Nominations for the Minnesota Book Awards are closed and the nominees have been published to the web! 245 books have been nominated in 8 categories. On Saturday, January 31st, 2015, judges will choose the 4 finalists in each category, which will be announced on the same day. Each of the 8 categories has a 3-judge panel assigned with choosing the finalists. The categories are:
Children’s Literature
General Nonfiction
Genre Fiction
Memoir & Creative Nonfiction
Minnesota
Novel & Short Story
Poetry
Young People’s Literature
Check out the complete list of nominees, and stay tuned for updates on the finalists and other events!
BuzzFeed asked their readers about their favorite lines from literature. Jennifer Schaffer then compiled them into this lovely post: 51 Of The Most Beautiful Sentences In Literature. The post features lines from Shakespeare to Salinger to Chbosky – did your favorite make the list?
This year’s Hour of Code was another successful one! Talahi Community School is one of the many schools that participated in the worldwide event, and they were featured in the Saint Cloud Times. Mark Sommerhauser writes, “supporters say Hour of Code gives a much-needed injection of computer skills training into elementary-school curricula.” Students from kindergarten to senior high participated in the event throughout Minnesota as well as the nation. According to the Hour of Code’s page of Minnesota events, these schools from the CMLE region also participated:
Big Lake High School – Big Lake
Delano Public School – Delano
Eagle Valley Public Schools – Clarissa
East Central Elementary School – Finlayson
Hershey Middle School – Hinckley
Howard Lake-Waverly-Winstead Public Schools – Howard Lake
Recently, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) came out with their 25 Best Apps for Teaching & Learning for 2014. The apps were chosen because they foster innovation, creativity, active participation, and collaboration.
One app on the list is Shadow Puppet. This app fosters the student work creation and sharing, especially with presentations – users can upload images and record their voices, no account necessary. Besides presentations, Shadow Puppet can be easily used for storytelling.
The iOS-only app is free and is recommended for all grades K-12. Here you can see the finished product of using Shadow Puppet to make a birthday card presentation:
Nominations for the Minnesota Book Awards are closed and the nominees have been published to the web! 245 books have been nominated in 8 categories. On Saturday, January 31st, 2015, judges will choose the 4 finalists in each category, which will be announced on the same day. Each of the 8 categories has a 3-judge panel assigned with choosing the finalists. The categories are:
