Organizing Your Classroom Library: A Delicious Solution

I've been wanting to write a post for some time now about an incredible application to use for your classroom library circulation and organization: Delicious Library 2. There's so much to share about this application, I am sure I will never do it justice.

I wasn't asked to write this post or promote the product and I acquired the app like everyone can: I downloaded the free trial. But once I started using it, I was hooked; I purchased the $35 app shortly after (like...10 minutes after) downloading the free trial. I've been using it for a year and a half and still love it.

There's just one catch: it's only compatible with Macs. That works fine for me since our school is an Apple 1:1 school and all of our devices and computers at home are Macs.

This is what I love most about it: you would think Apple designed the app themselves. It works seamlessly with all your other applications, like your contacts in Address Book, iTunes (it catalogs your music for you...automatically!), iCal, and more. 

And it uses your iSight web cam to scan in--YES, scan--your books, CDs, DVDs, or anything with a barcode on it.

If it can't read the barcode, you can just type in the title and it will search for the ISBN for you. It uses Amazon.com's enormous library of books to find the right one. And if it's not there, you can enter the information the old-fashioned way: typing it in. I've only had to do this with a few (less than 10) books that were either out-of-print or exclusive Scholastic Book Clubs books.

Checking a book out to students is a treat, too. I have all my students in my contacts already because they email me at the beginning of the year then I set up a group in my Mail app. Their names appear automatically in the side bar. All I have to do is click on the image of the book and drag it to their name. It then assigns it to the student. Click on the student's name and you will see the book and the due date (default is one week, but you can change it by clicking on a different date). A red "late" notice will appear if the book is overdue.

You can also sync the app to work with iCal. Have your students subscribe to your iCal and they will always know when their book is due! No need for paper cards or reminders.

An added bonus that I haven't tried out yet, but plan to this summer is the sharing via the web option. You can share your collection on your website (or school's website) so students can browse your book shelves from anywhere. They'll also see if the book is available or already checked-out by someone.

For a $35 one-time fee, Delicious Library 2 is a bargain. You don't need additional hardware to use it and you can even use it with your iPhone, iPad, or iPod.

UPDATE: They have an iPhone app (Called "Delicious Scanner") but it is only compatible with Delicious Library 3. More on that soon...

I'm not sure if this offer is still good or not, but last year the people at Delicious Monster were looking for teachers, librarians, or anyone involved in a non-profit organization for a giveaway of their hard-copy versions (the version on the site is a digital download). And there's no catch: they just want you to have it...FREE! I had already purchased the digital version, so I am not familiar with the hard-copy, but I assume it is the same. For more information, see their blog post about it (includes contact information): An Exciting Giveaway.

What do you use for organizing your classroom library and checking out books? Comment below to share your ideas.

Bloggers By State Link-Up

Hey Teachers--are you a blogger from the U.S.? If so, link up with Fifth in the Middle's Blogs by State to find fellow teacher-bloggers near you.

Even though I consider Iowa my "home" state, I was born in Michigan and currently live in Illinois. One thing is certain: I'm definitely a Midwesterner! ;) How about you?

Beware the Ides of March

Beware the Ides of March

March 14th is often celebrated as "pi" day by my math colleagues, but March 15th is a day my fellow English and social studies teachers celebrate in honor of Julius Caesar.

Do you do anything special in your classroom on this day? I am usually teaching Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Julius Caesar with my sophomores and try to time it so we are performing Act III in class on the ides of March.

PROPS:
My students love to dress the part, so I have several sheets that have been donated to the classroom for students to drape over their shoulders. I also picked up plastic daggers after Halloween one year (I think they were 25¢ each on clearance). I usually take pictures while they are acting and post them in the room so the other sections can see their classmates in action.

One year I had some extra creative students who wanted to make a Roman feast for March 15th. After doing some research, they realized that most of the recipes were probably a little too difficult for them to prepare (or they didn't have enough time). But we still feasted on grapes, sparkling grape juice, cheese, olives, a roasted chicken, and of course Doritos and Chips Ahoy cookies, which were Caesar's favorites.

