My son introduced me to this mind-blowing website where you can travel to see the scale of items larger than a human and reverse it to items smaller than a human. Extremely visual and interactive!! Using a slider (or the mouse wheel, or arrow keys) and mouse, you can explore the world like never before. If you see something that catches your eye–like Uluru–click it and read a short synopsis on it.
This week's Techy Treasure is a web tool called Mighty bell, and according to their site, it can be used to "start a group, organize a class, create a project and plan an event." Oh how I wish I had had this tool a few years ago when I was part of a Library Media Teacher Professional Learning Community (PLC). Click on the webpage below to go to the site.
You can add collaborators and upload documents, videos, photos, weblinks, etc. You could collaborate with Aunt Rose in Tennessee for the upcoming family reunion or create a space for a book club to share thoughts about book characters. Open a space to plan Dad's 70th birthday party or invite all the PTA members to chat about the cookie sale with all their top secret cookie recipes. Administrators could discuss training ideas with other administrators and share docs and weblinks as well as a video of themselves doing the training. The options for this web treasure are endless. Now for me to get started using it...
Getting outside...exploring our natural world...and sharing it with others is the theme for this weeks...
FIVE BOOK FIX FRIDAY
1.
My latest favorite picture book featuring a little girl whose family is all caught up in the plethora of technology options...laptop, smartphone, video games, etc. that our family is prone to these days. She steps outside and quickly connects with the natural world via bugs, animals and plants. I appreciate this gentle reminder about appreciating the important parts of life...connections!
Goodreads Summary:
Outside the world is bright and colorful, but Lydia's family is too busy with their gadgets to notice. She says Hello to everyone. Hello? Hello! Her father says hello while texting, her mother says hello while working on her laptop and her brother doesn't say hello at all. The T.V shouts Hello! But she doesn't want to watch any shows. Lydia, now restless, ventures outside. There are so many things to say hello to! Hello rocks! Hello leaves! Hello flowers! When Lydia comes back home she decides to show her family what she has found, and it's hello world and goodbye gadgets!
2.
This book suggestion comes thanks to my dear friend, Stacey, a former bookstore employee and current library media assistant extraordinaire. When I mentioned the theme for today, she chuckled as she mentioned this clever book which is a great play on the similar theme of Hello, Hello!'s technology overload. The good ole babysitter standby...the TV...is the teacher of this tale.
Goodreads Summary:
This is Todd.
These are Todd's parents.
And this is Todd's TV.
Todd's parents are always busy. But Todd's TV isn't busy. It just sits there. So one day, Todd's TV decides to lend a helping hand. This is the heartwarming story of that day, and what happened afterward. You'll laugh, you'll cry--but most of all, you'll be giving your TV a break. It probably needs it.
3.
This middle grade chapter book is quite popular with 4th through 6th grade girls who like adventure books with a female protagonist.
Goodreads Summary:
Eleven-year-old Megan is stuck in the wilds of Vermont for the summer with no TV, no Internet, no cell phone, and worst of all, no best friend. So when Megan gets lost on the Appalachian Trail with only her little dog, Arp, for company, she decides she might as well hike all the way to Massachusetts where her best friend, Lucy, is spending her summer. Life on the trail isn't easy, and Megan faces everything from wild animals and raging rivers to tofu jerky and life without bathrooms. Most of all, though, Megan gets to know herself--both who she's been in the past and who she wants to be in the future--and the journey goes from a spur-of-the-moment lark to a quest to prove herself to Lucy, her family, and the world.
4.
Fun series about a spirited girl who knows how to use her creativity and make it a wonderful day!!
Goodreads Summary:
Lulu’s older brother says she is too little to play with him. Her mama and papa are busy too, so Lulu has to make her own fun. This is a situation for Ladybug Girl! Ladybug Girl saves ants in distress, jumps through shark-infested puddles, and even skips along the great dark twisty tree trunk—all by herself. It doesn’t matter what her brother says, Ladybug Girl is definitely not too little!
5.
This book reminds me so much of my own nature boy who once upon a time, at a high mountain lake, gathered many floating logs, and crafted a raft which he floated out to the middle of the crystal clear lake. This story and its breathtaking illustrations will inspire many others to float along their own river to admire the craftsmanship of nature.
Goodreads Summary:
A flock of birds was moving toward me along the river, hovering over something floating on the water. It drifted downstream, closer and closer, until finally it bumped up against the dock. Though it was covered with leaves and branches, now I could tell that it was a raft. I reached down and pushed some of the leaves aside. Beneath them was a drawing of a rabbit. It looked like those ancient cave paintings I'd seen in books--just outlines, but wild and fast and free. Nicky isn't one bit happy about spending the summer with his grandma in the Wisconsin woods, but them the raft appears and changes everything. As Nicky explores, the raft works a subtle magic, opening up the wonders all around him--the animals of river and woods, his grandmother's humor and wisdom, and his own special talent as an artist.
