AASL's Best Apps for Teaching and Learning

I recently returned from the American Library Association's Annual Conference in San Francisco. While I was at ALA, I had the pleasure of revealing the 2015 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning along with six other members of the committee.

The ASSL Best Apps committee was founded in 2012 by Melissa Jacobs and the American Association of School Librarians in an effort to help librarians, teachers, tech integrators, and parents find the best apps to use with children in educational settings.

The committee selected 25 apps in five categories: Books, Content Creation, STEM, Organization & Management, and Social Sciences.

Click here for the 2015 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning.

Click here for the 2015 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning.

If you know of an excellent app for students, you may nominate it for the 2016 list.

Best Apps Committee Members: John Schumacher, Melissa Jacobs (chair), Lisa Castellano, Mary Ann Scheuer, Kathleen Roberts, Joyce Valenza and Cathy Potter (me).

After revealing this year's list, this poster was on display at the Lonely Planet booth in the exhibit hall.

Here's a Storify archive of Tweets from the AASL Best Apps presentation at the American Library Association Annual Conference in San Francisco.

Special Delivery Pen Pal Project

Second grade students in Mrs. Arsenault's class and Mrs. Lallemand's class received packages in the mail last week. Inside the packages were copies of the new picture book, Special Delivery, by Philip C. Stead and Matthew Cordell along with a letter from author, Philip C. Stead.

Students enjoyed reading the story of how Sadie tries to mail an elephant to her Great Aunt Josephine. They learned it would take a lot of stamps to mail an elephant!

After the story, students discussed some of their favorite packages, cards and letters they've received in the mail. Then they wrote messages on postcards to mail to 1st grade classes in Frisco, Texas.

Second graders are looking forward to receiving postcards from their new friends in Texas.

Special thanks to Macmillan Publishing for including FES students in the Special Delivery Pen-Pal Project!

Student Book Reviewers

Several students from Mr. Carter's fifth grade class are serving as book reviewers for the FES Library. Students read and review books and make recommendations about adding new books to the library collection.

In addition to reading books, student reviewers also write reviews that are shared with Mrs. Potter via Google docs. These reviews will help Mrs. Potter make purchasing decisions and promote books to other readers in the school.

Students hold up the books they selected to take home and review.

Special thanks to Mrs. Crumrine for donating new books she received from the Maine Student Book Awards. 

Children's Book Award Season

On Monday, February 2nd the American Library Association will host the Youth Media Awards at the ALA Midwinter Conference in Chicago. For the past two years I've had attended the live announcements, which was very exciting. It's hard to describe the energy in a ballroom full of librarians and reviewers as the winning titles are announced.

This year I'll be in Maine during the announcements, so I'll stream the announcements for students in the FES library. Here's the link if you want to watch the awards live on Monday at 9:00 a.m. EST.
http://live.webcastinc.com/ala/2015/live/

Students at FES have been busy reading, discussing and voting for their favorite books published in 2014 before the official awards announcements are made.

Here are the results of the K-5 school-wide Mock Caldecott voting.

Winner: 

Little Elliot, Big City

Honors: 

Three Bears in a Boat 

Sparky

Here are the results of the Mock Newbery book club voting.

Winner:

 The Mark of the Dragonfly

Honors: 

Rain Reign

A Snicker of Magic

Brown Girl Dreaming

The Fourteenth Goldfish

Last year I had the honor of serving on the Sibert Medal committee. I learned firsthand that award committee members devote a year to reading and analyzing hundreds of eligible book based on the award criteria. The discussions and lists of books considered are kept top secret. This makes it really fun to try to predict the winner. There are many books that are contenders for these awards, but I've only listed books that I have read and believe are distinguished compared to other books published in 2014.

Here are my predictions for the 2015 Youth Media Awards.

Caldecott Medal: The Right Word

Caldecott Honors:

Three Bears in a Boat

The Farmer and the Clown

Little Elliot, Big City

Draw

Newbery Medal: Brown Girl Dreaming

Newbery Honors: 

Half a Chance

Arcady's Goal

The Family Romanov

Absolutely Almost

The Night Gardener

Sibert Medal: The Family Romanov

Sibert Honors:

The Port Chicago 50

Brown Girl Dreaming

The Right Word

Neighborhood Sharks

Coretta Scott King Author Award: Brown Girl Dreaming

CSK Author Honors: 

The Crossover

The Madman of Piney Woods

Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award: Firebird

CSK Illustrator Honors:

All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom

Josephine

Pura Belpre Author Award: Separate is Never Equal

Pura Belpre Illustrator Award: Viva Frida

Schneider Family Book Award: El Deafo

Geisel Award: Hooray for Hat

Geisel Honors: 

My New Friend is So Fun

Number One Sam

Hour of Code

Hour of Code video

This week is Computer Science Education Week, an annual event that focuses on the importance of making sure all students learn computer science in school.

