Category Archives: School Media Specialist

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended Apps: Swiipe: News That Knows You

In June, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2018. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration and encourage discovery and curiosity

Ready to read the news in a different way? Check out the app Swiipe: News That Knows You. Developed by a fourteen-year-old in Ireland, this app lets you skip news stories you aren’t interested in, save certain news stories to read later or select a story to read immediately.

“Updated with the latest news every day, Swiipe is a news service that knows you fueled by the most popular news outlets from across the globe. Swiipe allows young learners to curate a gallery of news sources. They can choose from among more than 60 sources in a range of categories, including sports, entertainment, or business. Articles may be saved for later reading.”

Platform: iOS
Grades: Middle and High School
Cost: FREE

This article from School Library Journal has great ideas for including Swiipe in lessons regarding news literacy. Common Sense Media gives the app four out five stars in this review, which includes some talking points for starting conversations with students.

And finally, you can learn more about the young app developer and his reasons for creating the app in this article from Mashable.

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended Apps: PBS Kids Video

In June, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2018. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity

The app PBS Kids Video allows users to access PBS shows on the go! “The app supports emerging and pre-readers and offers all children the opportunity to explore new ideas and worlds through media. It provides a safe, child-friendly viewing experience with access to thousands of free videos, including full episodes and clips from top PBS KIDS series.”

Platform: iOS, Android
Ages: Preschool – 3rd grade
Cost: FREE

Common Sense Media has this review of the app, or get more details about the app in this post from the Educational App Store. Education World has this quick post that gives some ideas for how to incorporate the app into classroom lessons. This app is also a 2018 Webby Award Winner!

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended Apps: Metaverse – AR Browser

In June, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2018. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity

The app Metaverse is an easy way for students to make their own Augmented Reality experiences. “Create mobile games and choose your own adventure interactive stories using the Metaverse Studio and watch them come to life in the Metaverse app browser. Learners can create all kinds of interactive experiences, including games, scavenger hunts, memes, and other educational experiences.” Explore Metaverse’s Medium site for projects and other inspiration. 

Platform: iOS and Android
Age: Middle and High School
Cost: FREE

This article from EdSurge has some great suggestions for how to use Metaverse and other AR tools to create classroom learning experiences. Listen to this podcast episode from TeacherCast that features the CEO of Metaverse as their Guest Host!

You can check out this video preview of the app but don’t get discouraged if it looks overwhelming. Their YouTube channel has plenty of tutorials to choose from.

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended Apps: Complete Fairytale Play Theatre

In June, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2018. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

In the app Complete Fairytale Play Theatre, students can recreate versions of classic fairy tales using a variety of different tools. This is an app that looks like a lot of fun to use!
“In an inviting and intuitive interface, students select scenes, characters, musical soundtracks, props and narrate/act out their own versions of classic tales using the artwork from Nosy Crow’s popular fairytale apps series. Users can choose from among 60 characters and tell the classics or rethink/enhance the tales. Stories include: Goldilocks and Little Bear, Snow White, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, The Three Little Pigs, and Cinderella. Perfect for storytelling at home or at school.”

Platform: iOS 
Grades: Preschool – Elementary
Cost: $4.99

Horn Book has this detailed description of how to use the app which includes examples. Read a review of the app from Common Sense Media. The site Tech With Kids offers this analysis of the app which includes a list of similar apps to explore.

Watch this cute video to see how the app works:

Guest Blogger, School Media Specialist, Services

CMLE Mini Grant: Dash and Dot Robots

This is a guest post from Amy Serbus, Media Assistant at the Kimball Elementary School Library. Need a Mini Grant to purchase materials or try an interesting new program at your library? Apply today! 

Students at KES have had a lot of fun playing with and learning coding from our new robots, Dash and Dot! Through various apps on an iPad, they are learning to program the robots to communicate with each other and perform tasks such as bringing messages to their teacher, play the xylophone, tell jokes on command and so much more. When using the apps, students can program, or code, the robots by connecting blocks with specific commands. For example, if you want Dash to tell a joke, you start with a block that tells him to “wait”, then listen for voice command of knock, knock, then say “who’s there”, etc. It teaches students the basics of coding and how specific and important each step is.