I often need to create an image on the go and don't have enough time to sit down and design something While I love Canva, I have found an app that is super easy to use. I sent this image out on April 4 for National School Librarian Day. It was created with CTDesign.
The ease of use and available backgrounds, fonts, stickers, and options to upload photos to make the graphics are what make this app my go-to for creating images.
Check out my Happy Friday image.
My mantra...
(Soon to be on some t-shirts!)
How easy and fun is this app!?
P.S. I used another fave app, Mobizen, to record a tutorial of how to use CTDesign!
I love when my awesome PLN friends come together to curate resources. After it was posted on the Future Ready Librarians Facebook page, I couldn't keep up with the comments. Someone asked for professional reading book suggestions.
I love having great professional reading mixed in with my for fun reading.
I wanted to be able to view everyone's suggestions, but sometimes I get lost in the threat or feel overwhelmed wading through all of the comments.
I started this Google Sheet for my PLN friends to curate our professional reading.
Please add your favorite school librarian professional materials to the list. Share, save, and copy!
As a new adventurer in MakerSpace and learning stations, I used my year-end budget for some cool toys I saw. One purchase was a coding set designed for early coding learners. One product that I noticed right away was the Code & Go Robot Mouse Activity Set. I purchased mine from The Library Store; however, the set is actually made by Learning Resources and can be purchased directly from their site.
When we begin teaching coding, we start unplugged. Here's our lesson using The Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Please excuse my super, ultra, very Southern accent. I'm from the south, y'all. Each image from the story was laid on the carpet. Students "programmed" me through the story by telling me which steps I needed to take to get to the next item. This particular lesson focuses on sequencing.
When coding with Colby, students must use the same concept. In order for the mouse to make it's way through the maze, it must be programmed with the correct algorithm (set of steps). Our students lay out the steps on a grid before entering their code. I also made a cheat sheet for each action button.
Students are loving the challenge of problem-solving through the mazes. They are required to work with their partner to solve two mazes before being able to build their own.
By solving two mazes, students are able to take turns, and it provides the opportunity for me or Ms. Denise to check their work.
Also, be sure to check out CodeSpark Academy for more beginning coding games. They just added a new game (Crocodile Catch) that focuses on conditionals, variables, and inequalities.
Tonight as I was preparing a different blog post, I stumbled into (got sidetracked) Google EarthCam. It is a webcam network of live-feed cameras around the world.
One click into it, and you'll see...
Countries are tagged with their flag. Zoom in to a country by clicking it's flag.
Continue to zoom in to the country. You'll see the number of live webcams in each location. A closer look will allow you to see a snapshot of the camera's location and a summary of information for the camera.
Notice the two rectangular mini-views of the cams.
Click to view the LIVE webcam! I watched the tides roll in in Florida, people pass through Times Square, the mountains in the French Alps.
Be aware that some of the cams are personally owned or are hosted on a website. I had to go through a hotel's website to access one particular cam. This is definitely a guided activity.
You also have the option to view popular areas such as zoos, landmarks, and tourist attractions on EarthCam Network. Being a bit of a music geek, I had to check out the Abbey Road Cam.
