Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Ready, Set, Read! It's National Library Week.

Starting with books of course:

Biblioburro by Jeanette Winter
Yay! One of our favorite books - the inspiring story of Luia who loves books so much he loads them up on his burro and travels with them to remote areas of Columbia to share them with children. Better yet, this book is based on the real-life story of Luis Soriano and his mission to share books. 

Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora
Grandfather tells wonderful stories and Tomas and his family gather around to hear them after long days working in the fields. Tomas has heard them so many times, he knows them by heart. But then Grandfather tells him there are even more stories in the library. So Tomas meets the library lady who opens up a whole new world of stories to him.

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
Luigi Lemoncello, a creative, not to mention notorius gamemaker, is building the town's new library. Find out what adventures are in store at the library for Kyle, a huge video gamer and a class clown.

Miss Moore Thought Otherwise: How Anne Carroll Moore Created Libraries for Children
by Jan Pinborough
This is the true story of Miss Moore creating the first children's room at the New York Public Library. She filled it with artwork, window seats for curling up with a good book and many, many books in many languages. But it's borrowing privileges that makes this collection so important!

The Library by Sarah Stewart
Elizabeth Brown loves books so much they've filled up the house and blocked the front door. What to do with so many books? Start a public library! Check out Elizabeth's story.

Amelia Bedelia Bookwork by Herman Parish
Knitting jackets for books? Confusing a stegasaurus with a thesaurus? Amelia Bedelia volunteers at the library and that's when the fun begins!

Pipistrelli in Biblioteca by Brian Lies
Ever wonder what happens at the library after dark? This tale of bats reading their favorite stories and making mischief in the drinking fountain will delight you. It's written in rhyme so if you're working on rhyme, it's perfect!

Library Mouse by Daniel Kirk
Library Mouse loves books so much that he decides to become a writer. Through his story, he inspires children everywhere to write.

The Librarian of Basra by Jeanette Winter
In this story, librarian Alia Muhammed Baker braves the threat of war to save the library's books. 


Moving on to videos because modern libraries have all types of resources:


This is the video version of Columbian grade-school teacher Luis Soriano's story. He and his hard-working burros bring books to children in a remote area. Watch him travel with a collection of books strapped to his donkey, set up the books and share them with local children. Very inspiring true life story! (5 minutes long)

Monday, April 14, 2014

Celebrate Life - Celebrate Earth Day!

Books

"Little Green Books" Series
 
This trio of books includes Max, an environmentally irresponsible little monster who learns the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling, in "I Can Save the Earth!", as well documentaries that explain the "life" of a recycled plastic bottle and an aluminum can.

The EARTH Book by Todd Parr
In addition to giving Todd Parr's always colorful, kid-friendly approach, this book itself lives its message as it's created with environmentally friendly inks and printed on recycled materials. Go Todd Parr!

Videos

Short, clever and to the point - great video for kids of any age!

Click to watch the Dr Seuss' Original Lorax animated TV special from 1972. It's timeless!

Daunting images of people's wasteful choices change to hopeful ones then end with a reminder to take care of our earth. 

Powerful and perfect for upper grades!

Earth Day Video for Kids

Everything living thing on earth is important, no matter how big or small. That's the message of this video and the Little Earth Charter they ask kids to take along with them. Great for younger students.

Absolutely beautiful song and images. Sung by Nick Kello. Sorry, not able to upload an image but please click on the link above. You'll be rewarded with a celebration of the diversity and beauty of our planet and an inspiring reminder to take care of it! Great for second grade on up.

Online Games

Kids play informative games that teach them about the environment, conservation and how they can take a role to help protect the earth.

It's easier to clean up someone else's messes! Kids sort recycling, garbage and things that can be composted as they tidy up the room.

Printables 

Make Earth Day part of learning all day long
Check out these free learning activities on Teacherpayteachers:

Games 4 Learning offers two calculation games. One requires players to throw two dice then find the sum or difference of them. The other requires players roll the dice, add the numbers then double or triple the sum. 

This poster lets kids share ideas with their writing.

Players match homophone pairs and record them.


Watch the story of how Earth Day came to be.

Talking Points

Kid-friendly tips for saving energy and protecting our earth: could be used for making posters in groups then sharing in a class discussion.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

We're Having a 100 TpT Followers Sale!


We love our followers! And, we’re so happy that now there are over 100 of you! That’s like a virtual roomful for a party. So to celebrate and to say thank you, we’re throwing a 100! Sale. Starting at Sunday, April 13th (lucky 13!) at noon, all of our products will be 100 cents for 100 hours. That means our sale will last until Thursday, April 17th at 4:00 pm. Thank you all!
Thank you to:
Fonts by Astigmatic One Eye Typographic Institute at http://www.fontspace.com/astigmatic-one-eye-typographic-institute 
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