How do you and your students celebrate March 15th? 
Share in the comments below. For additional reading about the Ides of March, please read my posts on my other blog:
Celebrating Shakespeare...
Beware the Ides of March: Lessons Men Can Learn from Julius Caesar

Act III of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

Hands-On Poetry Activities

Do you have students who struggle writing poetry? I always have several each year. A few activities that have been extremely effective with both struggling writers and those who love creating original poems have been the more "hands-on" activities.

When your students are struggling writing, have them:
1. Write "chance" poems. They choose pre-selected words and put them into any order they wish. I have had students who hate to write come up with some amazing poems this way. The retail kits for magnetic poetry (which is practicing chance poetry) are pretty expensive. You can create your own using a digital kit, or simply cut words from newspapers and magazines (see below). I had students make these years ago and store them in plastic bags.  ONLINE ACTIVITY: They can create their poems using an online program like the one found on MagneticPoetry.com.

2. Create a "Dada" poem. "Dada" poems stem from the Dadaism art movement of the early 20th century. The anti-establishment movement often parodied art, or perhaps "found" art in everyday objects and images. Whether you consider their works art or not, they certainly paved the way for modern movements.

One "Dada" poem your students can create is to draw words from a bag at random. As they draw them, they place the words in the poem in the same order as drawn. That's it. When they want the poem to end, they stop drawing words.

A second "Dada" poem is a "sound" poem. Your students can create a poem using only sounds and record it for the class. Most of the sound poems created during the Dada movement were nonsense, not really words at all. However, beat-box artists practice a form of this, and while it may be nonsense, it's still interesting and can be catchy. ONLINE ACTIVITY: Students can use the website Incredibox to mix different beat-box sounds.

3. Have your students create "redacted" poems. "Redacted" poems are similar to "chance" poems, except they cross-out (or redact) words on a page, rather than pick and place the words. I've seen many beautiful examples on Pinterest using book pages. However, articles from a newspaper or magazine work just as well. (See my examples below.)

Students can either use markers or colors to cross-out the words they do not want to include, or use white-out/liquid paper.

 The samples shown here came from the following publications: Entertainment Weekly, Car and Driver, MacLife, and Helzberg Diamonds.

For reluctant boys, provide them with a short advertisement from one of their favorite magazines. Many of my male students like hunting/fishing, sports, and cars. When given a short grouping of words about something they like, they'll most likely enjoy it. The only problem I consistently face with them is keeping it school appropriate.

Girls typically write more about love and heartbreak. I have found jewelry ads to be most effective for them because they will contain more words like "love," "sparkling," and "irresistible."

All of these activities are featured in my "Poetry 9-1-1: First Aid for Writing Poetry" packet, which also contains over 40 formulas for writing original poems. You can also get the presentation Write Like Poets that has students write parody poems and many other formulas while learning more about famous poets and movements.

I recently updated it with redacted poem page activities. And if you are looking for additional poetry resources, I have over 35 poetry downloads, including many freebies. Click on the links below to check out my teacherspayteachers store.

Summer in the City Virtual Blog Tour: Let the Rhythm Move You!

Summer in the City Virtual Blog Tour:
Let the Rhythm Move You!

I am so honored to be part of Kathleen Wainwright's Summer in the City Virtual Blog Tour! Kathleen is a fellow teacher-author and you may know her from her fabulous blog "The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher." Her first book, Summer in the City, comes out March 8th and can be pre-ordered now at http://kathleenwainwright.com/ You can also enter the giveaway, below, for a chance to win your own copy of the book! Each book purchase from her website comes with a pair of jacks and a jumprope. The ebook can be purchased on TeachersPayTeachers and comes with free teaching resources.

When I first read Summer in the City I was drawn to the rhythm. The rhyming nature of the lines read just like a poem, and I found myself almost singing it page by page.

Lines like "Taking turns trading skates for the bike, playing from sun-up to sun-down...what every kid likes" combine rhymes with alliteration for a fantastic-sounding sentence brimming with life.

