CELEBRATE CHILDREN'S LITERATURE

Children’s Book Week  November 18-24  Theme Book Time

Family Reading Night  November 21  Theme  Read Together Grow Together 

Start planning your events, displays, booklist, and/or crafts now.  Children’s Literature has changed in the past 50 years.  Books are more colorful; topics covered are more realistic as well as more fantastic.  The illustrations are produced from a wide variety of artistic styles and mediums.  Every child today should be able to find a child like them in the books they read. 

Looking for ways to celebrate Children’s Book Week?  Go to this web site http://www.cbcbooks.org/html/celebrate_a-z.html

Looking for ideas to celebrate Family Reading Night?  Go to this web site http://www.library.sos.state.il.us/library/isl/reading/frnideas.htm
 

ANNIVERSARIES OF EVENTS 

King Tut Tomb Discovery, November 4, 1922 

Children are fascinated by Egypt and the stories of pyramids, mummies, and tombs of kings.  If you want to do a Unit on King Tut, here are some web sites that are interesting. 

www.nationalgeographic.com/egypt/ This reproduces the article from the February 1923 issue. 

http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/2815/tut.html  Other resources can be found at this geocities site. 

http://www.pekin.net/pekin108/wash/webquest/  Here is a WebQuest on King Tut titled King Tutankhamun: Was it Murder?  This was created at the Washington Intermediate School in Pekin, IL.
 

VETERANS DAY NOVEMBER 11

With all the news coming from the Middle East, one wonders what will happen next.  Will we attack another country or will they attack the United States?  What ever happens; this year the editor feels that observances of Veterans Day are something that should be observed.  There are two web sites that contain good factual information about Veterans day and give tips for having a Veterans Day program.  They are US Department of Veterans Affairs www.va.gov/pubaff/vetsday

Veterans of Foreign Wars www.vfw.org/amesm/origins.shtml  Click on “Suggested Community Program” for a complete agenda for you to follow.   
                   

NEWS FROM ILA 

The 2002 ILA Conference was held September 25-27 in Chicago at Navy Pier.  It was a good conference with many interesting presentations and more vendors than ever at an ILA Conference.  There are three things that your editor saw at ILA that were interesting and need to be shared.  The first was an idea found at one of the Poster Sessions.  Here is the abstract.

Bored? Games! A Program Aimed at Kids 5th Grade and Up

The older kids can be a difficult group to plan programs for. However, one consistently popular session that we never have trouble filling with warm bodies is the "Create your own board game" program. With cheap glass-drop playing pieces, some square cut foam core boards, and plenty of markers, the kids can design their own original board games or use some of our ready-made stencils to create such games as, Cat and Dog, Nine Men's Morris, Roundabouts, Solitaire, etc. This program does not require elaborate set up or expensive equipment. The kids can be as creative as they like and yet a certain amount of success is just about guaranteed regardless of their level of skill. The games can be played afterwards and the kids who don't feel crafty get a chance to employ a very different set of abilities. The kids love this one and we do too.
Julie Yekel, Westchester Public  Library 

The book that Julie used was The Book of Classic Board Games.  Collected by Sid Sackson.  Klutz Press, 1991.  In checking the RPLS Data base two additional books on making board games were found. 

Journey to Gameland: How to Make a Board Game from Your Favorite Children’s Book.  Ben Buchanan.  Lantern Books, 2001.

Making Board, Peg & Dice Games.  Jeff Loader.  Guild of Master Craftsman Publications, 1993.
 

NEW ILLINOIS BOOKS FROM HEINEMANN

This is a new series from Heinemann, six books on Illinois.  The titles are

All Around Illinois: Regions and Resources; Illinois History; Illinois Native Peoples; Illinois Plants and Animals; People of Illinois; Uniquely Illinois.  These are 48 pages in length, have a glossary, table of contents and index.  They are written for grades 3-5 and both Illinois Social Science and Illinois Science Correlations are available from the publishers.  There are library bound and paperback classroom sets available as well as AR Quizzes for all the titles.  Go to this web site to see these books: http://www.heinemannclassroom.com/series/state-studies.asp

Only California, Florida and Illinois have been covered by this series “Heinemann State Studies. These books are being discussed to give you another source of materials to evaluate and possibly include in your collections because schools must teach Illinois History.
 

WHERE ABOUTS, INC. 

