Mrs. Mason and Mrs. P. decided to jump on the NLCC collaboration bandwagon, so in concert with our colleagues from the other NLCC schools, we’ve organized the first ever NLCC Battle of the Books. Hip hip hooray!
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Summer is one of our favorite times of the year. Not only do we get to spend more time reading, students and staff members are asking us for reading recommendations. Whether you are looking for a reading contest or a book list, we have compiled some suggestions that can be used for a variety of readers.
The Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) recently released the list of twenty books nominated for the 2019 Abraham Lincoln Award. The complete list includes titles and authors you might already know: American Street by Ibi Zoboi, The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus, Scythe by Neal Shusterman, and When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon, among others. If these books are any indication, it’s going to be a great reading competition! The ILC Sweet 16 GooseChase reading challenge is over. For the past two months, student participants have been completing missions related to reading for a chance to win a prize. Missions have included reading for pleasure, talking to teachers and staff about their favorite books, visiting the Lake Villa District Library, navigating various resources in the ILC, and more. Congratulations to the following prize-winning students: Hope Brown, first place Ryan Brooks, second place Ashley Alm, third place Jamie McCormick, fourth place Molly Rial, fifth place Emma Veres, sixth place The top three finishers won an Amazon Echo Dot, and the other students won their choice of a reading-themed mug, water bottle, or stationary cards. Better searches. Best results. That’s how Scholastic Go! plans to bring in the new year when it debuts its new interface on January 15. Scholastic Go! has a fresh design with a greater focus on searching and a more streamlined and intuitive user experience.
Admit it. As much as we want students to use databases for a majority of their research needs, many students will still choose to search via Google. Now, instead of students having to choose, Gale’s Opposing Viewpoints in Context database offers the ability to search database content alongside Google search results.
Pageapalooza is underway at Lakes, and the ACHS challenge begins on October 2. Both students and staff are welcome to participate in the reading contest. The goal: To read as many pages as you can for the fun of it, either with the support of a team or as an individual, over the course of four weeks.
Lakes and ACHS subscribe to NoodleTools to support students through the research process. Though most commonly used for its simple citation generator (similar to EasyBib), NoodleTools also offers research planners, to-do lists, e-notecards, and collaborative features for students working on group projects. Additionally, NoodleTools syncs with Google, which means that students and teachers can use their District 117 Google username and password to access the program.
Change up your usual class routine and give BreakoutEDU a try. Your students will beg you for more. Really. Here’s how it works: There is a box. There are some locks. There’s some other stuff, too. You give your students a scenario, and their job is to work together to find a way to crack the combos on the locks to get into the box. Depending on the scenario you choose, students are required to use their content knowledge to solve clues. They also need to problem solve, collaborate, think critically — all of those great 21st Century / Transfer Skills. A few teachers / staff members already have implemented BreakoutEDU with success, including social studies teachers Tiffany Nix and Nick Aguina, school psychologist Eric Born, and CTE teacher Marcia Zboril. I used BreakoutEDU for an ILC Do Something Cool last semester, and the students left the room asking, “When can we do that again?” Here is what Tiffany had to say about her experience using BreakoutEDU along with co-teacher Nick: |
AboutThe ILC blog keeps Lakes students and staff up to date with news and events related to reading, research, technology, and more.
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