The gorgeous illustrations (by Nancy Devard) add to the beauty of the text and are full of life, as well. Each character is doing something on every page, giving all readers so much to absorb.

And while I absolutely love the poetic nature of the book, I have to admit that my favorite part is that I can relate to it completely. It brings back such fond memories of my own childhood playing with my older siblings. Even though I grew up in an extremely small town in Iowa during the 70s and 80s, I see myself with my sister and friends on our front porch playing jacks and playing "hide-and-seek games" (like kick the can) at the park. And don't even get me started on wearing jellies! I can't stop smiling every time I read Kathleen's book, and I know you won't be able to, either.

Ultimately, I think the best books are those that offer both obvious and subtle details so you are instantly drawn to the pages, but continue to re-read to see what you missed the first time around. Summer in the City is certainly a book that I will read and re-read tirelessly year after year.

To learn more about the book and see a sneak peek, watch the book trailer, embedded below. Also, there are plenty of teaching resources available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-s-aNO0TpQc

I want to thank Kathleen for letting me be part of her Summer in the City Virtual Blog Tour. Make sure to enter the contest and check out all the other great posts on the tour!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the author:


Kathleen Wainwright is a dedicated teacher in the School District of Philadelphia. She received her bachelor’s of Science degree in education from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA, and her master’s in education with a focus in literacy, from West Chester University, in West Chester, PA. Kathleen also teaches literacy courses to aspiring teachers at Temple University and developmental reading courses to incoming freshman at Delaware County Community College. “This story captures a typical summer’s day for me and my friends growing up in the 80’s! Every time I read it I travel back to some of my favorite childhood memories.” Kathleen recently earned National Board Certification in Literacy: Reading-Language Arts (Early and Middle Childhood). She enjoys sharing her personal teaching experiences and educational resources in her blog, The Diary of a Not So Wimpy Teacher (www.notsowimpyresources.com).

Each book purchase comes with a pair of jacks and a jumprope.

Purchase the eBook (with teaching resources) here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/eBookSummer-in-the-City-Written-by-Kathleen-Wainwright

Vistaprint Rack Cards Double as Bookmarks

Are you tired of waiting for Vistaprint to offer bookmarks? I've suggested it many times, but they still do not have that option. Instead of using business cards, I make my own bookmarks. And while I love doing it, the printing and trimming gets tedious. So when I decided to take the plunge and have business cards printed up via VistaPrint, I noticed the dimensions of the rack cards would be a great length for a bookmark. I am sure others have had this idea long before me, but in case you needed to know how to make your own, I created this visual with dimensions. (I use the full bleed dimensions and put those in Photoshop.) I save my images as .tiff files for the best quality.

The great thing about these is that you can have a the back printed in black/white free. I use the back to put the bulk of my information. On my Hunger Games bookmarks I added my favorite quotes from the novel. 

The drawback to the rack cards is that they still have to be cut. I really wish they would offer this option, but until then, I will keep printing with the rack cards. I plan to make additional ones for my students in various themes from throughout the year. 

This can also be something you could do for graduation. I think it would be very cool to have an entire class sign their names (or just use their names in a word cloud, like I did HERE and HERE) and have them printed for your students.

UPDATE: Vistaprint is having a flash sale today (2/20) only until 4 p.m. EST. Fifty percent off everything!

Do you have any Vistaprint tips? Share in the comments below!

Let's Use "Lets" Correctly, Shall We?

Students are never too old for reminders of common usage problem areas. "Lets" and "let's" are easily confused, so here is another chart you can use in your classroom (I promise the whole set and quizzes are coming soon!):

Use lets to mean “allows” or “permits.”

• My dad never lets me borrow the car.

Use let’s as a contraction of “let us.”

•  Let’s walk to class together.

If the word "allows" (or "permits") cannot be substituted in the sentence for "lets," then it is probably the contraction of "let us."

You can find this visual aid (without my blog tag), along with many more, 

in a high-quality download. 

