Check out how two young women at a New York high school helped prove that you may not be eating what you think you’re eating.

If you’re looking for some educational games/sites, here are some options:

Looking Glass Wars - Card Soldiers

Ranger’s Apprentice Target Shoot

What kind of apprentice would you be? Quiz

Percy Jackson

http://www.ringsoforbis.com/ - author P.J. Haarsma

http://allycarter.com/

http://www.benmikaelsen.com/

Hof’s picks:

www.funbrain.com

www.thekidzpage.com/learninggames/index.htm

www.gamesgames.com/cat516_1.html

www.annefrank.org/content.asp?pid=1&lid=2

www.discovery.com

http://kids.discovery.com

http://animal.discovery.com

http://sikids.com/

http://123facts.com/trivia/main_cat/for-kids-11-0.html

http://www.funtrivia.com/quizzes/for_children/index.html

http://www.quizland.com/

http://www.history.com/

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/christopherpaulcurtis/

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/braint.htm

First off, I’m excited for this 8th grade Social Studies project.

Students will be creating the next verse to Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire”. (Click here for a history teacher’s explanation of the lyrics. Scroll past the ‘terrific video tribute’.)

What I love about this song is that very soon a new generation of students will come through HJHS and your present day life will be history to them. How would the song sound to include modern history?

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it
But we tried to fight it

Here’s the full karaoke file:
(Press Control and click on the link to ‘Download linked file as‘)
wedidntstart-karaoke

Michael Stackpole, one of my favorite authors ever, just got an asteroid named after him. I’ve met the guy. He’s nice. He deserves an asteroid.

Circulate the…ah! Extension cord! [thud] 

In the same way that giant inflatable gorillas do not inspire me to buy a car:

showing a guy riding on a cart does not make me want to buy that cart. Demco, you need to practice more.

Actually, I take that back. You’re doing the best you can trying to sell carts. If I were the ad agent, here’s a sample:

Hey! We got carts! 

We have been asked to create Valentine’s Day rose cards. Here is what we need:

1. Fit at least 6 tags per 8×10 paper
2. Be either “mushy” or “goofy”
3. Your own artwork/design
4. A ‘To:’ and a ‘From:’
5. Professionalism (It is the Future Professionals.)

Here’s a list of authors that we have in the library who are known for their easier vocabulary. Once students visit the library homepage, these links should become active for them to be able to see the details of the book.

1. Margaret Bechard - Hanging on to Max
2. David Lubar - Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie
3. Harry Mazer - A Boy at War
4. Paul Langan - Bluford series
5. Julie Anne Peters - Define “Normal”
6. Lisi Harrison - Dial L for Loser
7. Sigmund Brouwer - Orca Currents series (crime drama)
8. Mary Ryan - Alias
9. Donna Jo Napoli - Zel
10. Christine Harris - Undercover Girl series
11. Kate DiCamillo - Because of Winn Dixie
12. Lorie Ann Grover (811 GRO collection of poems)- Loose Threads
13. Graham Salisbury - Under the Blood Red Sun
14. Walter Dean Myers - Scorpions
15. Robert Levy - Escape from Exile
16. Gary Paulsen - Alida’s Song
17. David Almond - Skellig, Heaven Eyes
18. Jack Gantos - Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
19. Richard Scrimger - From Charlie’s Point of View
20. Paul Kropp - Encounters series
21. Susan Shaw - The Boy from the Basement
22. Louis Sachar - Dogs Don’t Tell Jokes
23. Dayle Gaetz - Spoiled Rotten
24. Jon Scieszka - Time Warp Trio
25. Kathleen O’Dell - Agnes Parker series
26. Terry Pratchett - Only You Can Save Mankind
27. Julia DeVillers - How My Private, Personal Journal Became a Bestseller
28. Jerry Spinelli - There’s a Girl in My Hammerlock
29. Betsy Byars - Herculeah Jones mysteries
30. Andrea Cheng - Shanghai Messenger
31. Robin Spizman - Secret Agent
32. Leah Komaiko - Malibu Carmie
33. Kristine L. Franklin - Nerd No More
34. Avi - Wolf Rider
35. Anne Schraff - Passages to Adventure series

I love my job (as if that had to be restated). I just got home from the AZLA conference (actually, just back from Basha’s with celebratory donuts, danishes, and milk).

First, I chatted with the woman who would be presenting for the Dewey/Don’t We and I need to clarify. For fiction, I love by author, no genre.

But you can tell my bias towards fiction. Hardly anyone checks out nonfiction in my library. The presenters were talking about using the bookstore genres for nonfiction. You know what? That’s actually a pretty decent idea. I know that Dewey already is divided into subjects, but maybe re-organizing the nonfiction into bookstore style might actually get more checkouts.

The woman from Dewey/Don’t We also helped me fulfill a dream.

[Begin nerd obsession]

I met Michael Stackpole! This is the guy who created the Star Wars: X-Wing/Rogue Squadron series. Devin, I know! The creator of Corran Horn and the guy who made Wedge Antilles more mainstream. He agreed to let me podcast his talk, the photos, and he might even come to my library for a signing.

Woo! (Or as Wedge would say, “Wooha!” and then the AT-AT blows up.)

I will need time to make sure that the audio is maxed to how I want it, so it might take a little bit.

[End fanboy stalking moment]

The conference was great, Mango’s was great(mmm…fish burrito), and we received many positive comments from our audience members. If you are reading, thank you!

Check out Michael Stackpole’s site at stormwolf.com.

Today someone’s going to present on setting up their library in a bookstore style by genre. I think that it’s great to present on that because it’s very current.

Here’s my take (representing/speaking for only myself): Setting up by genre instead of Dewey pigeon-holes authors and encourages a reading rut for students.

Meg Cabot is a great example. Sure, she’s got the Princess Diaries, but what about the 1-800-WHERE-R-U? series. Or Avalon High? I have students that “read only fantasy”. They’re die hard (like me with Star Wars). What if I have them read Avalon High and they love it? (Very possible.) They might want to read more of Cabot’s stuff.

Would it shake the world if a fantasy die hard read a mystery?

But if I take them over to a different section of the library, I’m shaking their identity as a reader. I have a friend who reads only sci fi. I had him read Killer Angels because the awesome show Firefly was influenced by the book (woot, Joss Whedon). My friend read the book, could appreciate the tactics, but it wasn’t as good because it wasn’t sci fi.

Now, a positive for the genre model is Darren Shan. If that boy branched out into anything but horror, I would be shocked. He’s got his niche. (As if R.L. Stine would write a dating comedy.) But what about Stephenie Meyers’s Eclipse? Is it horror? But everyone tells me, “It’s not a vampire book!” (They’ve got fangs, they drink blood, they’re not Republican (I joke at my own political party)(if you keep reading after that, congrats to your open-mindedness!).

The bottom line, though, is whatever works to get students reading (and have them get ready for college libraries, or a library that’s not set-up the same, or…okay, so we have to balance a lot of needs).