Did you catch this? Another use of Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Caught this from LMNet--Protesters in Moldova used Twitter and Facebook to organize. Amazing...


NYT Article April 7, 2009

Wintergirls

I forgot to mention in my last post that I'm reading Laurie Halse Anderson's latest book, Wintergirls. It's spooking me out but I'm pressing on. Lia is a senior in high school, her best friend just died, she suffers from anorexia and also cuts. This is a tough one for me--like forcing myself to watch the movie, 13 when it came out shortly after Tari was born...Sometimes I happier sticking to trying to figure out whether it's a duck or a rabbit.

Duck or Rabbit?

This book was introduced to me by my mentor yesterday. Her new favorite book of 2009 and I have to agree, I like it a lot myself. Let's watch out for it. It could be used in so many different types of lessons--perception, art...What do you all think? Duck? OR Rabbit?


Amazon video

VOKI Part 2

VOKI!!!!!!!!!!!!

Get a Voki now!




From VOKI!
This is SO cool!!!

ANIMOTO!

This is only a sample of what I'd like to do for Thursday morning...This is my brain on "NO SLEEP!"

Blabberize Part Trois

Ok...Any ideas why it worked when I just pasted it into a new post?! Flaky, I guess. AGH!
Anyway...on to more playing...Is anyone reading this anyway????
Now to find lots of Australian animals. Dingo, dingo, dingo...

blabberize part deux

Blabberize! HELP!

It's a gorgeous Sunday afternoon and I'm playing with Blabberize and VoiceThread in preparation for a big week at my internship. I also fooled around with an animoto video last night to play at the Bagels and Books breakfast for teachers on Thursday. OK...Let's see if I can embed this blabberize test:



Well, it's not working. Anyone have any ideas????
It won't even let me paste in the html so if anyone could help me...ARAGH!

Facebook

A bit random but worthy nonetheless--a short article from the NYT on Facebook and the generational gap of who's using it. Those of us in our late 30's/40's are on it for quite a bit of time, reconnecting with those from decades ago. And I am no exception as a reunion is being planned for those of us who went to P.S. 117 in Queens during the 70's/early 80s.

Facebook

Thank you for humoring me today with all "Tari-isms." And thank you for all the tips and tools. We are introducing the new books to the teachers on Thursday morning, "Bagels and Books" and I'm thinking it would be cool to have an animoto video playing in the background. I just tried one out now (a short one) but this could work. Does it count as an infomercial??? ha.

Will post recipe next time :-)

Ok...so it was time again to put Tari's talents to work for our book review assignment. Mind you, I am still figuring out this whole garage band/imovie gig, but for the meantime, I believe a suitable video has come to fruition. Now let's see if the downloading works this week. Keep those digits crossed.

Cookies and Twitter

Just started SERIOUSLY working on the assignments for this week. Shhh...Paige I know you are out there...maybe you won't be reading this post???

Anyway, this evening I baked chocolate chip cookies for the 6th grade teachers we have a meeting with in the AM. ALWAYS feed your teachers, right? If you want the recipe, my tried and true recipe is the one on the back of the Tollhouse package. Do you need the link?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Good finally figured out how to add a link--that only took 2 months! The learning curve is a bit slower than usual these days...)

And here's a video for you--While looking up my "guru" David Warlick, I came across this video he posted on his twitter account (I need to get on Twitter! Did you all see the millions of posts on LM_Net on SLMS using Twitter?! Crazy!)

Video of the Future


Hmmm...what do you all think? Wanna know what I think? These kids are amazing and telling us exactly what we should be doing. Let them do a dance for goodness sakes to explain what they have learned or already know. Imagine that! Instead of being tested every year on Math this and that, let them express themselves in some higher level thinking way on what they know.

Swim Laps!

The downloading worked! (It only took many, many minutes! Maybe I wasn't patient enough on Friday night?) Woo-Hoo!!!!!

Here's the e-book by my daughter. Enjoy!

FRUSTRATING!!!!!

