Tag Archives: language arts

Check this out:, General, Resources, School Media Specialist

AASL Recommended App: Content Creation: Comic Life 3

In June 2016, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their 25 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. The apps encourage qualities such as innovation and active participation, and are user-friendly.

comic_lifeThe app Comic Life 3 allows users to turn their pictures into comics. The app features templates, balloons, captions, photo filters, and lettering art. All that is required to create a comic is some photos and text! The app works well for making fliers, storyboards, and school projects. The app includes Script Editor, which recognizes keywords and allows users to drag them into their comic. This app is a helpful addition not only to Language Arts, but also Social Studies and Science. Check out their blog for ways to incorporate the app into your classroom.

Cost: $4.99
Level: Upper Elementary, Middle and High School
Platforms: iOS

For more information on the usefulness of comics in the classroom, read this article from Scottish Book Trust that includes links to other similar resources. Watch this video that highlights some of the features of the app (it looks so fun!):

Public, School Media Specialist

Recommended App: Grammar Jammers Primary Edition

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Pearson Education, Inc. has developed a kid-friendly app for learning grammar usage and mechanics. The primary edition of this app promises “catchy animated songs and rhymes [to] make English language arts exciting!”  Grammar Jammers Primary Edition includes unique animations and quiz questions on the following topics: adjectives, contractions, nouns, pronouns, punctuation, sentences, and verbs. The app is free and is compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 3.1.2 or later.

Check out this YouTube video for a nice sampling of what’s available on the app. I absolutely love the music and imagine that both kids and adults (parents & teachers) could enjoy listening to it (unlike some cartoon/kids music!).

Grammar Jammers is also available in Elementary and Middle Editions. However, these editions of the app typically cost around $2.99.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Learnist: Like Pinterest only Different?

We can tell from our blog stats that many of you either already love or have an interest in Pinterest. Learnist is a website (app) that is similar to Pinterest and is designed for educators. Read about how English teacher Hauna Zaich uses Learnist in her eight and tenth grade classes. Zaich says, “This year, I wanted to incorporate elements of a flipped classroom into my teaching, and I found that Learnist was a great tool for that. In the classroom, I’ve used Learnist as a practical option for my lessons, and students were receptive to the Learnboards I created to teach grammar. (Here are two that I used to help teach tenth graders about passive and active voice and verb tense and verb agreement.) I think my students found the mix of reading, examples, videos and online practice activities to be helpful.” Read the full article at Edutopia.org/Hauna Zaich’s blog (11/12)

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Librarians/Media Specialists and the Common Core

An article from Education Week titled Common Core Thrusts Librarians into Leadership Role is getting a lot of press and discussion lately in libraryland … and beyond. The article highlights the important role media specialists can (and should) play as their schools usher in this new phase in education. Namely, media specialists must be prepared to provide the necessary resources and learning opportunities for implementing the Common Core State Standards in their schools. The argument is that librarians/media specialists are natural “inquiry-based” teachers and practitioners, and are perfectly suited to model this way of thinking to other professionals as well as students. Additionally, the article highlights some of the ways libraries of all types are  impacted by the Common Core State Standards.

What impact do you see the Common Core State Standards having on your school and in your media center programming? Currently, Minnesota has only adopted the Common Core English Language Arts standards as a base, and has not adopted the Mathematics standards in any way. Since Minnesota has not adopted the Common Core Mathematics standards (citing our state’s superior standards and high testing performance for math), how might this separation or distinction from other states impact math education in the state? On the other hand, Minnesota has adopted the English Language Arts standards as a base, so how are you preparing for those standards in your schools? How are you taking part in this conversation, and what role are you playing in your school?

Additional information for those in the know! At this time, the NGA [National Governors Association] Center and CCSSO [Council of Chief State School Officers] will not be developing standards in other subjects and are focusing on implementing the standards in ELA and mathematics. However, other groups are working on standards in the arts, world languages, and science. To find out more, visit the section titled Why are the Common Core State Standards for just English-language arts and math? at www.corestandards.org/frequently-asked-questions.

Visit www.corestandards.org/ to learn more general information about the Common Core. Also, for a refresher on Minnesota’s K-12 Academic Standards checkout http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/EdExc/StanCurri/K-12AcademicStandards/.