Ms Thorstenson's blog

Here are some links to cool websites where you can hear bird songs, learn about birds, and even watch their nests via webcam!

Learn Bird Songs

The Aviary

NestCams

All About Birds

Last week I had the opportunity to attend IL-TCE (the Illinois Technology Conference for Educators) in St. Charles. The conference was enormous and the professional development opportunities were overwhelming!

I attended a podcasting workshop which gave an overview of how to make a simple podcast using GarageBand. Then we were given time to create our own podcasts, and I made a sample video podcast about 826CHI, an organization with which I volunteer. It went really smoothly and I was happy to see that podcasting is not a daunting task. I am already brainstorming for ways to use this fun tool with the kids.

I attended many sessions about activities and resources to use with elementary and primary level students, and learned about new software titles that sounded very intriguing. I also learned about new technologies being used by libraries across North America!

I am thrilled to announce that the Lincolnwood Foundation has generously awarded a grant of $1500 to each district library for the purchase of multicultural/bilingual materials for the students, staff, and community! Kelly, Geri and I could not be more excited about finding materials to support our very diverse student body.

Next week the three district librarians will be visiting National Louis University's Center for Teaching Through Children's Books, where we will explore their large international book collection, and speak to the librarians there about resources to develop these collections.

Todd students love to explore new languages, cultures and countries, and are always asking me for more language and country books. I know the students will just devour the new multicultural/bilingual book collection the way they do most other library materials. 

February has been a wild month in the library!

This week the Scholastic Book Fair is being held in the library, and the students have been voting on their choices for the Monarch Book Awards in the classrooms with me. The kids are drawing some beautiful illustrations of the books they've heard.

2nd graders have wrapped up their fairy tale unit, and they are already moving on to new genres. I booktalked biographies with Mrs. Hammel's class, and mystery booktalks are coming up next week!

The IL-TCE conference is also coming up next week. This will be the first year I will attend this exciting technology conference. I can't wait to learn about podcasting and use my new skills with the kids.

Then on to March (already!) where the 2nd graders will begin to learn to search for books using the library's online catalog!

Here are some links to games, activities, printables and more about nutrition!

Food and Nutrition Videos on United Streaming - you can log into United Streaming with the username toddhall and the password sd74.

My Pyramid

Nutrition Explorations

I've started to gather links for the all-school study, and I'm sure this entry will be updated many times as the committee finds new stuff. Feel free to email me new links as you find them, and I will add them.

South Korea - an introduction.

Kids Eyes On Korea - a slideshow made by students in Australia.

Pororo - a site with games and activities in English and Korean. Based on a popular Korean cartoon character.

Korea for Kids - a site with number and word games in korean