New Arrivals

Matt Sleiman just finished this course at U. of Waterloo and thought he would donated to the KCI stacks.
Thanks.

Click here for a Title Peek

Video Year in Review

These might be  items that you can use in your Social Science class for a year in review activity or just for your students to ponder.  The first by the UN is a bit serious.  If you do not have the time go to the last two.



This one is a little more up beat.  However it did remind me that one of my favourite sci-fi authors Ray Bradbury passed this year.



The last one has gone viral and your students may have seen this.  How many references can you make out of this pop year end video?

New Arrivals

We also have a couple more award winning books by John Green in.  Well one is already out.

click here for a Title Peek

click here for a Title Peek

Paper Bird Sculptures

These paper bird sculptures by Diana Beltran Herrera may inspire some of your young artists in your classes.
The article can be found by clicking here.

Muxicall and a Smartboard Lesson on Jazz

Click Here

A collaborative “wall of music” Click on the notes to play a track, but other people can also be using it at the same time and play music between you!

The following is a Smartboard lesson on Jazz by Allison Friedman.  Make sure to click on the pictures of the instruments to hear the sound example.  Click here to download the smartboard file.

Infographics

Infographics are great.  They definitely liven up a topic in a visualizing way.  For some students, it is much easier to understand and absorb the material which makes the learning more engaging.  This is why infographics have a huge upside for education.  There is no limit to how they can be used.  Here is a video about infographics and below this are free infographic design sites.  I have also included a few of inforgraphics at the bottom of this page.

Here are a few sites that are free to produce Infographics:

Easil.ly can be found at http://www.easel.ly/ 

Piktochart can be found at http://app.piktochart.com

Infogr.am can be found at  http://infogr.am

Here is an example of an infographic which is from http://www.fibers.com/main/sheldon-t-shirts-big-bang-theory.  If you watch The Big Bang Theory then you know who Sheldon is.

From drvita.com, the following is an excellent infographic is an is about the Paleo diet.






In the wake of  Sandy Hook, I thought I would see what was out there about the US and guns.  Amazing.  I am glad to live in Canada.  Some of these are old (this summer after Colorado and Wisconsin).  From http://feministing.com comes the following

From http://www.fastcodesign.com/1662850/infographic-of-the-day-does-the-us-really-have-that-many-guns

Finally from lawyers.com

Pro Tuner

On December 8th I posted a tuning App that was free that day.  Here is another one that is free today and is normally $2.99. It is for the Iphone and Ipad.    Not sure how long it is free.  This one looks like it is only for guitars but we have enough in this school.

Again, this may not be free after today, so take a look by clicking here.

Fakebook again

On November 19, I made a post on Fakebook and this could be used in pretty much every course depending on how creative you are.  I have now included instructions with a marking scheme.  You can edit this to fit your classes.  To get these instructions click here.  I have also included two  template examples of this using  a Power Point.  The first example is a .ppt file with John F Kennedy.  Click here.  The other is a  .pptx file with Monet.  Click here.

If you would like to see some Fakebooks made by students using another Fakebook maker as shown above go here.  If you would like to try a very quick summary of a persons life or a character in a novel you could use a Fake Twitter Maker called Twister.  From the Classtools website, "This new template allows you to create fictional "status updates" that can then be printed off for display purposes. Students could be asked

What are the most important people in this topic?
What was their most important moment within the topic?
What would their comment be about it?
What particular keywords would they use within their comment?
What hashtag could they maybe use at the end of the message?
What nickname did they have / could we invent to use as their username?"

Here are a couple of fake Twitters.  If you would like to use this in your class, have your students go here.

New Arrivals

The number one fiction book in Canada is given the Scotia Bank Giller Prize and we have just put it on the shelves.

Click here for a title peek

From John Green, this Michael L. Printz award winner, Looking For Alaska is now in.

Click here for a title peek

With the movie The Hobbit just coming out, we have a new copy of this timeless book just in.

Click here for a title peek

Chemistry Text

Mark Bishop has posted his entire Introductory Chemistry text online.

Click here for link

It includes animations, tutorials, Power Points, Chapter Maps and glossary quizzes for the students to work on new terminology.  He suggests that if you use the site regularly to make a $20 donation.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism, I think that gets most teachers attention.  Before I discuss some software to help you out, you might want to look at sites that your students might use for essays or papers:

Academictermpapers.com
Researchpaper.com
Megaessays.com
Pinkmonkey.com
FreeEssayNetwork.com

You might want to discuss academic honesty and integrity with your students before major assignments.  Ted Frick from the University of Indiana has a online quiz for student to try.  It can be found by clicking here.  Another site for your students to look at  is http://plagiarism.org/ .  As I mentioned earlier there is software available that you can use to check for plagiarism.