Where Abouts, Inc. is a new company that had never been at ILA.  They have a giant floor map kit that contains an 11 x 14 foot physical map of the United States, in washable vinyl (no latex), 50 colorful states as puzzle pieces, an extensive resource guide with activities for K-8, 3-D pieces for mapping and graphing, and a map key poster.  This is pricey at $1950.  They also do programs about geography.  Their web site is www.whereaboutsinc.com
 

PLAGIARISM UPDATE

Recently on the ISLMANET-L list there was a question about plagiarism web sites.  The requestor of information compiled the results and sent them back to the list.  Below is that response.

Thank you to all who responded to my question about plagiarism. It seems that the free sites are now gone; however, I did find one called PlagiServe.com.  It is free, but the results of my query were returned the next day, so if you can wait, it's not a bad deal. One just needs to register.

Turnitin.com was mentioned a few times; however it's pricing is based on the type of educational institution and number of students. Generally, the cost is $.50 per student per year. It does offer quite a thorough system of registering classes, students, etc.  Google was mentioned most often. Just type in a distinctive phrase or sentence(s), and it will try and find it on the Web. Google doesn't cover the entire Web though, so you may want to use an additional engine like AltaVista, or a meta-search tool like vivisimo.com or metacrawler.com

Thanks again,  Sheila Ryndak, Media Center Director, Mundelein H. S.
 

SCAVENGER HUNT FOR ELEMENTARY STUDENTS 

Here is a neat idea posted in response to a request for scavenger hunt games from ISLMANET-L. 

I have hidden puzzle pieces in books. Kids have to look up info on the OPAC to find the correct book. I do it as a shelf location game. When the "team" finds all the pieces, they must put the puzzle together to "win".  Pam Storm, Media Specialist, Carl Sandburg School, Charleston, IL
 

CRAFT WEB SITE 

One web site on the Internet that is a source for craft ideas is http://www.familyfun.com  This is part of Disney Online.  On the left hand side of the main page there is a listing of top tools.  Under that is a Craft Finder.  You can put in the holiday, what type of materials, length of time to do the craft and the cost.  Hit the go button and a listing of crafts pops up.  A search of Thanksgiving, all types of materials under $5 and 15 minutes resulted in 6 possible crafts. 
 

THE FUTURE OF THE PROFESSION

School Library Journal in its September and October issues had articles under the heading. “The Future of the Profession.”  Michael B Eisenberg with Danielle H Miller authored the September 2002 article titled “This Man Wants to Change Your Job” (pp. 46-50).  School librarian’s that are beginning to work on their school board presentations for the school per capita grant will want to read this article.  The article “offers a compelling blueprint for becoming a core player in your school.”  Eisenberg asserts that the following words describing students, “are effective users of ideas and information,” should be used as frequently as possible in all communications.  As you evaluate your library program think about these words.  Does your program lead students to be effective users of ideas and information?  If not, what needs to change and how can those changes be incorporated into your library program.

The October 2002 article in the 2 part series was by Walter Minkel and was titled “Librarian a Leader: An innovative program is challenging Seattle’s librarians to expand their role and extend their influence in the school (pp. 46-49).  In this articles staff from the Seattle school district talk about a presentation by Mike Eisenberg titled “Rapid Library Transformation Initiative” which was then implemented in the schools.  This is a program where school librarians reinvent themselves being more collaborative with staff and taking positions on school leadership teams.

Both articles are worth the read.  In fact both issues have many interesting and informative articles. 

“What Does Your Boss Think About You?” by Debra  Lau, Sept 2002, pp. 52-55.  SLJ’s survey reveals principals’ lack of knowledge about the role of school librarians.

“Charting a Clear Course.” by Walter Minkel, Sept. 2002, pp. 60 & 61.  Curriculum mapping takes the guesswork out of what students are learning-and what they‘re not.   Included discussion on curriculum mapping software that is now available. 

“Acing the Exam.” by Rick Margolis, Oct. 2002, pp. 50-52, This article talks about how librarians can boost students’ test scores using a strategy for success presented by Bob Berkowitz.

“Gotcha! Radio -frequency ID systems offer security and easier collection management…at a price.” By Walter Minkel Oct. 2002, pp. 54 & 55.  This focus on technology gives a brief look at what a Radio-frequency ID system is, how it works, and compares its costs to those of current security systems.