web site of the Artists Rights Society.
http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Miro.html

Here are some slide shows and videos about Miro and his art.

3/4 African Animals

Online Resources

Grolier Online http://go.grolier.com/ This is a collection of several online encyclopedias: the New Book of Knowledge, Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Americana, Roget's Thesaurus and the American Heritage dictionary of the English language.
Female ostrich, Masai Mara. Photograph by David Orgel

Web Sites
African Wildlife Foundation http://www.awf.org/section/wildlife/otherspecies Search the gallery for information and photographs about species of animals found on the African continent.
Wild Animals A to Z from Discovery Channel's Animal Planet. http://animal.discovery.com/animals/ Searchable comprehensive database of information, photographs and videos of different species of wild animals.
National Geographic Kids: Animals/Creature Feature http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/Animals/CreatureFeature Search for an animal to find information, see photographs and watch videos.
Seaworld/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database http://www.seaworld.org/ Click on "Animal info" for information and photographs about a variety of animals.
Ranger Rick's Kid Zone--National Wildlife Federation http://www.nwf.org/kids/ A searchable database of illustrated articles from NWF children's magazines. Just type the name of your chosen animal in the search box at the top of the web page and you will get links to a selection of appropriate articles.
Enchanted Learning http://www.enchantedlearning.com/ Do a search for your favorite African animal on this site where you'll find facts, illustrations, arts and crafts, worksheets and printable books on topics of all kinds.
Kid Friendly Search Engines (see right hand panel)
Search these sites for kid safe web sites about animals and countries.

Print Resources
Our school library uses the Dewey Decimal Classification system, which is also used in most public libraries. If you browse along the shelves in the following areas in the children's books section you will find some useful titles:031 General reference area where you'll find illustrated encyclopedias such as World Book; 500 area for books about wild animals; 900 for books about individual countries. For example, 966.7 for books about Ghana; 968 for books about South Africa; 968.91 for books about Zimbabwe.

21st Century Literacy

The hot topic among librarians as well as educators everywhere is the notion of "21st Century Literacy" and defining the skills that students need to function, succeed and be creative in this new century. The curriculum at our school fully supports the expansion of this new definition of "literacy" and here are some useful links that describe this literacy in some depth.

Standards for the 21st Century Learner from the American Association of School Librarians:
http://aasl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_Learning_Standards_2007.pdf

A Global Imperative: A Report of the 21st Century Literacy Summit from the New Media Consortium
http://www.adobe.com/education/pdf/globalimperative.pdf

New Primary-Source Database for Libraries and Schools

A new primary-source database, with on-site search, is now available for schools, libraries, educators and students. Its features include 15,000 images plus documents, narrations, video/audio clips and organized slide shows. Incorporated into the text are also secondary sources, such as links to Google Books.

Group access to the site is free for all schools, libraries, educators and students. Click here for access.
http://www.awesomestories.com/newsletters/february-2009-highlights

Author Visit on April 7th

Thanks to a generous grant from our Parents' Association, the poet and photographer Charles R. Smith Jr. is coming to our school on April 7th to read and discuss his work with students in grades kindergarten through 8th grade. He will be making 3 separate presentations during the course of the day for different grade levels.

Charles R. Smith Jr. incorporates musical rhythms in his poetry and illustrates his books with his vibrant photographs. He draws on the energetic rhythms of jazz, rap, and hip-hop in his poetry to highlight the musical rhythms of language.

You can read about this dynamic author and preview his books by going to his website. http://charlesrsmithjr.com/ There was also a feature about the author's visit to Poughkeepsie Middle School in last weekend's Poughkeepsie Journal. http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009902210318

Families will be able to preorder Charles R. Smith Jr's books which he will sign on the day of his visit. Look out for the order forms which will be sent home in the next couple of weeks.

One of Charles R. Smith's acclaimed books is Twelve Rounds to Glory, a biography of the great athlete Muhammad Ali written in verse. Muhammad Ali was famous for his poetry, too. Watch this video for highlights from Muhammad Ali's life and to hear him recite his famous poem I Am the Greatest (1964).



You can also find more information about Muhammad Ali at his official website http://www.ali.com/index.aspx and watch some highlights of his career in this second video.

1/2 Markets Around the World

The 1/2s have been learning about Market Street and now they are doing their very first research project: Markets Around the World. Here are some resources to help your children find the information they will need for their research.

PRINT RESOURCES
The library is a great resource for illustrated books about markets, books about individual countries, and encyclopedias. You can search online for books in the Mid Hudson Library System by going to http://midhudson.org/ and requesting titles using your library card number and PIN. Contact me if you need guidance on how to do this. You can also search for books in our school library online catalog; the link to our catalog is on the library portal page.

Our school library uses the Dewey Decimal Classification system, which is also used in most public libraries. If you browse along the shelves in the following areas in the children's books section you will find some useful titles:
031 Reference area where you'll find illustrated encyclopedias.
381 Social Studies area for books about markets.
900s Geography and History for books about individual countries. For example, location 944 for books about France; 951 for books about China; and 972 for books about Mexico.

