Fun Find

You might have guessed that I am a big advocate for social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. There are many reasons why but today lets focus on this one...

FUN FINDS!!!!! The internet is huge, HUGE!!! Think of all that you are missing out on by not utilizing social networks. Once person can only explore so much of the internet but when you are connected to 1, 10 or 100 people you have a much better chance of seeing the unseen and reaching placed you may never have found on your own.

I'm only following 49 people on twitter but every day those 49 introduce me to some pretty cool stuff which I often pass along to you!

Today I'm excited about this tweet

@prattlibrary Butterbeer, and 8 Other Recipes From Children's Books http://t.co/hU3O1fHY

Um YES PLEASE! Now that I have shared with you I'm off to make Butterbeer, nom nom nom nom 

Summer Love

Madeleine Peterson and MacKenzie Grube are all excited for summer! Here they share their summer hopes Prezi style!

Summer on Prezi

Hunger Games/Harry Potter Mash Up

I just adore both the Hunger Games and the Harry Potter series. These are books I could read over and over. Yesterday, the Huffington Post Books did something unique by thinking about which houses the Hunger Games crew would be sorted into if they lived in Harry Potter world. Kinda cool and fun to think about.

Hunger Games/Harry Potter Mash Up

Do you agree or disagree with their sorting?

 

4B Research and Prezi

The 4th grade library classes have been working hard learning the Dewey Decimal System. Starting with the 000 and going to the 900 they learn what each section means. The past few weeks have been spent learning the 200's; Religion. To better understand their world the class was asked to research a non Christian religion. While the Dewey 200's is made up of mostly Christianity if you look at the numbers between 290 and 299 you will find a multitude of books about various world religions. We have books about Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and other eastern religions. There are also books that cover ancient religions like Greek and Roman Mythology, Aztec Gods, Celtic and Scandinavian Mythology.

After reading about various religions the students were ask to do mini presentations. They choose from a list of various genres that included things like advertisements, book jackets, poetry, quizzes, and much more. By far the most popular choice was to do a Prezi. A few month ago I posted my own prezi. It can be found Here

Yesterday 4B presented what they learned about their religions. The posters, quizzes and book jackets will be displayed in the hallway outside the library.  The Prezi's are posted below.

Sikhism on Prezi

Hinduism temples on Prezi

Ramadan on Prezi

JAINISM on Prezi

Dionysus on Prezi

Buddah on Prezi

Taoism on Prezi

1st Database!

Our first database subscription is up and running! To access it you must go to the Database tab at the top of this blog. For now, this is where the access point will be for all database subscriptions. There are two links on the database home page. The 1st is World Book Online, which is our subscription to World Book Encyclopedia. The second link is our brand new database. Pebble Go is geared toward K-3 and is actually two database subscriptions. The first is Animals and the second is Earth and Space Sciences. Both can be accessed thru the same link.

Just like World Book Online, Pebble Go requires a username and password. It is pretty easy for all Falcon's to remember but if you forget, I put them on the database home page.

NOW! Go off and explore!!!!!

Unconventional

So I might be creating bad library habits. You see, every once in awhile, I need to listen to music. Actually, that isn't true, I ALWAYS need to listen to music. Usually, I have it playing very low so only I can hear it if I am at my desk. But occasionally I want to share with the children.  I just can't help myself. Often the urge to blast out the music happens on Friday's when I am ready for the weekend. Today, I created a new Pandora station that is all Disney. I must say it is fun listening to my favorite songs from my childhood.

Now, being unconventional does have its interesting moments. For instance, what is a music loving librarian to do when she plays music loud enough for library users to hear and they decide to break out into a conga line? Does she stop them or let them live in the moment and throw convention out the door?







If you are interested here is my Disney Pandora station.
http://www.pandora.com/?_sl=1&shareImp=true#!/stations/play/709364946205602735

Girl on Fire

Alright, we are all a tiny bit Hunger Games obsessed around here. Last year many students suggested the books to me. Honestly I kept putting off reading the series because the premise scared me. As soon as I was told that it was about a group of children thrown together and told that only one could survive I was put off. It certainly didn't sound like a pleasant read. Mr. W. started to read the series and convinced me to give it a shot. I was so taken away with the story that I finished the series before he did.  The series does take you to some dark places but the message draws you in and makes you think. I love books that make you think. I also believe a strong message is important, even if it isn't all happy.

If you haven't read it, you should! We now have The Hunger Games available for check out in the library.

This morning I came across this InStyle magazine's own tribute to the Hunger Games. They asked famous designers to sketch their take on the famous Girl on Fire scene from the first book. I believe this is probably one of the more anticipated scene for those of us who are anxious to watch the book come to life in movie form. The fire dress worn by Katniss is supposed to be
 beyond belief. In one word, transformative. I know my favorite design, what is yours?

While this dress isn't true to the book description,
 I feel it  has the extraordinary impact
that the dress is mean t to convey. 

You Learn Something New...

I was putting together resource list for the teachers today. While playing around in Destiny Quest, trying to figure out the best way to print a list of specific titles I stumbled upon a way to not only create lists of titles, but to make them available for all to see! I thought that was pretty cool!

So I now have plans to make all kinds of lists. Keep an eye out for them! Once they are created they will be available on the main Destiny Quest page. Here is what it will look like!

Main page with lists

Once you click on a list you can see the titles

Some websites with inspirational paper crane's from around the world...

Paper Cranes in Hiroshima's Peace Park

How to fold paper cranes and an inspirational project!

Paper Cranes for Japan from Students Rebuild .Org