Click here

Our board has had a license for this software for more than a few years as I have had a username and password for this for at least two years, if not more.  For some reason our board has never promoted this.
I received this from an English teacher at another school in our board about Turnitin.

"I am currently marking my first set of papers on turnitin.com, and let me tell you, it's amazing what that program can do! Besides checking for plagiarism, it also makes marking so much faster and easier. For example, I can just drag and drop commonly used comments onto a student's paper (so I don't have to keep writing the same thing over and over again). I can make up my own commonly used comments to drop in, I can type anywhere on the paper to add a comment, and I can even leave a voice comment at the end of the paper (if for some reason, I'd rather talk than type).

My students reported that it was very easy to set up an account and upload their papers. Plus, it tracks late submissions for you, it saves paper, and it stores old papers so students can't submit someone else's work next year! Why wouldn't you want to use this program?"

You must have your students submit an electronic copy of their work to use this.  This can be done through Edmodo (see my blog on Friday November 30) or you could just have them bring you their flash drive but if you would like to join this decade, try Edmodo.  If you'd like to start using Turnitin, e-mail Chris Knight through firstclass and ask him to set you up with a username and password.  If you need information on how to use Turnitin,  there are many training videos that you can find at http://turnitin.com/en_us/training/instructor-training  or you can sign up for a product walk through by going to http://pages.turnitin.com/walkthrough.html  If you might be interested in this product, take a look at the video below.

John Wooden : The difference between winning and succeeding

In this TED TALK, John Wooden coached basketball at UCLA and is ranked by ESPN as the number one coach of all time.  Here you can listen to him discuss "success".

The Effect of Colour

OFF BOOK is a web-original  series from PBS Arts that explores cutting edge arts and the artists that make it.   From the PBS website  "Color is one of the fundamental elements of our existence, and defines our world in such deep ways that its effects are nearly imperceptible. It intersects the worlds of art, psychology, culture, and more, creating meaning and influencing behavior every step of the way. Most fascinating are the choices we make, both subconsciously and consciously, to use color to impact each other and reflect our internal states. Whether in the micro-sense with the choice of an article of clothing, or the macro-sense where cultures on the whole embrace color trends at the scale of decades, color is a signifier of our motives and deepest feelings."

Health Ed Buddy App

This App is not free.  It goes for $2.99 from Itunes.

Click here to go to Itunes 

From the Itunes store....The Health Ed Buddy App is designed to enhance the awareness and knowledge of healthy lifestyle choices for all people. The six adolescent risk behaviors (tobacco use, dietary patterns that contribute to disease, sedentary lifestyles, behaviors, alcohol and drug use, and behaviors that result in intentional and unintentional injury) are presented in this app through lessons, interactive quizzes, videos, flash cards and daily news feeds by health topic.

Health Ed Buddy is the ultimate tool for learning about the Health. This app was designed by a teacher who uses all possible multimedia resources in the classroom for teaching regents curriculum Health Ed Buddy is not only an app for learning about health education but also a app for teachers. The features of this app make studying extremely convenient.

The features of this app include everything you need to learn about the human body.

1.This app includes attractive lessons on all topics below.
2. Interactive Fun quizzes by topic
3.Daily health news updates.
4. Fun videos from youtube.
5. Flash cards by topic.

This app would be ideal for classrooms with iPads because it has the resources to present a lesson. All the regents buddy apps are available on the app store and have been helping teachers and students since their release.

Essential Questions this app addresses
o What do I need to do to stay healthy?
o How and where do I find health information and resources?
o What can I do to avoid or reduce health risks?
o What influences my health behaviors and decisions?
o How can communication enhance my personal health?
o How do making good decisions keep myself healthy?
o How do I use the goal-setting process to improve my health?
o What can I do to promote accurate health information and healthy behaviors?

Topics
1.A Healthy Foundation
2.Living a Healthy Life
3.Your Health and Wellness
4.Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle
5.Your Behavior and Reducing Health Risks
6.Building Health Skills and Character
7.Building Health Skills
8.Making Responsible Decisions and Setting Goals
9.Building Character
10.Physical Activity and Nutrition
11.Physical Activity for Life

12.Physical Activity and Your Health
13.Fitness and You
14.Planning a Personal Activity Program
15.Training and Safety for Physical Activities
16.Physical Activity Injuries
17.Nutrition and Your Health
18.Nutrition During the Teen Years
19.Nutrients
20.Guidelines for Healthful Eating
21.Food and Healthy Living
22.Managing Weight and Body Composition
23.Maintaining a Healthy Weight
24.Fad Diets and Eating Disorders
25.Nutrition for Individual Needs
26.Mental and Emotional Health
27.Achieving Good Mental Health
28.Managing Stress and Anxiety
29.Mental and Emotional Problems
30.Skills for Healthy Relationships
31.Peer Relationships
32.Violence Prevention
33.Tobacco
34.Medicines and Drugs
35.Communicable Diseases
36.Sexually Transmitted Infections and HIV/AIDS
37.Noncommunicable Diseases and Disabilities

Is that a Wayne Gretsky rookie card?

Well no it's not a Gretsky rookie card but your students can make their own trading cards for a series of characters in a novel or from any fictitious source or even from historical figures in history class.  They could even make trading cards for countries in a geography class, a battle in history, an element in science, a disease in science or health class.

The first card maker that gave me the idea is an IPAD App (not to be confused with an IPHONE App as did originally and  therefore I was not able to test it but do have the app downloaded on my computer if someone with an IPAD would like to try it).

You can download this from the App Store or from ITunes by clicking here.  It is FREE too.

The next site to look for trading cards is from 

click here

Thanks for the link Ms. Dillworth.  The card maker is fine but you must find just the right picture to fit into the frame or it will be cropped funny.  Here is the card that I made.

Writing Felonies

Kevin Brookhouser has produced a whole series of videos featuring the worst writing crimes and how to fix them.  Give them a quick look.

The link to the page of all his videos can be found by clicking here.

New Arrivals

A few more donations from the Oklobdzijka family.  Thanks!

The Eleventh Commandment by Jeffrey Archer.  This spent 5 months on the Sunday Times Bestsellers list.

click here for a title peek

Digital Fortress by Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code  and Angels & Demons.

click here for a title peek

Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson.

click here for a title peek

Futurama Future Value Problem

If you are doing a present value/future value math problem try the following from Dan Meyer with a video from Fry of Futurama.

click here for link

You can tune a piano but you can't tuna fish

I usually don't blog on the weekend but here is a music app for free  that does not have anything to do with REO Speedwagon's album title "You can tune a piano but you can't tuna fish"  (they were a band back in the day).

click here for the link at itunes

Here is the skinny on this free app for both the iphone and ipad from appadvice.com, "Get almost any instrument in tune with this music app.  You're able to select any one of the 39 included instruments by sliding your finger across the bottom of the screen.  Then play a note and watch as a circular tuner lights up.  The app includes 128 kinds of tunings, accuracy up to 0.1 cent, four built-in skins to choose from, and the ability to import your own image to be used as a skin.  Global Tuner is available for free for a limited time."

Steve Jobs at Stanford Graduation

Everyone knows who Steve Jobs was and many of you have seen this video but if not, it is definitely worth
the look.  It is around 15 minutes long.  Have a great weekend.

Make Music

Would you like to learn to play music in the comfort of your own home.  Maybe you have a dulcimer in your basement and can't find anyone to give you lessons.  Try

lessonface.com

From their press release....


The Internet has changed the way we work, connect, shop, and learn. LessonFace is proud to offer a new way to take advantage of the power of this connectivity by launching its high-performing video conferencing platform for students and teachers to connect for online music lessons all over the world.
With standard broadband Internet access and a simple webcam, using the LessonFace.com platform is a truly easy way to get started with an instrument or get back on the path to virtuosity.
“We’re hearing from students that they love the convenience of the live teacher online model,” says LessonFace CEO Claire Cunningham. “People like setting a schedule to learn and – most importantly – they like interacting with an expert.”
LessonFace, operating out of Brooklyn, NY, offers classes for children, beginners, intermediates, and experts in over 85 categories, from guitar, drums, and trombone to beatboxing and music marketing. With teachers sporting Grammys, decades of expertise in music lessons, and both mature and successful and budding recording and live careers, LessonFace presents a more complete learning experience for students who may have already begun to capitalize on the growing online learning trend through YouTube videos, apps, and other avenues.
This invaluable face-to-face interaction with expert music teachers from all over the world, in real time and from the comfort and convenience of a home computer, opens doors for students to learn instruments that otherwise may have been out of reach. In fact, students affected by Hurricane Sandy yet lucky enough to maintain power and Internet connection were able to continue their learning process.
“The student/teacher interaction of a lesson allows for specialized instruction that caters to a student’s needs, interests, and pace,” says woodwinds teacher Melissa Williams. “As both a student and teacher of music, I find that personalized feedback provides both motivation and a level accountability important to nurture the growth of musical skills.”
It’s a common refrain amongst educators that to really take learning seriously, you need expert tutelage. LessonFace’s online format allows top-of-the-line masters not typically available to people in their homes to connect with students any time of day, from anywhere in the world – all without leaving the home or studio. It’s a win all around.
LessonFace.com puts students and teachers together for online music lessons over a high-performing video chat platform. Top teachers from all over the world offer online music lessons in a broad range of categories and styles. Set a schedule and learn to play.
Interviews with CEO Claire Cunningham and LessonFace teachers available by request.

Puppets and Broadway

When you think of puppets maybe this comes to mind.

I saw this interesting TED TALK about the puppetry of WAR HORSE, as my daughter is very interested in horses.  I also saw a few puppetry apps so I figured I could put them all in one blog entry.




This app  might be of interest in a Drama class.  It could also be used by students to make a debate and cover both sides of an issue using the sock puppet app to make a video and present it to the class.
The app is FREE for the iphone or ipad.

click here for link

Another drama related app that is also FREE is ibroadway.

click here for link

Overlap Maps

Click here

This website will allow you to compare the size of two global objects with each other.  You can compare the size of two countries with each other by overlapping the smaller on top of the larger.  You could overlap a new country you are studying with something familiar like Ontario or you could compare lakes etc.  Not only could this be used in Geography but maybe in History when looking at a battle or war.

I decided to compare the country of Ukraine to the province of Ontario.  To do this, I selected "Overlap this" and chose "Ukraine".  I then selected "....onto this!" and selected "Canada" and "Ontario".  Here is the result that I received by clicking the green arrow.

CBC News in Reviews - November

Just put in our collection in the Learning Commons.

http://newsinreview.cbclearning.ca/

CBC is offering the online guide in Word format.  This allows teachers to customize and tailor the exercises to their classes.  On the Website, click the desired story and a PDF or Word option will appear.

IN THIS ISSUE........

JUSTIN TRUDEAU: FEDERAL LIBERAL'S FUTURE? (Length: 17:06)
Does Justin Trudeau have what it takes to be the country’s next prime minister? This is the question everyone has been asking since he announced his intention to run for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Canada. This News in Review story explores the famous Trudeau name, Justin’s political career so far and the buzz surrounding his announcement.

ONTARIO TEACHERS & DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS (Length: 14.42)
Is it a violation of constitutional rights, or the necessary action of a government in a time of severe fiscal restraint? In early September, Dalton McGuinty’s government bypassed the traditional collective-bargaining process and legislated a new agreement into force for Ontario teachers’ unions. This News in Review story examines the controversial Bill 115 that enforces a wage freeze for Ontario teachers and restricts their right to strike.

CANADA'S SOCCER FIXING SCANDAL (Length: 14:24)
Soccer has become increasingly popular in Canada in recent years. Millions of Canadians watch what’s known as “The Beautiful Game” online and on television. This means big business — and big betting — both here and around the world. News in Review follows the story of an international match-fixing syndicate operating in the semi-professional Canadian Soccer League and a scandal that led to criminal charges in Germany.

E. COLI HEALTH HAZARD (Length: 15:46)
The biggest beef recall in Canadian history started with a routine test for E. coli at the United States border on September 3. In the following weeks at least 12 people from B.C. to Newfoundland would become ill. News in Review follows the story as tainted beef became a massive political and safety issue…and called into question the actions of the federal government and its inspectors.

ReadWriteThink

After listening to the Ted Ed talk on metaphors by  Jane Hirschfield I thought I would look up some lesson plans for metaphors.  Voila

click here

There are many lesson plans here for the English language teachers here.  After clicking on classroom resources in the top left hand corner, I typed in "metaphor" in the search box.

I then went to the second page of results where I found an interesting lesson on Stairway to Heaven: Examining Metaphor in Popular Music.  Not sure if Led Zep is popular music but you could use this lesson plan for any type of music.  See the lesson plan by clicking here.