If you'd like to purchase accompanying quizzes and activities, the bundle for all of them are here: 

Common Core Grammar Anchor Charts Visual Aids - Frequently Confused Words - Quizzes and Activities

Have a great weekend, friends!

-Tracee

Do Your Students Struggle With Proper Usage?

Do your students struggle with proper usage, such as when to use there, their, and they're?

If so, here's a helpful visual aid you can print and post in your classroom. I've made several of these for the most common usage errors I see in my students' writing samples (and on Facebook, Twitter). 

You can find this anchor chart (without my blog tag) and many more here: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Common-Grammar-Usage-Problem-Areas-Anchor-Charts

I also posted quizzes and activities to compliment the frequently confused words here:

Common Core Grammar Visual Aids, Quizzes, and Activities Bundle

Have a great weekend, everyone! Aren't you glad it's Friday!?

Font by Kimberly Geswein of KG fonts

Writing Prompt for Groundhog Day

You can use this writing prompt Friday or Monday with your students for Groundhog Day (Feb. 2).

The prompt is from my collection of almost 400 prompts to last an entire year: 

A Year of Journal Prompts. 

With the handouts, the prompts align with the Common Core State Standards for reading informational and writing.

Love is in the Air...Valentine's Day Freebie Link-Up

Valentine's Day is less than a month away, so I thought it would be fun to have a link-up of Valentine's Day freebies from my teaching friends. 

I have a new free download I wanted to share with you: 

"Love is Owl You Need" Valentine's Day Bookmarks

Click image to download your freebie on my TeachersPayTeachers store.

I used my new Valentine's Day Owl Clip Art Graphics and

 Kimberly Geswein's heart font to make them.

I also have several additional Valentine's Day freebies. Just click on the links below to download.

Do you have a freebie for teachers that you'd like to add? Please link up below either your blog post or free download and share this post with your followers and friends. Thanks & enjoy!

Brighten Up the Winter Blues with a Poetry Cafe

Host a poetry cafe this winter!

For me, January through March seems to be the hardest part of the school year to get through. The students are either restless (or just plain tired), the weather is always cruddy (I live in the Midwest), and there's really no holiday breaks to look forward to. (Not that I don't love my job, but you know what I mean...)

To break up the monotonous routine and get students excited for literature, my colleagues and I have put on "poetry cafes." The students all gather during their English class period in the media center and take turns sharing their favorite poems, songs, and other literature. Some of them share their own original poems, others read old favorites. The Foods classes make coffee, cocoa, and treats to sell and our librarian put together packages of books, writing journals, candy, and gift cards to give away toward the end of each class period. Every student who reads aloud is given a raffle ticket. Each class period we drew several tickets for the prizes. It has always been a favorite event of students in English classes.

It is important to give students time BEFORE the cafe to actually write some original poems. I like to use my Write Like Poets activities with my students because every single student in my class ends up with an entire book of poems they have written. Yes, it gets even the most stubborn "I hate writing and I'm never going to write a poem" students to actually write poems. Guaranteed!

You can easily host a poetry cafe in your own classroom before doing a school-wide event. We tend to do the school-wide cafe every-other year or once every three years. During those off-years I host my own in my English classes. We move all the desks out of the way and have pillows and beanbags so students can relax on the floor (I do have carpet). Then I put up holiday lights. Students sign-up ahead of time to bring goodies and bring their own beverage. I usually pick up small gifts of pens and journals/notebooks from Target's $1 spot.

Find clearance items in the school supplies section for door or raffle prizes.

This past fall I found some great magnetic poetry kits at WalMart for 50¢ each. They were 75% off from their back-to-school sale. I also picked up some locker white-board kits, cute post-it notes, and locker fresheners. It's so much easier to find things the girls would like, but the boys seem to like anything they could use in their car. Of course, candy always works for them, too. (I teach high school, so if you have any suggestions for other things that boys would like, please share!).

Do you host a poetry cafe? Share your ideas or a link in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by!

For more information on my Write Like Poets, click below: