Magazines, Part 2

Greetings!

Last week I talked about magazines and focuses on the secular options which are usually the ones that come into question. This week I will talk about some options for SDA publications.
You are likely associated with a church and can get your name on a list to receive the children’s weekly papers like Little Friend, Primary Treasure, Guide, and Insight. It may be that the church will pay for a copy of each for you. You might think that the children already have read them, but remember that many of our schools also have children from other denominations in them that may not have read them.

Other SDA publications that might work in your library are your local conference paper – North Pacific Union has the Gleaner.
Liberty magazine - information on religious freedom.
Listen and Vibrant Life – focus on health and nutrition.
Winner – health, temperance and focused toward middle grades.
Signs of the Times, The Review, and other publications could also be options for your school library.

It may be that families or church members might sponsor subscriptions to the magazines that you choose or may donate their copy when they are finished reading them.

How you subscribe to your magazines is another option. Your school may have a magazine campaign fundraiser and you get your subscriptions through the school. This is certainly an option. If you only have a few magazines, this is probably the best way to go for you. However, if you have many periodicals each month, you should seriously consider using a subscription service called “EBSCO”. I use EBSCO for these reasons. The price is competitive. It is easy for me to renew all the subscriptions at once rather than one at a time. If I miss an issue, I report it to EBSCO and they handle it for me.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

This is the last post until January. Have a blessed, restful, happy vacation.

Audrey

Magazines

Greetings!
Do you have any magazines in your library for kids to read? I hope so. If not, then here are some that you might consider. All these magazines have either been in my library or are currently in my library.

American Girl – very popular for all ages

The Cricket Group has a number of magazines they publish. Each magazine has a theme and all the articles, activities, and such are focused on that particular theme. These magazines are ones that we keep for reference like a book. We don’t discard them. Note: Not all of these magazines will be appropriate for your school. I really like the Cricket magazine that has stories and poetry, but occasionally the theme will be something like dragons or witches, so I don’t subscribe to this one. Consider writing to Cricket and requesting a packet to preview.
Appleseeds – cultural or historical topics for ages 6 - 9
Ask – science, history, inventors, artists for ages 6 - 9
Cobblestone – American history themes for ages 9 - 14
Dig – archaeology themes for ages 9 - 14
Faces – children and cultures around the world for ages 9 - 14
Odyssey – science for ages 9 – 14

Kids Discover – also has themes for each issue. The themes range from science, history, biography, current events, and more. This magazine is also one that we keep for reference. Appropriate for ages 9 – 14.
Ranger Rick – standard magazine on animals for kids.

Science World – current science topics; our 7th and 8th grades are usually the ones that use this magazine.

Current Health Teens – health and nutrition issues; also usually used by 7th and 8th grades.

Choices – a Scholastic magazine about teen issues and choosing the right thing to do. Our counselor requested this magazine and it has been a good purchase for us.

Kiki – this is a newer magazine that has fashion and design in it. The focus is not on being fashionable, but more on the design aspects of fashion. The clothing is appropriate and modest, without being weird or outlandish. Readers are given ideas on how to sew items, patterns, and much more. Ask for a sample issue if you have questions.

We also subscribe to Model Airplane News, Model Railroader, Motocross Action, Mountain Bike Action, National Geographic Kids, Ski, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Radio Control Car Action, and Ski. I am not sure that all of these are needed any longer and will do a survey of the students to find out which ones they actually read and want.

We have a few magazines for parents such as Consumer Reports, Popular Science, and National Geographic. National Geographic is donated to us by a family after they finish reading theirs.

People ask me how long they should keep magazines. If it is a popular magazine that quickly dates itself, discard it after five years or sooner if you need to. If it is a magazine that kids keep coming to no matter how old the issue is, such as American Girl, then keep them as long as they are still intact. We even do some minor mending on these. Use the needs of your library to help you decide.

I hope you have a great week. We are in the midst of the coldest weather I have ever been in. I hope you keep warm.

Audrey

Book Donations

Greetings!

Can you believe it is December already! I remember my grandparents and my parents talking about how quickly time passes, but it seemed to drag for me. Now I totally understand.

Very soon people will be cleaning and getting rid of things from their homes and sending them to thrift stores. When they come to books that they no longer need or want, they may think of you and bring them for you to use. Some of the books will be real treasures and you will be glad to have them, but some will be old, out of date, and not really useful for your library. So how should you handle this situation? You may have no problem with this, but I have had this happen so many times, that I have a standard speech I give. I am happy to share it with you.

“Thank you so much for the books. I will be happy to look through them and see which ones we need for the library. If I find that there are some that we don’t need, is it OK with you if I find another place for them, such as a classroom or would you rather have them back?”

At this point, the kind soul usually tells us to please keep them, they don’t want them. Now you are at liberty to do what you want with the books.

I look through the donations and see what we need in our library. I process for the library the books that we need. I may notice a book or two that I don’t need, but I know that a particular classroom studies that subject or I feel that it would be better used there than the library. Some duplicate copies are put in my “Sale” shelf or take to a used book store. I have credit at my local used book store and save up to get copies of books that I want or need. You also might sell your donations through an online source such as Amazon or Alibris. If you don’t want to bother with this, do not despair. You might have a parent or church member already doing this and can just add your books to their ‘store’ and sell them for you. Keep an eye out for old reading books as these can be valuable, particularly the Alice and Jerry series books.

I have a few of the old readers that I have processed for the library and encourage students to read. So consider that option, as well.
Good luck with your book donations.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Wish List ideas

Greetings!

I once taught at a school where the Home and School parents provided each teacher with large paper stars to hang on the outside door just before Parent/Teacher conferences. On each star teachers wrote one item that they wished they could have for the classroom. We were told to dream big because you never know what you might get. One teacher wished for a new overhead projector and I believe that a few parents got together and raised the money for one. Another wished for a new desk and one father happened to be upgrading the furniture in his office and gave her his old desk which was still in very good condition.

This might be a good idea for you to add books to your library or your classroom. Parents might be thinking of a gift to give you for Christmas to show their appreciation. If you had a classroom door wish list of books you would like to have in the classroom, parents could take the star of the book they would like to donate.

Another way is to have a wish list on Amazon. Parents can browse the list and when a book from your list is purchased, it disappears from your list so you don’t get more than one copy. I keep a list of books that I want or need for our library here and use it to remind myself what I need to buy. I print the list out and take it to my local book store and they give me a 20% discount very similar to what I would get through Amazon. That way I am supporting my community, but the list is much easier online. I have had a parent or two purchase books for the library from this wish list.

Put a personalized bookplate inside each book to honor the donor. This would also be a great time to display the book and promote it to the children to read.

Please consider a wish list of some kind for your school or classroom. How will parents know what you want or need if you don’t tell them?

Have a great week.
Audrey

Technology Credit Options

Greetings!

Most of my readers are in the North Pacific Union Conference and know that we need technology credit to renew our certification. For many of us it is fairly easy to collect credits and clock hours to renew, but the technology part is difficult for some. If this sounds like you, here are some options for you.

SUMMER CLASSES: Walla Walla University offers classes in the summer and you can usually find one that will take care of your technology requirement. I didn’t take this particular class, but there was one that guided you through putting together your own computer. I put together the computer I use at home with my husband’s guidance and it really is interesting and fun, too. Another summer class that will count for technology is the digital photography class. I took that class and really enjoyed it. It may be that your local community college might offer a digital photography course that would count. Check with the conference or the union to make sure you can get credit.

ON-LINE CLASSES: If you aren’t interested in traveling and staying at WWU, you could take an online class. Avln.org offers a technology class online. You need to sign up and take the class along with a group and a teacher and you get credit at the end of the class. There is a cost of $250.00 for each class. Check the website for more information about the classes and when the next classes begin. Another online class is a self-paced and free. It is a class called “Power Searching with Google” and is taught by a Google representative. The class does not promote Google, but shows you lots of the cool things you can do with Google and how to search more efficiently and effectively. I took this class and had a great time. The whole class took me approximately 10 hours, but that is just my best guess. I didn’t keep track of my time since I didn’t know it would count for technology credit at the time. I did like the self-paced aspect of the class because I could do it as I had time and when I came back, I came back to where I had left off. I checked with the union and they will accept this for technology credit.

WEBINARS: There are hundreds of free webinars available. Do a search by typing in ‘Technology webinars for teachers’ and you will come up with many sites to check out. I like edweb webinars. Others that looked good would include edtechteacher.org, and Simple K12 – Teacher Learning community.

I hope this information has been helpful to you. Check your certification and see when you renew and if you need technology credit and then plan how you will get it. If you ask me what I would do, I would look for a digital photography course. That will be helpful to any teacher.

Have a great week.

Audrey

Cyber Safety

Greetings!

Most of the parents of our kids have had computers or access to computers nearly all their lives but it is surprising how many of them do not realize that cyberspace is not a safe place for their children.

We had a program this past week for parents on keeping their children safe online and about 20 parents came. Not twenty families, 20 parents. One teacher commented that if it had been a basketball game, they all would have been there. Our principal pointed out that if we want the children to be safe online, we need to be teaching them.

If this sounds like your school, you may need to arm yourself with information. Here are some topics that we need to be teaching our children.
1. Online safety – Facebook, chat rooms, e-mail, Twitter, and more.
2. Cell phone use
3. Netiquette
4. Cyber-bullying
5. Computer safety

If you aren’t teaching or discussing these subjects with your students, please find some time to do this. Materials are available for free from the internet and books. Check with your local public schools and see what is happening there and what materials they are using. You may be able to get in on their order or they may even provide materials for you. Check with the local public library for materials.

I used this website last year when teaching this to grades 5 – 8 during library lessons. http://www.netsmartz.org/Parents I showed a couple of the videos to the kids. One was called “Tracking Teresa” and it showed how quickly and easily one can find out information about a person online. I also showed one called “You Photo Fate” about a girl who sent a ‘hot pic’ to her boyfriend and how quickly and easily the photo can travel especially to places that the girl would not want her photo to travel. We also discussed the fact that the photo was child pornography and the ramifications of having a photo like that on your phone.

I urge you to go to the Netsmartz.org website and look around. There is a ton of age appropriate information there and it is easy to present.

I also hope that if you have school or classroom computers that can access the internet that you have on file an acceptable use policy for each child that uses the computer. If you do not, please consider implementing this as soon as possible. I would be happy to send you a copy of the one we use for our school that you can use as a template.

Let’s keep our children as safe as we can online.

Audrey

Old Books

Greetings!
If you library is anything like mine, you have a bunch of old books. Most of them look old and boring, too.

Question: So what do you do with old books?

Answer: Get them off the shelves and discard them. They aren’t being checked out anyway. They are taking up valuable real estate.

Question: BUT – what if the story is great or the book is an important one that needs to stay in the library? What can you do to promote these books?

Answer: I can think of three ways to promote old books in your classroom or library.

1. Book talk the books. Choose exciting passages and read bits of the book to the class and deliberately leave off at an exciting part. Then put the book out for students to check out.

2. Put a number of old (ugly?) books on a special display shelf or table along with a sign to promote them. Sample ideas for signs might be “Lonely Books” “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover”, etc. Ask students to read a book and let you know if the story is good enough for the book to be kept in the library. Most students are willing to read a book to help out in this way.

3. If a book is a great story, just ugly, do your best to replace the copy with a new copy. If you cannot get a new copy, but really want to keep the book, have students who are artistic make nice book jackets for these books. Another idea is to download a nice cover and put it on a book jacket. Either cover these book jackets with a plastic cover or laminate them and tape them to the book.

Just because a book is old does not mean it should be discarded. But just because it is on your shelves, does not mean it should be kept. Use some common sense and keep what is important to your school and curriculum.

Have a great week!
Audrey