Finding Books

Many times I get asked, where do you find reviews of books? I use to always answer in professional journals and I do still use them, but lately have been dropping in on new sources-- book blogs.

The part of the blogsphere dedicated to books is called "kidlitosphere" where a group of people (authors, librarians, readers) are dedicated to getting information out about kids' books. Diverse opinions, extended reviews, and ability to make connections with other readers are what make these blogs so wonderful. There are blogs dedicated to picture books, middle school student titles, book discussion, and blogs for those sci-fi and fantasy fans all for k-12 students.

I will include Book Blog Links on the Link Bar and also will be including it on the Online Sources page on the PTS Website. Hope you find them as amazing as I do! Here's a couple to get you started:

• Big A and little a =just a terrific site with many more links to other book blogs.
• A Chair, A Fireplace & a Tea Cozy= Elizabeth Burns reviewing and discussing books for children and teens.
• Just One More Book!=three times a week podcast which covers children's books with a Candian viewpoint.
• Wands and Worlds= reviews of fantasy and sicence fiction for children and teens.

Snow Days give time to Explore!

Hope everyone is now resting from digging out. It gave me time to do some more exploring of the web and finding great resources for you. This new one targets K-8 students in the area of nature.

Exploring Nature Educational Resource is a site that is FREE and features a searchable database of more than 1,000 animals categorized by classification (mammals, birds, etc.) by trait (scaverngers, carnivores, etc.) by habitat (rainforest animals, desert animals) and by geographic location. Additional resource databases include plants, trees, biomes and the human body. It also has nature movies, answers to weird questions, and an "Ask the Zoo Vet" section.

The teacher section includes lesson plans, activities, and mini-lectures on such topics as: habitat studies, erosion, classification, food webs, and life cycles.

While the site is free, you must login into the site to use it. PTS has created a username and password for each of the elementary schools and middle schools. Both are exactly the same. They all start with the word portage and then have your schools' two-digit abbreviation as follows: portageay, portagece, portagefe, and etc. Remember you use the same for the username and the password. Please give this out to your students to use at school and at home as well.

How do you find the site? It is on the Online Resource page on the PTS website. Look for this logo:

CultureGrams -- Trial subscription

PTS faculty and students can for the next 27 days until March 7th try out CultureGrams Online. Some of you may remember the paper version of this product in the eighties. The online version covers world cultures. It comes in two version, the regular and a kid version, all from the same site. Users may click between the two versions. Each site offers the basic information about a country: the historical timeline, cultural and geographical information, maps, flags, and images. Also included are photos around the world, short biographies on the world's famous people, and a recipe collection that includes native recipes from all 190 countries included in the World Edition. The Kids' Edition includes 68 countries plus there is a special sections on the Canadian Provinces and the US.

To get to the trial click on CultureGrams above or here, enter the password (name of our school district; has 7 letters) (sorry, I can't write it here for the world to know). Once in the system, click on Culturegrams on the page.

Please send comments either to this post or to Lynn Duhamell as you and your students use it. It might be something that we need to add to our collection of online resources.