EWS Library News

find out what's new @ our library and in the world of books and tech integration

Entries Tagged as 'Online resources'

January 24th, 2012 · No Comments · Messages, Online resources

The new games on our library site will help keep your skills sharp while you’re having fun.  Most of the games are online  interactive ones that can be played on most computers and on devices that support flash animation.  Some of the games are simple, but there are also few challenging ones.

Warning: these games will make you smarter!

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Play and Help Feed the Hungry

November 21st, 2011 · No Comments · Messages, Online resources

free rice

Here’s an online game that helps a very worthy cause.

Test your general knowledge and do a good deed at the same time.  For each correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to hungry people around the globe through the United Nations World Food Programme.

The opening game is vocabulary, but other categories include math, chemistry, geography, and foreign languages, including French and Spanish.

It’s easy to play: just the click the correct answer from one of four possible choices.  If you answer correctly, the next question is a little harder.

Warning:  This game may make you smarter.

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Rise. Reconnect. Remember

September 9th, 2011 · No Comments · In the News, Online resources

As we mark the somber 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on America, the memories may be fresh in the minds of those of us who lived through that day, but our students are either too young to remember or were not even born.

Discovery Education, together with the September 11th Families’ Association and the Tribute WTC Visitor Center, is offering free educator resources to teachers and families to help present information to children.

Included are eight short videos about people impacted by the attacks and how “they developed projects to make the world a more tolerant place,” and an interactive time line that “chronicles the events of 9/11 using images, audio, and video from the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s permanent collection.”

Other links to 9/11 educational resources may be found here.

May we all be united in our hope for a more peaceful world.

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NASA Celebrates 50th Anniversary of First American in Space

May 5th, 2011 · No Comments · Online resources

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On May 5, 1961, U.S. astronaut Alan B. Shepard became the first American to orbit the earth when his Freedom 7 spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.  NASA is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first U.S. human flight with several ceremonies and a parade, and the U.S. Postal Service has just released a new stamp honoring Shepard. Mercury_Shepard_stamp_1_1

Students can visit NASA’s 50th Anniversary Flash Feature Site to check out several decades of space exploration, from the 1950s through 2000.  This terrific interactive site features Automa, a talking robot, who introduces visitors to the great features of the site.  Students can explore decade by decade, listen to music and news broadcasts for each time period and even launch rockets!  The site’s interactive timeline is easy to navigate, and students (and their families) will find much to discover at this site, which goes far beyond just space exploration.

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No Name-Calling Week

January 23rd, 2011 · No Comments · Messages, Online resources

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Supporting national efforts to help stop bullying, Barnes and Noble has put together a great collection of resources for families and educators.  There are videos of authors and celebrities  speaking about their experiences with bullying, tips for parents and teachers to discuss bullying , as well as a list of books for children, teens and adults.

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Find Your True Colors

January 13th, 2011 · No Comments · Online resources

Feeling blue, red hot or tickeled pink?  Try this new Multicolr Search Engine that searches through images on Flickr’s photo sharing site with Creative Commons licenses.  This allows you to remix, reuse and share creative works that have been given more flexible copyright. 

So, next time you’re looking for a picture in a particular color scheme, give this site a try.  You can select up to 10 different colors, and then the search engine uses ”Piximilar visual search technology” to find the perfect color match  in its database of 10 million images.  They’ve got just the right color picture for you!

Multi screen shot

blue images

idee-multicolr-search-lab yellow

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It’s an Odd Name, But a Great Site

January 11th, 2011 · 1 Comment · Online resources

Slime kids logo
S
chool library media Kids was created by a school librarian and reading specialist and has a great selection of educational links and book-related resources.  In addition to approximately twenty fun and educational games, which help kids work on typing skills, grammar and spelling, SlimeKids includes book reviews and book trailers, links to favorite author sites, kid-friendly search engines and reference tools. 

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Introducing the All-New Magic Tree House Site

November 9th, 2010 · No Comments · Online resources

magic tree house

Random House, the publishers of The Magic Tree House series, has just launched an all new site, MagicTreeHouse.com featuring Mary Pope Osborne’s books. The site introduces a fun and educational new game, Magic Tree House Missions, in which children join characters Jack and Annie as they travel through time and collect clues to solve puzzles and complete missions. The game features more than 60 unique missions and over 250 trivia questions based on facts found in the books.

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Hungry for History

August 29th, 2010 · No Comments · Online resources

hchef

Did you know that a wheel of cheddar cheese weighing over 1400 pounds was served at a reception during Andrew Jackson’s presidency and that the White House smelled like cheddar cheese for weeks afterward?  You’ll find many fascinating food-oriented facts about the presidents as well as recipes at a blog called The History Chef. Maintained by Suzy Evans, who has a Ph.D. in history, the blog was started when Evans was writing a book about favorite foods of the American presidents.  She shares that her goal ” is to help parents and kids learn how to cook together, learn about history together, and hopefully help them create many great memories and meals together.”

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BrainPOP: Digital Etiquette

August 22nd, 2010 · No Comments · Online resources

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Our  library subscribes to several online databases to supplement out print resources and provide engaging educational digital content.  Students and their families may use these resources from any computer with Internet access.

BrainPOP and BrainPOP Jr (K-3) provide “animated, curriculum-based content that engages students, supports educators, and bolsters achievement.”  Short movies feature a range of educational topics and can help students understand difficult concepts.

For the month of September, a special Spotlight on Digital Citizenship introduces 21st Century Skills to students including the topics of Blogs, Cyberbullying, Digital Etiquette, Email and IM, Social Networks, Information Privacy, and much more.

We encourage you to post comments on this blog and suggest that you view this video on Digital Etiquette.

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