All posts by Angie

AASL Recommended App: Humanities and Arts: NMAAHC Mobile Stories

This summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

 

The app National Museum of African-American History and Culture (NMAAHC) is a story driven app. It allows the user to experience the museum virtually through images, audio/text transcripts, and video clips. “Designed to be used during a museum visit, students can virtually experience the museum by viewing the exhibitions online and seeing artifacts like Harriet Tubman’s shawl, James Baldwin’s passport, and a segregated railway coach.” For questions and activities that can be used with students, check under the “For Families” section.

This article from Clearly Innovative gives a detailed description of the app and its capabilities. For videos and to learn more about the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, check out their Youtube channel here. 

Level: Elementary +
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE

100 Books Across America

Maybe you took a road trip around the country this summer, or wish you had! Either way, this book list will help you get a feel for each state. The list contains one fiction and one non-fiction book set in (or about) each state in the U.S. and also includes the most famous book set in each state. This is from an article on LitHub and you can read the full list here! Here are a few samples:

Minnesota: 

North Dakota:

Wisconsin: 

 

Join us in our online book groups this September!

Welcome to September! We are excited to start reading two new books this month in our online book groups. Join us on Goodreads in our two groups: CMLE Librarian Professionals and CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books. We want you to read with us!

For our Librarian Professionals group, we will be reading Lead Like a Pirate: Make School Amazing for Your Students and Staff by Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf.

“Pirates are on a constant quest for riches, but PIRATE Leaders seek even greater rewards: amazing schools, engaged students, and empowered educators who know they are making a difference.

In Lead Like a PIRATE, education leaders Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf map out the character traits necessary to captain a school or district. You’ll learn where to find the treasure that’s already in your classrooms and schools–and how to bring out the very best in your educators.”

For our Librarians Enjoying Books group, we will be reading The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler.

“A sweeping and captivating debut novel about a young librarian who is sent a mysterious old book, inscribed with his grandmother’s name. What is the book’s connection to his family?”

 

 

 

Fun Holiday: August 31st is National Eat Outside Day!

On the 31st of August, as summer comes to a close, it’s smart to make the time to eat a meal outdoors while you still have the chance! You can celebrate National Eat Outside Day in many different ways, and we have listed a few below:

  • Organize a barbeque
  • Find a rooftop restaurant, or a restaurant with a patio
  • Have your supper outside in your own backyard! Check out these tips for making your backyard more inviting.
  • Pack a picnic (this blog post has an infographic that shows you how to build the perfect picnic!)
  • Get outdoor dining inspiration from this article
  • Just grab your meal, a lawn chair, and a book, and head outside!

AASL Recommended App: Organization and Management: IFTTT

This summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

The app IFTTT stands for “If This Then That” and it is used to create applets. Applets (also called “recipes”) have the ability to link two services (your apps or devices) together as conditional statements which then automate certain tasks.

Level: High School +
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: FREE

Some of the examples of ways to use the app include “get an email when a new bestseller appears on the NY Times list; save favorite tweets to a Google spreadsheet, get an email whenever the President signs a bill into law; back up photos to Google Drive. The opportunities are endless!” Get more ideas for ways to use the app by visiting their blog.

PCMag has a review of the app, and they awarded it Editors’ Choice for productivity services. Digital Trends also has a great review of IFTTT and they include some tips on ways to get the most out of the app.

Watch this video for a tutorial specifically for teachers using IFTTT: