Menasha Joint School District Library Newsletter - April 2014 : Books on Wheels, What to Read Next, Flocabulary, Loan Forgiveness, and More.

April 2014 Books on Wheels: Still a Few Spots Left   If you have not yet signed up for First Book's Books on Wheels there are still a very limited amount of spots left.  Anyone who works for the Menasha Joint School District may sign up.  All you do is sign up, and sometime in April you can pick up your free 100 books for your school or students.  Instructions for sign up are here. What Book to Read Next?                    Often students come to us asking for recommendations on what they should read.  They will tell us books they really liked and want books very similar to those books.  Here are some resources to help you and your students find just the right book: Novelist - You can put in a title and then click on title read alikes, series read alikes, or author read alikes. Goodreads What Should I Read Next Flocabulary - Educational Hip-Hop - Free for 90 Days Use this login: Username: BDMapps@mjsd.k12.wi.us Password: reading1 Flocabulary is a library of songs, videos and activities for K-12 online learning. Hundreds of thousands of teachers use Flocabulary's educational raps and teaching lesson plans to supplement their instruction and engage students. Our team of artists and educators is not only committed to raising test scores, but also to fostering a love of learning in every child. [continue...] Connect Readers to Multimedia Resources with QR codes Instantly connect readers to multimedia resources about the books they are reading with TeachingBooks.net's NEW flyers and cards. [continue...] Exploring Wisconsin Our Home | A Place Called Wisconsin - YouTube A Place Called Wisconsin - This introduction to the series takes a fresh look at Wisconsin geography. Series host Liz Chobanian Richeson and the Wis Kids locate Wisconsin in the universe, find their own home towns within the state, and begin to explore the places created by the work of people and nature in this part of the world. [continue...] 10 Years or More of Teaching?  You Might Qualify for Student Loan Forgiveness Under public service loan forgiveness, borrowers may qualify for forgiveness of the remaining balance due on their eligible federal student loans. [continue...] Discovery Education: Turf Mutt:Educators Foster an appreciation of the environment and an interest in the green space in your community with these classroom resources designed for students in grades K-5. With TurfMutt as your guide, your class will get outside, investigate the benefits of landscaping and recycling, plus understand the importance of the lawns, flowers, bushes and trees that surround us everyday. [continue...] Any questions or comments?  Contact Jennifer Peterson

March District Library Newsletter

March 2014     Mark your calendars for Friday, April 25th or Saturday, April 26th!  Those are the potential dates for any Menasha staff (who did not participate last year) to be invited to pick up free books from Books on Wheels.  Be on the lookout for an email to come soon with more information on how you can participate.     And the Newbery, Caldecott award winners are... "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures," written by Kate DiCamillo, is the 2014 Newbery Medal winner. Click through our gallery to see the rest of the American Library Association's Youth Media Award winners for children's and young adult literature. (CNN) -- Get ready to meet the new classics of children's literature.     [continue...]     Public Library Overdrive Gets New Teen & Children's Reading Room We know many of  you encourage your students and own children to utilize the Wisconsin Digital Library for  free audio and ebooks and we thank you for your support!  We are happy to announce a solution for the Wisconsin Digital Library that will provide kids with a destination where they can search for juvenile and young adult titles on their own website.   The main digital library has titles, mostly in erotic and romance literature, that can have occasional cover art containing designs that are more adult-themed.  OverDrive has developed this new site just for kids that complements the main digital library site.  Starting  next Monday, Feb. 17th, there is a new location that you can direct kids and parents to if they are wanting to just search juvenile and young adult.  The eReading Room for Kids and Teens is a link you can save as the default digital library location on computers in your children's area.  If you have a parent that would like their child to just be able to search juvenile and young adult titles, you can suggest they bookmark the new site on their child's computer or device. As you will see when you visit the new kids' site, there is a link on the top of the main page to go to the main Wisconsin Digital Library site.  There will be an infographic link on the main digital library site to take visitors to the kids' site if they click on it.  This site URL will cache in your browser.  Juvenile and young adult titles will be available on both sites.     [continue...]     Aquatic Invasive Species Pack Available for Teachers The Wisconsin Water Library has a backpack filled with lessons and even real specimens of aquatic invaders available to check out for free.     [continue...]     Help Make Big Universe Even Better We are looking for educators (e.g. teachers, librarians, instructional technologists, principals, superintendents) to join our advisory council. If you are interested in providing input into decisions regarding future enhancements to Big Universe, please contact us.     [continue...]     BadgerBite: Student Research Center 01/27/2014 - 15:57  A new BadgerBite video about using Student Research Center is available on YouTube. BadgerBites are 1-4 minute YouTube tutorials on BadgerLink searching tips and tricks.  Watch the video on YouTube! This training and many more are available on the Videos, Webinars, and Documentation page. Find all BadgerLink YouTube videos on the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction YouTube BadgerLink Playlist.   Any questions or comments?  Contact Jennifer Peterson