Students at Falmouth Elementary School will take part in the Hour of Code in their classrooms and in technology classes thanks to the leadership of Mr. Harvey (technology teacher) and Mrs. Macdonald (tech integrator) who have planned and prepared programming lessons for each grade.

Why should students learn how to code?

  Watch this video to learn how computer programming helps students learn to be problem solvers, better communicators and innovators.

You can follow Hour of Code events on social media with the hashtag:  #hourofcode.

Here are some resources to introduce students to computer science and programming.

Code.org- Offers a computer science curriculum for grades K-6. Teachers may set up for free accounts for their students.

Khan Academy- Hour of Code videos and lessons

Microsoft- Hour of Code resources

Codecademy- Hour of Code programming projects

Skype in the Classroom- Arrange for a guest speaker from the computer science field.

Kodable- Teach young children the basics of programming.

Scratch- Program a holiday card or create a pong game.

Made with Code- Program a snowflake.

FES is proud of our technology teacher, Mr. Harvey, who is the featured educator on the Minecraft EDU site. 

Skype Author Visit with Jaleigh Johnson

The 4th and 5th grade students in the FES Mock Newbery Book Club cannot stop talking about The Mark of the Dragonfly by Jaleigh Johnson. The first chapter pulls readers into a dark world where meteor showers force residents to take shelter. This steampunk, science fiction novel for middle grade readers has mystery, adventure, trains, and much more!

Twenty students from the Mock Newbery Book Club stayed after school this week to participate in a question and answer Skype visit with author, Jaleigh Johnson. Students had some excellent questions about the plot, characters and setting of the book. In case you're wondering, there is a companion novel in the works! One student took the opportunity to ask Jaleigh for some writing advice. It was a successful visit that will have a lasting impact on FES readers and writers for years to come.

If you are haven't read The Mark of the Dragonfly, stop what you're doing and make your way to the nearest library or independent book store. You can thank me later.

School Library Journal Leadership Summit

I was honored to be invited to take part in the School Library Journal Leadership Summit in St. Paul, Minnesota this year. I saved my pennies and purchased an airline ticket to the Twin Cities. The SLJ Summit is an annual conference that brings together 200 school librarians from across the country. This year's theme was Fire It Up: Sparking Creativity and Motivating Students.

Snoopy at the Minneapolis Airport

St. Paul was a lovely setting for this year's Summit. It is the home of Peanuts creator, Charles M. Schultz. Some of the guest speakers at the Summit included Mark Turnispeed (the President Emeritus of LEGO Education), Dr. Mark Edwards (2013 National Superintendent of the Year), and nonfiction author Loree Griffin Burns, to name a few.

My favorite sessions were the "Fifteen-Minute Fast Learning Sessions." Presenters shared projects and ideas for 15 minute bursts. My friend, Andy Plemmons from Athens, Georgia, shared how he empowers his students with student book budgets.

I was thrilled to attend a special dinner in honor of author/illustrator, Patricia Polacco. Ms. Polacco was also a keynote speaker. She is a wonderful storyteller and a real treasure.

Patricia Polacco shares a reproduction of The Keeping Quilt.

What made the SLJ Summit so special was having the opportunity to meet school librarians from other states and to learn about their library programs. Anytime we had a break between sessions, the collective wheels were turning as we brainstormed ways we could connect our students with meaningful projects. I left Minnesota reinvigorated and inspired to continue to look for creative ways to meet the needs of the learners in my school.

Librarians from Massachusetts, Minnesota, Georgia, Maine and Hawaii 

Special thanks to School Library Journal and the wonderful sponsors who made this conference possible. Capstone Publishing, Lerner Publishing, and Mackin VIA were especially generous and organized special events and provided meals while I was in St. Paul.

During the Summit, Capstone Publishing revealed this video: Why School Libraries Matter.