I'm trying to upload a video that I just made using Garage Band, iphoto and imovie but it's not working! ARGH!
Maybe I should try and post it on Facebook???
I may not be a happy camper in class in a few hours...
Just when you think you have all these fancy web 2.0 technology tools down, they don't cooperate. Bummer.

Survey Monkey and cupcakes rock!

Today was my last day at my internship at Doyle MS in Troy! I will miss it there tremendously. We were a perfect fit. For the past month we worked closely with 7th graders on a Black History project. Today was the celebration day and I threw together an assessment piece at the last minute last night. Even in the chaos, 22 students responded it was so great to see them trying the survey (which I linked to my portaportal) this afternoon. It was great! And some of their answers were really thought out. I LOVE Survey Monkey now! And I tried it so that they didn't input their name but the even they researched and if you do that, it can connect it back. Teachers can use this for tests, no problem! What a great way to quickly assess students and a whether a question is good or not.

Where do the cupcakes fit in? Back on Inauguration Day, we had a big party in the library for 50 students. I baked cupcakes that were a huge hit. My mentor and the library assistant sent me off with a parting gift of many fabulous baking supplies. WOW!

I was hoping to bake for class tomorrow but as I'm out of flour, I don't know if that's going to happen. Sorry!

Brownie Recipe

Baked those brownies again this am. This isn't the exact recipe but comes pretty close--

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeDisplay?RID=4

I use only 3 eggs, 2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of flour and no espresso powder. These seem like them may be even fudgier! But mine is from the King Arthur Flour cookbook, so maybe this is a new-and-improved version. Let me know!

Any of you need a good book for middle-to-upper elementary school? The Year of the Dog is great! My daughter and I are really enjoying reading it together. I think Grace Lin (but don't quote me on that) is the author.

I also do love the William Carlos Williams Caldecott honor book. I've loved his poetry since 7th grade.

Ok...Keep baking and reading!

xoxox

More books to recommend...

Here's another book to read--And if you do, I want to hear what you think--
Lois Lowry (of Giver fame) has a new book out called, The Willoughbys.
It's a laugh-out-loud funny book that is a satirical parody of sorts which referenced more fairy tales and other such "old-fashioned" stories than I even knew. It's meant for the upper elementary age group, but they surely wouldn't get all the innuendos (pardon my spelling) and play on words and stories. However, there is a glossary at the end to define some of the SAT'ish words in the book. Check it out and tell me what you think!

As for baking, I just made up a batch of "old fashioned" chocolate chip cookies over the weekend. Nothing fancy at all.

Check out my neanderthal survey and take it if you please:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SfQfRSDdZH7XMV8SQNKD3Q_3d_3d

More to follow....

s.

Musings on books, awards and cupcakes...

Hello Cyber Friends...
Happy Monday!
I finished listening to The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson. Now there's a book to get you thinking. It sounds cliche, but parents out there--how far would you go to save your child???

Now I'm listening to Keeping Score. Can't remember the author right now, but it would be great for kids into baseball or any Brooklyn Dodgers fan. Takes place in 1951 and, if you haven't figured it out, Maggie-o (named after Joe DiMaggio, even though he was a Yankee) loves the baseball and the Dodgers. Fun book and perfect for the 9-12 age group. Check it out! Listening to it is fun because the reader does the NY/Brooklyn/Irish accent so well!

Haven't baked anything recently although I'm dying to try out the many unique cupcake recipes from the latest issue of Martha Stewart's magazine.

So, I didn't pick the Caldecott winner. Still think Wabi-Sabi is a beautiful book. I read the Marla Frazee book, A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever and yes, it's a fun book. I like Frazee from her Clementine illustrations--does it deserve an honor? Sure, I guess...

Welcome to my BLOG!

Welcome to my blog!
I'm a graduate student in library school.
Besides hanging out my family, I love to read YA lit and to bake.
I'll try and post (and look forward to seeing yours!) fabulous recipes and good book recommendations.
Currently, I'm reading John Green's Paper Towns and love it!
See you in cyberspace!