ONLINE RESOURCES

Web Sites
Markets Around the World from America. Gov. This site is produced by the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of International Information Programs. Follow this link to see photographs of markets around the world. There is some text accompanying each photograph. http://photos.america.gov/galleries/amgov/4110/markets/

National Geographic For Kids. Search for a country in the Explore Countries of the World page where you'll find photographs, videos and information about many countries around the world.  

Kids Around the World from the National Peace Corps Association. This is a fun site for children to learn about life in other countries. You can choose a continent and search for individual countries where you'll find information about daily life, photographs and links to other useful web sites.
http://www.katw.org/index.cfm
Encylopedia Britannica Online. This searchable site contains 3 encyclopedias at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. http://school.eb.com/ You will need to use our school user name and password to log on from home; these are listed in a document on the library portal page, which is also available in hard copy in the library. Or contact me directly. Try a search for "open air markets."

Kid-Friendly Search Engines: Use search terms such as "open air markets" or "outdoor markets" to differentiate from financial markets!
Yahoo Kids!
http://kids.yahoo.com/learn

Internet Public Library/Kidspace
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/

Ask Kids
http://www.askkids.com/

9/10 Country Study

Here are some resources to help you find information about contemporary life in different countries around the world. Use this guide to find information on the internet and in books available both in our school and in your local public library.

PRINT RESOURCES
A good starting point is the reference section where you can read illustrated articles about individual countries in general encyclopedias such as World Book or Colliers. You can also look in specialized encyclopedias such as People and Places and Worldmark Encyclopedia of the Nations, which are both in our library at the location REF 910.3 WOR. Excellent reference books available in the public library are the Europa World Year Book and Countries of the World and their Leaders. Both books contain facts about individual countries and their economies, media, political parties and other general information about daily life.

Our school library uses the Dewey Decimal Classification system, which is also used in most public libraries. The Dewey number you will find helpful is the 900's where you will find books about individual countries. For example, books about Nigeria can be found at 966.9 and books about China at 951. Other Dewey numbers give information about religion (200's), holidays (394.2), international cuisine (640's), architecture (720) and flags (929.9). Use the online catalog to search for books about specific countries or regions and for books on particular topics.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
1. Encyclopedias and Almanacs
CIA - The World Factbook. Contains statistical information about every country's geography, population, government, economy, communications and culture.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/docs/profileguide.html
NationMaster. Contains statistics on every country. Data is drawn from authoritative sources such as the CIA World Factbook, the United Nations, World Health Organization, World Bank, UNESCO, and UNICEF. http://www.nationmaster.com/index.php
Encylopedia Britannica Online.  http://school.eb.com/
Global Statistics. An almanac that gives brief information on nations and regions of the world. There are also links to individual nations' information sites. http://www.xist.org/
The Library of Congress: Portals to the World. Links to electronic resources about different countries. http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/portals.html
2. Newspapers, Magazines and Media
ABYZ News Links. A portal to online news sources from around the world, including newspapers, broadcast media, internet, magazines and press agencies. Searchable.http://www.abyznewslinks.com/
All You Can Read. A portal to online magazines from around the world. http://www.allyoucanread.com/international-magazines/
Internet Public Library Newspapers Collection: Online Newspapers from around the world. http://www.ipl.org/div/news/
News and Newspapers Online from the University Libraries of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. http://library.uncg.edu/news/
Librarians' Internet Index provides links to English language editions of newspapers from several countries around the world. http://lii.org/pub/topic/newspapers_by_place
3. General Sites
U.S. Department of State Background Notes. This site gives up to date information about a country's infrastructure including land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy and foreign relations. http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
Cultural Profiles Project from the University of Toronto. Intended as a guide to aid in cultural awareness to new immigrants to Canada, this is a resource for learning about the life and customs of countries worldwide. http://www.cp-pc.ca/english/index.html
National Geographic - Travel and Cultures. Gives brief factual information about many countries and multi-media about many aspects of a country's cultural, political and economic life. http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/
InfoPlease from Pearson Education - Countries of the World. http://www.infoplease.com/countries.html
Embassies of the World. Links to embassy web sites. http://www.embassyworld.com/
Kids Around the World from Global Teach Net, a program of the National Peace Corps Association. This is a good place to find names of people in different countries and for links to additional sites. http://www.katw.org/
Celtnet Recipes from around the world from Celnet. http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/
Kate's Global Kitchen Archive from Global Gourmet Magazine. An archive of recipes from around the world. http://www.globalgourmet.com/food/kgk/kgkarc.html
Smithsonian Global Sound project. Listen to music segments from around the world. http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/

4. Maps
National Geographic Maps. http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/maps
Maps and Geography of the World. http://www.geography.about.com/library/maps/blindex.htm
World Atlas. http://www.worldatlas.com/
5. Flags
Flags of the World. http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags
World Flag Database. http://www.flags.ndirect.co.uk/
6. Other Useful Sites
Google Earth